Brooke yes um first for this update I would like to turn to a vine check from the Brookfield library she the library folks are doing some wonderful work with our high school students to help them prepare for their midterms and offering some services so abominably please share with us I will thank you good evening everyone my name is Yvonne Scheck as John said and I'm the director of the Brookfield library I want to thank Superintendent John Morrell for allowing me some time on tonight's agenda and it's a tough act to follow that video that was out there but I will tell you why I am here and part of it has to do with what our student representative was talking about so I'm here today to talk about some of the ways that we support education and to tell you about one new library program in particular that we're very excited about and we hope you will be too so as always we have ongoing early literacy programs which include our story times for preschoolers which of course help them be prepared for entering kindergarten and we have stem and steam based programs for elementary school-aged children and we are of course the go to place all summer long for summer reading programs which help students stay on track with their reading skills so that they're not coming back after summer break at a deficit we have programs for tweens and teens like our writing programs and our technology and makerspace programs and we recently visited every freshman class at the high school and issued every freshman student a public library card so having this public library card allows the students to access the Connecticut State library online databases half outside of school hours and it also of course gives them access to all of the online resources that we have at the Brookfield library like ancestry.com or if they should have some kind of a project that they need to do that would give them a different that they need that information and we have hoopla's streaming services which gives them automatic Eve's them free downloads for audiobooks and ebooks as well as music and these are just things that we do on a regular basis but today I want to tell you about a new program that we are running especially for Brookfield High School students during midterm exams so we recognize that midterm exams are stress and anxiety producing so especially for freshmen and we also know that common study areas where students can gather outside of school hours in are not really publicly available in Brookfield so for the upcoming midterms we are hosting a program called midterm study hours and typically schools schools for you are closed on Monday the 21st for Martin Luther King jr. Day and so is Town Hall and because the Brookfield library is a municipal library and a town department we would typically be closed but since midterm exams are going through next weekend Martin Luther King Day falls right in the middle of it we decided that we would actually open for the day and so we are going to be open all day on Monday from 10:00 to 6:00 then we're going to extend our hours on Tuesday and Wednesday till 10:00 p.m.
Donovan and the Board of Finance about whether what when do they need to actually have us go through this this is a big number even with us and I'm thinking mr. Dunn actually is the one who actually has the most pressing need because he needs to make a recommendation to the Board of Finance even if it was a small one-on-one with dr. Munro and mr. Pope's perhaps and maybe this is sort of going over and paying a visit and walking him through like we walked through it I just think we need to inform him on the urgency of these items before he makes a recommendation going forward does it have to be a big full public presentation honestly but I think the more finance won't want us to do so our citizen tation at some point and we can ask whether they want to include it with a budget proposal right that might be a lot there's a lot here so maybe it's a separate one perhaps or does that kind of work finance meeting before so but it did merits discussion in the end when the First Selectman carries forward his recommendation he's kind of made the bed for the future discussions you don't go up from his recommendation usually so so he walked in what it was the budget we got this year for example our our portion of the town kappa pic was measured at hundreds of thousand yes yes it was under million the largest was the mr.
specifically so that students will have a place to come in addition we're having roving tutors in the library we've got nine signed up so far and we've got some some of them our peer tutors some are college students some are professional tutors or covering subjects in science math history English Spanish and French and we'll be providing of course free pizza and drinks and we also have therapy dogs stopping in each day we've coordinated with the all-star transportation to have a bus come from the high school on those two half days Tuesday and Wednesday and drop students off directly at the library and so Monday Tuesday and Wednesday of next week we're sort of going to be converting the public library into a common study area for for all students from her field high school about tables and chairs and refreshments and we're really hoping that this is going to be helpful in that it will provide again this common study space for them to gather and with the support of tutors and of course pizza and they don't have to spend any money doing it so also we'd like to thank from Brookfield High School Susan Griffin Laurie lizard check zhengzhou leo Ernesto Davila and Mike Smith for responding to our requests and for collaborating with us on this project everyone's been very helpful we of course continue to look for opportunities to support education because the Brookfield library supports education and lifelong learning for all the residents of town from the youngest to the oldest and I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any thank you very much for your time I brought some Flyers with specific information so any questions thank you that sounds great okay thank you a dog I love I love the idea of the therapy dog yeah we're really excited about it I think it would be it would be a good thing to do and we find that it's successful we'll be happy to offer it again please let us know how it goes okay will do thanks LaVon thank you so much [Music] it really is incredible support that we have very proud of the relationship we've establish there and thank mr.
