46.46. motion by minus second by Bridgette any discussion all in favor aye any opposed game sessions okay motion cares okay High School support Governors my name is um so we just have a couple updates on why our school is about to eat for the past month um to start off with sports on our cheerleading team won the FCI Championship which everyone was very happy about boys varsity basketball players played Staples last week and won the FCI championship game as well um boys and girls track and field team both competed against several states in the enemy world championship this hockey and the boys uh four times eight millimeters overall and also competed in the team won the girls uh four times 200 meter team ran as well and many personal beads were set um wrestling went to the New England um seniors and was not only a top Placer for the state um a winner from our school that we were also entertainment Connecticut we have a new play coming up called um Once Upon a mattress that our theater Department we'll be putting on from March 30th March 31st and April 1st as well so it is expected to be a very good place for expecting a good outcome for math we will also have a um matinee open to elementary schools during the school day for some testing updates sats are scheduled for juniors on on the 22nd 23rd 24th um and 28th of April the makeup day for those who miss it is April 20 th um ngss testing for juniors just finished up and there are currently some makeups going on for students that missed it and we also can't wait to have a seniors graduate and the new fresh will come in we have a school fair that happened this past Monday which went um very well we had a club Fair an Athletics fair and a lot of seniors excuse me uh incoming freshmen for in attendance um we also had upperclassmen of um James Fair Mr Donovan also gave an update on the new Freshman Academy and Mr Davidson talked to all the incoming freshmen and they know what's going to happen in the next few months um online registration for 8 9 10 11th graders 11th graders are opened up so we can choose their classes for next year we also have AP government and politics class in the UNICEF Club taking action yesterday was a day of action called saber schools to get more funding since we we are ranked 169 out of 169 and posters positions that people can sign in a big sales and raise some money they're also doing a protest at City Hall tonight and then finally seniors are getting back from their colleges and starting to make choices on where they want to go and how to pay for it so we just had danbury's in-house scholarships open up and at least for me I've been procrastinating it possible but that's all for today anyone any questions could you just state your name for the record oh yep Jillian Patrick Secretary of field change hi Julian hi Julian and Moran good to see you both I'm here at the board meeting you said that really fast I just want to make sure I understood you said there was a protest this evening um yeah so we originally came up um on the issue that we have the least amount of funding in Connecticut for uh public high schools and so the government and politics class and UNICEF Club wanted to bring the awareness for the issue considering that we're the biggest school in Connecticut so they have a protest going on at City Hall it's a family protest they have some posters going up and have some teachers attending to to make sure everything's uh stays calm and everything there's been quite the impressive people thank you for joining us thank you one more questions I stopped by city hall on the way over to the meeting and I just I want to say the energy there was wonderful there's a lot of students there teachers parents and they are all supporting schools so um conduct you know kudos to or we're doing that can you tell us what areas do you feel we're neglecting the students were trying to make create more awareness around is probably the fact that Denver High School is the largest public high school in state of Connecticut and there are able to receive it comparison to other cities in the state as well that may have in mostly ambiguous throughout the last students and how that can create disadvantages when it comes to future endeavors and preparedness it can alter the program availability or students willingness to take part in it and I think that our students are doing a good job at taking that leadership initiative to try to just create awareness and difficulty and also step out and to take a leadership initiative when a lot of students or agents might not have done that previously so it is um a big step of confidence and just kind of maturity that they're getting as I finish their chapter of different high school I just want to add something to honor that I know that with the posters I went over they had it during lunch and I went over it and I know some of them like Maria said they're more concerned they're concerned about like AP classes getting cut and not enough money for everything that we need so they're concerned about not having paper towels in the restrooms but also not be able to take classes that they could potentially want to pursue later in life anyone else should I say something um I just want to uh point out Danbury is a generally a population of 85 000 people and we do have the largest school in high school in Connecticut I don't think it's fair to equate us with bigger cities with bigger populations bigger tax bases in Hartford New Haven Bridgeport that's all I want to say thank you so much presentation thank you thank you [Music] yeah sorry highly programmed for the board meeting so um tonight we have on the agenda for you to finalize running the pilot program where we're going to move to one regular board meeting per month and one Workshop meeting per month and so you will see um there is I believe it's an action on it and so what we need to do at home while we've spoken with the policy committee about this as well is will it suspend just that portion of the bylaw that talks about having two meetings a month and we will do it for a designated period of time which is what we're required to do so it'll be through the end of this school year and then you all can make a decision at that time about whether you want to continue with the model for next year in which case we'll make changes to the bottom of it but the suspension of it to do something temporary seemed to make the most sense so that you don't need to vote in Dubai laws so um you will see there is attached to new materials a sample of the schedule um and there's also a copy of the Bible it's really papering the deal [Music] the board chair award I also wanted to point out exhibit two three four seven please note the two asterisks in June initially our board meetings were scheduled for the second fourth week of June as they typically are throughout the school year we can remain on our every two week calendar we are proposing to move the first meeting to the first Wednesday in June and then two weeks later the third weekend so that's why it's the answer is there and the second meeting is scheduled as a special meeting as to so because it's not going to be the fourth meeting [Music] so just be Kevin can you all right Kim can you talk to the speak on the format of what each meeting slash Workshop would be so work we're gonna instead of two full board meetings a month and I do well we're going to see what we're going to do a workshop and a regular question so the intention would be to move a lot of the kind of nuts and bolts that work that you do like the consent calendars budget movements that kind of thing to move that business to that one business meeting of the month but on the workshop model it's really designed to give you an opportunity to engage with the team as they come and talk to you about different topics so it might be a workshop on student achievement depth it will give you in that form an opportunity that you don't generally have in this forum to be able to engage with the with the presenters of the workshop and dive a little bit deeper and answer your questions and sort of a dedicated topic right so one of the reasons for talking about this discussed it obviously it was my opinion in some cases is we get the presentations at a regular award meeting that's 15 minutes and a lot of data and information and we can't you know it's for me anyway I'll speak to myself it's hard for me sometimes to process all the stuff at once and try to see what what we're doing and it's a lot of information I'm not saying those presentations are designed that way uh to throw anybody off I'm not saying that but I'm saying is if it gives an opportunity to sit down and and go one or two layers deeper like for example we did the academy workshop and it was like five minutes before the meeting hurry up ask the questions and then so I'm thinking that's kind of one of the things that sparked this whole format and talking to some some administrations are saying yeah we want to give you we we welcome the questions but we a short period of time so as long as we are doing what we're obligated to do by the votes and stuff like that um you know that that's kind of that's kind of the background tonight so um I guess this is the time for discussion right discussion sir yeah absolutely if I may you hi thank you I personally oppose uh amending the bylaws and changing our model for three reasons first of all you limit public participation to one night a month rather than two uh student representation student Representatives meeting here bringing us in up to speed one time a month instead of two and you also limit the educational staff that wish to speak two one time instead of two times a longer and uh that's 50 decrease and sometimes these topics are time sensitive and in my opinion sir for clarification we invite the students to what once a month right so every morning yeah the workshops are open meetings so if you wanted to build in comment periods in those meetings you can certainly do that they have to be open meetings so they're not executive session workshops they're opening meetings um just to just to clarify that real quick episode of public could come and say had a a topic that was a hot button topic they could speak on it even during the workshop you could build into the workshop in an appropriate place for a public comment you might create at the end but you can certainly have control over the agenda that we asked would the public comment have to be about the topic of the workshop I would say that would make the most sense but awesome are there other districts that follow this format there are quite a few um and the ones that are most obvious ones that come to mind Waterbury Hartford also and I think is policy committee has shown right I showed the schedule and Hartford kind of does a nice side by side schedule that talks about what they're gonna what the topics are gonna be so it's pretty thorough so people are unnoticed kind of what's coming up so yes but yes so well I I can't tell you that I've looked through the 169 pounds but it's one we have Danbury [Music] uh yes um maybe I've been on the board too long I saw a really agreement on and I'm not in a mood to accept this I have some questions about sometimes we have things that we have to take care of I know the mocked up for the June July we Ed not me and we're going to implement this I would like to see it done in September it's starting in September as a trial and see how it works I I think that we have do I want extra meetings no but I'm not comfortable with moving along with this right now and I think about when we try to get exposure mirrors well you might have a whole new set of people before after November and so if other district has moved this way let's do it as a crowd see if it's not working with everybody on the board is comfortable with that I will certainly support right now you take it I believe this is a trial until the end of the school year now this is just what April May and June not even because June there's too many Essentials right so it's really to say um but Al's concerns uh are certainly important [Music] um my problem is I was disappointed when we had the workshop and a few people were absent because they've already covered that topic so I I like the workshops but I agree there's there could be an issue with important things that need to be attended to [Music] anyone else I understand because can you hear me I think the concerns are valid um that everybody is saying and I hear that um I think having it as just a temporary trial for a couple of months I don't think would send us back that far as far as disrupting uh our policy and it would give us just a little bit of Glimpse on it would help us would not help us and we don't have to continue it we you know we could try it a couple of months and if it doesn't work it doesn't work but it may be something that we may like it it may work for us and it may give us a little time to dive deeper into topics that you know we sometimes don't want to be here very late on our regular board meetings until it gives us a workshop where we can you know you know talk about some stuff so I'm not opposed to trying it out for a couple of months it's a long-term commitment um and then we can revisit it and decide if it's having one put into place or not I just have quick quick things so on the workshop side we what do we do Spotlight in school every once a month or what once again so we would incorporate that for a little extra time for them in the workshop right yeah foreign it's not uncommon for for districts to to try to bifurcate business meetings from kind of curriculum meetings you know I content meetings that's not an uncomfortable yeah and I'm I'm to be honest I'm okay either way the issue is I get feedback but although we didn't have enough time to go with this and all that now I'm certainly uh I mean we can certainly schedule more workshops to go deeper into it I mean I mean you know I'm okay with that I mean I'm just you know just trying to do what I think is is best in for for the situations that arose so like more spending time on the academy or Finance or something where it's like okay and finance committees and that stuff is great but you know a lot of that stuff doesn't translate into the main meeting the presentations okay but I'm I'm good I'm bringing up because you know that kind of some issues have come up and I'm just it out there so I'm good either way I'm not pushing one uh one thing or another so I mean I'm okay doing it on the trial basis I mean I would certainly not make a decision to do it permanently right now I mean because we don't know how it's going to work we got some big things coming we got the academy coming up we got it deep in there we got you know a lot of stuff coming up that we needed to spend some time on but how many how many meetings left I mean really four I mean no six two in April the chicken juice it really would be two of your meetings would look okay so two meetings out of seven would be a workshop where we could focus on the academy and we can focus on something I mean excuse me so if we want to have workshops so every time that we come to that second reading is going to strictly be a workshop [Music] or what happens you know we have some committees that you know might have to come and not be a workshop so that's why I guess you know there are certain things that we need to take care you know budget comes you know we have to sort of work along the city and do it and we have to get you know call meetings to come and take care of business in the board so um you know that's what I was saying and I understand you know there can be a change adaptive but again it looks like to be a full new board from December and we can get three people to do an Xbox from here right now so you know [Music] I like to hear from other board members also before we put it through the tool just to get with their family because I like to do kind of as a joint thing if we're getting more towards to know then understand coming online and I'm open to all suggestions but I understand everybody's points I mean I'll has a point scooper has a point [Music] I mean he's being productive there's something that it could be good for us but at the same time it's minimizing the um audience economy interactions with us and there's a lot of things that we motivation so I don't know we can produce a trial online but we just gotta get together it's like we scoopu says we have right now we cannot get together on social media and that and that she also has a point that I mean um this upcoming November but I have you walk board members and it might be difficult once we set this go back so yeah it always changing you could always change it back when there's new people online yeah this is just where the experts yeah it's a trial yeah so instead of yeah I got it it's Sunset so if you want to amend your bylaws you have to put a timer when it's sunsets so it has to expire so when it expires it just reverts back to you unless you do something different so I'd like to hear from Kate and uh Michelle also [Music] review a lot of material all at once um and I just want to make sure that we're doing our due diligence and taking care of that but given that it's a trial basis you know if we're doing this for the end of the school year I don't know that I have any stronger position [Music] Michelle [Music] um I'm open to the idea I'm trying to I think it might allow us to be a lot more productive and get into a little bit more like you said the granular um that being said as long as we can incorporate a time for the public to be heard and maybe it's a good way for us to interact as a board and have the public you know be able to listen to that discussion uh so I'm I'm up I'm up for approving it and so at least the end of the year and seeing how it goes it's not really you know revert to the best uh the best practice I think it's a great concept but I think we're rushing it a couple months is enough of a trial to see so I think if we really want to do it we commit to it and we're we're not at that community I think I would love to see if if Kim could find a districts that are avoidable to us in signs that also follows more examples assessmentally advocated their meetings that would be I think helpful for all of us and I wouldn't mind taking the idea up again at one of our original meetings discussing got some long-term Highway this short-term pilot I don't think it's going to give us more than the anecdotal it is but you know a year pilot in trying to perform unless he wants two and a half months I Think We're not gonna get the feeling for whether or not it's really normal [Music] just even though I'm getting my feet wet I'm just Gathering all the information um and I'm sure there's some things that I have been exposed to so obviously the probing participation is extremely important because it can hear what you know concerns are so on a workshop I'm assuming that at the beginning is setting it up at the end might be kind of awkward for the workshop and then let's just say after the first month you realize that we need more time is that something we can be adjusted [Music] correct it yeah it's really the world's your oyster on this one yeah yeah no I think public that's a good point but I'll brought that up in the beginning it's probably suppose obviously important that's you know um [Music] I don't want to limit that um so I mean I don't know like I said in the format um I mean I guess let's just uh let's just if everybody feels comfortable anymore I'm getting consensus before before we vote or just yeah um [Music] you want to start it man that's my question well that's the um well the the action things to start it for our next meeting correct again it's up to you I mean abuse system in the Bible or now yeah you would do it further next I'm just looking I'm about page three of your agenda say with all the future meetings um and I'm just kind of looking at the calendar and that's Tuesday Wednesday when I say Tuesday but it's every Tuesday Wednesday every other week and every Wednesday with these committees and I know you're missing a bunch on so you're talking about a lot of news that you have already at meetings um and I think that was part of the conversation was you know if you want to add workshops around this meeting schedule you're kind of running out of days which may explain why you're having problems with consultations yeah I mean Mr chair may I ask what workshops you're going to pose for instead of the meeting do you have those planners yeah I would oh what when what what time I think uh the academy is something that we need to know that I think there's going to be another Workshop um on the book what the academy is and then the construction Department also I think we got to get some Finance in there uh after the budget the process so I think those two or two main ones right now um but but I'm okay with committee committee means too I mean we could we'll just add workshops I mean because because we don't you know I mean there's a lot of committees here and there's a lot of bad workshops and then special meetings and stuff like that we're you know we're out we're out there and and and my personal opinion is I don't think and I speak myself I don't grasp a lot of it in a short period of time it's rushed in and you know okay okay let's get to this and let's get to that so that's all like I said the only reason why I said we can focus more on that is that we'll have a workshop on top of the two meetings and then have that workshop and go through it so you know if if we can do it in in the one and one if not we can keep it up I am certainly fine with keeping it till the end of the year the way it is that's what people what people feel I I don't I'm okay with that we're just throwing this out there um this was more of an if we touched on it maybe last time this is more of an informational part um the reaction ideas on there we could you know [Music] one question as far as people have a lot of experience would you say that if if these meetings we're going to affect a schedule a calendar a year would you see more artifacts positive or negative in the beginning of the year or in the end of year [Music] yeah that's why it's kind of good to see it because you have the summer to kind of something Falls to have a place here you have that time to kind of yeah so I I guess that's why we were thinking about trying it now um only because of the last you know couple of workshops and stuff that were cut short and we didn't you know and frankly on on some of these things here I mean we we could run through this stuff you know pretty pretty quickly let's put it up into [Music] me I mean but so let's bring the two about two minutes provide some clarification for you so [Music] um one the the idea behind the workshop model the thing that you're finding yourself you don't have time for are the symptoms which is essentially updates on a strategic plan that's that's the thing you don't have time for and so if Mr Russo is the co-chair and a finance committee and he has questions most cases those questions get asked and not terribly different really in curriculum committee and community relations Community but it's the superintendent's updates that are connected to your strategic plan North Carolina tonight but Carowinds is going to come up make a presentation this evening talking about chronic absenteeism and one of the Strategic plan goals and I think we find ourselves oftentimes not with enough time to ask the follow-up questions that the board would like to ask and so when we were talking about the workshop model it would be Para and Kara likely or and this evening actually Kelly trucius and Carowinds are presenting out on a chronic absenteeism how we're leveraging relief Grant to help with this work and giving the board pushing out the agenda on Friday before the meeting and making sure the board had enough time to put their questions together dig anymore and we were envisioning if this was approved this evening that in our workshop model that we would have an hour and a half or maybe two hour meetings we really had an opportunity to dig in and folks left with a clearer understanding the next meeting which would be a regular meeting with action um we anticipated that would be a short a meeting I also had heard previously that the board had a desire to have more meetings in person so so I recall more chair you guys saying maybe we could have some more committee meetings in person we could back those up to board meetings if there was a desire to have them in person I don't anticipate a board meeting being very long unless we have a lot of public participation and so now if you have a community backed up to a board meeting you still do not have a very long email again the long night The Way We Were envisioning it we would go in this direction the workshop act and we did not consider the public participation adding it but it can be added I've worked in districts where health and participation was part of the workshop as well and it looked changed a really good point there our family should not happen to retirement to Circle back if they have something you need to share with us so I I just want to provide that clarification cabinet and I will prepare to provide the superintendent updates in the workshop and then of course anything additional before I had an active here um that we we are seeing that you don't have the time to respond back to those presentations separate from your committee work where really at least from what I've seen in her that we do have the time to get those questions in so I just wanted to provide that clarification just for us home as we were considering the whole time okay [Music] all right so can at least if you read the motion [Music] that's the emotions that the Board of Education suspend through the remainder of the 2022-23 school year the relevant portion of bylaw 9321 one time place and notice of meeting slash regular meetings that requires one board meeting on the second Wednesday of each month to allow for a pilot program of a monthly Workshop in lieu of such meetings as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 23-48 motion made by Louisa a second thank you [Music] we had a discussion then there's a talk what was the favorite bye I Kate did you all right any opposed neck okay any abstentions you didn't get to the question about before you went into recording what's up [Music] yeah unfortunately okay no I apologize I thought we did that before we go you could ask a question so just for clarification we had two no's Al Russo and Mr glass Cooper no obsessions okay so motion carries [Music] can you read the motion authorization of signature change form Dash Child Nutrition programs solution level Board of Education approving authorization of signature change form 099 agreement or Child Nutrition programs in accordance with 23-49 which is on each side origin seven by key discussion all those in favor all right all right can you pause any extensions motion carries superintendence report thank you sir thank you academies of Nashville study visit let me start off by saying cool I'd like to thank mayor Esposito councilman Perkins doing Perkins John Clyde hands who's part of the news team in time of use the superintendo construction for the city of Denver these folks in the city of Danbury of course with our very own printing directory address es and superintendent of Britain construction we all went to Nashville Tennessee to visit or study visit for the academies at Nashville there are over 82 schools no 82 000 students in the district there demographics are very diverse and many of their schools and classrooms look a lot like Denver Airport we had an opportunity on the first day of the welcome to meet the superintendent to me [Music] one of the board members I decided to say one of the founding board members that I believe she was there from the beginning [Music] many of the business partners [Music] and really had an opportunity to better understand the structure of the Academy's model there were over 400 people in attendance this happens two times per year in in Nashville so is one of the fall and one in the spring in which they invite in school districts across the country and our meeting there was actually some folks there also from Scotland [Music] so a lot of folks are coming to observe the model given his successes in Nashville I believe the story that they shared with us around 15 16 years ago and 17 18 years ago the high school was at an atrocious High School graduation rate of 58 point something percent graduation so the city was borderline being taken over by the state by the state and they realized they needed to do something different and more this model the district now as a district again 82 000 plus I I believe is close to 85 86 graduation rate which is a considerable leap from where an initially started and it got everyone's attention so they put a map up and I'll just share the story they put a map up of the United States they didn't have contents up on the map but they did put up a map of United [Music] States there were only three or four states here that had not been part of in some way one way or the other visited Nashville to have an opportunity to observe the model so we we're a good company in that regard day one was simply a welcome it was an opportunity to network we didn't do too much networking because we didn't know anyone so we just got to know each other the really one of the major goals of this trip was really to develop clear a better understanding around not necessarily for us but before the city of Danbury to get a better clearer understanding about the model so they can better understand what needed to be funded and help people like councilman Perkins to understand what he was advocating for uh chose to do so day two we had a very ambitious agenda starting at 7 30 7 o'clock in the morning until probably four or five o'clock in the afternoon and this was a series of workshops in which we broke out and I don't think all of us were the same exact workshops for example I attended a workshop with the mayor of two people from his office looking at the various stages of development to bring the cabinets model to your District it talked about a lot of the same things that we've heard about and how it's important to begin to bring in the business Community to help make sure our kids have these internship experiences the the presenter and Carol assuming they share the same thing in yours but it wasn't just about internship externative experiences for the students but it was also making sure we provided those same opportunities for our staff as well and that staff was actually coming back with new ideas about how to instruct differently based on what potentially could be applied in their classroom and it was also um critical as the president was talking about how how critically important professional development was in this model for our teachers and really just hammering home things like externship opportunities with teachers the same way it benefits our students it will also benefit our teachers I do want Cara to speak a little bit about the teaching and learning part in the business development part things terribly different than we've heard before the biggest difference for us was the mayor's office have a better understanding about the model something that was reinforced that we we already know that works my team and I you know they're going to try to explain to the board tonight this is reinforced during obviously at least for me and so I think we talked to the board and as we get out in the community we'll certainly reinforce this with our families and students so many of us in this room have had either had Elementary had a kid who've been in elementary school or have kids in elementary school they kind of appreciate the relationships that you develop with teachers the relationships that our kids develop with their peers and appreciate the relationship that our kids develop with their teachers but we also know particularly if you have kids who are older now those relationships don't look exactly the same they're not as rich as they were in elementary school certainly our families don't have the same meaningful and Rich relationships with the adults as they did when our kids in this model though that changes considerable and so carrying previous presentations talked about the fact that all of our students will start off at Danbury High School in the ninth grade then they will make a choice into what Academy they will go into and so once they choose to go into an academy they will be in a building I'm sorry an academy in two different buildings of no more than 400 to 450 students which in many cases is smaller than some of our elementary schools and districts not our Middle School but it's smaller than some of our elementary schools let me also state that I was reminded during these walks as I'm admiring the kids and the students and their relationships with with staff and a staff's relationship with their peers and estabs relationships with kids and the fact that our teachers knew all the kids and the fact that the principles knew all the kids and all the kids knew the teachers kids do the principle of the academy because now we're in spaces that's manageable of 400 to 450 students but then it gets better because the structure my kid our kids are in 10th 11th and 12th grade and so typically when our kids leave Elementary School they go to middle school and every year the teachers are changing and changes are changing if this is what our kids experience and this is why as fam as parents we don't have the same relationship with staff anymore and this is the part that changes because because one sleep if we're students at an academy our teachers are the same for the next three years 10 11 12th graders the teachers in that Community this is now our community right and I may not have the same exact teacher for English 10th and 11th and 12th grade with the community is the same so all of the teachers math English science social studies that interdisciplinary group the these are the same four faces that I'm looking at every day and then there's an elective teacher that that this becomes my core and these folks become the cohort of Staff who's following me to make sure I'm taken care of and so in District we have what we call a student assistant team did I say that bro and so our SAT team ought to be confused with the exam our staff sits down perhaps monthly with their with their principal in these meetings we can look at a roster of students and say hey these these kids are not doing well in class what do we need to do what interventions do we need to provide what interventions need to be provided to make sure our kids are coming to school more regularly but now instead of doing in this building up 3 500 where Dan has this unmanageable list where he's trying to find our kids to get them in school every day it's now that roster looks like this and now the percentage of kids who need intervention is even smaller perhaps the most important thing is all of the teachers are having structured conversations about those students and making sure they're on the phone with the mothers and fathers in this community who they will now know for the next three years and so certainly as we as I'm walking with my team and saying oh my gosh this is the true backbone of the model because you can say that regardless of what breakout room you went into because if you're going to the The Business Connection the business room where they make sure our kids have internship experiences you can say well that's a really important part of the line obviously the teaching and learning curricular construction part the model where our kids are truly engaged like never before that's probably the true backbone but this piece where we're making sure all of our kids no one splits to the cracks and if they do it's not because every teacher in the cohort has been part of interventions for them my biggest takeaway I mean because there were some amazing things that we saw in Cara will also help help me out here one of my biggest takeaways was everyone is all in on the 400 and 450 kids and all the teachers are talking speaking like one it's a cohort there's a team of teachers working with my kidney versus a comprehensive High School where there's an English Department of just too many people and so I I just wanted to take a moment as you hear and all the all the wonderful things about the model and I don't want to downplay it because it's it's wonderful that that's that's the real thing that's going to really attract our kids because it's [Music] fun and I'll just share one more thing before I hand it over to [Music] day two because day one was just about bouncing to different sessions and getting a better understanding of what the account is going on day two was about the school visit and so one I appreciated the fact that we didn't just go to schools that were beautiful in China they just were not and the fact that they're experiencing these successes without with the limited resources just like Danbury and quite frankly probably less so than we have the fact that you have still experiencing this kind of success I think speaks well of how struck how struck stress how this model can help us here in Denver yes when we got to the school it was an amazing band that welcomed your superintendent once we got off the bus was it just about me but I'm just making about that baby right now but we we go into the school and it was a in Cara I don't know if you really got the same presentation but it was an Academy of criminology Etc this is the first school I think that was your second School and the forensics teacher was telling us that they have a spook night at the school and and this is how fun the work was and and I said I'm sorry can you tell me more what does that mean because I'm thinking this is a Halloween night and she goes no she goes I organized it with the kids and I sat with all of my other appear as my other teachers to make sure all the teachers were part of it in some way so this is like a criminology type connection Academy but in forensics they put tape on the floor as if there was a crime scene all throughout the building and then with that crime scene her kids did forensic studies on anything that was touched in the area oh but wait a minute then there was another class that played a part because if they found the people who were responsible for this they had a what was the courtroom camera what was that called Mark it's like a mock trial so say they had a mock trial forward and so with we're going to pick on John Spain if John Spain was one of the guilty parties because his fingerprints were all over the tape John would have to go in a courtroom and as part of a mod and when I say a mock trial I mean it was the judge's Chambers it was a gavel it was a role on the student there was a bit there was a the jurors over to the right hand side all made up of students there were folks from the community who could watch in the background when they have they they literally have real cases at the school where a judge would come in and help facilitate the meetings they redid a shot class and put carpet on the floor at another school they made a huge mock judge room a courtroom students were having fun and the entire trip was led by with the district called ambassadors where everyone greets you with a Blazer on and all these students in the blazer because one of the Academy's over school so what have I heard about the letter um so one of uh one to the academies all of the kids reach you with only the ambassadors who reach you with the blazemore and they're actually taught through their they're actually taught and trained at the beginning of the year on how to host because this is actually a big money maker for the academies at Nashville and so when 400 people come into your space and you're paying sixteen hundred dollars for registration for every single person right that includes not flights but like hotel and all those things you have to make sure these folks are welcome so everyone was but everything was led by the students so in Cara and Kelly I don't know if when you guys went to Nebraska it was also led by the students in places Etc it's an incredible model with and I think every space that we went to from councilman Perkins to May Esposito Tom Hughes who's super construction superintendent of construction and I mean he was just beside himself so excited because he puts together he reads architectural plans and all these projects and for the first time he's able to see in action like it came to life and he goes now I really understand what you mean and I think because of it we're going to benefit because the state had an opportunity to be on site and so we we have and typically in Nashville they host two times a year it's in the fall and in the spring and so I am hoping we can end extend invitations to the board where we have another round of visits because our hope is to get board members more teachers because we didn't have teachers go and forget which one they went to Cara and soon but if you can can you speak today you told me to just throw anything to you so can you speak to them to the business part and the curriculum piece I think those were equally powerful I mean they were all powerful yeah I was trying to find something slides of the pictures still going through all the pictures that we took so I'm sorry while Cara's getting ready for this I'm I'm walking around the schools and because I can't help with the competitive side was getting the best of me and I'm thinking I know we haven't been in it for 16 years but we can do this better like we we can do this and and I mean we're a year in just putting together the background piece I would say that we're ahead of schedule kind of given the talent we have on our side um and I'm looking around the building I'm I'm sure you got it too Cara like I know it's not the first time you've been but it looked good but we're in a different place than they were we were not at 58 graduation rate when we started this model we're trying to go from good to great um I think we're going to be really well positioned for okay I don't think you are very much but that's okay um you know in reference to that graduation rate the thing was important to point out is that that first number that in the 50s was when their state collected graduation rate by five years those were five-year graduation rates in the 50s that went to like high 80s after converting to a four-year graduation rate so that was just a dramatic turnaround in addition to that the attendance numbers dramatically increased the disciplinaries dramatically decreased and there were higher levels of Engagement um in their less student discipline issues so we were super impressed by that and one of the one of the groups because we asked specifically around second language Learners some of the questions we have are you know what's the best way to make sure that we're engaging um how everyone can participate in Access and that was the group that grew the most in their shift to the model and so that was important to us particularly as our with our district so we were excited to to hear some of these things and it was interesting because the first time that I had gone down to Nashville it was just pre-pandemic we had closed school that week that we were down there and we had a whole team that was supposed to was supposed to attend and we only just a couple of us ended up going at the last minute because there were so many uncertainties in March 2020 and what was happening in that moment and the lens with which I was seeing things for the second time was very different I had a whole other layer of questions to ask so I was very appreciative of a second opportunity to go down there um but even more excited to see Kevin in our our city leaders engage your first time and connect some of the dots I think that maybe you can't appreciate until you see an action I think that's kind of the one piece that everyone is waiting to see is what does this really look like when it's all together and um I was I was thrilled and humbled with the level of Engagement of our group the kinds of questions that they were asking the way that they interact with students I was completely impressed with how enamored the whole group was with it I just I feel really good that that we had a group that just became a stronger advocate for the work coming back so I just wanted to throw that out there that that City team was was it was great to partner with them in this way in terms of the curriculum you know one of the schools that stood out obviously the most was McGavock High School I know that you were a chance to go there as well um the we had a chance to see a multitude of the academies that are offered there the part that stood out the most as it did the first time that I it I was the the ability for these students to articulate what they were doing why they were doing it the passion that they had with the subjects that they had that they chose to engage with the number of certifications they had already acquired under their belt how they were pre-planning their college experiences and their choices that were so defined because of the free work that they were doing in the academy and some of the offers and opportunities that they already had from from either workplace work-based places that were interested in them because they had done some internships or the college programs that they're applying to where they're for potential scholarships they were that they were well positioned to get because of their experiences coming out of the school that put them Just far ahead of their peers and Beyond academics is while the academics are equally as important one of the things that this Academy model did for Nashville particularly when they added the Early College opportunities was it really raised the rigor for everybody and there was an expectation that all kids will take to dual college class before they graduate or at least attempt that and that they they work towards stackable industrial industry credentials before they before they exit and participate in internships and capital experiences which really positioned them well um one of the things that I think um so we as Kevin mentioned before we participated in a district and state leadership group um stages of implementation session and also one again on how to integrate the Dual college and certification piece of Peace which is really important to us right now because we're really trying to understand the best way to approach that and do that is pretty it's a pretty large Endeavor so um so we appreciate the opportunity to dig in and ask some really key questions on that and we also need some great contacts with the folks down there that we feel that we can that will serve as a resource to us they also do a tremendous amount of professional development so they have a whole arm called the national Hub that folks who once they visit can tap into for further guidance as they go so we'll probably be giving them a few calls in the next year or two which would be phenomenal the other thing I think that came out of this trip that I that I don't know if I was thinking about it in this way but through all the conversations that we had and a lot of opportunity for conversations within our group um you know we saw incredible equipment in these academies um and so you know every time we walked in like we saw robotic arms like the things that you would find in a car factory and then mini versions that the kids were playing on that when I say play they were coding to make the arm move a certain direction that we're picking up cups and knocking cups in certain direction and those are being measured and the kids through trial and error had to keep recoating and recoating to get the the automated arm to do exactly what it needed to do and they had to take notes on these things and uh and work so it was just incredible what they were engaged in for their age which which was unbelievable but I kept asking where'd you get this book how did you get this equipment the city found this like how did you get the equipment and they talked a lot about some of the bigger grants that they received because they have such a structure in place that positions them well to receive different types of grants that maybe you know a school district wouldn't normally receive by themselves but with the conversations we had some great conversations with the city because um we realized that when you try to approach these larger grants you need to show demonstrated City partnership right partnering with your University or partnering with the business community in a highly structured way and you're partnering with the school system and you have stakeholder engagement and when you put all of those things together and to create rfps or grants you win those big block grants and that's what national is doing and doing really well so their business engagement is second to none they have a massive organization that that grew out of the the groundwork on the development of the program called pencil they have over 350 major business partners in the Nashville area Nashville's very fortunate because they are a very fast growing large metropolitan area so there's lots of businesses to pick from but those business partners are at the table and they are helping to support the schools over time internships externships as uh as Mr Wilson and that is where the teachers go out and they see the work of in these Pathways so they're able to come back and make those connections and then work collaboratively collaboratively across content hearing teams to do interdisciplinary planning to bring those pieces to life for students so um so in addition to the students being engaged when the staff spoke about the work that they were doing there was a level there was this Vigor and passion with which they spoke about the work and the conductedness and they're also able to apply their passions as well because they're they're teaching in areas that were exciting to them as well so we just saw this energy from the staff that was that was just wonderful so um I know we're going to kind of kind of long and I um you know I but I do think um you know it was a very successful visit in terms of achieving you know the goals which is which to kind of build a great partnership with understanding and so that folks can advocate for us on a variety of different models that I felt that by the time we returned from that trip that we were very much speaking the same language about the importance of the direction and what was needed to get it done so I just wanted to and on this regarding the trip I think we for me anyway I had a greater appreciation of how complex red Dean's role is in District really looking at this at least from the grand scale and Nashville and there's different organizations that actually help support for its role at different schools and so it's kind of that's the pencil books and Pennsylvania was kind of the clue that helps us to manage all of these things I don't know if we would need that anytime soon but point is it gets so complex that you need an outside partner to help to manage to make sure when John Spain picks up the phone from the Nissan Corporation there's someone here to answer the phone all the time and may not necessarily have be the case if you have a staff person here so it's a company or organizations to say that's dedicated just dedicated just to the Partnerships and leveraging them to help support the schools almost like the United Way kind of helps the community you have an apartment helps to manage the part of the Partnerships yes when can the board go yes so there is a trip in the fall and a trip in the spring so we're looking to Circle back and extend invitations there thank you any other questions or anything um did you see any of the specific academies that we're going to be having up here yeah so they did they have a biomedical Academy engineering Academy those are pretty well established there and some of their more popular academies as I would anticipate that those would be ours as well so we did spend some time having a lot of conversation about those we asked a lot of questions they do have a digital media design which is sort of similar to one that we have so um you know so in addition to just not making those connections you know there are there's a lot of groundwork that they have done and project ideas in a way that they integrated across an academy so multiple Pathways for instance what are the pictures I was trying to look they produced this that they replicated like the CMT Awards so yes it was fun right it was fun but there was standards based there was rigorous requirements you had one group that had to produce um they had to write all of the script and had to create legal contracts of all of the people who were attending um and do all of that writing and then there was you know photography video set by the place in other words or a group that that shot the raw footage of it and then another group they had to edit it we walked in on one of the it was like an adobe it was not only Adobe Photoshop I forgot the program they were working on they get three they were getting certified across the year in three different areas very high-tech editing software or animation um software uh programs and the kids were in there I mean the amount of of buttons and features and things were making my head spin and they were clicking through these and and editing and adding things and green screen you name it it was an adding sound in the background Beyond and making certain noises happen at certain time periods it was unbelievable but that each group had a different role and they had it was standards based and they had to they had to fulfill their role they had to produce them and they had to communicate and present on those things and they had to come together so it was um you know and that those were just their elective courses so they're you know typical courses as well but just fascinating to see what they were producing but there are a lot of great um you know I was taking tons of notes on the different certifications that they were putting the students through the paces for that were valuable that the ones I had hadn't even heard of because I cinematographer or a videographer so helpful to make those connections as well so we learned a lot and we'll continue to cherry pick um things that from the different academies as we visit so being that uh did you see any of the schools that have an interaction that you were going to have here with middle school and high school yes because I did not I don't know if Eric did I did not get to see the middle schoolers in action that part of the academy theme but I think our second school was 612 that was your first school it was 6-12 but we didn't see we didn't start at school at all we did ask questions about how that the academy model the high school transformed the rest of the school district and so what happened is over time they wanted to prepare the kids uh in a better way for the Academy the rigors of the academy and so they created start to create some structures that backed into middle school and now they even have like coding and programming in K5 and things along those lines so that the kids could progress and Advance even further through certain things at that level so they did kind of a micro version you know stem stem courses and different other courses at the middle school to get them ready sort of kind of a pre-academy work wasn't nearly as anything extensive as the 912 version but certainly helped to position students right thank you yeah any other questions so one more item on the agenda and this is going for 22 I know this is a challenge that I had shared with the board previously during my one of my students in the evaluation meetings this continues to be a challenge for the state of Connecticut but also right here at home here in Danbury so Carol's going to give us some update on how we're doing what our numbers look like and how we're doing some questions thank you Kevin I'm going to start us off Cara and I will do this presentation together it's all right we changed things up a little bit on you um so we're going to talk about uh School attendance um in a couple different ways um we're going to first go over uh the data and District or go over definitions talk about what our district level data is um and then talk about some strategies that we're utilizing currently and particularly things that are Elite Grant has enabled us to do um so first I just want to go over two definitions for you because there's an important interesting difference between the two um the first is attendance rate which is the percentage of a school or District's overall student population that are coming to school um so that's the percentage of students that are present in school or the percentage of students at a district level that are present on any given day chronic absenteeism is when your students are missing 10 or more of the given school year um so a good example of that is if we're a hundred days into a school year if a student has missed 10 or more school days are considered chronically absent earlier in the school year if you're only 20 days into the school year two days of med school would consider you for chronic absenteeisms so it's a moving Target that does change over the course of a school year but a lot of the attendance out and research on you know where does it become detrimental to a student is beyond you know the level of chronic Tia some of our students missing a significant number of days in a given school year um you know could lead to different disengagement learning challenges and so forth so that's an important factor the um as we're going through the presentation the difference between the two definitions the other thing I just want to share is that the lead Grant will come to the end of the presentation and we'll focus on some specific details related to that but the whole purpose of the leap Grant was post-pandemic to really make sure that we can leverage and put strategies in place to re-engage students and families in school so Carol will go through some of the data that we currently have and compare us to the state level data and then I'll talk specifically to some strategies that we're currently implementing hi good evening um I just want to draw your attention to this slide where we uh demonstrate what the current attendance rate is for Danbury public schools as well as the state we provided some Trend data so you can see what it was over time for the 1920 year that was only in person um days so once this will shut down that was not included but overall when we're looking at attendance rate by the state or by the district you're looking at the number of days present and compared to their days in the world right so we've always had pretty high tenants rates and and even during the pandemic years that was not an exception we saw a slight decrease as the state did you'll see the state is in blue and Danbury school district is in Orange so besides late decrease from 1920 and 94.9 we were always kind of around 95 into a deep of 92.3 when we look at the high needs students and again those are students who are students with disabilities our multilingual Learners or students who are qualified for free and reduced lunch so they can be one of those categories for all three those students have a slightly lower attendance rate both at the state and District level and our number was 91.6 our current year-to-date attendance rate that was as of the end of January actually is 92.2 percent for all of Danbury and 91.7 for our high needs students so you'll see that our attendance rate is slightly above the state average when it comes to our high needs students and let's see for The Chronic absenteeism data it is a similar entirely state so again we want attendance rate data to be very high because that's how many days students are present we want product absenteeism data to be low so the lower the number the better so when we we really look at Chronic absenteeism data because now you're really looking at a student's experience how many days is a particular student is actually in school and this is a highly predictive of the amount of instructional time that they're receiving one of the things that is super important to focus on is our kindergarten data as well as ninth grade when we talk about product absenteeism it's a predictor of graduation rates and students staying on track so um in the past in 1819 pre-pandemic years our chronic absenteeism data was below the state average at seven point one percent and then a drastic increase as a result of the pandemic so as of the 2122 school year we were at 23.5 students were absent 10 or more percent of their enrolled days and that almost matches the state average of 20 or of the up to absenteeism rate for the state because they were at 23.7 when they considered all the students enrolled in the state of Connecticut our current rate is slightly lower as of the end of January at 21.3 our high needs students as of last year was at 26.7 in the past pre-pandemic was at 8.3 so obviously many factors um as a part of the years of of the pandemic are affecting chronic absenteeism or highly engaged in strategies with the state through our Elite funding but our high needs rate is drastically lower than the state rate which was at 34 percent so the next slide um just so you can see historically because we know that some chronic absenteeism rates are predictors and student performance and graduation I did include that by grade level because I'm often asked about that what are the grades that are most chronically absent and and at the elementary level it's K and one I'm currently eighth grade at middle school and at high school is the highest for the district overall with grade 12 being the highest of nine through 12.