generator that was five hundred and fifty it was five hundred for the generator of fifty vests which no um I think our ass was yeah but then we didn't have the the hundred thousand for the outdoor facilities and approved or the risers I think that's uh my point is while I can see this and I think we've done a lot of good work as a team it's the six point six million versus what we have that's only ten percent of that will create a major disruption in the town's planning process so we can't go in blind and we need to manage a particular in the knowledge level of our First Selectman before he makes recommendations and learned forward he may say no that we can handle that it's going to be capitalized we know how to handle a capital as an interesting dynamic but if we don't educate on me you know just an arbitrary cut I don't know so just go based on priorities you know we're gonna be looking at someone over the K doesn't even cover our first priority to be transparent if we had in our capital improvement plans over the years what we're looking at now and forecasting what has to be done our schools would not be in the condition that there are it is so sad and it makes me sick there is no reason in my estimation that we're facing we have two schools that are in such poor condition that we're looking to build a new school and this should be a focus of the Board of Education from now on is we need to take care of our buildings because they take care of the safety of our students the staff and the public and meet personally I'm sick of throwing money out the window I want money well spent and this is we need to take care of our buildings what's interesting about this budget which is very similar to what I felt about our spent art our annual spending budget there's nothing in here that's nice the house this is a list of these are things that should have been taken care of years ago these are not improvement no this is this is neglect yep you know this is where we've been dealing had some nights now yes the roads also suffer from an eclectic told mr.
Blandon his team's leadership in making that that connection possible I also wanted to just briefly share that with this Friday comes a planned professional learning day PLC day for our teachers and that means an early dismissal for the students we've had a fairly mild winter thus far but there is some forecast for some rough weather on possibly on Friday morning so I sent out a communication to the families yesterday and so the faculty letting them know that in the event that we have to delay school the students will dismiss that that a regular time will cancel the PLC day and for midterms it would just mean the students would take their midterms later in the day they would dismiss at two o'clock as they regularly do at the high school I heard it was some confusion on that so if anybody if anybody's on social media or hears from anybody it's a pretty straightforward easy thing to do we wouldn't keep an early dismissal and also delay school that would make no sense and we don't want to run into June 29th as our last day of school as we did last year with all the weather issues so we're doing our best and then the final thing I have for you this evening is mrs.
mr. Davison I think actually finally put his foot down so we go put some money on roads and question years we have enough gumption as a town or up or down so we gotta go put the money you know the schools that need to right and that's gonna be the discussion now so our school needs a whole new roof yeah that should have been done years ago it's leaking water it just like there's just so many examples I can give you what I'm seeing here is if the school is approved and that's an if at this point it's still two and a half maybe an almost three million dollars of capital it's more than that I think oh wait no for the first year yeah yeah first year runs per summer I will say pray very nice yeah we'll just [Music] split it in half so it's half of it that's yeah anyhow and realistically when you sit and you look at it Bob you'll you'll see where I'm getting the three from stuff I can see it okay so what we would be voting on what will be we would be voting on would be first year capital proven draft with the notations of the two scenarios as we have discussed correct okay so so I would suggest that when we say we're gonna submit we submit that 10 year plant will grow to agree to that including a specific motion on the first year right with scenarios yes they go but I think we have to include the 10 years okay so that no thing that we're carrying forward to them it is so we're going to include the tenure no school scenario plan but the one year will have the different scenarios painted to it are we in agreement with that yes okay Joanna Baker motion um sure all right I'd like to make a motion I'll go slowly we do these up reuse those we have a pre organize us that we submit a 10-year updated 10 year capital plan to the town that total 60 million oh 94 104 noting that that reflects a no new school scenario and in addition we submit a year one I'm sorry we we submit a capital budget submission of for the year 2019 20 totaling six million six hundred and eighty nine thousand nine hundred and sixty three thousand dollars also noting that that is a no new school submission and that we would provide the town and analysis of various scenarios if the schools were approved if Center school were reused etc there's a long motion I apologize for that thank you I think you got it all kudos okay high post and I will be working with you Ken and then we'll set up an appointment to meet with First Selectman Don and I would like to have damn cold well perfect thank you everyone for going through that witness even Ken thank you for all her mental as well okay that was a lot of hard work tonight everyone thank you very much so the next thing we have is the new school building project yay another step completed we had a town meeting yesterday and overwhelming vote to move it forward to referendum on March 5th so we do have a referendum date apart if you start carrying that forward in all of our communications in addition there was a presentation Jeff was in ski tech time did a fabulous job putting forth everything and really emphasizing the fact that with the conceptual design this leads it to define it in in ways that best fit our community and that would be within the design phase we're going to keep continuing to go forward with presentations thank you everyone stepping up and doing the presentations as well many hands make later work and we can get to many workplaces that way whether I sent an email out to the ones and thank you very much for doing that I will review it again we still have dates rolling in of places and you've reached out to that haven't come back yet and so I will by all means in continuing to send out dates that we're just not able to cover so thank you and again if there are any other organizations or anything you feel that that worked on the spreadsheet that you would like to reach out to please love that help as well it always helps to have a personalized reach out anything else with that I just I will just comment that the organizations that I spoke into what we've offered they were happy just to have been offered whether they took us off on it or not but the fact that we're reaching out people are noticing that we're reaching out I think that's we ought to keep that absolutely okay three main points many people very happy budget over budget those are the three I had joy Rosa that could be a short one roses Yahoo okay everybody agree with that when we found upcoming events okay at center Elementary School PLC early dismissal is Friday January 18th at 12:15 however if there's a delayed opening there will be a full day of school preschool open houses on Friday January 18th from 10:30 to 11:00 the first grade concert is on Wednesday January 23rd from 5:00 to 5:30 and there's a people and there's a PTO meeting on Wednesday February 12th from 6:30 7:30 in the multi-purpose room at huckleberry is a PLC early dismissal this Friday January 18th at 12:15 however if there is a delayed opening there will be a full day of school PTO meeting is on Friday February 1st from 9:30 to 10:30 with skinnier there's a PLC early dismissal this Friday January 18th at 11:30 however if there is delayed opening there will be a full day of school the eighth grade cultural presentation with James girth regarding public speaking for 8th grade students is on Wednesday January 23rd at the high school there's you'll see early dismissal this Friday January 18th at 11 o'clock however there's if there's delayed opening there will be a full day of school no school on Monday January 21st for a Martin Luther King Day no school for students on Friday February 15th for professional development for the teachers and no school on Monday February 18th and Tuesday February 19th for the president's holiday and again the fundraiser for Maddie on Friday January 25th here at the high school during the basketball game p.m.
sermon I'm working with the municipal building committee to get the word out and help organize the communication marketing efforts for the new school project have been working with Rosa from the Communications Committee and mr. Chaco and mr.
7 p.m. yeah thank you and that's it thank you what happens if there's an early dismissal ok next we have an executive session recommend emotion that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing school security and a pending legal matter Circuit favor ok this concludes the public portion of our meeting thank you everyone for staying with us have a great evening [Music]
flowers and Jeff was it was new ski from tech town architects to develop a nailer to go home I'm on a path we just went over at the Communications Committee meeting and I'd like to share it with the board right now can you actually pass these around for everybody we like to you know its initial not expecting anybody to be a feedback tonight but we like you to have it because in moving through probably about three weeks prior to the March 5th days we're looking at sometime in mid February and we don't meet again as a full board until February 20th we want to get this mailer out to the community this will be the only Hart mailing that goes out announcing you know from the the MDC in terms of announcing the referendum and talking about the building project we need the feedback from the board shortly if perhaps by Sunday feedback could come to collect Rosa and me we'd really appreciate that because we need to work with tact ons marketing department to make the appropriate adjustments in time to get to a printer to make sure it's mailed out by that date was called February 15 so any feedback you do have we'd love to hear from you we want to make this as clear concise and informative as possible and I don't know if anybody has any questions or people from the communications policy committee had any comments that they wanted to share there's also a couple of other steps after here it needs to go through the elections board and Town Council we have to make crystal clear that everything on here is purely fact-based there can be no call to vote there can be no opinion whatsoever because then it becomes it's not a factual mailer and we can't use it so there are several other steps that have to go just to make sure that both suspenders hello thanks for adding that is that's the time so your feedback really important so we can make sure we tighten it up incorporate feedback and then get it to the Elections Commission Town Council's as quickly as possible before it goes to the printer have a quick question you mentioned a town mailer so is the town of herb fields paying for it or the my understanding is this is going to come through the town from the superintendent with the approval of superintendent through the time yes yes not good not good it'll be full full Desiree allure you said at the top page that's what he addressed would go hold it and then we already had some great feedback from Debbie and Rosa and Rose was already giving interview back in Bob Debbie Bob saw for the first time tonight so we already got some great feedback that we're going to incorporate made a lot of sense and honestly whatever feedback you have please send it to us sometimes it's easier for people to handwrite on these and then scan them and send it to us or physically bring it in however it works for you or just write down section three we'd like to you know can you incorporate this or make this clearer I saw a typo there whatever you have we really want to make this as perfect as possible