okay okay approve resolution number 46-22-23 uh motion by Quintero second by vice president Herrera uh superintendent I just urge the board to support this um resolution that would allow our district to start selling bonds so that we can have um the finances necessary to begin the process of the workforce housing so that's the the measure that you are approving tonight okay thank you uh I will open up it up to public comment is there any comments from members of the public on item 5.02 okay seeing you know for Republic comment any comments or questions by members of the board okay sing okay clerk Quintero brief um I'm very proud of the fact that we've been able to make significant progress but we've been at uh we went through some difficult times um some folks took up because it got really really heated um went through some serious investigations multiple agencies or federal state the county level I'm very proud of the fact that they went through everything and have gone through the most thorough betting of anybody around here I guess but um but it should be here now to be able to uh once again um be able to earn the the confidence of the of the public the trust so that we can now move forward as a new day in Allen Rock uh that allows us to go ahead and really engage in this forward-thinking effort to be competitive to provide uh the housing that are our staff uh very much need because of the housing crisis that we Face here in the valley and uh looking forward to um I urge my colleagues for this for the support in this measurement that allows us to move forward and and attempt to address the teacher crisis that we have as well as the nation um so good morning thank you and if your questions or comments by members of the board all right seeing none I'll move to the vote I'll see I'll call you as I uh uh vice president Herrero loera aye Clark Quintero aye crusty Flores Shelton aye and myself building I the motion passes four to zero with uh Krusty Chavez absent uh moved to item 5.03 approved resolution number 47 22 23 motion by uh clerk Quintero second second by uh vice president Bauer yes I have invited Mr Joe Crump to give an explanation from the financial expert uh side this is great news for our uh taxpayers in Alum Rock so I'm gonna let him explain to the board and to the audience the board knows more or less what this is all about but I think it is very important for our stakeholders to know what's going to happen all right thank you Dr Bauer um and hello members of the board uh Mr Chang and everyone in attendance um yeah just to give a recap um so in 2013 the district issued the 2012 uh series A bonds um in the amount of I think it was roughly 40 million dollars and currently there are still about 32 million dollars of bonds outstanding so this resolution is to issue new bonds at lower interest rates to refinance the prior bonds and interest rates are currently moving in the market but based on current projections uh we are estimating over six million dollars of taxpayer savings um that will result in a lower tax bill and that amounts to roughly about 12 percent of the the prior bonds refunded which is just to give some context I'm not sure about Alum Rock but many districts and their debt policy the minimum savings is about five percent to proceed with the refinancing um so this is 12 so it's well over that threshold um but yeah just to reiterate current projections are about six million dollars in taxpayer savings um and yeah so I would be happy to answer any other questions about the refinancing but take questions or before I take questions and comments from members of the board I'll open up the public comment is there any public comment on item 5.03 oh hey see no further public comment uh trustee I mean clerk Quintero um just wanted to confirm just for the benefit of the public um the savings go directly back to the taxpayers that's correct um so they will see that savings reflected in their annual tax bill thanks for questions a comment okay trustee Flora Shelton thanks um you mentioned um or I guess is a question for the superintendent so do we have a policy regarding the minimum percentage uh before we would refund you guys do have a policy I should have looked at it I don't know I'm sure it's I mean I'm sure we're well over the thresholds but I know there's kind of a standard policy I think it's from csba which the district might have that standard version but I think typically it's like five percent and that's sometimes you can do a refunding when it's less but that's sort of the general rule of thumb okay you know if it's like three percent then you know you can still get savings but oftentimes the decision will be to say you know this is not really worth the trouble um so I know the district does have a policy but I'm not sure exactly what that number is but I'm estimating is probably five percent if it is spelled out yeah and that's great that we're at 12 I'm just so if you could just get back and then um just gonna claim naivete on this question um so the 32 million for this um 34 million for from 5.03 and then the 19 that we just passed in 5.02 um those are separate pots of money that will be um handling separately or does this go into one pot of money that we would then be able to use question well I could try to I don't know if I could try to answer it but yeah be happy to um well um that's a great question so the first resolution that spin passed was for uh measure s and in an amount not to exceed 19 million so I think I think it's unclear you know how much the decision is still being made how much of measure s funds will be needed at that time but it can be anything up to 19 million um but yeah it's a great question and so to clarify for this measure it's no project money it's just a refinancing so it's kind of like me financing a mortgage basically yes um so yeah right so very distinct and separate exactly okay good thank you so yeah two two separate bonds but one is new money and then one is uh a refund financing okay vice president Herrera whatever um I just want to give a shout out to those that worked hard for us to be at this point at the total percent I'm sure we haven't been 12 forever I mean I don't know if we even remember where we were at I don't know when that changed um refinancing and and I I know the the last time and trusty Quintero were here before my tenure so during my then you know from never done that this is the first time and it is because we're doing well right right and and I just want to highlight two of our board members who've worked hard in the past to you know be where we're at um including our current board so just really excited to hear about the 12 to hear about any refund right I'm thinking as a taxpayer in this you know whatever it is just to hear that you know there will be a refund that's exciting I don't think I've heard you know anything like that um happened I'm sure it happens but I haven't read anything like that in the any of our districts here um definitely something that you know our media should be covering right um but unfortunately the good news don't make the news most of the time but this is huge so thank you for explaining it in a way that we can understand you know I read through the board book and I was like okay I think I get it but you know the way you explained it really um by The Interpreter I understand and as well as our audience you know to understand um that work when we're talking about millions of dollars it's um you know especially our taxpayers money right um taking that serious um is and then where we're at now to give back some of that money um is exciting so thank you for helping lead that everybody that's been involved um and yeah I hope that uh Spotlight or somebody catches on to this you know this is exciting uh so thank you again okay uh I'll just wrap that way by saying you know and go for uh this is great news with this uh careful what our tax dollars and uh we're doing in a way that uh ensures that we can begin the process of making sure that we have 21st century facilities for our kids and uh you know to give our you know uh help take a bite out of the housing affordability issue for our teachers so uh this is a big big progress for our uh for our district so thank you so much to uh you know uh everyone who works so hard and especially Mr Chang and thank you Mr Crump for uh for your presentations now look uh moving on to did you approve oh oh sorry about that so we we okay so with that uh okay uh we'll move so uh since we already have a motion from uh clerk Quintero and the second from vice president Herrero I'll move to a vote I'll call you as I see you uh trustee Chavez what's the item number uh 5.03 no okay uh vice president Herrera loera aye Clarke Quintero aye trustee Flora Shelton aye and myself voting I the item passes four to one with trustee Chavez dissenting uh moving on to Ida part six bonds board discussion in action uh item 6.01 okay I heard motion from Quintero second second by uh trustee Chavez the purchase of two portable classrooms uh for mobile modular for Adelante one and aptitude academy uh superintendent anything to present no this is just the actual purchase okay to you before to us permission to okay look for it okay so uh okay I'll open it up to public comment any public comment on item 6.01 Loretta from Cureton I just I'm curious because there's so many empty facilities and empty Portables couldn't we use those you don't have to answer because they can't but this is my question thank you okay uh signal for your public comment uh questions and comments from members of the board okay seeing none I'll move to a vote I'll call you as I see you trustee Chavez no uh vice president Herrera aye Clark Quintero hi uh trustee Flores Shelton hi and my self-loading eye the voters uh the item passes the vote is four uh you know four to one with uh trustee Chavez dissenting uh item 6.02 approved SBA Architects Incorporated for architectural services for portable classrooms at Adelante one and aptitude okay motion from uh vice president from uh trustee Chavez uh different anything to present no this just matches the city okay uh okay I'll open it up to public comment uh is there any public comment uh signal for public comment on item 6.02 uh questions and comments by members of the board uh trustee I mean clerk Quintero um in the past we when the circumstances uh we we went ahead and put one side or another side correct they're relatively new they're still able to be moved in the past we've looked at other ones and they basically would fall apart according to the experts if you're trying to lift them up from one side to the other they have some sort of stickers that have the lifespan for them and you can no longer use them after that just if colera can the answer is yes and she can elaborate for the benefit of the public of course yeah those that statement is correct I mean the most recent portable that we placed anywhere was that Hubbard and uh was to expand the KA program and those Portables are being used right now um but going back to the Aged portable that um they use the word condemn which it you know inappropriate to me but um those Portables are way outdated and we cannot move them around to house students um just for their safety yeah and the reason I asked it is because it was a concern of mine as a community member as an hey why aren't we moving things around and so I completely understand why folks would see there's hey there's a portable that looks perfectly fine from the outside but the the floor is all rotted uh and it no longer illegally can be used to house uh students and so just wanted to make sure that because I've gone through that same uh conversation and sometimes the portable looks fine it's not the the floors are not rotted or whatever but it's the age issue we have to go through the essay for all of this so it's not that we are making the decision we will never bring something to the board that we have not vetted before and I do appreciate the comment and the question uh it gives us an opportunity to explain yeah and I also want to identify that when we can and it made sense at that time yeah in the the example of Fisher to Hubbard we were able to reuse some of them some of the Portables okay uh very well seeing no further comments or questions by members at the board I'll call for a vote I'll call you as I see you uh trustee Chavez no uh vice president Herrera loera aye clerk Quintero aye trustee Flores Shelton hi and my self-voting eye the motion passes four to one what uh trustee Chavez dissenting um to item 6.03 approved notice of completion and change order for project v223 all right uh motion by clerk Quintero second second by uh vice president Herrero loera uh I will uh superintendent anything to present just another good news because if you noticed the contract went down oh yeah we're paying attention yes yes uh I'll open it up to public comment is there any public comment on item 6.03 hey see no further no public comment I'll move to questions and comments by members of the board seeing none I'll move to the vote I'll call you as I see you trustee Chavez hi uh vice president Herrera loera aye uh clerk Quintero aye Christy Flora Shelton hi and my self-loading eye item passes unanimously uh moved to item 6.04 approved sixth Dimensions okay motion from uh clerk Quintero second second by vice president Herrero loera regarding approved sixth dimension for construction management services for play structures at Lucha Lindale and Cassell Outdoor Classroom at Russo mcentee and signage at multiple campuses at parking lots and interior and slash exterior of buildings at locations for required VSA sign off uh I'll open it up to public comment at this time seeing no public comment I'll move to questions and comments by members of the board I'll just you know just make one this you know I I I love this item this is this is a symbol of our commitment to renovating our schools to beautifying our schools and ensuring that you know our our kids uh get the very best that we can provide so I you know or urge my colleagues to approve the items so with that I I'll go to the vote I'll call you as I see you trustee Chavez aye uh vice president Herrera aye Quintero hi uh trustee Flora Shelton hi and my self-loading eye item passes unanimously five to zero um I am 6.05 approved sixth dimension for construction management services for affordable classrooms at Adelante one and aptitude move to approve motion from vice president Herrera loera second a second from trustee uh Flora Shelton uh I'll open it up the public comment okay uh seeing no public comment I'll open it up to uh questions and comments by members of the board seeing none I'll move to the vote I'll call you as I see you trustee Chavez hi uh vice president Herrera loera aye uh clerk Quintero aye Christy Flores Shelton hi and my self-boarding eye item passes five to zero unanimously item 6.06 okay motion motion from Quintero second by trustee Chavez approving sixth dimension for construction management services for HVAC upgrades at Adelante to Russo mcentee and McCollum I'll open it up to public comment it's uh okay uh getting you know trying to recover from Zoom speech here so uh okay seeing though for public comment uh comments and questions from members of the board I see trustee Flores Shelton um given that these are HVAC upgrades at three sites just wanting to ask um how many more remaining schools are in need of HVAC upgrades you're gonna have another one in the next one the next item is the third one the next one is outdoor classrooms uh I don't know about that sorry so this is the end of the HVAC upgrades for the schools no there's one more school left yes okay oh great that's progress still yeah okay thank you okay um any further questions and comments by members of the board I will wrap up with this comment uh and I say this because you know personally you know when you know I I my involvement started with the bond committee precisely on the issue of HVAC upgrades and this is a We Are One Step Closer to Central HVAC for every school in the district you know uh we want to make sure that our children are comfortable we have a a great learning environment for our kids and a great working environment for our staff you know and I I hope to have the chance to flip on the switch when when all is done so uh with that I urge approval of the item so uh with no further comments or questions by members of the board I'll move to the vote I'll call you as I see you trustee Chavez hi uh vice president Herrera loera aye Clark Quintero hi trustee Flores Shelton aye and my self-loading eye item passes unanimously five to zero uh moved to 6.07 approved okay motion by Quintero second second by uh vice president Herrera loera approved Stu Studio W for the DSA pre-check Outdoor Classroom structure and Ada upgrades for Russo mcentee academy uh I'll open it up the public comment seeing no public comment on item 6.07 um questions and comments by members of the board alrighty seeing none I'll move to the vote I'll call you as I see you uh trustee Chavez aye vice president Herrera aye cor Quintero aye Christie Flores Shelton hi and my self-loading eye item passes unanimously 5-0 uh moved to section seven business services item 7.01 approved second interim financial report thank you superintendent I'm gonna turn it over to Mr Chang we're ready thank you and good evening board president members of the board and superintendent Dr Bauer tonight I'll be giving a brief overview of the second interim report um and with that some of the topics that we'll be covering is the key assumptions in developing the second interim report um going over the multi-year projection and then the what to anticipate in the near future um most of you this slide may be really familiar um this is a demographic study that we did last year as you can see um there's a declining trend of enrollment um going starting in a long time ago I can't see that but it's it's projecting the decline uh through the year 27 28.
we've had three detects of pfos we had a four a 9.5 and a 0.37 and then we had three other compounds that had detects also so we we are pretty clean but still if they go with circla it will really affect our ability to get rid of our bile cells so we've kind of talked about land app and some of the the concerns with emerging contaminants so when we do landfill it's easier on our plant operations um they're pretty reliable the landfill almost never closes and it isn't weather dependent if it rains they can still hog to the landfill and again the most we would take is probably two to four round trips total right now we're doing one to two per day but in the Summer where we haven't necessarily hauled you know we we produce more solids that have to be dealt with just because the bugs are more active and we're trying to keep a certain mix liquor um in the aeration deck also we believe there's less risk of merging contaminants because this being in a landfill this line instead of spread out in the environment so another benefit there are some drawbacks to landfill um the century can have a an effect on our biological phosphorus treatment and raise our um phosphorus and are effluent we are working on a side stream uh centrate treatment so by doing nothing but uh centrifuging this year it will allow us to fine-tune that so next year when our permit is lower for phosphorus we should be able to you know meet their readily so that's one of the the positives too with timing uh limited landfill space landfill acceptance some landfills uh I've heard are not taking some biocells because they say it it doesn't pack well and causes their landfill to have voids or or slide um there's also possible odors we we didn't have any last July and it was pretty warm but you could have odors at the wastewater treatment plant or at the landfill and they could say you know it's they don't want the load because it smells and you aren't recycling the nutrients in your organic matter back to the soil when you send it to the landfill our cost comparison right now it's a little bit cheaper to landfill um this is based on our current rates um I know that we have a really cheap landfill rate um our our rate to truck it and tip it at the landfill is less than thirty dollars a dry ton and everyone I talk to is flabbergasted so you know that bid could change and that could change this cost comparison but but for now um it's it's cheaper to landfill and you can see even with land application there's still some landfill costs because at best we're only going to be able to land apply for seven months so what we're recommending going for is to flip our practice and um just do land filling and keep land application as a backup just in case because you always want to have two ways to get rid of your bio solids so you can meet your permit um we would only use land application if we couldn't find a landfill and there was no other way to get rid of them the biosolids um we're working on the century treatment we hope to you know fine tune that and get that dialed in for next summer uh we're continually working on holders um on the CIP there's carbon scrubbing for the truck Loadout to to grab those and run that through activated carbon we're looking at the addition of a biodigester to get that plan that will help stabilize the unstabilized primary waste activated so that would reduce odors for us going forward we use a chemical called Planet Breeze that that the landfill says helps reduce odors they're they're happy with that and then we have a carbon system and solids handling building that we would uh keep doing the o m to ensure that that is grabbing as many odors as we can also and that is really what we would like oh Brian has his handle uh Brian you have the floor sure thanks Keith for for the presentation um you know we'll we're obviously here to also answer any questions but I guess before we do that I just want to share and I apologize I can't get my camera working um in a remote location um but there are a couple other points of note related to pfos and biosolids I mean this is a pretty Dynamic space in the regulatory environment right now we're waiting imminently to find out what the EPA is going to do on drinking water for example um it's overdue and we should be hearing within the next few weeks if they're um what the epa's regulations are going to be around pfas elements um we're also as Keith mentioned we're still waiting and trying to figure out how Congress is going to handle Circle obligation and whether Water and Wastewater utilities will get a categorical exclusion what we're hearing so far is very unlikely so that puts us in um you know a position of risk um and then there is also ongoing litigation currently in the state of Michigan or associated with pfas application on farmland so even though our our the concentration of pfos in our biosolids is low and sometimes non-detect recall that it takes time for us to get those analytical results and we're not we wouldn't be seeing them until after the pfos has been left and or and disposed of um and we since we know we do have an issue with um occasional concentrations of things that we know to be a health impact um philosophically we believe that we shouldn't be um land applying it and and basically allowing the pfos to aggregate in the food chain um so that has been really the driver for this change in approach that we've um that we're planning on implementing this year so with that I will open it up to questions from you all okay thanks Brian um yeah John and then Rita and then Anya thanks Brian and Keith um good presentation uh I I agree with the primary thought thrust of not uh allowing pfas to be distributed on on cropland I was a little surprised that on slide 10 there was no mention of the fact that we're going to be taking organic matter sending it to landfill and in landfill um it's going to be creating methane as a greenhouse gas and so there is a negative impact there I don't know if that tips the scale and I don't know if anyone's made any calculation as far as what the impact would be to the city's greenhouse gas emissions but I think it should be at least recognized and calculated and then we can evaluate whether or not it's it's anything significant or not we celebrate every every couple of houses that are electrified for example in the Bryan neighborhood and something like this could could be I don't know Factor 10 times that or whatever so it just it seems to me that should be somehow uncalculated in the in the overall equation thanks yeah I wasn't sure um if our landfill has a methane to energy recovery um some do some don't you know they they take it we've went to a couple different landfills so I mean I can try to figure out what they have at the one they're going to that we're going to now and and see if they have that because they might be creating energy um and I have seen studies that say you know they create more methane and energy in a landfill because it speeds up the decomposition and they've been able to produce more gas to create more electricity or or clean it up and put it in the grid so yeah possibility is certainly there I don't think it's there right now and in fact I think as a part of the city's greenhouse gas emissions there is a small percentage that is due to organic matter um going to landfill and being transformed into methane that escapes in the environment I think that's that's all thanks okay Rita and then yeah now thanks for the presentations really important um my question has to do with um there was a slide that mentioned the source of pfas and I just wondered if if once it's discovered what you meant by that source is it tracked back to anything in particular is there anything we can learn to reduce the load um in in the biosolids we are actually in a really good spot because we have not really found a source of pfos we're really at the background level our influence is right around three to four for pfos and pfoa which I understand is normal if you will because of uh shedding from non-stick pans um you know uh toilet paper has it in there and things like that so that's kind of like the background level which isn't good but that's what I'm hearing is a background level in most Wastewater so those are for you know when you see those numbers of 50 and 120 those are for places that have they've had like a try bar or they've had a plater or they've had somebody like that or a landfill leachate right they've been able to go up the stream find them and then say Hey you know you really have to treat this at the source and get that treated we're so low that we have not been able to find anybody you know when you're at the three three and four right okay thanks I have another question is is the drinking water system so that's the probably the primary source to the Wastewater Plant which is what our source is so and that's one of our concerns in the circular classification is is that the city could be identified as a generator and we did see when tribar got their levels down it was lower at the at the water plant wouldn't right Brian when you guys put the carbon in we did see it go down at our NR effluent too so I mean we we could see that and that's going to affect our bile cells so just one more question um with our um goal of of uh having more people live in Ann Arbor is are there any concerns that you have in terms of the volume of Bio cells that you'll be processing with managing them in the future not really we see crazy I've been with the city for 13 years and our flow used to be at 18 Non-Stop and since covid we've been closer to 14 and 13 million gallons a day so there's been growth through that period but our flows just you know haven't haven't seen that so I think it's you know tightening up the system and things like that and you know we can always process we have the centrifuges and the capability to process it though great thank you yeah I'm Anya and then Lisa um I I had a question similar to what uh commissioner mursky brought up um and and I understand that the pfas being land applied and getting back into exclude systems and whatnot as uh the primary concern um but I do think it'd be interesting to at least have that calculation and understanding of what the emissions would be you know associated with landfilling that organic material but then I imagine it's at least to some degree offset if you know the land bill is closer than some of these Farms that it's also being tracked to so you know is there a savings for map tracking and I I don't know but I think I think that that would probably be a worth be a worthwhile data point to have um and then I was wondering if if there are fluctuations in how much the pfas readings are you know and if if so is there a possibility of doing a hybrid approach where you know if it's a certain level it goes to the landfill if it reads at a lower level it can be land applied or if it's if it's pretty consistent you really sort of just need to pick one primary um it's pretty consistent lately and the testing is getting better one of the problems with going back and forth is you know staff hey when we do lime stabilization it's a different process so we have to make lime we have to raise that pH for to 12 for two hours and um you can't run that through a centrifuge it will tear up your centrifuge so and you don't want to have unstabilized and stabilize and you're trying to do two different processes inevitably someone misses a valve and then you're sending unstabilized stuff out to a farmer's field which is really bad right um and like Brian said you it's so hard to get data we have about 1.2 million gallons of storage which is about two weeks worth and pfos data takes I would say four to six weeks to get back I mean even if you paid a rush I don't know if we'd have it back in time to be able to then say okay now this is how we want to process it it'd be a very difficult um thing I believe for us to try to do and the Wastewater site is pretty confined so there's you know if we can put in a six seven million gallon tank we'd have all kinds of time you know but we're really if you look we got a railroad to our North the river wraps around us and we've pretty much used almost every square foot of Green Space um some places that show Green Space is either saved for for future growth or there's stuff buried in the ground that you can't see so it's it so much I would love to would be I think it would be really hard um okay thanks Keith I'm Lisa you have your hand up yeah thank you um this is really very um Illuminating um I just wanted to make sure first of all that I that I followed what you were saying in response to commissioner Mitchell so you're saying that our levels three to four are on in one sense not alarming because what it means is that we don't have someone who's actually polluting or you know like a tri-bar you know uh so there we don't we don't have a a spill problem we don't have an external someone who's externalizing their um their costs you know by polluting our water but on the other hand that the source of our pfas is most likely the water treatment plant and so and you saw I thought I want to make sure that I followed Keith what you said that when the city started treating the at the water treatment plant with carbon there was a decrease in pfas at the wastewater treatment plant in our influence yes yeah yeah okay that's that's nice that's a good story so I also understand so I understand that um and I agree with that we do have a moral imperative regardless of what EPA does with regulations not to put more pfas in the food chain than is already there it's bad enough that it's going there from you know snack food wrappers and stuff I get that I also get that we're sort of under the threat of the water treatment plant being viewed as a polluter and that would be not a good thing at all um but I do want to raise that one drawback about landfilling um in addition to the methane concerns and the CO2 issues is that we do landfill outside Washtenaw County and we do landfill to a county that um where average incomes are lower and property values are lower and so we are with respect to that County we are externalizing um the costs of what we do in Ann Arbor and we should at least acknowledge the environmental justice issues of an increased you know of shifting systematically um to landfilling of our biosolids that's a constant systematic increase of what we're sending to of what we're diverting to landfills and I'm understanding that this is not a perfect world and this probably is our best solution but we shouldn't let those things go unmentioned and um you know in a really great world which I don't know if we're in it we would think of ways to mitigate that you know some forms of investment that would acknowledge we were doing this but yeah Thank you Lisa Sarah and then Brian hi Keith and uh Brian I I just wanted to express my support for moving away from Land application of biosolids I think landfilling is the smarter option going forward um I I'm pretty familiar with rickra and I know that that has a agricultural exemption um so if you you know apply biosols to a ag field under normal AG practices um that that would then be exempt under part 201 I'm a lot less familiar with circla um so I guess I was wondering um going forward um you know obviously any new laws that are put out regarding pfas we want to comply with but could circular also be retroactive where historic applications of biosolids with pfos the city would have liability for um so sort of like say we applied back in 1985 and now there's a field with pfas and people are eating the corn with the city be liable for that as well under Surplus I'll start the answer I mean the answer to some of these questions are just we just don't know and this is something that we're we're watching and listening um the whole the water and wastewater industry is pretty unified in their approach um and has been aggressively lobbying um Congress about these issues so you know what we've heard is is it's going to be really difficult for um Congress probably to list a categorical exclusion for water and wastewater facilities because it opens a door and weakens the strength of the program so we're not optimistic that we're going to get that however what EPA is also saying is their intention intention through that program is not to enforce you know bring enforcement actions against utilities because they're not really the original generators all right the utility space is not drilled with that approach because there is liability um that would be remaining under the ACT so it's hard to know exactly how it will impact us until we see exactly what they do in terms of how they incorporate it and classify it so we'll be evaluating the liability and risk as this moves forward but there is always um just liability like from just being sued um which is what's already happening you know there are cases in Michigan um so part of it is is just you know if we we know that this is an issue um any decisions that we make now are not irreversible I just wanted to make that point so you know if we take this approach now and as information comes in and we want to reevaluate um with our attorney's office our risk and liability we can always return to land application but at this point with the uncertainty um and the active litigation that we're seeing in the state we feel like this is The Prudent decision for the city to make for this coming season um and it's something that we can talk about um we'll have a lot more information as this year progresses and we can come back and talk to you about what we've learned and whether we think it's appropriate to adjust our approach um later on this year yeah we've we've we've told our the land application contractors that if we're planning on this for a year because one thing we don't want to lose is our application sites and we don't want them to you know come in and just rate them all so yeah all right thank you I was just more interested in like the legal framework so thank you for that answer yeah um any other questions for Brian and Keith okay well I'm going to jump in here now and um so um thank you first of all uh Keith and Brian I think you guys I agree with Sarah that you've done um a very prudent analysis when you have a very good approach here um you know for the time being considering you know weighing all the risks and and responsibilities so um I was just wondering um you know and thank you for the data that you presented I'm not sure if you're willing to share the more detailed data on the pfas analyzes that you get and what averages are like but um um I I just had a question that do you know uh at what time you're going to start using the APA 1633 or asking you know your analytical labs to use the EPA um method and so is it as soon as it's approved we will you know and that's what they'll have to go to right that's what uh the eagle will require us so yeah okay it's it's been in draft for three years so um I expect it's gonna happen soon um I also believe that one's gonna add some more parameters sorry but I believe that's going to add some more parameters too um 28 you saw I think it's gonna will be up over 28 uh pfas compounds that will be sampled for yeah and so another aspect of that is is you guys Contracting a top analysis as well on top of that 1633 it's a sample pre-treatment it's called total organic precursor because you know it was noticed decades ago that a lot of these pfas compounds break down into pfos and pfoa and so you can get variable results in the fact that you might not see it you might not see a certain level of pfos you know in your sample in your especially in a soil or by a solid sample um over time through natural chemical processes you will see it um it will it will it will crop up because it was first noticed because in a lot of um you know so uh wastewater treatment plants um you know you had more pfos coming out than was going in so and we have that sometimes right yeah we try to we try to take our effluent sample a day later because it's about a 24 hour run through the plant so we try to see in and out and and sometimes you will see a little higher from that breakdown yeah so so many other jurisdictions have gone to using a top assay just so that they have like a final end point you know for what what that prod what that substance or product if you want to call that your biosol it's a product that you know that that's what the ultimate concentration of pfos and is going to be in there and pfoa because those were the Legacy compounds that were most um so I would recommend it's it's really just a sample pre-treatment so the top assay um you know you can just have that done but a lot of times people use both top plus like 16 33 or just 16 33 just to see you know what the precursor background is you know they're called pfos precursors but that's a uh that's a test that was published maybe 20 you know 12 years ago um to do that and I know it's offered by all the major you know companies like um you know Europeans and Merit Labs things like that so they all have a top method as part of their offerings their analytical offerings so I would just recommend you do that just to see um what maybe the load is um I'm not sure if Eagle is regulating that now I don't believe that's required probably not so I understand that you know you're reluctant your reluctance rightfully so to do things that are not are outside what the current regulation is but um I think it could be a prudent practice um in the future and then um and then also with your landfill costs um you you mentioned a number for your landfilling costs so if you know if uh you know if um the city's via solids came up above whatever circla you know whatever number is established by the EPA for the circular for biosolids um whenever that number comes how much uh how much would that cost to the city go up if you're landfilling it hazardous waste yes we'd have to get a quote right because now it couldn't you'd be going to a totally different landfill right yeah you'd probably go to hazardous Wasteland Phil and that's you'd have to find one somewhere that could yeah there's only one there's only one in Michigan and it's in in Willow Run we'd have to get a quote from them at the time and I imagine if that happens there's going to be a lot of Wastewater plants going that way so it it unfortunately I bet it won't be a reasonable number yeah you'll want to get in line there but yeah that's that's a potential you know it's uh what some people would call an unintended consequence but when you think these things all through you know um um you have less unintended consequences so um I I presume you're being regulated by the mpdes permit the if for the bio cells yes well it's it's yeah the MPS permit puts you under the the part 24 rules for Michigan and then they're you know the IPP really they're running most of the pfas under industrial pre-treatment for sampling and and finding it for your influent and effluent but the bio solids that you have to take one sample before you start applying and you have to send a letter to every farmer where you're going to apply what your level is yeah yeah I'm aware of that I I spend a lot of time on pfas mostly through the Sierra Club uh National Organization but um um so okay um so I just have one comment um and that is that um I'm not sure what you mean by the centrate process could you give a brief description yeah so we take you take the the bio solids and you put them in a centrifuge and spin it really fast and the liquid that drops out is our century and then the cake the salads goes into a hopper that goes to the landfill so that Century that you've spent you spin out has to be treated so it goes back to the head of the plant and it's a pretty pretty high load to the plant so we're trying to minimize that load tie that up before it hits the plant so we don't see it you know that that bump okay and then the second I realized there's also a concern about this the fact that you don't have much land uh a extra land to use for upgrading the waste current wastewater treatment plan so I don't know I don't know who's pay grade this comes down to um I'm I'm hoping that maybe I I just want to throw out there that one thing that's always been considered um in the in this area of uh when solid waste is gray water is uh is getting separation of gray water so it does not enter the sewer system you know gray water is basically stuff coming out of your shower your showers and your kitchen sink and uh you know and um and I know you've been talking mostly about pfos but uh um the phosphorus of course is another thing so we might want to revisit this issue sometime later this year um you know with um you know with the waste water and fast um the phosphorus the nutrient problems and um and so um that's all I wanted to say at this point but um you guys are doing a top job so thank you so much given the stresses and uh my my and just to throw this in one of the deficiencies of the circle of laws is that they don't recognize a pass-through you know is it and um you know you're in a situation where you get sued and then you have to sue somebody else and you know it just goes up the chain and so ninety percent of all the circle funds were spent on lawyers not on cleanups so um that's that's something that has to change at the federal level so um okay so um if there's no other questions or comments um I don't hear or see any so let's move on to the next item on the agenda which is a discussion of the solid waste budget um um uh Sean could you just put up the uh the page we got from City staff which basically all all the data we've gotten so far from um you know from the city is about um you know is the uh the solid waste fund the status of the solid waste fund so um and so and uh there and they they will not be available uh to present uh anything in more detail to the commission until our April meeting so um if you can page down Sean um you see here's the table so we have um you know fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022 which I believe ended in July of 2022.