for instance state approval unfunded spring 2020 that's in red and you've utilized in different colors so they stand out to you it's I catch it right away and again I don't expect anybody have thank you if I don't expect anybody had lots of feedback you just got this but if we can have that and you know next four or five days would be really helpful to us to keep to our timeline but I think some that was really powerful last night was the message that the internal structure can change like it's not set in stone yes I don't know if that was in there okay so many people look at the plan and say well I don't like that plan so that's it not understanding that this is all purely conceptual I'm in the design phase right [Music] and that's all that's all I have thank you thank you okay moving on to something reports we have two facilities means the first facility is actually two weeks ago and I reported that concerning the entire capital improvement plans we wanted to have before we came forward to the board this evening with decided we had four different scenarios to look at knowing that this vote would be coming up for the new school aren't March 5th some examples were what does Pam look like if we do not have a new school what happens if we got the new school but we do mentally work to Center what happens if we get there new school we decide not to repurpose center and the other was no new school but repurposed center so we sat down we met we decided as a committee that we would take the worst-case scenario and present it tonight to the Board of Education we found that to be as as translucent as upfront is honest taking the worst-case scenario if the school isn't voted in the other requests that we're looking for for our actual budget or work that has to be done if the new school is not voted in we have six million seven hundred thirty eight thousand dollars of repairs that need to be done which we will go over later but there are very important things and I think Ken will go through them line item like by line item when we do it so basically that's where we're standing now my blood work any questions for a workman that was a good meeting thank you you drink more about it [Music] okay moving on the consent agenda [Music] recommend a motion that the board approve the items listed on the consent agenda is recommended new hires resignations and retirements if I might I just wanted to share I'm sorry I just wanted to comment and really give a shout out to Dale Rena who is given the district over 30 years of service and she's announced her retirement at the end of this month and I know mr. Koh Lanta would echo the same so we're just so appreciative of everything she's done everything she's given and the care in energy and interest she's put into the students over the years always going above them yeah so we're really appreciative of our service and wish her all the all the best and all the rest that she's got on her in addition to that was it this week was it Monday yes okay Monday joe de Grandy our new maintenance mechanic it was a specialty in HVAC started and can I don't know if anything to share about his physician seemed to be well received so far we're very very happy to have him here he's replacing Dan Caldwell who took over as our facilities director and as we've discussed that our facility meetings many times the vast majority of our work orders are HACC related so we're very very happy to have somebody with his expertise on board and as I understand the high school office is very excited to have him it was already some kind of thermostat adjustment that Martin was bragging about in the office today things were actually working and I know the teachers already know him by name and are calling him and they see him in hallways and he was spend a lot of time with mr.
Enda at it with the end Caldwell at was seen here with some issues that were going on today so so Joe is in full swing so I'm glad to have him there and it just does it note we do still have one open maintenance position that we haven't hired yet so now that Joe's on board we will be looking forward to moving forward that that position as well yes I like the second my thanks birthday over Anna I mean she was the face of Brookfield for generations of high school students so I know she'll be missed any other questions discussions all in favor aye brings us to new business in the custodial contract recommend a motion that the board approve the successor contact between the Brookfield Board of Education and the Brookfield custodial Union CSEA okay I can just you all have a copy of the contract that was sent today but I can just give a review this this uh negotiations took a little bit of time I believe was the original member of the team and who was there as well and so when Paul left Rosa and I jumped in as well so the team was eve rosa myself terry cavanagh HR director dr.
ruben can host i can briefly review the contract changes before we do it it's a three year contract but it's already in progress because it goes from 2017 to 2022 the first years nearly complete the contract calls for a 2.25 wage increase every year with retro pray of course for sixteen seventeen seventeen eighteen years that we were negotiating there is a sunset of longevity payments which are payments that are paid out to those that have worked for X amount of time members hired after July 1st of 2020 will no longer be eligible for the longevity payments there's an insurance cost share increase 2017-18 is is negated because that years already passed so 2018-19 the increase goes from thirteen to fifteen percent in nineteen twenty eight goes from 15 to 16 percent and there's an understanding that there were no real they're on ago she ations if the district does move to another insurance plan for the connecticut those are the main differences some if there's anything else okay any questions so I had a question for Ken for a retroactive pay increases did we accrue those years are there audio pod or is it a hit on the kerreri group terrorism okay thank you okay no other discussion all in favor aye opposed thank you everyone next we have the setting of graduation date class of 2019 recommend motion that the board set the graduation date for the Brookfield High School class of 2019 for Saturday June 22nd 2019 at the O'Neill Center at 6 p.m.