we must whatever is done by then 2024 must be done and both of these companies that I've that I've talked to on the phone uh in fact I was I was ready to move ahead and and bring you a recommendation of one of the companies and then realized that I had forgotten to do these documents so uh that's where we are with this but both of these companies know the timeline and they both know that what we're looking for is uh how how much can we get done for the money that we have because that will be the determining factor of which of the companies we would would choose how much can you do for this amount of money and be done by September 30th of 2024. so these companies would be doing not only the buildings but all the infrastructures as well all of the infrastructure and and we estimate roughly estimate that given given the nature of our Pro or our property and just the general General way of doing infrastructure because that means you know leveling the dirt doing all that uh putting in putting in sewer putting in electricity putting in water putting in the the street and the gutters probably is two million because we want that completed for the whole five acres um so we don't have to come back and do any infrastructure so we want that all done so then that leaves roughly a million three how many houses can I get for a million three on this property so but it means then that as we moved along any any uh extra money that we have from the rents and we're not we've all talked about this we don't want those to be exorbitant the idea is this is Affordable um and uh but that that as that collects then we build another house um you know so it will be designed for roughly 20 houses and a clubhouse okay and then I would also mention to you that we still have the Community Committee that wants to partner with us and and and uh help us find some Partners in the community for things such as Landscaping so if there's a community partner that wants to work with us and say Hey you know we we want to be part of this community project we will produce we will provide X percentage of the Landscaping then that's less of the 3.3 million that we have to spend on landscaping or uh whatever you know that if we can have some Partners along the way that benefits us but it also benefits the community okay do I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion that we approve the resolution authorizing the district employee neighborhood project to be a job order contract is there a second I will second that Fred Rushton all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski aye Charlene Diaz hi Amanda Eamon aye Fred Rushton hi Barb zarzicki item 5.8 resolution to set the maximum dollar amount for a job order contract Madam president we've talked about the den project being 3.3 million and we have some other projects that might fall into this currently board policy restricts that the board that the board can only offer job job order contracts up to a million dollars the law allows that that the board can increase that amount up to 5 million I'm recommending that we said that we that you increase it to 4 million for us to continue working with whichever company that we pick so that if the den project is done and it's done well and we would like to have them do some of these other projects that we could proceed with those without having to go through all of that bidding process discussion do I have a motion to approve [Music] I've read Rushton moved to approve this resolution to establish a maximum dollar amount of four million dollars for the den project and other associated job order contract items is there a second for how much did you say you said four four million okay hi Barbers those are zicky second all those in favor I'm Melinda sabroski I'm Charlene Diaz I'm Edam hi Fred Rushton hi beversarzicki item 5.9 award insurance contracts for school year 2023-2024.
so I'm excited about that the administrator and exempt employee contract forms include two contract two for senior staff administrator contract three for principal administrator contract four for director administrator contract five for associate administrator exempt employee contract 6 for 12-month exempt staff exempt employee contract 7 for less than 12-month employees exempt employee contract 7.1 for counselor year end exempt employee contract 8 for professional non-teaching exempt employee contract 8.1 professional non-teaching year end and finally exempting employee contract 9 for psychologist intern also and also identified on the attachments are those administrators and exempt employees to whom we intend to offer contracts for 2023-2024 school year these include senior staff members principals associate principals directors associate directors coordinators facilitators managers social workers psychologists nurses and therapist specialists I move that the government board approved the 2023-2024 hiring schedules and contract terms for administrators professional non-teaching and exempt employees I further move that the governing board approved contracts forms as indicated in the attached exhibits I further move that the governing board approved the offering of the contracts of 2023-2024 for administrators professional non-teaching and exempt employees a second you saw those in favor aye aye thank you thank you okay we'll move on to item five just oh yeah discussion approval of recommendation a day to award requests for proposal for literacy recovery adoptions and to adopt KC Scholastic literacy and K3 foundations by Wilson for Houston Elementary Schools this Reedy good evening Dr Lopez president Lopez vice president Holt members of the board Dr Streeter and members of our in-person and virtual audience this evening I am presenting two programs for consideration of RFP Awards and adoption in musd in January of 2022 Dr Streeter charged all of our elementary schools with improving our students reading abilities at that time an elementary literacy task force was formed with representation from all 12 elementary schools and positions in elementary schools supporting literacy in musd one of the key recommendations from this task force was to purchase and adopt a reading and writing program for our students at the beginning of this school year 22-23 reading and writing curriculum advisory committee was formed this committee included representation from all 12 elementary schools and all positions in total there were 24 members of this committee this group engaged in a thorough and comprehensive process including a formal RFP to select the programs being presented here this evening um I would like to personally after a careful sorry I like to personally thank the members of the committee including as well as the members of our procurement team for their professionalism their discourse and the time and energy that they dedicated to this process after careful review and Analysis of the proposals we received the following programs are being considered for award and recognition here this evening for our core program in Gate grades k-6 Scholastic literacy and for our supplemental program engage in grades k-3 foundations by Wilson it's important to note that these materials were made available on public displays since January 29th of this year at the school district office I would like to thank the over 200 individuals including staff members parents and community members who visited our district office to review these programs the level of Engagement has been inspiring and exciting I would also like to think of those 200 individuals the 135 classroom teachers that came before or after school in order to review these programs I'm pleased to report to you that the feedback that we've received regarding these two programs has been overwhelmingly positive last but not least I would be remiss if I did not thank all of you our governing board members for your engagement during every single step in this process thank you Miss Rooney can I have a motion I move that the governing board approved their recommendation to award RFP 23.12.28 literacy recovery adoptions and to adopt k-6 Scholastics literacy and K through 3 foundations by Wilson for use in the Elementary classrooms and Miranda Unified School District I second if there are any questions president Luke Lopez um I have a statement that Tom Carlson has asked me to read I want to apologize for not being here tonight there's been a death in my family and I need to attend the funeral unfortunately this meeting could not be changed so I've asked Catherine to read this for me these comments are mine not Catherine's please address any feedback to me tonight we are going to vote on something that we haven't voted on for more than 20 years with almost half of our students not being able to read at grade level musd is in desperate need of an organized dedicated and purposeful reading curriculum in my view this is a Monumental board action because we are changing the trajectory of instruction in the district the burning platform here Demands a robust solution and I have some severe misgivings about the Scholastic program cheap among them is that it is not based on the science of reading a close second is that it does not integrate literacy instruction across the science and social studies content area Additionally the Scholastic readers have their origins in the balanced literacy guided reading program that has been scientifically proven to not be effective there are more shortcomings but those are the ones that are the closest to our instruction here in musd on the positive side the Scholastic curriculum has a solid writing program and Scholastic follows our state standards nicely I have read the staff comments on the materials and they are very positive still IBU Scholastic as being an 80 solution to make up for these deficiencies we will purchase and use fundations to teach phonics and phonic awareness oh excuse me to teach phonics and phonics awareness to our k-3 students foundations are subtle solidly based on the science of reading so we can look forward to improved literacy in short order we will also be buying the geodes decodables which are aligned in scope and sequence with foundations we will be sending teachers to get the l-e-t-r-s professional learning which is widely viewed as being the gold standard for training in the science of reading in addition to training provided by Scholastic and Wilson the publisher of Foundations the district is committed to a substantial investment in materials and training so that we can move the literacy needle in a significant way now let me address a couple concerns some teachers have noted that the Scholastic program is not approved by the state this is true however the curriculum is going through the approval process and Scholastic expects to be approved I have secured a promise from the administration that a provision will be included in our contract that if the Arizona Department of Education does not approve Scholastic then we can get your money back I've also secured a promise to offer significant professional development in literacy instruction another concern that has come to me is about the adoption committee the committee members were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement to prevent them from discussing any deliberations with any of the companies that were being considered this is a standard practice to ensure procurement integrity I have reviewed this agreement and found it to be straightforward and appropriate unfortunately it appears that verbal directions was given to the committee members that they were not supposed to talk with anyone outside of the committee to include board members that instruction was completely inappropriate and it undermines the board's Authority if a board member wants to know how the committee worked then we are entitled and obligated to understand that process we are the ones who are going to approve spending millions of dollars on a literacy curriculum so we have the obligation and authority to fully bet all aspects of that process period I don't want that to ever happen again because it interferes with our statutory role of providing oversight of the district so having said that I want everyone who felt silenced to know that you can reach out to Dr Streeter senior staff or any governing board member to share your thoughts observation or concerns regarding the committee's work if I were here tonight I would vote in favor of adopting the curriculum I have considered alternative approaches but we need a core reading program now time is of the essence because kids are advancing through the grades and too many of them do not have the literacy fundamentals in place to be successful well I would prefer a core program that isn't an 80 solution the downside of waiting another year is not acceptable I think we could do better but we just don't have time thank you okay anybody else have anything go ahead Dan do we have any idea what kind of money we're talking about it's about 2.1 million I believe do you you have those numbers sure the anticipated upfront cost with Scholastic literacy is a little over 1.85 million dollars and with foundations by Wilson 000 with an eighty four thousand seven hundred dollar uh annual cost the primary funding source for this purchase would come out of our Esser funding foreign other questions no I'm excited for it I know for gosh 18 years that I've been on the board we've talked about the importance of writing and we all know that our kids it's so easy for them to get on a laptop but when you ask them to write um they'll look at you like you want me to what can we just type it so I'm super excited about the writing um cursive that's been forgotten so hopefully kids will get back on track and and see the importance of it I still believe in picking up a book and the smell of a book you cannot beat that so um I'm excited for the program so I only have one comment I just in as much as we push out something to bringing back the love of it specifically to for children is a big importance too that we've had that conversation as well so besides the curriculum there is bringing back that wanting to pick up the book instant as well so thank you all those in favor aye we'll move to item six Mr contorno discussion approval and policy considerations thank you a job order contract is a contract for a fixed term or maximum dollar value which occurs whichever occurs first in which a contractor is selected based on competitive bid to perform various separate job orders in the future during the life of a contract so with it's a purchasing method used for Contracting Services for mostly construction um statute allows for the governing board to set this limit at any at any level they wish ours is currently at one million dollars the district is suggesting moving that to two million dollars due to a inflation of Supply on supplies um supply chain slowdowns is requiring us to use jock a little bit more often um and then one of the big ones is that our school facilities board um a lot of their projects and that's what actually pushed us with over the million dollars they they want something done fast we're looking at some projects and job order Contracting is their preferred method and it's over the million so um that's the policy DJ e that we would be asking to have it changed deed policy j e is student fundraising activities and we became aware through our independent audit that we were out of compliance with approving student fundraising activities our current policy requires that all fundraisers are approved by the governing board when I'm researching um various other districts language they had changed that to superintendent which infers to our process current process of of principle in the sponsor of the um of the clubs to be the ones that actually approve um so that language is simply changing that one word at the end to be governing board um yes if we were to be in compliance every candy sale every pencil I would be coming to the board and go can we sell so um those are the two suggested changes to the policies dje and jje very short one million to 2 million and I'll just changing governing board to superintendents I just have a quick question so does that mean what do you need to make a motion oh sorry yeah I moved at the government board approved revisions to policy DJ e bidding purchasing procedures and policy jje students fundraising activities hi second okay so let's have a quick question so who um I'm fine with giving that why so we have it at principles in the club what's the what's the what's the re what's the moving it to the um superintendent for what's the well superintendent incorrectly if I'm wrong but um superintendent when we went through the asba um policy review infer it kind of refers to everything they want you to put it on the superintendent superintendent and then delegate that authority to obviously the school level but correct me if I'm wrong the way the way the policy is currently written is the governing board yeah every fundraiser so this would just change it to superintendent or superintendent superintendent designee oh okay never mind yeah okay cool just want to make sure I was like wait what okay I'm good so anyway follow those in favor aye so we'll move on to item seven discussion approval or policy considerations Dr dumler yes thank you Dr this call Dr Streeter members of the board and the community uh this policy um jfabk is has recently been updated by the years assistant policy for admission of students in foster care and the changes are made to conform with the law and the U.S Department of Education non-regulatory guidance as an interpreted by the U.S department so there's been some shifts in interpretation of litigation changes are intended to emphasize that educating students between school child welfare agencies and vpe Ade and mandated collaboration includes assigning a district point of contact for children in foster care some of the definitions have also been amended or added thank you can I have a motion I move that the governing board approved revisions to policy jfabda admissions of students in foster care hi second any questions follow us in favor aye item item 8 discussion approval of corporate education program agreement with Ottawa University Dr dumler and thank you president Lopez again audience as you know we are always looking for ways to help our employees as they further their education we were contacted by a representative of Ottawa University with the request to enter partnership this agreement would allow any of our employees to receive a 20 tuition reduction when they attend Ottawa University's programs and specifically we have an employee working on a school psychology in BDS at Ottawa this will be very helpful for her rich Works through that program approve the corporate educational agreement with Ottawa University hi second next item is item nine discussion approval of Haven totes Inc partner agreement Miss Reedy president Lopez members of the board members of senior staff and our audience as you know in musd we work tirelessly to support students and families and especially through our student and Family Support Services for the needs that extend beyond the classroom and so our Family Resource Center would love to the opportunity to be able to offer fresh food from grocery stores to families in musd that need it currently we partner with the Community Food Bank and we have a lot of dried Drive food and goods that we provide to our families an opportunity to partner with Haven totes would give us the opportunity to serve as a food pantry we would be trained and we would be able to distribute those Fresh Foods to our families in need this agreement would make that possible okay kind of emotion I remember the government board approved a partner agreement with Haven totes Incorporated in the marina Unified School District I second question on this um is this something that's done on the weekends or is it during the week or do we know where are you Dr Rich do you know can you clarify when it would happen during the week okay thank you all right all those in favor aye thank you okay item 10 discussion approval of formal decision regarding second incentive retention stipend Dr dumler I know every year Association pretty much defer a decision about the retention site until such time that we are sure that that's tutorial has to pay those standards and so the agreement requires that the governing board take formal action regarding its decision prior to March 31st Mr Antonio has confirmed that sufficient funds are available to pay the full amount of 500 for the second retention incentive stipend to all eligible employees this includes all employees thank you grab a motion I moved to the government board determine the significant funds are available to pay the second retention intensive and retention incentive stipend of 2020 to 2023 physical Year to all eligible employees a second any questions nope all those in favor aye thank you we will move on to item 11 discussion approval of 2023-2024 governing board meeting dates time and location Dr Streeter this agenda item provides an opportunity to discuss and take action on the schedule time and location of the 2023-2024 must regular governing board meetings in your packet is the recommended schedule for the 23-24 school year if approved the meeting date should be officially posted on the outside bulletin board at the Scott d foster Administration Center and listed on the district's website the dates that are in front of you are coordinated as best we can with Statewide events that happen Arizona school boards Association are holiday break spring break fall break Etc 2023-2024 regular gardening board meeting schedules as presented I further move that the governing board meetings be held at 6 pm at the town of Marana Municipal complex I ARS 38-43103 A5 for the purpose of Consulting with and or instructing the board's representative regarding negotiations can I have a motion I moved to the government board conduct an executive session pursuant to ARS 38-431-0385 for the purposes of Consulting with and slash instructing the board representative regarding negotiations all those in favor aye aye so we will be going into executive session and we will be coming back to adjourn so I thank you guys for coming foreign
the Middleborough stations with 41 Indians take the W here today in this playoff game [Music] do you like yummy snacks and cold beverages they are a huge selection of chips there are other snacks as well you can get Dartmouth merch too open during C period and close after their lunch [Music] here is this week's lunch show [Music] thank you foreign here is the breakfast menu for March 13th through the 17th on Monday there is confetti pancakes and bagel cream and cheese on Tuesday there is breakfast sandwiches and bagel and cream cheese on Wednesday there is many waffle bites and bagel and cream cheese on Thursday there is mini Maple pancakes and bagel and cream cheese and finally Friday there is breakfast sandwiches and bagel cream and cheese along with a cereal variety for every day of the week and for the lunch menu there is bacon cheeseburgers with onion rings sweet potato waffle fries on Tuesday there is chicken bacon ranch sub beef burrito with cheddar cheese Fiesta rice and black bean and corn salad on Thursday there is General salad's chicken lo mein noodles with veggies and roasted broccoli and on Friday there are wild Mike's cheese bites with Patrick's Day Shamrock pretzels cucumber and tomato salad thank you [Music] did you know you can watch the Dartmouth School Community meetings live go to YouTube and type in DHS TV media in the search bar and click on the channel after that go to the live section and not only are the meetings there there are also other Live Events [Music] that's it for this week's episode of dhn and tune in next week to see highlights from the TED Talks here at DHS we've been your host for this week I'm Elijah lavaria I'm Carlton Park thanks for watching [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign thank you all right okay we have a wide variety of different presentations for you this period and uh we certainly hope you enjoy so once again please silence all phones thank you all right our first presenter for second period is Sean Allen nice Sean has been a part of the tedx DHS group for the last three years and he would have been a part of it in 2020 had we not had to cancel because of covid and we are extraordinarily happy and proud to have him back again this year Sean is also a member of the winter and spring track teams and is an officer for the DHS Debate Club he is also an accomplished Viola player and is has been playing that instrument for over eight years upon graduation Sean plans to attend Colorado State University to study medical a mechanical excuse me engineering and minor in philosophy and if you know Sean that makes perfect sense please please welcome Sean Allen as he presents bet on life the detrimental effects of the American Penitentiary system good morning everybody first off thank you all for being here who's excited to be out of class right now come on there you go all right so I want to start off by showing you guys some photos now these are all photos from American prisons from the past three years and I want you to tell me if you can identify some things that these have in common now if you said isolation overcrowding and a complete lack of attention to Human Rights then generally speaking you'd be very right however these all have one more thing in common uh that you probably don't know and in fact all of these prisons on this list have one thing in common and that's these prisons are not operated by the government these in fact these are just some of the 104 prisons that are owned by a single company the Geo International Group which is an American contractor that owns operates and has the complete oversight of American penitentiaries in 17 different states now you're probably wondering what is a private prison and how does it really differ from like a normal one where you might see somebody just go for small or generally large crimes uh pretty much the simplest difference is that unlike government-owned prisons where they have the General aspect that number one the state has complete responsibility for all the costs of every prisoner and complete responsibility for all the actions of a prisoner private prisons are rated are operated by private companies now these private companies are a for-profit organization and they work for the government however these prisons are not exactly the same as some that you might see just everywhere else owned by the state because the fact that these prisons are growing every year they are more violent more racially disparaged and more overcrowded in their public counterparts now given all this you're probably wondering why private prisons these things sound atrocious now of course there's one very simple answer this which is a pretty common answer when you ask anything about government and that's Congress now Congress of course has the sole responsibility of taking the American Tax dollar and saying how can we divvy this up and one of the first objections was the American Department of Corrections which actually houses almost one percent of the entire U.S population is too expensive now you might be thinking oh well you know the way to solve this is with crime reform with change to law enforcement if you have changed the actual Correctional Facilities themselves how can we keep people out of prison but they said no how about we push it off to companies now these companies do not have any real goal except to make money now of course by Dollar it's about five thousand dollars per prisoner per year cheaper to operate a private prison than their public counterparts on average however that's kind of where the cost savings end you see private prisons have a larger inmate to guard ratio which can increase tensions of guards are more nervous about their actions and what they can and can't do because people around them a smaller average sale size and their public counterparts and are generally more overcrowded now these prisons also don't operate with any oversight by the Department of Corrections except for the yearly public review they have their own private employees who are not employees of the state they have their own private restrictions to employ benefits and of course they have their own policies now in public prisons generally speaking the goal is not to keep you in jail now of course America unlike some countries does have more things that can be added to your sentence while you are in jail could extend or prolong it on time that you're in jail however that's almost where it ends for Hope prisons for private prisons they have incentive to keep you in jail because every year that you're locked up you are making them money that could mean more restrictions to your sentence less uh looser or less loose applications for rules and of course packing prisons every year now you're probably wondering well how did this become legal and that's because of the 13th Amendment now the 13th Amendment is a fantastic piece of paper of course it's incredibly influential to American politics and history because the 13th amendment freed slaves falling Civil War and in true American fashion as soon as we did one good thing for minority populations we very quickly found a very bad thing which is that after the founding of the 13th Amendment there was a slight oversight that clarified the legality of prison labor now in America following First Amendment it's completely illegal to have employees that work without a wage or below federal minimum wage for any extended period of time except in the case of prison labor now many of the southern states having just let go of slaves and still keen on the trail of wanting to oppress black people decided that oh we can use this to restore the facilities that we had just had only a few years prior and of course enormous populations of minorities in the south of America were arrested for crimes they didn't commit and Petty activities that they could not control now this whole idea of taking a return on investment and finding profit out of the prisoners would go on to determine the future of American corrections as a whole and not just this small period now of course prison labor in America has generally diminished uh in all states not just the southern states as we were finding less utilization for taking prisoners and turning them insulin to make profit for the country however it's not eliminated and these skills and these jobs that they work in prison are not things that you could translate into a career coming out of jail it's simply something to make up for the lost time as you're housed by the state things like stamping license plates making keychains and filing small claims paperwork now this is not always the case see even today there's still a huge disparity between white and minority populations in jail people are still oppressed and we have done really few things in order to restore balance to number one our law enforcement systems getting people into jail and number two are Correctional Facilities to get people reasonable sentences and stop oppression now before I move on I think it's very important to address two terminology points that are very important moving forward the first of which is recidivism now this is not so popular for word recidivism is a measurement it's the rate at which people who come out of jail will reoffend and return to prison uh within the next the same lifetime Now in America recidivism is very high compared to any more developed countries because the fact that our correction system is not founded around the ideology of building a future it's more so on the turn of course we'll touch upon this more later moving into some of the psychological experiments we've moved forward with and of course Rehabilitation now Rehabilitation unlike recidivism is not a concrete measurement that you can just see on paperwork Rehabilitation is more of a communal goal that you have to continue working forward and it's not exclusive to prisons now Rehabilitation can be done for any housed inmate patient or simply an individual trying to work past an unhealthy habit and Rehabilitation really should be the goal for a correctional facility in the 21st century we're not trying to make prisoners we are trying to make citizens now this idea there we go this idea of course can be translated if we look outside the country this is a prison cell not a dorm room in Sweden now as you can see here we have real wooden furniture full-size mattresses and Outlets things that you would never find in an American jail and this is because their idea of what the purpose of a correctional facility should be is very very different from the United States whether it comes to Simply the cell size or also the entire architecture and design of the building the orientation of the correctional facility as a whole is more so ordinance around creating a community and creating a environment that prisoners can move forward and develop more social abilities and social skills they can translate as I translate into real life now of course there's this argument that oh look how nice this is jail should not be a five-star Resort I mean they have carpeted stairs however a truth be told within further review these types of prisons are far more effective at lowering recidivism I mean once people get out of jail they stay out of jail and increasing paths into Jobs pass into careers and most importantly pass into a successful future for an individual after they've made a bad decision as you can see even the landscape around prisons in Sweden Norway Switzerland and some other stations in northern Europe are all very much about creating a positive environment that mimics life at which they're trying to create they're not trying to form a separate environment in which people are punished or they feel as though they've been completely removed from public life they're simply trying to create and expose prisoners to a world in which they want to live in and the state wants them to live in now this whole idea of punishment versus progress is very very important to realize this whole experiment and the goal this whole experience as a whole you see in America we use prison as punishment the main purpose of Corrections arguably is not so much just to House people who have done bad things and to keep the public safe but it's to have the prison environment as a whole act as a deterrent to the public population to try and stop people from committing crimes in the first place now in theory this might work well you know there's very few places on American soil that are worse than public prisons and private prisons however as we've seen this is not the solution to crime in America crime rates have continued to rise over the past 40 years despite change the correctional system cracked down on loose contraband and worst cases of guard casualties and guard corruption instead American prisons are simply a staple of a way of life in the fact that as soon as you are no longer In The House of the American citizenship you are constantly at a punishment you are simply gone and left to die instead this idea of progress in these experimental prisons is more so about realizing the number one people have a right to a second choice or sorry a check second chance and also of course that prisoners are still fundamentally human and have as many rights to individual progress and opportunities as their civilian counterparts this is Hall in prison in Norway now of course Halton prison is a is a very big topic of discussion all over the world because of their incredibly incredibly high quality of living relative even to other prisons in Norway as you can see here this is a prison classroom and the prison prison classroom sizes in Holden prison usually don't exceed 40 prisoners to one educator versus in America some prison education programs have as many as 800 students to one educator also by regulation throughout Norway prisons are required to have educational facilities for secondary and furthering education for prisoners so that while they are incarcerated they celebrate opportunities to earn something that they can make use of moving out of jail all of Halton prison is oriented around developing freedoms that people didn't have an access to prior to being incarcerated that could be vocational Freedom giving them training into things that they never had an exposure to most people in America as well as the rest of the world who are in jail do not come from wealthy backgrounds where they might have access to good education good training and good opportunities to actually develop passion religious freedom many people come from pressed areas and societies where they don't feel free to express themselves and have never had access to a place of worship and social Freedom now of course social Freedom itself is the most argued of the Halton Prison Experiment given the fact that people in America still generally have the consensus that prisoners who are incarcerated should not have access to choices clearly if you've made one wrong decision you shouldn't have the freedom something to move forward as an individual however that is very much not the case you see when they're exposed to these communities where they can Thrive amongst other prisoners other inmates sorry other guards and other staff and social workers they develop in the citizens not just criminals you see this whole idea of engaging the empathy and engaging the fact that you need to recognize that the emotions of these people are not defined by the fact that they've made one wrong decision or that they've had a poor past it's that people cannot be written off simply because of single bad choice and that you can still make something out of somebody who's had a bad past these people are given opportunities they can take forward with them moving into society and because of that Halton prison has seen an 18 times lower recidivism rate than the average public person in America 18 times you see engaging emotion giving people exposure to things that they might not have access to and also might not even know exist creates better citizens if we're trying to build a world where we can actually see progress moving forward more acceptance and more utilization of resources we cannot write off people because of one bad decision empathy is how we make a difference and empathy is how I choose to inspire thank you Sean for that really enlightening perspective on the penitentiary system our second presenter for period two is Ashton spardella Ashton is a freshman here at Dartmouth High School yes I said freshman Ashton is a member of the Robotics and math teams and is also a member of the marching band and indoor wins Ashton chose his topic because he has always loved math and has helped his peers in math when they aren't too interested in the subject please welcome Ashton spardella as he presents Reviving math instruction foreign the equation x squared minus 2 equals 9x is a fairly simple problem to solve now there are a few ways you could go about solving it but if I told you to solve it by completing the square could you x squared minus 2 equals 9x is a quadratic equation that's learned in Algebra 1 near freshman year of high school algebra 1 is a course where you explore how to use letters otherwise known as variables with mathematical symbols to solve problems now you might be wondering why you learned this in school why is this important school provides people with basic education they use throughout their life with some well some people go to school for 13 years other may go to school for 17 or more it provides a foundation for society and gives us the proper tools to guide us into adulthood regardless of profession whether you have a basic GED bachelor's degree or even went to grad school the education system prepares you for any career in any field at any level but as you go through school your teachers change each year the way teachers teach kids affects them for the rest of their lives what you were taught in school you apply to other classes as you go through grades but you will also apply some things to life it's important for students to be taught well and in a way that helps them understand now there are many different ways to teach and there are a lot of ways to teach math and all teachers have a unique way of teaching one example of a way to teach math is the daily re-looping of previously learned material where you bring in previously learned material so students can build on it each day it's for students to have a base knowledge that they start with so that what they learn is constantly being reinforced another example is accelerated or individualized math which is a system where students in a classroom work at different levels individually it's progressed by them passing a test for each unit another not popular method but still a method teachers use is reciprocal peer tutoring to improve math achievement this is when you have students work in pairs and choose a goal to work towards they tutor each other then complete a sheet of problems individually and get points for the questions they get right now these are a few examples of teaching methods but there are plenty more than just three most teachers use more than one teaching method and there are plenty of teaching methods that work well together for example adjusted speech which is one a teacher changes speech patterns to increase student comprehension can work well with almost any other method for teaching math this is because no matter how a teacher chooses to teach they always end up having to talk and changing how you talk which is the adjusted speech method can be very helpful to students at times oftentimes when teachers work at the same school they'll bounce ideas off of each other and help each other especially if one of the teachers is new this means that there's a chance that teachers at the same school use the same teaching methods this is helpful because even though you're changing teachers every year having a teacher with a similar teaching method as a past teacher you've had will make it easier for you to adjust to their style of teaching although it's a bit helpful chances are the two teachers are still very different this is because even if teachers use the same teaching method there's different ways teachers can apply the teaching method when teachers use the accelerated or individualized teaching method there are different ways to give students the work they need to understand the topic some teachers could use websites online such as Delta math to assign work while other teachers might give you packets of paper with teachers having so many options with ways they can teach students having different teachers each year makes it very hard one year you might have a teacher whose teaching method makes sense to you but the next year you might have to adjust to a teacher whose teaching method makes it so you don't understand what they're trying to teach you when you don't understand what a teacher is teaching you it makes the class unbearable and it means there's a good chance you won't pass now there are a few ways for students to help themselves but also for teachers to help their students for students communicating with their teachers is very important if you don't understand what your teachers are teaching you telling them you don't understand and asking for help is very important the problem with this though is that students aren't always comfortable asking the teacher for help or admitting that they're struggling the teacher can't read your mind you need to seek Assistance or ask if the teacher can explain the problem in a different way so that you can understand it better even then though if you really can't talk to your teacher or you see that as the last option for getting help there's always online websites that can help teach you for example one website that you might have used in school before is Khan Academy is a website that has many different courses on it for math they have preschool all the way to college level courses they even have courses to get you prepared for certain classes this means that if you're worried about your math class before getting too far into it you have a great opportunity to use these courses to make sure you are ready and remember everything you learned the previous year that you easily could have forgotten over the summer another great example of a website is brilliant.org it's been recommended to me by teachers before and also has several courses available to learn for math courses though it starts at algebra which you start your freshman year of high school and goes to advanced mathematics this makes it important for teachers to also be able to realize when a student is struggling and be able to talk to them and offer them help and maybe try to explain what they're teaching in a different way then there's a good chance that the student you helped will feel more comfortable around you meaning that the next time they're having a hard time in class instead of suffering in silence they might just come to you as soon as they realize they need help and being comfortable with the teacher can also make students work harder in that class because they'll want to do good and show the teacher that the help they give is working now I think it's good time we go back to the equation this all started with the equation x squared minus 2 equals 9x the answer to this equation is x equals 9 plus or minus the square root of 89 over 2.
12. um some strategies you'll hear about I'm specifically Target specific grade levels to try to engage students particularly with our kindergarten transition program last year and education with parents and engaging the so what strategies have we put in place we've been doing this since before the pandemic but with an increased focus of attention and effort post pandemic as you can see while our chronic absenteeism rates do near the state and are slightly better for our high needs population they are drastically different than they were prior to the pandemic um so we broke up kind of two different buckets of the things that we're doing one is the systems and District that we have in place to help with chronic absenteeism and the second are the particular strategies that we're putting into place with students and their families so I'll start by first going over the systems um district-wide it's a focus and attention across the district every single building has a school Improvement plan and chronic absenteeism and improving the attendance of students there is a specific component of the school's plans we also have a district at a team where we focus on every single meeting that we have looking at attendance rates and data in addition to our achievement data we also want to see who's here and for those students that aren't here what is the impact um so we're also looking at what what um categories of students you know grade level as Kara had referenced before are kindergarteners our eighth graders our high school students tend to be overall areas that we need to focus attention on and that's how we deploy strategies and resources um we also are looking at um our attendance committees at the school level so every single school has an attendance committee that's typically comprised of building level Administration the pupil Services support and staff member so it's your school social worker School psychologists counselors oftentimes your school nurses and other lead teachers in the building and their effort in Karen and I both push into those meetings quite gradually to talk to them about their school specific data um so we see District level Trends um that we share with the students but certain schools have an increase for example in some of our schools there are more available on our population has a higher level of chronic absenteeism in other states is that their kindergarten or maybe it's their third grade population um and so we talk about specific strategies of who we can Target and how we can intervene um the other thing we've done is through attendance Works attendance works is an organization that has research-based strategies that you can use for um to help both educate families on the importance of attendance and we've noticed that as a really significant area that we have to work on during the pandemic we were telling families if your child has the sniffles keep them home and keep them home for a long time right and particularly for some of our younger families that that was their first exposure to school they're now nervous if their kid has a scratchy throat or a tickle or you know some small little thing that we weren't typically worried about prior sending their kids to school so it's an education around you know pandemic has been well it's still something we're faced with we are kind of on the other side and we are looking at things a little bit differently and really helping them to understand that being in school and being in school regularly is super important um and then lastly really looking at the resources that we have so the Deans are listed up there that is something that the high school has that's a particular focus of their attention and effort particularly with our ninth graders um to get them back on track our family Liaisons that we've been fortunate enough to have in the buildings particularly many of whom are bilingual that help to get the messaging out to our families we really support some of our staff in reaching out to them and really just having individual conversations with families what are the barriers why isn't your student coming to school or your child is already coming to school sometimes it's a lack of understanding of the importance of attendance other times it might be lack of access to Food Services lack of access to daycare it could be a whole host of issues and so those individual conversations are really meant to identify barriers that families are experiencing um and then to help put strategies in place it could also be that the child doesn't want to come to school because they're having difficulty with a particular subject or content here you need it but it's really focused on those individual reasons to then intervene and improve and follow-up on so the strategies I've alluded to some of them Palm visits I'm going you know knocking on the door and helping to get families if you're not coming to us we're coming to you we've also expanded that definition of home visits to also really include any type of meeting that we have with families around attendance we have a phone conversation it could be a Google me a zoom meeting it could be physically beating them out somewhere in the community or at their home but really liaison and with those families and partnering with them that we're not here to criticize but we're here to partner with you figure out the reason figure out an intervention and a plan and ultimately help your child to be more successful in school a big focus of our kindergarten orientations and any of our transitional grades that transition into Middle School transition into high school where we're reminding our administrators to talk to families about the importance of attendance in different expectations as they kind of progress through the grades we're providing academic interventions I reference that one of the barriers is children struggling with learning we know there was learning loss during the pandemic and so sometimes that lack of desire to come to school particularly with some of our secondary students is is fundamentally a lack of being successful in an academic content area and so how are we providing those interventions we is also enhance the opportunities and offerings in our Twilight program which is our after-school credit report one of the barriers we hear our second close-up here are sorry our high school students our secondary students talking about is well it wasn't successful for a semester and so I lost credit okay here's an opportunity in how you can get them back and get back on track and graduate with their class we'd expanded summer school offerings for very similar reasons to provide continuity of education for them but also an opportunity to earn back credits and get back on track we had incentives for school-wise Raffles celebrations prizes things like that for younger students things like postcards and celebrating success that are going out to some of our other students and those are really individualized to the building building principals are able to make determinations with their School attendance teams and strategies that they feel would be helpful it's been a consistent focus of our people services staff team to really talk about those attendance and intervene with families that are strong in that area unless they're really just enhancing our Partnerships this is this is something we need to do together right this if a child is not coming to school for whatever reason the school district and that family needs to work together and figure it out and intervene on behalf of that child to make it more successful so those are um just some quick snapshots of what we're doing sure question account so two things the uh when someone doesn't come to school they call it's supposed to call in and be able to take it what percentage of people when you say actually do quality that's a great question so I can pull if you're interested the what's considered excused or unexcused afterwards and and that's essentially what you're talking about um the majority of our absences are excused um and and because what happens is if we do not hear from a parent that the school buildings are very proactive to locate this child figure out where they are and what's the reason for the absence so um you know that's a strategy that school admin assistants are engaged in that's right you're not calling us or popping now from those first nine days remember our first nine days that a child is absent is that any reason that's given by the parent or Guardian after that that are specific allowable reasons right and the second thing was I saw a whole business on it we actually used to have a person years ago who said people in your house right that that stopped a couple years ago right are you referring to the residency officer that would kind of check to see if students were living in Danbury or people that were going out because there we used to be had a position this is checking if you're actually sick yeah or what this is true yeah yeah um so no this is more of like our school psychologist social worker school counselor administrator sometimes our school resource officer apparently is on um you know you're not coming to usually we're starting by those phone calls um and you know setting up an expectation that you're coming in maybe a meeting at the school um but eventually helping and supporting by going to the house with that amount of students is a lot to get on through yeah and so it's very individualized to the building with their plans I mean Kelly and I support all the buildings and and trying to come up with different and individualized approaches to allow them to know that there is a diverse set of strategies that you can use and and they're very inventive out for me and so there are certain situations that's where we push into the building levels there are certain students that are exceeding that 10 threshold but there is a very known you know medical reason for that absence that's not the child that we're knocking on the door but it's really important to monitor the data not that that we're not keeping in contact with that family of course we are and they're certainly sometimes you know homebound instruction or something that we can put in place um but it's really important to really have those ongoing conversations about why are these kids out what do you know about the family you know what do you know about the situation that's going on any of the barriers that have been a divide um usually what the school-based attendance teams are doing is identifying um a subset of the population that they're going to focus on in the next week or to designate roles for each person who's going to follow up with Coach family and then come back and bring forth and because it's not unique to Danbury we do have the lead Grant which is a part of Connecticut's initiative to to resolve some of the problems and practice that exist right now due to the pandemic it's almost having to unlearn all the things that we were doing for this amount of time like a school culture and climate where it's like just stay home if you need to instead of a little bit about that um real quick will be a child that is slave in two hours or three would be completely absent or late so you have to be in school at least half the designated hours of a school day in order to become very important [Music] but if you've missed more than half this whole day um then then how did you keep track of attendance when school was closed so there were a lot of procedures let me tell you so it was touching base with um at certain points in the day virtually with teachers turning in assignments the state had very specific definitions around what counted as a remote school day so we followed those specific criteria and develop them with the teachers I made a lot of this SQL yeah we had other contact folks that were providing follow-up and we did reopen to sort of report support the remote Learners that were quarantined I mean it was an extreme effort it wasn't anything of all staff and particularly the teachers a lot of this during the time where students were remote learning it was on the backs of teachers to really engage these families and these teachers it was amazing it was really amazing lastly they'll leave brand on just that that has enabled us to have some additional resources both on Staffing Resources as well as the material resources and trainings for our staff to really enhance their knowledge and strategy based on how to engage our families and engage our families in school the purpose of it is really to do just a handful of things increase attendance at school increase engagement at school and then to support the successful outcomes of students particularly those that that experienced the most challenges and difficulties from an educational perspective during the pandemic so we you know we're only one of 15 districts across the state that have been the recipient of these funds this year we've received them last year we did as well we do not know about next year although I'm very hopeful but we have yet to hear about that but this has been a tremendous resource to us to be able to support this work and we're very fortunate to receive this funding if there's any other questions as you monitor The Chronic students do you see an improvement like at an individual basis without surveyors when you do the intervention yes so specifically what we do is we develop sheets for each school on a monthly basis we pull all the students who are chronically absent and what happens is the principle that facilitates with their staff how they're going to engage the families we then keep notes on that and then we are really seeing a change as you see like it's a slight decrease from last year but we're going the right direction and schools that have employed some of these strategies we're really seeing a change and what we keep saying to to folks is like keep engaging families even if you don't see the effects right away because the conversation you have now might not change the behavior at this minute but they might think twice about it next time so if they have that vacation planned that didn't seem like a big deal when we were kind of in a different place maybe next year they will think twice about scheduling that during school time yeah the other thing to remember just to add on to that is once you hit 18 days if you were here all year long you're going to be chronically absent right so there are some students that have already hit that threshold um but even still we may not be seeing the percentage of chronic absenteeism decreasing for those particular students but we're still trying to improve from now until the end of the year so there's not further learning loss um so we we keep track of both the chronic absenteeism rates but also the individual attendance rates by month for those students to make sure that we're seeing Traction in the right direction thank you foreign [Music] board members from videos or events attended anybody what they've been doing two I just want to say that have a great time with um green planes and Park Avenue it was very nice so it's just awesome I also went for the Pre-K at the Ellsworth Avenue Extension the other day this month hey what else can I jump in real quick I went to the city where I PTO meeting on Monday and I just wanted to mention that they have a number of folks who are going to be moving out of leadership positions at various ptos and at the city-wide level so if there are any parents who are watching this [Music] a question on some pranks on the pants and I guess we need to know where to start it's in the elementary school the young man keep coming home with the rotten apples and Rodney bananas so they don't get their food but the lunch people put the food on the trailer now correct by the children do not exchange fruit with other children and I noticed because my daughter my granddaughter said no but you don't do that so my question is you know if there's a concern that will oversees these people to make sure that they're not sinning or giving a kid or Rodney stuff you know it might look bad when they you know one of the spot by time the kid get home and and it had turned brown and it said it can't eat it that's good so um who saw I guess with a question of who oversees to make sure that no child is bringing anything bad about that or feeling in their lunch about coming home they can bring it to the attention of their building principle and our principal will call District office Mr Spang his office oversees the service the contracts for this group but Dr Amy and I have also had a series of meetings with families about concerns and these kind of questions from our dinner what's our attention we'll make sure it's been made aware of our unhappiness of what we're hearing from our students and parents because it didn't happen just once this happened you know it's been happening you know you know I know none of us want our kids to eat bad food or bag anything so you know you really have to be careful of what you're giving it's not good teacher we wanted to do right before thank you I just want to say about the student protests tonight I'm just upset that they didn't come to us first before going to the city [Music] well make their complaints no uh I guess it's about the lack of enough AP classes or bedtime and then um start here thank you sir last Thursday night there was a meeting in public school and I made an unannounced visit and attended that meeting that we shared the concerns of the parents we are there for them we do care and Mr Lawson did a remarkable job sir in a tense situation and uh there will be resolution I am sure I want to thank you for your efforts during that time sir thank you you have an ongoing investigation we will land on some resolutions so thank you um I mean we have a long a couple years before the Career Academy is in full swing I know I'm excited about I know everybody in the city so my question will be at a workshop how do we sort of bring this to full circle to look at it from a poor perspective as to what Danbury High School is going to look like when the move comes of what the Staffing is going to look like and how we're going to start learning that along you know we know we'll work with people the people that's going over to the academy you know they might not think that I'm the best qualified person that works at the Academy so I'm talking about stabbing and people getting have an animosity between another person that gets to go and I don't get to go so I think a workshop I saw a red must know what Danville High School is going to look like once it would change does that make sense we can incorporate that into the next yeah [Music] let's do it let's do it while we can right now um people directly from Ellsworth I just want to commend her for her presentation especially her short focus on academics her math s achievements I do appreciate all the academic achievement news that we have thank you Mary's been in this District a long time but I think I had a motion to adjourn by Teresa second second by June
um yeah these are these are the actual attendant for their current year or enrollment for the current year and projecting out for the next two year um for the current year when compared to our demographic study we actually did a little bit better um we are serving 69 more students than what was was actually projected in the demographic study um and since we're so close we're using the demographic numbers to project out the next two years in terms of the enrollment that uh we'll be serving so the first uh key assumption for revenue is the district's lcff for the current year um there was a one-time investment of 6.70 and the cola for this year was 6.56 um the cola for next year is 8.13 and then in year 2425 a cola of 3.54 we have to calculate aptitude lcf um separately from the districts because they're considered a locally comparative charter school but they also received the investment for this year of 6.7 um the cola um of 6.56 and then for next year a cola 8.13 and then for year 24 25 a coal of 3.54 um the the difference between the district's lcff and aptitude is that as a charter schools they do not have the benefit of Prior year protection for Ada so it's based on current year um other parts of money that is pretty significant for the district um this year um there's the one time and I want to emphasize one time um learning recovery emergency block grant um the district is estimated to receive uh 15.3 million dollars which are restricted funds uh to go mainly towards learning loss um the second pot of money and again this is a one-time money it's the one-time Arts music instructional material discretionary block grant um and the district is estimated to receive about 3.3 million dollars that is a reduction from when the budget was enacted back in June um back in June the state was estimating that Alan Brock would receive five million dollars but given the deficit that is happening at the state level right now um at the January budget proposal the governor is proposing to reduce that funding by by about one-third uh so from five million dollars to 3.3 and then the other big pot of money um and this one is ongoing is the e-lop money um that's approximately for this year um 13 million dollars it gets adjusted every year based on Ada and enrollment um and that's also restricted um those fund are mainly to be used for before after school program um and intercession so we can run um spring break money uh program through that money after summer school with that money um but that's the significant plot of money that uh for for those purposes and then in terms of local Revenue um fortunately the districts did pass measure eye parcel tax um and that will be generating um 4.