as recommended by BHS principal mark Belinda we are wrong getting this much earlier thanks to the change in our calendar year and I'm sure there are going to be a host of parents that are very thankful for that come on officer Linda yeah I'll make a quick to say we're talking about graduation we'd be hard-pressed even though Dale Brown is retiring and at this month when it comes time for graduation to have her not on that stage it's just a figurehead there so thanks to the Morris Morris sight and blue navy general statute it allows us to the board actually set my graduation date well before April 1st what we've done in the past because we have honored 85 school day setting the calendar with those three bill ten days this is going to be a huge step forward I'm already getting questions about one graduation will be as parents are making plans it just makes the most sense as far as the 19th being that last day with those those five those three extra days built in we may have some weather coming up I think the 22nd we have a couple days reserved as a possibility through the 22nd and then again the 29th I think that's planets pretty late but with the ability of the statute that says set it when we want and regardless of what happens we do not have 180 school days right but for whatever number of closings that that does happen we can still keep the graduation on the 22nd and not worry about moving in anywhere the station's last hour time is about a half hour later than usual Westcott has changed kind of their expectations this year they're very specific about the three time slots that we have that there's a morning graduation which is clearly going to be New Fairfield so I'm seemingly always be in Fairfield New Milford is seems always in graduate in that afternoon session and we're gonna have the night session and 6 o'clock is the earliest start time you want to make sure they can clean up you have any set ready to go but it's I appreciate the foresight or not because it's gonna save a lot of calls on my end I'll be able to put that out the bottle pretty quickly if we can put on the seat Thank You Marc thank you any other discussion questions all in favor hi Rick thank you everyone next we have policy 31 60 transfer of funds recommend a motion that the board approved policy number three one six zero transfer funds for first reading as recommended by the policy subcommittee [Music] so I didn't get any additional feedback so [Music] is this a first one this is our first read right oh yes sorry someone get reports on yeah it is a it's a nice short policy [Music] [Applause] yeah I did I did a review of this for the policy committee and when you actually you'll read what we delete versus what we had the old policy is filled with a bunch of kind of cryptic wording and that we concluded that a policy was short and sweet and actually made it easier to operate with you know you don't have to worry about object I'll try to remember some of the super odd benefit super object codes and it was so specific that you that you you it made it hard whereas the one would recommend that it requires the Board of Education will approve any transfer of funds and only in an emergency under ten thousand dollars consumer and an act and NES come to the board right so it's a very straightforward policy and I think you'll find out when you read get a chance to read for me is illogical ad for us and as part of the 3000 series that we've been revealed we do everything absolutely the Oakland almost has a glossary doesn't it okay so any questions or input should be to you all by what I'm we will next meet [Music] a 20th so maybe 13 oh dear 13th any other questions okay I'm on favor hi host alright that brings us to the approval of one traditional paraeducator position recommend a motion that the board approve one traditional paraeducator position to be funded by the federal ide a grant as requested by superintendent dr.
jo'bril and recommended by the personnel and negotiation subcommittee [Music] I'd like to invite actually to the podium to help explain the rationale for this particular position as we did a couple of weeks ago at one of our meetings we talked about a traditional para and we talked about EDA Paras are seen to differentiate that for the board again I want to be careful when we talk about para educators and hiring one pear educator at a time sometimes para educators are hired as one-on-ones for students other times more as resource room and servicing more students in this particular case I want to be very careful about the school meaning that we mentioned as we talk about this publicly because it may personally identify the childhood question so I want to be very careful about that and very transparent about that so dr. Saul so we had a new student need not a new student but an emerging me that required us to have student have a one-on-one this happened about a month ago but we really needed to collect some more data to see if this was something that we needed to add a position for rather than something that we could we can cut her and we do at this point so it's directly related to student need and it's something that we absolutely need at this time in the beauty of the situation we're in with dr.