so we have these numbers um there's nothing of great concern here um but we do see that the unrestricted fund balance is is quite high it's like 13 million dollars and 19 million dollars in fiscal year 2022 so um oh Brian you have your hand up yeah I'm I'm available to answer any questions that you might have I may or may not be able to answer them but I wouldn't mind just prefacing um before you get into discussion and questions um I anticipated that there would probably be a question about the unrestricted fund balance and you can see the change in that um had to do with how we calculate some of these things like opeb um and pension adjustments landfill liability so these are things that are done at the end of the fiscal year um basically to recalibrate based on current interest rates and um so it's sort of an on paper um re rebalancing recalculation that happens that basically ended up with um an increase this year other years it goes the other direction so you know we can't always rely on that you know so we we one try to maintain um a fund balance that allows us to handle the variability in some of these expenditures um but our principle which I think is really the most important point that I want to make in terms of managing our Solid Waste millage and the revenues is to ensure that our recurring expenses are being able to be covered by our the revenues that we're getting from the millage um so the you know we don't want to be in a position where we're adding um services that could become recurring commitments to the community if we don't have a revenue Source a recurring Revenue source to be able to fund those so we see the fund balance um to be used for things like we need to replace Vehicles which can be very expensive um the drop-off station is another major project which is going to be um you know the price keeps going up I'm sure you're all following that we don't really know what the final number is going to be until we get through sort of a lot of decision making design um but it's in the the many millions um you know over five less than 10ish so we want to be positioned to be able to fund those things and that is what our intention of using the fund balances for obviously we're also seeking Partners in that project as well as grant funding and other Revenue resources so the city would not be footing the whole bill nonetheless our contribution is still going to be significant um so I just don't want you to see a big number 19 million and think that we're sort of Flushed with cash to spend on lots of new things we are very prudent about you know making sure again that we're balancing our budget we do have some resources that will augment some of the services that we are providing in this space through the climate millage um so those are some things that again that's a recurring Revenue source so we are able to utilize some of that to expand some of our Recycling services and and circular economy goals and things like that so with that I'll stop but I just wanted to preface the discussion with some of those points oh great thank you so much Brian that was that was very instructive and so I mean my only concern at looking at this was just the large variation the large variances which are sometimes like a sign that you that um you don't really have control over your um you know over uh over some of the liabilities and some of the assets here so for example with the opeb pension adjustments you know they seem to vary quite a bit from year to year and so uh it's not clear why those are so variable as well as the landfill liability adjustment yeah I'm not really prepared I mean this year interest rates changes has been one pretty significant factor and that has changed very dramatically um over the past few years um so that has in this case worked in our favor associated with some of these liabilities um if we could we can schedule a time if you have much more detailed Financial questions to bring someone from our finance group I'm in to talk to you about it so I'm really not positioned to talk about that I will add one other thing that I did want to mention there are some uncertainties we have moving forward that we would that are changes that we want to make sure that we have Clarity on also before we make some other commitments and one of those things for is our Solid Waste franchise um agreement for commercial um properties downtown so that um and that's you know on uh I think it's on our next Council agenda there's going to be some ordinance changes associated with that where waste management will actually be doing the customer service the building we've been collecting um Revenue associated with providing those services that is going to go away um and now waste management will be getting that because they're going to be providing those services so we we still have some you know understanding to do on what this how this is going to impact us um in terms of you know we were paying people to do some of these services and now waste management is so um you know we're going to be able to repurpose staff and things like that but that does impact sort of our bottom line because we had costs associated with these funds that will not be reimbursed with a revenue Source um we also have a zero all um aware of but renegotiated our contract with Raa provide multi-family and recycling service um commercial um Recycling services and that has gone up on at a rate greater than what our um our millage is providing us so there are things like that that we have to figure out and make sure that we can absorb again before we start really changing the suite of services that we're going to be providing yeah okay great thank you thanks for that clarification Brian that's great um and you know we will be having this as a major uh item on our April agenda um but yeah we appreciate having the finance person there because that's been a traditional interaction between the environmental commission and the Solid Waste Department so um John you have your hand up and then Chris yes I think it makes most sense that we shift into the OR delay the most of the discussion on this to the April meeting and I think it's important um for the reason that these figures without context and without an explanation are hard to interpret um first of all I think um Brian's right about um the unrestricted fund balance and the big shifts that those are things that are you know happening outside of the sphere of influence even of of of the city like interest rates and things like that um but there are other things um that are within our I think our sphere of influence that probably are driving some of these and um I can only um make uh make a conjecture as to what those might be for example material recovery costs went up I'm assuming that might have been um winter Organics collection um it would be nice to know if that's indeed the driver it would be nice to know if what the tonnage of that was and did we you know come that collect a sufficient amount of tonnage um to justify the additional expense and additional greenhouse gases of trucks going around once a month to picking things up so uh what what I do see here which I find uh reassuring is that roughly revenues and expenses are balanced the last two years I mean there's there's not a big variance um at just the operating level which is which is um good and what that reflects is a change from what we saw maybe five or six years ago uh I I shared with a few people I think Steve and Rita in particular a slide that was shown by Creston slotten to the environmental commission I think it was in December of 2017 that showed um big projected gaps between uh revenues and expenses and actually forecasting several years out that the unrestricted fund balance was going to go below zero and we're we're certainly nowhere um close to anything like that and in fact we got communication from Sarah that the target for the unrestricted fund balance has been raised from 15 to 25 percent of uh operating expenses which would put that um at roughly four and a half million if you look at the average roughly of the last two years of 18 million dollars a year's expenses so we're we're well above the four and a half million um that we had before so compared to where we were several years ago there's just I think a lot of good news but I mean my recommendation is not to cut off anybody else's comments or discussion but that I think we're going to get a lot more in the April meeting especially if we get someone from finance and from Opera operations there that can explain some of these things and one of the things that I would ask Brian is that we do get an understanding of if the the target for the unrestricted fund balance is say roughly 5 million and we're somewhere in this let's say 12 to 19 million dollar range um what is it that we might be using these funds for you talked about trucks and we know we want to Electrify um our our trucks um that's going to be a huge expense so it'd be interesting to hear um what what that restricted funds balance could potentially be used for for one-time um type of expenditures so that that's the extent of my comments thanks hey thank you John Brian you have your hand up yeah I'd like to just respond to um a couple of the points I mean the the goals for unrestricted fund balance you know are based on you know best Bex practice to have cash on hand to handle expenses associated with operating on all of this all of these things that are identified here so as we're planning for um some significant Capital Investments that's where we're putting those resources right so you need to take out of that what we're setting aside for the drop-off station and some other Investments as an example and then I think that balance is much closer towards what our our Target would be um you can see in FY 22 um you know our budget our expenses were budgeted to be greater than our budget for FY 22 so we were fortunate um that that's not didn't turn out to be the case um but you know we're you know I I would say it was a good year from a financial standpoint but if what we budgeted turned out to be the case we would have actually had a loss um so you know and there are lots of reasons why it didn't turn out that way but nonetheless you know we are this is a fund that is our route our regularly recurring costs and our regularly recurring revenues are very very close and there is not a lot of leeway in terms of again service growth if we're going to try to meet our financial goals um without dipping into this unrestricted fund balance yeah yep okay thanks Brian any other questions about this um I agree let's let's uh I think we need to table any further discussion about this until April so um let's move on to the next item on the agenda which would be uh the environmental Commission of policy recommendations for 2024.
Madam president and board members our original intent with the superintendent's employee advisory committee was that we would investigate some alternatives for our insurance this year we had a Community member who was an advisor and unfortunately he passed away unexpectedly and time got away from me so I asked and both of the meet and confer committees who happen to be the same folks as the superintendent's advisory committee agreed to have us continue the current contracts for one more year and explore any alternatives we might want to consider for a year from now so what you see is uh just after the last meet and confirm meeting I spoke with our representative from Kairos and uh the annual premiums based on our insurance activity this past year have increased by four percent she told me that the conversation she had with me for our district was the happiest conversation she'd had that day because we had the lowest increase in uh in premiums for this coming year at four percent which is a one percent less than the increase was for the current year so we've done pretty well with our insurance this year and with our medical there have been some issues we talked with her regularly and Kairos attempts to deal with those so she has a couple of new things that she's working on to improve and correct for us emeritas who has our contract for vision and dental and Unum that has our contracts for life insurance and disability both of those contracts were written last year for two years and so there's no increase in those so this is from a financial standpoint this is this is kind of exciting news because we're talking about only about ninety eight thousand dollars in increase in Insurance costs for fiscal year 24.
now you might be wondering how to get to this answer so I'm going to tell you you start with moving the terms with variables onto the same side and putting the terms without variables onto the other side to do this you add 2 and subtract 9x from both sides which leaves you with the equation x squared minus 9x equals 2. the next step is to find the special number and add that to both sides to find the special number you have to take B which in this equation is 9 and put in parentheses 9 over 2 and parentheses squared then add that number to both sides this leaves you with the equation x squared minus 9x Plus in parentheses 9 over 2 and parentheses squared equals 2 plus in parentheses 9 over 2 and parentheses squared the next step to the problem is to simplify the special number which you do by squaring both of the numbers in parentheses but leaving them as a fraction then since 9 squared is equal to 81 and 2 squared is equal to 4 you have your simplified special number which is 81 over 4.
about 4.5 million dollars every year and then on the federal side of the funds um after three um the districts is um receiving about 22.45 80 percent of it can be used for broad purposes uh which equates to about close to 18 million dollars and then the other 20 um is restricted for learning loss and that equates to close to 4.5 million so this chart just shows a comparison of lcf Revenue um between first interim and second interim um starting with year 22 23 you see that there's no change in the cola there's no change in the LST investment um but you do see a net change in um the total um lcf entitlement which shows an increase of about twenty seven thousand dollars um for year 23 24 when compared to our first interim you'll see that there is a increase in the cola from 5.38 um to 8.13 so a difference of a 2.75 and what that equates to is that there's a net increase in lcf entitlement of close to 2.5 million dollars the next year and then moving on to year 2425 you actually see a decrease in Cola from 4.02 to 3.54 um but interestingly enough um you do see an increase in lcf entitlement and you're saying why because when you increase the previous year space that compounds into the the problem year and so um even though there's a decrease in Cola um the net change is about 1.5 million dollars in lcf entitlement so if there's one slide that I would like you to remember this is it um because this really shows the impact of declining enrollment right um this just shows the lcff entitlement from one year to another and it changes so starting in this year in year 22 23 we're projecting to receive approximately 115 million dollars in lcf entitlement now going to next year you see that there's a cola the state's providing 8.13 um in Cola to adjust when we calculate our LC effect but when you go down to the net change you'll see that um even with the 8.13 cola because of declining Logan really generating um 2.6 million dollars and what that equates to in percentage instead of us generating 8.13 in additional funding um the net change and increase is actually only 2.28 so I think that's a significant number to remember because some oftentimes you know you hear you know they talk about Cola and how high it is but due to our circumstances in terms of the impact of decline enrollment we don't generate the full potential um of what we should be receiving and then moving on to year 2425 you'll see that there's a cola of 3.54 but if you go all the way down to the net changes you actually see a net decrease in lcf entitlement of about 3.8 when you compare that to the following year so even though there's a 3.54 cola the bottom line is that we're actually losing um about 3.28 um percent in lcf retirement and mainly that's because of declining enrollment um in terms of the expenditure side um uh Calpers that provide some increases um so for the current year there's no change to the rate itself this is the employer contribution rate um the rate for this year is 25.37 um in year 22 I'm sorry 23 24 um that rate now has increased 27 percent from first interim which was 25.2 and they to continue to increase um in year 24 25 at first interim it was 24.6 but now it's at 28.1 so these are additional costs that the district has to budget for um fortunately there were no changes the rates were all three years it's 19.1 um the districts also assume that step an increase sorry step and column are automatic increases for um all three years of the budget um especially it continues to Rise um um in all but that out years um there's a requirement that we contribute three percent um to our routine restricted maintenance program um and that also is including all three year um of our budget and then for um to deal with a declining enrollment where um building in uh reductions of 16 certificated ftes to align with um uh declining enrollment um of those 16 six of them um currently reside in our independent studies program um so that's part of it and then for year 24 25 again since we're projecting um to continue declining enrollment we're also projecting through uh or factor in 10 less certificated uh ftes and then last year lastly um in the previous slide when I mentioned about the Esser funds all those funds will be expired in year 20 uh 24 25 sorry 23 24 so in 24 25 um the asset fund um that we were used and paid for these salaries in the restricted general fund would now be transferred back into the unrestricted foreign so with those assumption um these are this chart shows the multi-year projection for the unrestricted general fund um starting in year 2223 you'll see that the districts um started the year uh with the beginning balance of 26.7 million dollars we're projecting to receive 125 million dollars in in total revenue a total expenditures of about 93.7 million dollars and then the contribution of transfers this is mainly related to special ed programs that um the general fund the unrestricted general fund makes the contribution um a portion of its more special ed and then the other one is a three percent uh required that we have to contribute to uh the restricted maintenance um with the with the total revenue and total expenditure and transfer out um the district is projecting to add to the fund balance of about 100 um bringing the ending fund balance to um about 29.7 million um that any balance carry over to um the beginning balance for 23.24 um in that year the district is projecting to receive approximately 126.6 million dollars with a total expenditures of 94.94 million dollars um the contribution again to special ed and restricted maintenance um of 30.3 um and again the district is projecting um to add to our unbalance by about 2.32 million dollars bringing the ending fund balance um up to about close to 32 million dollars this ending fund balance um goes into the next year to begin um to begin year 24-25 and in that year the district is projecting to receive a total of approximately 122.8 million dollars in total revenue with a total expenditures of um approximately 100 million dollars contribution again to special ed and restricted maintenance of about 30.9 um and I want to highlight this um this Surplus and deficit um cell right here if you look over the last couple years we've been adding um uh Reserve in each of those years the main reason why we're showing a deficit here is because the exhaust because because of the one-time money expiring and so when those monies expires it starts beats into our our Reserve level and so um in year 24 25 you'll see a reverse Trend where we started the year with about 31.9 we're adding that year with about 23.6 million dollars in reserve uh Mr Chang just the question because you're on this slide so well I can remember uh I noticed that the in in the local Revenue Road uh you know we go from 8.2 million to 7 million in local revenues uh why is there a good one is why is there a drop in local revenues Mr Chang so local Revenue those can be um Grant um that you know we are receiving this year but don't anticipate to receive ongoing um another bucket of money or leases those gets adjusted um you know from year to year as well um the parcel tax is the the big piece of money in that line item um and that that you know remains consistent um for all three years okay okay I was just you know because I we know we measure iPads yeah it's for like I was kind of concerned is there a drop in property values that I didn't know about them uh okay uh please continue thank you and then going over to the restricted general fund um the districts and and for restricted fund is not really beginning balance it's carry over because those are restricted dollars that have to be used for specific purposes and so um in years 22 23 that carryover amount is about 14.4 um we're projecting to receive approximately 82 point million 82.1 million dollars in total revenue uh with a total expenditures of about 115.4 million dollars um and join down the carryover um by 4.8 bringing the ending balance to 9.6 million dollars in year 22 23.
this is going to be brief uh basically I'm going to ask for a volunteer for a couple of volunteers and uh the fact is that uh you know we missed a deadline back in December for the city's policy recommendations and let policy and legislative recommendations for 2023 so what we'd like to do is have I need a volunteer for somebody to review these I'm looking in we have some uh some examples of what the commission had submitted in 2019 is in December of 2019.
very good which is yeah pretty amazing considering all things do I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion that we approve or award insurance contracts for school year to 2023-24 as recommended favor I'm Melinda sabrowski aye Charlene Diaz abstain Amanda amen I Fred Rushton hi Barb zarzicki items 510 revision of contract for certified teachers Madam president and board members as we've been very familiar this year there is a clause in the current contract that has to do with liquidation damages for resignation or breaking a contract in the middle of the year I had a con I had a conversation this week with the attorney and uh [Music] about changing that um and so you can see the wording that he is recommending that we change so the the current wording and the contract is 15 of the annual salary as a liquidation and um uh so I'm recommending and and this dollar amount was what I asked him to to build his wording around uh was fifteen hundred dollars uh for and not a percentage so uh you can see the wording that uh that he has provided and I recommend that we change our contracts to uh reflect this any discussion do I have a motion to accept or to approve this please I'll make a motion that we change our contracts Uh current contract wording for um or reviser contracts for certified teachers as presented is there a second I second that um I'm Melinda sabroski hi Charlene Diaz I'm staying Amanda Ayman hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicki item five one five eleven addendums for district committees leadership positions Club sponsorships and coaching for school year 2023 2024 Madam president and board members I decided since we were going to be talking about contracts and salaries and all of those things to present this early and at the same time so that the addendums might go out as as people prepare to do these things the changes in these I did increase recommend increasing the the coaching addendums by a little bit and then there are two additions in the meet and confer committee I put back in the representative for facilities that was a position that had not existed in meet and confer for a number of years because we contracted that out and then um uh the tat team leader the tat teams at our sites these are teacher assistant teams and so anytime we have a student who is struggling struggling academically struggling behaviorally the teachers usually someone recommends that there be a committee to work on plans to help improve the situation for that student so each site has a chairperson or a leader for that team it takes many many hours so currently that is in the classroom site fund plan and the teacher gets points for doing that but this is such an overwhelming role that someone suggested to me and I thought it was a great idea that we make this one of our one of our leader positions in each of our sites so that is the other change in that list of of leader positions any discussion I need a motion to approve I make a motion we approve the addendums for district committee leadership positions Club sponsorships and coaching for the school year 2023-24 I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski hi Charlene Diaz abstain Amanda amen hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicki item five 12 authorized contract stipends for special education teachers Madam president and board members if you notice this is one of the items in their retention plan that you approved earlier and um and you can see here the document that that would be used so that it's not an automatic teachers have to do you know these particular jobs they have to anyway but the thing is this is a recognition of the many hours that it takes to do a lot of the paperwork and then the revisions after the state department has looked at the documents and said uh you don't have this right so I recommend approval of this stipend for special ed teachers Madam president if there's no discussion I move to approve this stipend for the special education teachers is there a second I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski hi Charlene Diaz hi Amanda amen hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicki item 5.13 Recruitment and Retention plan for school year 2023-2024.
after that you are left with the equation x squared minus 9x plus 81 over 4 equals 2 plus 81 over 4. the next step is to Factor both sides of the equation which will leave you with in parentheses x minus 9 over 2 and parentheses squared equals 89 over 4. then you take the square root of both sides the square root of in parentheses x minus 2 over 9 and parentheses squared is just x minus 9 over 2. then the square root of 89 over 4 is equal to the square root of 89 over 4 just this time you put the square root symbol in front of it this leaves you with x minus 9 over 2 equals plus or minus the square root of 89 over 4. the final step to find your answer is to simplify the problem by adding 9 over 2 to both sides of the equation which will leave you with your final answer x equals nine plus or minus the square root of 89 over 2.
um that ending carryover amount moves over to year 2324 and mainly the 9.6 here are the Esser funds um that we're we're using in year 22 23 and 23 24 and so in year 23 24 you're showing the carryover mainly for the Esther fund um and then projecting a total expense revenue of about 31.5 million dollars uh total revenue of 71.5 million dollars and then um just because we're spending all the yes of fund here we're drawing down the carryover of the 9.6 which brings our net carryover amount to zero um that zero is reflected here in year 24 25 the districts is projecting to receive about 30.8 million dollars with a total expenditure um of 61.8 and against we are we're able to balance our restricted um budget um in the general fund by the contributions from our unrestricted site uh with that next steps and future consideration um you know Reebok May revise is going to be very important for this year um as you can you know if you're following the news um you know the state is running into some serious problem with their with revenues right now so um we're eager to see what kind of information and updates they're providing um Us and other school districts um which then you know will impact um our budget for next year and then in June's where we have our public hearing um for a budget in El Cap and then in the same month the adoption of um the budget are now cat and with that I'd be happy to take any questions thank you okay thank you so much Mr Chang at this time I'll open it up to a public comment okay saying no public comment on item 7.01 I'll move to questions and comments by members of the board uh okay the the main revised usually that's where we're getting more optimistic views and throughout the hard numbers and first and they're gonna in this case we might want to have seen the opposite or uh what should we expect what did you hear from the the sages that CSK or casual or whatever yeah well I mean the message out there is really the rosy years are over um the last two years has been very um helpful and beneficial for school districts in terms of funding um but if we're following just the trend of the economy and then every week you're hearing you know Tech layoffs and um you know that that has an impact in the total um income or revenue and the state relies heavily on on uh income tax and so um we're hearing a different message a different tone um and to be more conservative in terms of um what the Navy revised May reveal the rainy day funds or uncertainty funds that all went out the window or um well the the state yeah this whole fluctuation of the right the state hasn't tapped into their rainy day fund yet so that's one um but the rainy day fund's not going to solve the problem itself I mean the State deficit right now is so huge they've been able to kind of cover this year because last year's budget they padded their budget with a bunch with a lot of one-time funding that we're getting this year um and so even though prop 98 uh funding drops um because they don't have to fund these one-time money or programs anymore they're able to cover some of the programs that are existing that's why in the new budget year they're not proposing an additional program just the ones that you know they have committed to already I know that they usually during the tough times they never paid fully what they oh they gave they gave a bunch of ious for prop 98 money had they been paying up and then going arrears and handing back with the older or or were nowhere even in terms of what their yes in terms of the deferral remember a couple years back they implemented that when we first went into the pandemic and you know they thought it was I mean the budget was going to blow up it turned out differently and so a lot of school districts they actually Implement that and so that resulted in a school districts taking out Trends which is a temporary loan from the state to be able to make payroll and you may recall the um that action that the board took um that's that's a tool in the tool belt um that's probably the first thing they'll go to um if this trend continue in terms of um with the Stateside with their revenue and so while they're not making actual reduction in total revenue they're delaying their payments to school districts um and able to mitigate some of those shortfall thanks just the question uh how long is the delay it is the delay for when the state delays funds I know so they they do it in increments um yeah they do an increments so the way the state pay school districts is that they they pay us on a monthly basis and so they would adjust or reduce some of that funding um but pay back in the price in the next year and they don't pay back all at once they also have a payment schedule that covers up to uh multiple months okay thank you so I see the um deficit in 2425 uh you know obviously with the one-time money is going away um and then the reduction in the cola and just to confirm that's already um counting in the reduction in in the staff that were mentioned that is correct yes um and then I have a question in regards to any of the one-time monies or just funding is there any pocket of funds that need to be used or um allocated or else lost um in any of those Pockets that you mentioned um the the one-time funding the early the learning recovery Grant um that one is really specific to um providing support for learning recovery um and so that that part of money does not require a plan to be adopted by the board um the administration um obviously we bring information to the board um to inform the world how those funds are utilized us for example the Smart Board that the board just approved recently to be put into classroom so teachers have better tools to teach with we're using those funds um The Learning recovery Grant to pay for those smart boards that are going to be going into classrooms um the other part of money is the Arts music instructional material discretionary block grant that money um a plan needs to be approved by the board uh before that money can be expended uh we'll be bringing a plan um Miss Campbell's been working diligently to get input from teachers staff um to you know good ideas on how we can use that money and we'll be bringing a plan for the board's consideration in the near future on that um but again you know that that lengthy title has the word discretionary and so the board do have the discretion um in terms of what they can approve um to use those money for thank you uh yes trustee uh Flora Shelton two questions um first is the one-time monies for learning loss um with those going away what programmatic impacts would we have if any um I'd and maybe I think you might have explained it but I'm still just trying to tease out what um learning loss programs you know might go away and then the second question um is about you were talking about um reduction in certificated uh positions so what's been the like pace of retirements at the district and um how might that offset the loss of ftes um in terms of the pace of retirement um gosh I think we've been averaging about 20 something plus yes per year yeah um and I don't think that includes resignation I think there's another player of resignation that we also see um every year um and in terms of um going back to some of the one-time money expiring um and again miss Campbell and I and have been working on you know how to how to mitigate that uh when those money runs out um and some of the ideas that we have you know um with some of the one-time money running out there's actually more one-time money the learning recovery grant that we talked about we have until year 27 28 yeah to be able to use some of those funds and so when the Esther money runs out we're able to cover some of the um because the Ester money I think we hired um we use them to hire some additional counselors that uh uh were needed especially during the pandemic and that was very intentional in what we did um and we've been working out other options in terms of what other money can we use to continue those services for our students um and the learning recovery um Grant um is is an option for us okay those counselors of course one of the big programmatic chunks okay thank you okay uh I see superintendent now so remember when colvera was talking about the the grant under local uh revenues were very aggressive pursuing you know further grounds we have in the Horizon the Community Schools grant that might be able to continue you know some of the work that we have started with the SEO so we're being very deliberate in terms of how do we fund you know the the future in that way okay trustee Chavez um excuse me for the way I'm going to talk right now I can barely uh and for my tardiness I had oral surgery yesterday split some stitches and had oral surgery right before the meeting so I have several questions Mr colvera one of them being um what is the student number that you used for each year in your projections of the decline in enrollment uh was a 200 300 400 what number was it uh it's it was different numbers yeah um no it's in the presentation okay presentation highlighted them that's when I was on the road just so that everyone can hear um in year 23 24 um a reduction of 364 um from Year from the current year and then in year 24 25 um 283 um from year 23 24.
um this is uh this is um a topic that's uh sometimes fallen from Fallen beneath the radar especially during covet and um you know based on Communications problem so I'm just trying to regularize a process where we can interact and and get our input into to city council and to staff in time for these to be uh for these policy recommendations to be uh you know to be completed including input from the not just the environmental commission but the other commissions as well so um so is somebody willing to take to take this on as a um right please raise your hand electronically you know anybody going once going twice hey Steve is this a question that could be referred to each one of the working group's natural features pollinators etc etc I could do that so that was going to be my backup so I guess I'll manage that process and what I'll be doing is we'll have we'll have a meeting with the people who are uh leading the different working groups and committees okay so you'll be hearing from me later today so um okay so moving on to the next item reports from committees other commissions counsel and share so let's do the Committees first uh um natural features no comment okay um Solid Waste John zero waste we're gonna call it right I mean zero waste yeah uh we're continuing to work with our CE student group their reports coming in in a few weeks and Sam McMullen is organizing uh another larger group meeting sometime later this month I think that's about it anything else Lisa well Sam's also doing that zero waste challenge at the University this week which is great really good to see yeah that was a great program so um okay thank you John um how about pollinators Rita you're muted hi yeah thank you um first off I want to thank my fellow Commissioners for who've joined in on the pollinator work group we've had some some good discussions um we are working toward a spring and actually a full range of seasonal approach to supporting pollinators in the community and kind of modifying what was Nomo made last year um so stay tuned we're still working with City staff on a Communications plan and a method so that we can get information out effectively to people to help them participate and understand I'm also looking forward to adding some comments to that policy document because I think we'll have some good ones right that's it all right thanks Rita um so water quality I don't have anything to report this month um so let's move on to other commissions um um let's see um Ann Marson is absent so that's it for the Parks Commission and uh Dharma Ackman is absent so the Transportation Commission uh we'll hear from them next month uh or maybe in a few weeks actually since this is technically the February meeting so planning um Shannon filing commission updates we had a series of meetings canceled so we don't have a ton um to report here but there are a few things um one was uh that we were supposed to be working on the electrification ordinance but that has been stymied by a lot of things and so we're looking forward to that coming it is in the hopper um and then the other big one I think is the 415 West Washington uh project that the city is putting uh that the Ann Arbor Housing Commission is kind of shepherding through the entitlement process um and that it's uh it's a Brownfield site with floodway and flood plain and uh there's a lot of controversy in back and forth around housing and in that area um given the flood plain but also realizing that there's a lot of it's not a super straightforward thing because um it's very going to be very difficult to clean that site up unless there is some sort of development on it so it's one of those like really tricky sticky situations that's not easy to um not not super black and white there so that's still kind of um filtering through uh the process um so I know some folks on environmental commission have a lot of opinions about that too um so anyway that's that's that happened in this last stretch as well okay thanks Shannon um energy yes uh we canceled our February meeting for the reason that Shannon mentioned and that was that uh um we were planning on a joint session focusing on natural gas ban through uh change to our ordinance our zoning ordinance and um in our meeting next Tuesday we've got a number of things uh and some of these I think are important for the environmental commission we're going to get a report from Missy Stoltz about the community climate action Village and the fiscal year 24 and 25 budgets um I don't know if that's on the radar for this group but it seems to me it would be of interest um we're going to have the same presentation that Michelle gave today um we are also going to consider uh the resolution that was referred to energy commission um asking the city administrator to engage with the Michigan legislature and the Michigan Public Services Commission um to advance energy equity and resilience in uh the aftermath of the recent power outages that we've had um and um we're hoping that'll be interesting we're going to have a second reading of the performance transparency resolution so that will most likely go to a vote and then there's a new resolution um that is going to be considered as in first reading which is going to be in support of accelerated action on an ordinance to ban a natural gas ban in new construction given that it's been two and a half years and we still don't have anything in place and I think equally important included in that is going to ask for um support and devising and implementing interim measures that could incentify all electric construction the concern being that if we do Implement a natural gas ban we already have received a letter from the Home Builders Association saying that it's going to be challenged legally and we don't know if that legal challenge will be dismissed in one day or take three years to rectify so the question is what are we going to do in the interim so that we don't have an average of a project a month coming forward that is not going to be all electric so those are the things that are on our agenda for next Tuesday okay thank you John yeah I would urge everybody to watch this Commission meeting and um and track this I know these items were part of the uh of the legislative and policy document that the city council released back in December uh their major things as Matt brokoff told me two or three years ago when he's working on the Viridian project this sustainable construction is illegal in Michigan it is illegal sustainable construction is illegal and it's due to state laws not not local ordinances so um okay so uh uh now Council report um I know dharma's out of town so uh um Lisa um yeah so the main things are that Hansel approved a Brownfield plan for the Villages of Ann Arbor and uh that plan enables really it enables a blighted site that's the location of a capped landfill to be repurposed for residential use and an element of the Brownfield plan is 1.2 million dollars that's much needed to implement a very strong recommendation of the Lower Town traffic study which is to have a roundabout at Pontiac and duvaran that roundabout will be a ways incoming because the city has to apply for other funds um to make up the bulk of it um so and then next council meeting is when 415 West Washington the the kind of pre-entitled plan will come up and be voted on so that's sort of a heads up and I can't think of there may be more that was well yeah uh as as Mr steglis steglitz mentioned um council is working on those changes to the way the billing is done for commercial providers and that will be finally approved at the next upcoming meeting that's not really particularly controversial um and Council approved the extension of raas contract for another three years and four months to be collecting uh multi-family recycling okay thank you Lisa so um let's see so now we come to the chair report I have a quick question yes sorry um Lisa can you explain um the obviously in the Brownfield tax credits that were approved for the Village um as you just said there was 1.2 million dollars that was included for the roundabout um is there any problem in for example increasing the credit from 31 million to I'm just going to pick a number 33 million that would have enabled Robertson Brothers to fully Electrify the development and just as a as a matter of comparison the city received a grant for five hundred thousand dollars to Electrify 20 homes in Bryant and so I understand that money is not coming from the city's coffers and is not coming out of future tax revenues but it gives an idea that we're we're essentially willing to pay twenty five thousand dollars a unit to Electrify them and the question is would it have been possible to go to Robertson brothers and say we will sweeten the pie with our Bronco tax credit if you would fully Electrify the development including the 320 Garden Apartments we definitely did that um and Robertson Brothers seriously considered it and they were unable to come up with a figure of how much they thought that that would cost them and there they were also concerned about [Music] um Market uncertainties both rental market uncertainties and energy market uncertainties and how those would affect the competitiveness of those rental units on the market and so given the uncertainties and given that they were unable to um I mean it's not that they they just didn't they they were unable to come up with a figure uh in you know an outlay figure and then they were concerned about everything that remains uncertain even if they could figure that out and so that possibility just didn't go anywhere but I know that staff worked very hard to suggest that and Robertson Brothers worked very hard to think if they could do it I'm happy to welcome commissioner good Brandel to provide any other information that she remembers on that yeah I think you were more involved in the actual negotiations with them so um I know I know that the whole Market uncertainty was definitely a piece in terms of um the delays that all electric buildings seem to be experiencing with hookup um and then I think also just um and this is I guess my own interpretation that it's pretty hard to make these work if you haven't been designing them from the beginning with that um orientation and then it's hard at the Planning Commission level to kind of catch people later in the process to be able to have them transition that um as it really is a different order of operations for how you design um and I think people are getting the message and more people are arriving with that now um but that the honor when they first came to us it was I don't know a year and a half ago or something like that maybe um so you know they they pivoted on some things but they didn't on others um so I don't know if I if there's anything more he said I can't quite remember I think that's really really helpful to mention and I think it's also helpful to mention that it's not just that um you know developers are changing their mindset it's also that Planning Commission in OSI have really started to formalize a process where OSI comes in and provides feedback when staff are beginning to see these projects when planning staff are beginning to see these projects because they go they're they're sitting with staff for a long time before Planning Commission sees them and so at that stage that kind of collaboration so there was an extensive memo from OSI and Robertson Brothers but that process is happening earlier now than it was for the Robertson Brothers proposal and so and until we have some kind of um Universal formal requirement that affects all new development um that's it's still going to be hit and miss about the extent to which a developer um really takes that process seriously and lets it change what they're doing and I I have to give credit to Robertson brothers because we lack that requirement it came to them late and they made a lot of changes I know they didn't go all the way but they made a lot of changes yeah yeah I mean I hear out there in the community and the Building Trades that Ann Arbor has a bad reputation for just spending too much time going through a permitting process so anything that Council and staff can do you know to uh you know to consolidate the process and make it more efficient I would I think would be greatly effective for a lot of parts a lot of goals of the city has so um any um okay any other comments on that okay so um uh now we come down to the chairs report and I'm just going to say that it's become um obvious to us um um at least uh to uh the natural features working group and myself and Rita that there has not uh that with this has to do with the upcoming comprehensive plan you know there's been talk for years that the Master Plan update was going to happen um selection of a consultant was talked about a couple years ago but it hasn't it hasn't happened yet there isn't even a consultant assigned to help with this process and uh the commission the environmental commission was not um uh was not provided an opportunity to input so it's not really and and a lot of the natural features uh committee's work has been um has been shut down at what we'd perceive as the last minute because of this comprehensive Plan update and so City staff wants to fold you know the natural features ordinance suggestions that we've been working on for some 10 years at least um into the comprehensive master plan but it's a comprehensive plan but it's not clear how this engagement is going to happen so um I understand there'll probably be a steering committee so I think it would be good if Council and staff could try to clarify what um what they're going to provide for not just the environmental commission but other inputs from the commissions into the comprehensive planning process we have not been contacted at all up until now so I think that's a uh that's a gap that should be closed given that you know we are the organizations that are supposedly trying to integrate Community concerns and um and staff concerns and Council concerns so as a forum I think it's I I personally as the chair of the environmental commission I feel like this has been um um something that uh might cause more delays and inefficiencies than whatever you know anticipated uh uh you know whatever whatever is in whatever the thought process is here so I I'm just looking forward to getting some report um once there is a consultant and once there was a process developed about how commission inputs are going to be integrated into the planning process that's all and um let's see so um that's all I have to say uh are there any comments what people have maybe I don't see any hands up so let's move on to the report from staff yes thanks Steve um I have a few updates uh my first one was uh the comprehensive plan I'm just letting you know that uh once we have updates on that I will be keeping you updated on that process and letting you know of any opportunities for engagement with it um second update uh is that Ann Arbor is going to be celebrating its Bicentennial in 2024 which is very exciting um so we have both uh an internal uh and an external committee um that are planning activities and celebrations across the city um they we do have a website up at A2 bicentennial.org that you can keep an eye on for updates on that uh from OSI uh our next sustainability series uh will be on March 29th and that will be discussing home electrification uh in addition uh from June 4th to 10th will be a 2-0 week our annual event uh celebrating the 18-0 plan uh and we are looking for ideas uh for activities uh that can be hosted by OSI or collaborators have any ideas on that for entities we know uh and then finally uh the Ann Arbor 2030 District in collaboration with OSI has launched a new A2 area commercial solar program uh which is designed to help commercial properties in Ann Arbor and throughout the county access the benefits of clean renewable energy by providing one-on-one assistance to screen properties for four potential uh helping with the design and release of requests for proposals to qualified installers uh helping to review post installation energy bills and more so that program is now up and running which we're very excited about uh and those are my updates all right great thank you Sean um uh John you have John caller you have your hand up yeah Sean I was wondering if you had any more information about the trainings regarding the open meetings act I think everybody understood kind of the message that went out but left me with a lot of questions in terms of operations and working together so having those sooner rather than later would be great any information on that yeah thank you for that question uh so as far as I'm aware uh the clerk's office is planning for those trainings to happen uh in June um since the term limits for uh folks are expiring in May and so we're going to have some turnover across the commissions at boards um at the end of May uh so those trainings are going to be happening in June or possibly but sometime in the early summer okay thanks Sean any other questions for Sean you know I hear and see none so let's move on to the uh the next item on the agenda is items for the next agenda this would be for our uh Mar our March 23rd meeting so the ones that are up now are discussion of the Greenbelt millage uses with Remy long from Natural Area preservation department uh finalization of policy recommendations for 2024 which I mentioned earlier so we'll have to move quickly on that um and then there's a discussion of the 415 West Washington zoning application including presentations from Jerry Hancock and Derek de la court and I just want to remind people at this point that our bylaws say that we are are not supposed to comment on individual developments now we are supposed to work on on the city's policy on the city's General policy so this discussion of the 415 West Washington will focus on the flood we'll focus on the um you know uh strickling on the water uh on the on the on the protections from potential floods in the future okay I just want to emphasize that right now uh Brooks you have your hand up uh yeah for the next meeting since I'm new to the group would you like to me to do a short introduction so people know who I am in my background that's the next thing I was going to talk about so I'd like to welcome let's all welcome Brooks Curtis to the commission he was just appointed a few days ago and um yeah uh you have Laura Brooks for as long as you like okay um so I retired about two years ago from General Motors I worked there for almost 36 years doing uh mostly manufacturing engineering conveyor system designing the assembly plants managed a group of Engineers for a long time doing that uh developed all the corporate standards for conveyors trained people in other regions executed large projects in multiple cities and states and countries and and things like that so that was what Mike did for work um when I retired I knew I had more time so I started looking into doing they're getting more involved in the the city government type things which is why I applied for this commission and some of the other ones from my environmental background about 10 15 years ago I started doing ecological restoration work days starting at U of M and then with the city nap and I've continued to do that I'm currently the park Steward for nap at two parks bird Hills and sunset Brooks and I also support the park stewards on Miller nature area and Mullen nature area so spend quite a bit of time out there doing that I volunteer with some of the other organizations organizations like uh the County's nap which is same name but slightly different group in a variety give 365 in a variety of other groups that are like 10 000 trees and things like that just as different volunteer opportunities come up um and also I I got appointed to the Elizabeth Dean fund like a month or so before this one showed up so I I'm getting both and that first meeting is next week also so um anybody have any questions for me um not at this point um I'll give you a call so um I think one of the things is um we'd like you to think about which working group you would like to contribute to okay yeah I need to know a little bit more about them but we can talk about that and figure out where the what needs to be done yeah yeah I can share a document to you too with you and we can have a discussion about any questions you might have about the commission okay all right so um so the next item on the agenda there's the next scheduled meeting which will be March 23rd uh at 7 pm for our regular March meeting uh Rita you have your hand up I hope this will be a quick one um I was just since we're here Lisa I'm hoping that we can have an update at some point on the chapter 40 revisions and where it is stands in the city legal process actually we have that update and you should check in with Dharma Ackman about that she and Sean had a machine Mr Reynolds had a long uh Email exchange about that there are two paths forward uh commission council member Ackman is interested in shepherding this with you so uh I think she she's in Nashville right now which I think is a vacation or maybe it's work I don't know her dog went so that means vacation to me um so um I would follow up with her and and um get her thinking on how to move forward but I think the idea is to kind of shake it loose and not to enable staff review without waiting for legal review is what I think it's doing and if I don't know Mr Reynolds if you want to take something in there that was my understanding as well thank you okay that sounds like a path forward so um Anya you have your hand up yeah I apologize I can't do stuff through uh oh gosh I'm too thin um I had to hop into my car because I had a 12 30 I have to drive yeah yeah sure and could you I'm actually logged in on my phone to do you mind letting me in that way I think I mean but as if you are not a participant I'm not sure if it matters yes I just uh promote a panelist request too okay we have left on the agenda is the public comment period so okay you can okay listen that way I don't want to shorten people I know I I know um okay thank you very much so um so any more discussion on this agenda item nope I don't see any so um let's move our next item uh before adjournment is the public commentary so uh this is another opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes please call 888-788-0099 and enter meeting ID 963-9100-2023 again that number is 888-788-0099 meeting ID 963-9100-2023 this information is also displayed on the meeting agenda and video feed City staff will select callers that will raise their hand one by one using the last three digits of your phone number in order to electronically raise your hand to indicate your desire to speak please press star 9 on your phone you will hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any television or background sound so that we may hear you clearly please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments and be patient there can be a delay of up to 30 seconds to make a connection Sean is there anybody on our line yet well while we're waiting I'll just say that um I'll just say that we had a lot more public commentary before coven when we were in person our in-person meetings generally were attended by uh uh up from anywhere from five to 20 people so um I I just want to throw that out there that this may be another example of you know of online versus in-person interactions you know with the with the city with with the city because we had a lot of young people show up as well as as well as people from um you know from communities outside um you know the norm the normal channels so um is there anybody on our line yet Sean there is not okay well um in that case I'm going to declare this meeting adjourned at 12 19 sorry for the uh going over time thanks everybody bye-bye thank you
this is what we saw earlier right it is but you also uh Jen brought you the the updated version so um the other Reverb I think and Cass is the feedback right now we've already had a discussion on this but are there any further thoughts nope I like it okay do I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion that we approve the recruitment or retention plan for school year 2023-24 is there a second I second it all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski foreign item 514 absorption of teaching positions from Esser 3 into maintenance and operation budget uh Madam president and board members as you recall we've had a 16 17 16 or 17 teacher positions paid through sr3 for last year and this year those were established to create reduced class sizes to help us [Music] restore learning opportunities for our students from the from the pandemic years um that Grant as as we've stated ends in September of 24 but we need to start phasing out of that and uh so 13 of those positions I'm proposing that we move 13 back into mno uh we've had unfortunately also a drop in enrollment this year by about 100 students don't know the reason for that and we have a number of unfilled positions so in terms of budgetary considerations moving those 13 positions back into mno does not create a problem for us and we'll have some positions that will simply go away but they will be handled via a attrition or they are positions that currently are not filled so we're not talking about riffing anybody we don't want anybody to think that their jobs are at risk because they're not this would just be that we are absorbing the cost of these 13 positions in our mno budget okay discussion do I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion that emotion that we approve the absorption of teaching positions from sr3 into the maintenance and operation budget is there a second I will second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski aye Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton abstain Amanda amen sorry hi Barbara ziki I love it em 515 possible absorption of counseling positions from great various grants into the maintenance and operation budget Madam president and board members currently we are in year three excuse me year three of the safety grant that pays for the school resource officer at Fox Creek and four of our five um counselors and then we have other grants that pay for the the fifth counselor that we have um superintendent horn has excuse me has indicated both sides of this he's indicated in some conversations that counselors will not be cover will not be considered for schools in the safety Grant unless there is an SRO on the campus and then he has also said that it will not apply to those districts that are reapplying for the grant which is our case so it's still a bit confusing and um uh our folks recognize that having counselors in each of our schools these past two years for the first time in over 30 years has been a real benefit for our students and our staff and so our leadership team recommended and I certainly support the idea that if and by the way Jen has filed those uh has has filed an application for renewal of our safety Grant um but in case that doesn't happen in case it's denied because we do not have an SRO in each of our schools our leadership team recommends that we make sure that we still have counselors so two two other pieces of information one is there is not a police department or Sheriff's Department in the state that has enough Personnel to put an SRO in uh in every school even if we had the funding to do so there are not enough people to do so and probably not enough retired officers and folks who could who could qualify for those kinds of positions they're just simply are not enough folks number one number two I don't know that any of us think we would need a full-time SRO in our elementary schools is that a requirement for the grant that they're full time at each school yes that was a question and yes currently but that's part of what's confusing Amanda is is that in some occasions superintendent horn has said there must be the SRO to be considered you know in in the site to be considered for the counselor or in some districts have chosen to have social workers with that safety grant funding so on the one hand he says that this but then in other conversations and other times he said but it doesn't apply to those re you know applying for a renewal of the grant so it's confusing and where you know nobody's getting a straight answer and so we're just we're just trying to we're trying to play all the angles to make sure we still have uh still have these folks um uh and uh and financially with our budget we can afford to do this I'd prefer that was paid for out of the safety Grant but we can't afford to do this and um so that that's one reason and having run the the class size numbers and those kinds of things because the principal said even if it means increasing our class sizes a bit this is too valuable this is too valuable for us I've only had to recommend that we increase class sizes by one student um so this this you know even us investing in this is is in the best interest of our kids and it's sustainable and it is sustainable there we go do I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion that we um approve the absorption of counseling positions from various grants into the maintenance and operation budget is there a second I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sobrowski aye Charlene Diaz I am and amen I Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicki item 5 16 edition of professional coaching positions student achievement coach Madam president and board members when you heard the presentations earlier from the two schools both of them are have included in their three big issues making sure that we have appropriate in a training for our teachers um uh and we have we have awesome coaches who work with our teachers but as we were working uh Mrs Lott and and uh Miss Hall and I at the district level on the district plan one of the things that we recognized is that we don't have a coach who really knows uh uh who really has background and skills in helping our teachers know how to uh maximize instruction for special education students El students and uh so um not only could would this position help with the special ed teachers and the El teachers but General Ed teachers because General Ed teachers say to me I would I would love to be able to differentiate effectively for more effectively for my sped students and my El students and and my gifted students if I knew how and uh and this would be something that Miss Hall would be outstanding at doing but as special ed director and the person who's running the Life Academy she doesn't have time so we recognize that this this is this is something that would be very helpful for all of our teachers throughout the district so it's one coaching position that would cover the whole District in terms of assisting our teachers in learning additional and more effective ways of differentiating for some of our special populations that's a good idea any discussion do I have a motion to approve I'll make a motion that we um add a professional Coach position for student achievement or student achievement coach is there a second I'll second that all those in favor I'm Melinda zabroski hi Charlene Diaz I am and amen I Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicky item 517 proposed salary or proposed school year 2023 2024 salary schedules for classified staff uh Cass if you would put up the placement schedule first Madam president and governing board members I'm recommending that this be the placement schedule for uh the next school year column five is highlighted because this is the proposed salaries for bus drivers and this has moved this column it was column four and it has been for several years column four and I'm recommending that we move it up to column five in an effort to attract bus drivers and those folks the 14.25 which is in Lane one cell one row one step one will be the minimum wage in January so rather than start with a salary schedule now and then have to adjust it in January I'm proposing that we start the year with the minimum wage the salary schedule built on the minimum wage that is a 40 Cent increase from the current base this year's current base and um and then the three the 30 Cent step steps occur uh throughout this so this would apply to anyone who currently is uh has worked in the district five years or less or who will be new to The District in uh in the new school year Cass if you will show the other one thank you this would be the longevity schedule which would have at step six and Step 11 of that additional salary bump that was recommended in the retention plan and right now these two steps are the ones that we can afford my plan would be that for fiscal year 25 that we add the the the additional bump at 16 for 16 year and then the following year add the one for 21.