Saleh working so closely with mr. post are with Finance is that there's plenty of room in the IDE a federal education grant budget so we can utilize that money to pay for this pair of now and also in the the monies will have from the IDE a grant next year to pay for this para so it's not an impact on the budget and so that's really important for the board and the public to know about we discuss this at the Finance Committee meeting on Monday night as well and you know one of the things we said is this is exactly what the IDE a grant is really for is for supplementing and making sure that those those extra costs our students was significant either able to be met and there's any further questions thank you very much thank you thank you all right then all in favor aye aye [Music] thank you right that moves us to old business and the superintendence budgets 2019-20 and i just wanted to give an update first i know i had sent an email all to you after the Board of Finance me last week but the Board of Finance did approve the request for our lab some funds they they were not enamored with the resolution as it was written by Tom town and school council last year so they did ask the Finance Committee to sit down and work with Mercia controller to set forth a more permanent not absent bond agreement in the years going so we agreed that as a Finance Committee you to sit down and do that after the budget sees the non-id seed fund will have $65,000 in it which is what we consider to be our overage for last year last fiscal year the one request that the Board of Finance made was that we clearly define where that money is going to go and that's shown in our budget I think that's a very fair request to make one thing that the board of or that I'm sorry the Finance Committee talked about last night was last night Monday night was that the non Lansing funds money should probably go to one-time expenses because if we take this money and put it in as a general operating and using a fraternal operating then we're responsible for that that for those funds for next year as well it becomes part of it and we lose that one-time payment really kind of like we we are looking at this year with a seventy nine thousand from last year so that's just something to keep in mind as we go forward and look at our bunch of the sessions it probably would be wisest to do that as is applying to month I'm hearing my budget other than that when the Finance Committee sat down on Monday Ken had looked at again and reviewed and scoured our budget specifically the the status quo budget as well Bob had helped with that as far as putting a great deal of questions and thanks to his work with that and especially since our budget season starts so early it just makes sense to continually go and take a look at and see if there are any further trends that can adjust things one way or the other from there he did have some [Music] did have some some changes and it's what she's sending out here I'm sorry sure so budget one thing obviously settled the custodians contract so I put an aesthetician through the salaries I've been able to adjust it to the actual salaries that were approved tonight we took out the school time study as directed by the board from the last meeting we looked again at the St math and we've cut it back to just K through two we're just going to save us $24,000 we're reducing our office supply requests by three thousand dollars we had an outside contractor cost for ACA reporting in the budget that I'm able to take out because we are now able to do it in house with munis and we just had a training session yesterday with our HR folks and Eric to do that I also discovered that we could reduce our health benefit cost by fifty six thousand three hundred fifty eight dollars and then adding in the non lapsing fund that was discussed earlier as another sixty five thousand dollars we were able to reduce to the budget by one hundred ninety eight thousand six hundred fifty dollars which brings it down to a three point nine percent increase in the status quo down to two point nine two percent increase [Music] any questions I do did me talk about reducing the St math k22 I missed that conversation or was that a question that came via email I thought dr.
Ruby had mentioned that it might be too much to start with at the beginning we talked about a little bit last meeting what we certainly didn't glad I understand was you ready to go back and examine yeah that was what I was charged to do I was going back to taking a look at it talking to the principal was talking with Erica that involves technology and schedules and really when I looked at all the items that I'm responsible for well I think that the program is very well suited for our needs that was the only thing that I could really see that we could cut back on and still maintain the level of quality and advancement that we're trying to do with our curriculum so the rationale for that is that it is new and if we you know those of you who are educators rolling up is oftentimes a better way of introducing curriculum if you have to make decisions like this and so I'm starting at k2 and I was really reinforced if that's the right word by watching that video having the the young children have something that they are using technology for that doesn't have language that seems game-like that's engaging will prepare them and we plan for in an increase in this st line for a next year because we would introduce it those first grade second graders since we're going for second we'll roll up to third grade and we do it year by year to get up through the middle school okay that was closer yes any other questions did you try it yeah my son's been doing it I think it's a great program and the language portion is fantastic finally had a chance the other day to go through the material that is in our last budget packet it seems impressive today it's smart to roll it out that way a little bit at a time yeah so they don't be able to be disappointed that they're not getting it but you know we do need to make rational decisions and the roll-up seems to make the most sense any other questions on that and I had a question on an on lapsing fun use of 55,000 so what are we using that to cover the lab the language lab in the middle school how much of the 65 was that the world language lab was fifty one thousand four hundred okay so that's most of it and if we use this these are just things for consideration we ought to make sense to use it for the some of the things that we were asking do and that is not a capital item that's a home books a public art and software so let's stop we would have a normal budget okay an open court was what sorts of things are in the open court that we're covering with that yeah I'll let dr.
Ruby take that one just just a just a second the over the course approximately fifteen thousand dollars of the new ask and so if that groovy to talk to that program so when a couple years ago when we look to provide our k3 teachers with curricular tool to teach the foundational skills of reading which we weren't doing we adopted open court grades k-3 I think Iran at that time at that time they were working on because to align with the Common Core State Standards for creating foundational skills which cover K through 5 they were working on the development of the grades four and five component of the program and so that came out at the end of last year and so we're well positioned because our children aren't rolling up and just as I was just landing with ast math and Melissa isn't here but she could speak to the fact that the second-grade teachers are actually seeing differences in the children this year so we know that there's impact of the use of this tool so I presented the program to Cape and they recommended it a couple meetings ago and so it's very cost effective $15,000 is all we need for all the journals for the teachers for grades four and five and I it's you know teachers don't always ask to do more but I have to say that after we talked to some of the teachers we had to fourth grade teachers who contacted Debbie myself to ask if they could use the kit that we got as a sample which is a complete kit as a pilot and so we we definite yes turday with over the school and they're gonna they're going to start with the one kid that we have with their their kids this year so that they can be able leads next year and that's what really speaks highly to how hungry the teachers are to have the materials in their hands and how people are you know if we if we provide teachers with materials that will help them get the job done they're more than willing to do it so we're excited about that we'll sit so this is a one-time expense that we would have to populate the kids yes and then beyond that there's like student workbooks that are ongoing okay so the Ken this is a recommendation that these would be the two items that we would use that lots of fun to cover so we are though we have to kind of accept that as a board I guess now with a non I've seen pod desire to be able to actually think the word finance work and we're cherishing this and moving it forward and being forward-thinking to think about this every year I think it speaks to Menace Lee about the work with us I'm grateful for that collaboration I had a couple of questions about advisor stipends and positions and and these actually just came up with with the information you had sent dr.
burrow on the weekend update' Hardy's question there's some that are unfilled yes on the site positions now I know that's for this year do we anticipate those going forward to be filled or some of them just problematic to the point that we're not able to fill those statements and should they still even be there and be part of the budget is there any particular one I can pull enough hhe huckleberry had a few with Sierra they just had one the high school seemed to have the most both an advisory and two in curriculum for a ninth grade transition coordinator and the school work transition coordinator you know so the first thing is that the snipers are particularly in the future contract okay that's important for everybody to understand so these aren't just haphazard numbers that we take in we were inventing clubs and activities that we have advisors for so that's that's first and foremost we do occasionally have these conversations I know at one of the schools there's a particular high profile Club of that is just it's becoming very difficult to fill and we're halfway through the year I haven't had a full conversation with principal yet to determine exactly where that particular Club is going and how they're going to be able to recruit an advisor for for it so and marks out there because there's some specifics at the high school so any other thing we need to remember on the sheet that I shared of siphons and so forth is that last year with the this all this uncertainty at the state and the freeze and the budget cuts and then the macro burst and the failing of the first referendum it was master we had me some very difficult decisions as important as an administration so we took a chunk out after school activities and had to cut that and then principals had to make those difficult decisions mr.
blanton I'll turn it over to you yeah particularly for those two staff positions Department school work transition coordinator and then the ninth grade transition Courtney of those two statements to dr. burrows point last spring we had to start looking about the 1920 but 1890 budget would be I looked pretty close to say okay where can we is there any overlap is there some things that people could absorb as opposed to having just an original site but that one person works on the school to work coordinator position that site was going to our college and career counselor that was kind of a natural fit so it made sense has worked so far this year it made sense to make that same recommendation said not necessarily need to fill that moving forward even though it's contractually in is the teacher contract as a possible site of a position the work being done is being done as part of that role of the college and career counselor ninth grade transition coordinator that's another one that was in there that I did not fail what we're finding is that the peer counseling those two advisers they have really served as the ones who really spend the most time doing transition coordinating as far as activities and planning I do a lot of that stuff myself but as far as actually implementation of activities when we talk about whether it's the one step closer about that comes up for incoming eighth graders or the summer orientation program that is facilitated by the peer counselors so I work directly with them and there was overlap there so it made sense I'm looking to tighten the belt a little bit I continue to do some of that work for the nitration addition coordination and then the peer counsellors I continue to work with those two advisers to make sure that we have that stuff cover so those are the two specific ones we brought up and that's how we decided before we can still get the work done so those are not in the budget so the contract is option like as part of their entire agreement in the appendix but we're choosing not within the budget is something that it's not gonna fill okay so the unfilled advisor positions are still in the budget but those two unfilled curriculum positions are not in the budget is that is that a fair assessment so for which advisor is there in it um there's five advisors that it says in contract but not filled and they are less advisor grade 9s EDD and students so those are those are not in the budget okay and my only other one and I'm sorry I was just um we do have in here the percussion instructor assignment yeah would that still be there since we're going to be adding that as a class well that percussion instructor is assisting that's part of the instrumental program the after-school program that's what that's part of as far as the what was the marching band program you transitioned that person is associated with that particular program of a cushion class that we're going to have is it actually exists or in school there's several things okay there's no immediate questions I really I think it's important for the board you know the public to know that on the sheet a document that I shared with you on Friday afternoon their recollection serves me correct was 15 or 16 activities or clubs that are voluntary that teachers and staff volunteers to do they don't ask for a Siteman and kids come up with an idea for a club and they're allowed to have that club with marks permission as long as they have an adult advisor and so we have a lot of dedicated people that put a lot of time in for this is really really important to understand the other piece say I mentioned earlier I think was during the superintendent's report is honestly there's a citement ferrata see the line that I didn't include on here and that's one of those positions that we've over the years it's been difficult to fill because it involves a lot of after so lot of late-night work as well as a lot of coordination among parent coaches on the weekends and travel and so forth and sara helmy is our coordinator she's in her second year now the difficulty a staff member to advise that particular in coordinating a particular group and it's not thank Sarah for all the work she does and that she was way above and beyond the amount of time to coordinate that for all the different teams we have Paco very whisking air in high school thank you thank you for asking us a lot of information are there any other questions in regards to the budget it probably makes most sense is just to kind of review status quo if we're all in agreement with that especially with the Pens adjustments here then we can just go through every single new investment ask discussed amongst ourselves and see how we feel about it so good I could comment but the package is coming out around the I asked Ken if he would take these reductions that he talked shared with us and make it into the basic package so we all know how to update a package for working for so cuz I thought that would be useful for all of us to have it can and I spent I mean I said to my bunch of questions and we spent some time dr.