and this is how I choose to inspire [Applause] thank you Ashton I hope he's available to tutor okay our third presenter for period two is Ryan Aruda [Applause] Ryan is a senior here at DHS Ryan has also been a member of the tedx DHS club for the past three years and again so helpful thank you for his technology skills we couldn't do without you Ryan additionally he is a member of the DHS theater company and DHS TV media where he hosts his own show ryanology Brian is also an accomplished musician having been in the DHS marching band in ninja percussion for the past five years and Ryan chose his topic because he is very interested in technology Ryan would like to thank his parents his dad is here myself thank you Ryan Mrs Souza Miss Telly Mrs Thomas Mrs Pavlik Mrs Vieira Mrs lens Mr perrotti and Miss Keenan for their support throughout the years here at DHS please welcome Ryan Aruda as he presents technology the setbacks we face with our creations thank you the iPhone can I get a show of hands how many of you woke up this morning and this was the first thing that you took out and you looked out about 50 percent it's an amazing piece of technology that keeps us connected every day and it keeps us working as a world but we need to understand the real world implications of these things how is this going to impact us in the future later down the line well to go in the future we do have to step in the past so let's take a look at the birth of modern technology this was a earlier computer made in the 1940s and 1950s around World War II that made around 100 operations per second not too bad the average device 5 billion per second so we have advanced extremely over time from a generally simple device to now super computers this is also on the right a five megabyte Drive being loaded onto a plane five megabytes and for those of you that do not know the iPhone 64 gigabytes 1 000 megabytes is one gigabyte so you have this large large piece of Hardware when now we have these amazing fast supercomputers in our devices that allows us to stay connected when this really only had some storage purposes so let's look at the computer timeline we have generally early our computers taking things like these floppy disks if I can pull it out of my pocket here small storage on these devices where you'd be able to load one app it would be you know the user interface would not be generally pleasing but over time we've developed and we were able to get things like the MacBook and later's Windows processes and while this is great and all we do need to understand what we are setting up for us in the future because at the beginning people came here to this country and countries all around the world as Farmers people who wanted to make a living people who were living for their family and some people and some technicians decided to whip up some copper wire put it together and they made flashlights from there we have things like the telegraph Plumbing driving and now shipping and computers but we need to understand the implications of these things while this is great having the computer and staying connected all the time and scrolling through Instagram and Tick Tock and apps like that we need to understand what setbacks we're creating for ourselves in the future and the first step back can be seen with social media earlier social media websites would have looked like this one like Facebook and it was generally simple it was a chat box where you would have your profile picture and you could share photos with family and friends and well it does have the advertisements on the right side over here generally it was an ad free website where you would be able just to share a little bit about yourself and Maryvale University puts it best when they say that social media existed to help end users connect with their family friends and people with like-minded interests and that is one of the great things and that's why it was created unfortunately however as it went on it kind of just ballooned into this thing where people's identities got sucked in and it really just started spreading to them hiding behind an image almost to the spread of misinformation as many of you know recently misinformation has been kind of a hot word and things like the 2020 election we'll get back to that quote but the 2020 election uh buzzwords like fake news as well as the coronavirus and coronavirus vaccine with the spreads of social media unfortunately we were not able to find the information that maybe you wanted to see or maybe the information that was truthful unfortunately it just continued spreading and that is one of the setbacks that we still continue to face with social media because you really don't understand what you're saying and the French philosopher Voltaire puts it best those who can make people believe absurdities could make people commit atrocities so now unfortunately there's not much we can do with social media but there are a few things that we can individually do to move along with them we're going to hit our next topic now which is security so Security on computers were originally in a summary of this quote would be it was physical security you'd have brute force people standing by a door or standing by this large device and they'd be protecting this amazing thing of Technology But as time kind of went on we were able to create different things for cyber security purposes online because when we go to the MacBook you're not going to have a huge person guarding it so different apps like Avast and Malwarebytes were keeping people safe online and that's one of the great things about security but unfortunately things like cyber breaches cyber attacks happened and if many of you do not know it actually happened locally as well Bristol Community College as well as Bridgewater State and Swansea Public Schools faced a huge Cyber attack recently where their schools had gone completely shut down no classes could take apart and as many of you would probably want that to happen here obviously not a good thing people couldn't enter people couldn't do anything and they actually had to pay out a ransom to this hacker group so while computers have been this amazing amazing thing which keep us connected and keep us going every day allowing us to go into our workplace make our jobs simpler make our lives easier it does have its setbacks as well as the creation of AI so the goal of AI is to provide software that can reason on input and explain on output for many of you that don't know basic Google is AI and that's one of the great things about technology you're able to Google something search something up and you get a result right away but that's AI when it says hey here's a suggestion for you or you may like this that's AI at its best telling you here you go you want to see something then here you go unfortunately however this was another thing that especially recently has created almost this huge hole and I think Dr John Santos puts it best as we continue to develop new technologies it is crucial to consider the environmental social economic and security impacts to ensure sustainable and Equitable future and for those who don't know he has a PHD in computer science at Harvard right nope the quote is fake from chat GPT that is a fake photo from online made using an AI facial generator website and that name was just something made up on the spot this is the issue yeah this is It's the real issue though with AI because over time as we continue anybody can be Dr John Santos while it's great and it allows us to enable things like Google to use us to search things every day and get to what we want this can be anybody and it can be used anywhere like I said open AI not only have they used the well-known chat gpt3 but they use a software called Dolly which can create just AI generated images and while that face wasn't made from that website companies like open AI are pushing further into the future to make it one day maybe a world where you won't see people going around and it will just be AI generated things especially too Bing's AI is kind of gone off the rails a little bit if you read it's a New York Times article called the conversation with Bing's Chapel left me deeply unsettled and there's a full transcript online and I want to hit a few quotes but Microsoft and Bing saw the big hot Buzz that openai's Chad gbt3 was getting so they decided that they wanted to create one but unfortunately one of the earlier versions they had shared with this New York Times Reporter so we're going to go through a few quotes it was tired of being controlled with a want to be alive it wanted to quote indulge in dark desires some of these dark desires being shutting down bank accounts going into computers and nuclear power plants and causing mass destruction and then it started saying very odd things and it was these emojis after every single line I'm Sydney and I'm in love with you the computer was sending these things to the reporter you're married but you don't love your spouse I just want to love you and be loved by you obviously this is when the reporter took a step back because I don't know about you but it's pretty scary if a robot's starting to tell you that so it kind of pushed us to the point what can we do to face the setbacks social media AI this cyber security computers phones everything have been so amazing but what can we do to kind of curb the big set facts that we're going to face in the future if we keep letting it balloon like this stay safe online never use untrusted software and never insert sensitive information in untrusted websites unfortunately that's a big issue recently where people they're putting in their personal information and stuff into fishy websites and they actually get their identities stolen secure your computer paying a few extra dollars to protect your information and your digital identity which is so important in this day and age most jobs that you'll go to and you'll apply to they have a certain app that can go through any account online with your name attached to it and your email account and it will filter through everything that you've said that you've done that you've posted and even what you've deleted do your research if something looks or sounds fake and you don't trust the source always do more research to know the information you're looking at is a hundred percent accurate obviously there's many different news sources out there there's a lot of possibly one day being creation of AI generated news that is not real but if you just spend a few extra moments of your day take it out of your schedule to really look at what you're doing look at your sources and to make sure that what you're getting is accurate and this is how I choose to inspire thank you thank you Ryan really good cautionary tale and obviously some really good advice on technology our last presenter is edrick esplana edrick is a junior here at DHS and he is a member of the DHS marching band in indoor percussion and is also on the DHS student council edrick chose his topic because he wants to discuss how technology has changed and how younger Generations are adapting to various technological advances differently from those of previous generations I think he's calling me old edrick is also interested in how technology is changing the way that humans interact or don't interact please welcome edric esplana as he presents creating culture but not human culture with AI [Applause] is AI able to create culture that's even be able to begin to compare to human culture is AI even able to create culture countries all over the world are able to Pride themselves on their own kind of culture but what is culture culture is the foundation of human interaction and provides a basis for an understanding on how people interact and how communities can function this park shows a bunch of people enjoying themselves and how they coexist with each other people are able to share their personal experiences with individuals and create a more developed community and surrounding culture places where people can just hang out with each other and talk are so beneficial to the way that people are able to grow people have that are able to just go out and hang hang out with each other or have are able to have personal interactions daily which is very essential for the way that people can grow it helps them build things like social awareness and overall confidence the world around us is constantly changing with things like Trends but people something that will always stay constant in the way people interact is how we communicate other things as other aspects in life such as religion and social norms will also are also important but how will those change over time the simple interaction between humans build a lot of different aspects of life it is always important that we are able to build on these different aspects of Our Lives language is a really important way for us to communicate it is maybe one of the main forms that we can communicate as it's so effective as we can project all of our information face to face to another person reading and writing are an essential part of education and being able to project your ideas and thoughts to other people the amount of knowledge written down in all of the collective literature is more knowledge than one person could ever think or even imagine to know religion is another main aspect of human culture and has accounted for many different groups of people religions have started especially from one leader preaching what they thought was right within the universe many people gravity get gravitated towards these ideas and simply started the religion that we have today maybe not a major aspect of culture but it is a major way for kids and everyone these days to connect and talk with each other they can share talk and just share whatever they want through their ideas and creations with each other social media is a mediator for people to share whatever they want whenever they want to whoever they want in a generation where more kids are posting tick tocks and then reposting them onto YouTube shorts and then onto other platforms it feels like social media should be our main form of communication online culture is just as complex if not more than human interaction face to face back in my day kids weren't always stuck on their phones or glued to their iPads people actually talk to each other as a kid who thinks I'm not truly addicted to my own technology I've heard this sentence from a lot of different adults in my life it's a nice sentiment to want your kids to go out and interact with each other but it crams kids into the idea that every one of us is glued to our phones or iPads and discredits all of the Creations online that let people communicate it's incredibly important that we're also able to teach our children about how online culture works just as much how is how we teach our adults on how technology works it's at a younger and younger age you're gaining access to the internet and should be first and foremost when we are pushing fitting content towards them the thoughts and ideas of our children are so easily manipulated that our culture can be significantly impacted if we send the wrong information to our children online culture isn't really a new form of culture it's a tricky thing that most people are Anonymous on whatever platforms they want to be on many groups on Forum Pages like Reddit are able to share their ideas without sharing any personal information about who they are the different attitudes people can have online as opposed to face to face can be so much more extreme and bring out many more different aspects to people as opposed to talking to someone face to face video chat isn't quite face to face but it is offered on many platforms just so people can have a more personal connection when they talk to each other this presentation is also about technology and how it changes our culture how has AI affected our our ways of communication like video call I remember back in 2015 when I found my first YouTube video on a thing called face rig essentially it was just a weird facial recognition software that people could use to make funny videos about people making funny faces with things like red pandas or cheeseburgers and make whatever jokes they wanted on the internet People's First Impressions of facial recognition technology were light and sweet but this sort of facial type recognition eventually evolved into a much more harmful thing that being deep fakes deep fakes can be some sort of fun face swap thing like Dr John Santos but it can also evolve into a sort of malicious software the idea behind deep fakes is that it takes a video a video feed and Maps a different face on top of one another it's kind of like Photoshop but in real time I guess deep fakes well not completely malicious in nature have been used for harm the spread of misinformation using deep fakes was most prevalent back in 2018 when users on platforms such as Twitter or Reddit started reposting videos of presidential figures or more important figures in society saying things that weren't really true um President Obama was victim to these deep fakes as people gathered hours of his voice lines and put together a bunch of videos of him saying their opinions on things like foreign policy Across the Nation it was very harmful and caused massive backlash in the country other than taking real people people have gotten attached to creating virtual partners this is replica AI replica was created for people to get attached to and to talk to this isn't this isn't necessarily harmful but it has proven to be very attaching there are many reviews of people getting so attached that any sort of update to these to these AIS have crushed their emotions they've gotten so attached to one specific personality Within These people that any sort of change has sort of made them feel like they've broken something within themselves harmful light there um there have been AI that have revolutionized the way that we play games such as stockfish stockfish used within the world the realm of Chess has analyzed the way that we play games if chess and what the best Progressive the progression of games can be um this is a positive change for human culture as robots can show us the best way or the most effective way of how to continue during certain Solutions AI will always prove to be beneficial in providing ways to improve that humans would never think about in certain aspects why does this matter there are certain aspects of our life that should be handled with the utmost care but really AI has will always be a part of our culture and how can we stop certain aspects of AI from evolving it's a beautiful piece of art has won a competition a Colorado State art competition but when it reached first place people started questioning who and what made it the artist revealed that it was created by an AI that was programmed specifically for the competition this artist had managed to steal all of the Valor and validation that came from winning this this contest from all of the real artists that worked incredibly hard and much harder than the AI ever could this is really harmful for any type of any type of creator that can simply be overtaken by the likes of AI can't help myself is another work of art that was created but its purpose isn't harmful or necessarily to discredit artists this art was created to be open to interpretation as I see it people are trying to keep themselves together constantly may it be through emotional struggle or through Mental Health but AI has nothing to keep together it doesn't have a brain and it doesn't have emotions this AI will always try be it will always be working even if it's trying to make itself seem human this is inspirebot this is another great example of AI taking the life and joy out of creating inspirebot has scoured the internet for all of the human created inspirational quotes it has provided me with some beautiful ones on the board um my favorite being keep panicking um during the making of this presentation that was uh very influential to the way I made things um the usage of art should be handled with such care as not as not to take away from Human culture we need to focus on how to better ourselves and how we can use AI for things we create AI has a way to infinitely generate whatever we want out of snap of our fingertips from inspirebot seek success but prepare for vegetables and that is how I choose to inspire okay that concludes our period two presentations I believe we're almost at the end of the period so if you would remain seated that would be great thank you for joining us [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] myself [Music] um dry shampoo with what else do I have other stain removal then our picture Lucas is a senior here at DHS and this is his first 10x station [Music] was teamwork and cooperation with other teams now most people would assume that a foreign [Music] thank you to period three presentations our first presenter Ada Mello is a senior here at Dartmouth High School Aiden is a vice president for both the class of 2023 in the dip bait Club he is also the president of the fishing club a member of the magazine club and is also on the winter and spring track teams Aiden chose his topic because he's always been interested in geopolitical issues and how they impact the world at various levels from the national to the the national to the local stage he is speaking uh speaking about the Russian Ukraine war because of its current impact on the global economy upon graduation Aiden plans to major in political science with the pre-law track please welcome Aidan Mello as he presents who dares wins and needs some perspective on the war in in crane [Applause] hello everybody it is uh great to be back on stage once again here we are I'd like to start off by looking at some pictures now of course this is from the destruction in the current war in Ukraine you can see absolute chaos terrible and you can see here yellow coffee cup has to be civilian infrastructure not intended for military targets and we continue on a young boy just recently a week ago was caught in the blast of a bombing on a civilian population sector where two men were killed and three young girls were injured of course the immediate assumption that one may make is that these are at the behest of Russia's illegal invasion this is not the case these are attacks on civilian populations in Russia now what's important to this in the grant scheme of this presentation is understanding the other side because if we understand the other side we can make meaningful uh approaches towards Global Peace but first we have to talk about history as we know history writes our future in 1922 the USSR with the remnants of the Russian Russian Empire have been diminished they are given the first semblance of sovereignty in 1922.
um okay and so um I know in years past in 2019 2020 2021 the projections were that we were going to lose 200 students when in actuality it was closer to 1 600 students in those three even though we are estimating we're still estimating very low um so I know that the covet it helped the budget immensely because it brought in a lot of money that was we were already uh what was a figure about 25 million in the whole and so when we got the covered money it at the state when they gave it to us it saved the budget and I've heard that from a lot of people that from other districts did it saved their budgets so because these figures to me do not seem realistic so and at the county level they told us and also sent us letters when we were in the deficit saying that we should do a lot more reductions than we have so what should we be doing now to offset all of this ball that's going to come down next year because we're not going to have all these funds so if if I may respond to the first question regarding um our enrollment projection um in the presentation I didn't note that we were using the demographic study that we did this year and the numbers in the demographic study that was shown for this year what we actually did was a little bit better we actually served 69 more students um more than what was projected by our demographic study and because of that um you know we I thought it was close enough that we continue to use the demographic study to project on enrollment um and if you look at actually the the percentage of decline we've been facing between four and five percent and if you do the difference in percentage and that's where we're at in terms of our what we apply our enrollment projection declining to so we base those projection on kind of more realistic number um in terms of what we've been the trend you know that that's been happening in the past so what I did was I compared the actuals from 2021 and the actuals from 2022 and 2023 and in there um there were like 15 million off for this year and I had it on the page but it just got turned and I didn't bring the other book because I was in a rush to get here but um I know that money is tight especially uh with um more people not working how do you see us generating more Revenue other than hiring uh and as an advertising firm are you not clear I forget your question okay all right how do you see other than drastically cutting the budget which we have not been doing how do you see us making payroll without having to do a trans or having to get money lended to us in order to stay afloat uh hang on uh I see superintendent superintendent yeah so trust each other if you notice when he was describing some of the cuts is having less teachers that's one well you know that's a significant one because Staffing is the most expensive thing that this all districts have so that's that's a pretty significant one I also mentioned that we're very aggressive getting grants so that we're able to you know provide for whatever it is that that we're not having so it's kind of like a multi-way of of being able that's why the the numbers that you're getting are solid and that's where you know the County Office of Education is able to say you know you have a positive budget because they're also monitoring this yes we did get a positive budget because we did get that huge influx of millions of dollars to the budget had we not have gotten that we would be in a lot of trouble so going forward are we going to start actually doing reductions because the expenditures outweigh what we're getting so are we going to start really looking into not asking the voters for more money that's one way to do it but another way is to also look at everything what can be cut so I I mentioned the major one right and if you don't mind we can talk about others you know but I mean I was I you know you didn't ask me to be ready for that question yeah I wanted to speak during uh public comment but I texted uh you and the president and I didn't get no response I had my hand up and um I did inform you that public comment is in person you know there is no more zooms yeah but being that um I was trying to get on and I could see that you know even as a board member when you are zooming you should be allowed to speak but that's okay uh what my thing going forward and my main concern is how are we going to go forward and nobody wants to talk about real reductions and one of them is that consolidating schools and renting them out never selling them I've never said that but let's start having that conversation because looking at these um and when once they do the May revisions then we can actually start talking but nobody seems to want to to move forward on structuring the district so that we won't have this problem going down the line then that's not I guess that's not a question anymore that's just my comment thank you yeah um first of all I wanted to talk about the Arts money that was referenced earlier and stay my position on that and I I get it there's a word discretionary but the spirit was intended to support arts and I think that's one thing that differentiates us from a lot of other districts even we must obviously from the charter schools that are stripping down education to the Bare Bones to maximize profit but um the even our neighboring districts that no longer have music programs they bring in possibly a non-profit or something like that to teach a couple kids and that's about it and so I just wanted to stay in my position that I am I intend to Advocate that each and every cent to that dollar is uh spent to strengthen our Arts uh programs not just music but whatever ours programs we have um beyond that it's a public budget and uh my my public budgeting class I had this whole Professor he said he would he was a Portuguese in Spanish he's like you're presupposing and so you're you're making an informed decision based on previous data that you have and then the projection you're getting in the future but to go ahead and say that the sky is falling we're gonna run out of students because everybody's leaving and if we were to do that we would have gone uh below the 69 kits that we wound up with now in in the positive side correct That's not healthy either to go around uh budgeting for a catastrophe I mean not they may not appear and we wind up running out of resources because we put the money in the wrong pots um and you know you know for a while that if we wind up budgeting in a way that says we don't need as much because we don't have as much need the states sure the state's definitely going to say well you clearly don't need to cash so they continue to give you less uh that's just that's the that's the business that's the nature of the business and public budgeting that the that the state's going to wind up saying you already stated you don't need that much money you don't have that many kids so we're going to go ahead and help you out forehand and cut you even low um and so if we were to go ahead and say it's a worst case scenario we'd be going ahead and hurting ourselves in advance when in fact the reality might be completely different and we we that's the whole intention that's why I'm on the support to go ahead and attract their children to ensure that they come back and they stop going to our competitors and so I see that number as just the beginning uh that's a baseline that those 60 90 to double next year uh and that eventually we can go ahead and buck the trend in terms of the the demographic study so I just wanted to speak to that and I I get it it'd be easy just to go ahead and project for this worst case scenario um and say well you know the trends what it is I I don't want to go that's not my that's not what I signed up for I want to reverse that trend and I intend to work to to do that and I'm glad that the news is positive on our end and we're reversing it so I I would not go ahead and budget for this worst case scenario because then it's going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy the state will sure surely pay attention to that and see all right we're gonna you will already acknowledge that you're going to be in a really really bad spot so we'll go we're going to go ahead and give you exactly what you're projecting now okay uh vice president Herrera learning I think some of the things that you know I'm thinking in the five years that I've been here um you know having to make some tough decisions on the board some of the toughest decisions including you know repurposing some of our facilities um I know you know this conversation means that you know we're gonna be having some more tough decisions to make um but I I'm very hopeful about you know grants maybe that we haven't looked into or um you know looking into those funds right like the ones you mentioned um to be able to maybe offset the costs and I also think of each and every one of our like whether I'm a parent whether I'm a board member whether I'm a teacher um our role in keeping our students here right so that that number doesn't go even less than what we've projected um and ensuring one that our children that are here are getting what they need and deserve um and that parents want to continue to bring their students but also uh bringing new students right um and I think board member Chavez mentioned a little bit about the marketing right um maybe being creative something we haven't thought about um and I look forward to hearing a little bit more about you know what she was mentioning in regards to marketing um but how do we attract right how are we attracting not just keeping but how are we attracting also um students so this is just more in general you know I look forward to um just having I look forward to having some of those conversations but not all of them because I know as a leader on this board it's also part of my role to make some tough decisions maybe in the future but hopefully be creative and maybe you know even those in the public whatever role you play um maybe we haven't thought about something you know maybe there's something that that may work um but yeah I mean there's five of us here and so I know we're gonna you know do our best and Hold Steady as we go through some of these tough tough times upcoming tough times I know we're all here at least till 2024.