Ruby joins us paula jory but we talked through a lot of those questions individually and I just wanted to share with the board how I went through it because they were really focused on the status quo what I did was I had a couple of basic theories one was that there there's a couple of big drivers on our status for budget and were they right right and so and there's and if you look at the top sheet here the south the status quo budget is growing one point two four eight million dollars year on yes that's two point nine percent of that 1.2 million dollars 1.1 million of it is just salaries and benefits so I was going through to make sure that we weren't you know that they were naturally our contracts that they that I could prove out the salary increases and for example a teacher line match the teacher I think that drove ten crazy with a teacher contract and then we went from each of the areas to make sure their work changes and staffing in there I'll tell you my findings is there were some minor gives and takes and things like the added extra service lines but they were so small that they didn't change that equation much at all we also went through employee benefits and really looked at what input we'll be getting on the employee benefit from our broker because I was concerned quite frankly that unless we're getting outside inputs on the employee benefits cost that you know some from some reputable advice it right we would just be think we're just sitting in the wind right so and in fact can't talk to our broker and even though the the Connecticut plan has not formally declared that rates that getting signals to our broker on what to really expect us all right you feel pretty comfortable comfortable with that yes interestingly enough on the benefits one of the dynamics is we have many more employees moving into the family coverage instead of individual coverage and that actually increases the distance costs when that happens so Kent's on a really nice job of working through all of the mechanics of of the benefits costs and the gives and takes so when I looked at it and said look we have a million one of the million to actually really well plumbed and in fact he's taken he's assumed one hundred and twenty thousand dollars of savings next year on retirements right which is betting on the couple that we have some amount of retirements and we'll replace them and get a little savings that's more than we've assumed in Prior budgets so it's actually leaned into it because our experience last couple years is we've actually done better than we budge so it's it's a pretty well crafted plan once they got through that I went through every other line I was looking for increases what's increasing is there anything increasing in anything else a can you explain it you read through the questions that I asked they were all about those lines there were only one or two instances where I found that there were eye items in there that were increasing you know on a line item one of which I'll just point out because it'll come up with our favorite reviewers as we go down with the Travel line which went up a reasonable percentage but that was a specific request to have some world language teachers go to what will languish conference which we had never done before so I thought that was a fair request and it was kind of sad foolish so I other than that it was going down when you went through those other line items the assumptions on heating oil relatively flat we've locked in the rates assumptions on a bus contract well locked in the assumptions on all special education costs are all very well exercised so I'll be frank in my review I did not find any other places I could go bang around and find reductions if I did find reductions it was a couple to one or two thousand dollars here and there it wasn't enough so I just wanted to share that with you because I spent a good day on my own and then many hours with with mr.
Poston variety of staff members walking through those questions one of the things that you'll see in the package you sent out I did paying around a little bit on our special education costs it's the first time I think we as a board have received that I it wasn't for me to really understand for budgeting purposes but for more for understanding for muscles and you'll see in that spreadsheet but what I asked him to do was take every line item in our budget that is tied to special education whether that special education teachers Parra's transportation out of district a professional center professional services spending and lay it all out it is 20% of our budget and and it's a very important investment I actually felt as a board even though we don't have to do anything with it tonight it was important that we all have visibility to that right and under we're spending on that once 20% of our budget that's a very important component of our budget the the other part of that is if you look at it over time it is by its 60% of the increase we've seen over the last couple of years you know we actually can and I went through it if you look at the budget increases since the over the last four or five years in aggregate and you compare it to what the spending of special ed has been it is 60 percent of the total and part of that's the state grants going down proportionally because we're getting less from the state than we got but some of it has been the changing mix of our population of our students and you know I we will lift through the out of district cost issues last year but the business across the board so I would urge you all to take a chance to just leave through that at your leisure as we go through this budget process I found out some of the items in there and lightening positively in fighting but enlightening so so I just wanted to share that's kind of a path I been down over the last couple of months and I'll share that with the Board of Finance one as well as being an ex Laura finance number I felt that I had to do that for our board a little bit yes appreciate it thank you and we find when you go through the handout that we just passed out that your replacement pages based on our discussions and some of the questions that mr.