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14 years yes 13.3 is a settlement so yes I'm 13.3 and yes okay so may I have a motion to endorse the settlement as noted in item 13.3 motion thank you Mr just for a second second thank you Mr Brown yes Miss Casino yes yes it's high yes it's a homer yes yes [Music] in high school this is 1422 motion motion thank you Mr Bell a second thank you Miss Hari um yes this is awesome yes Miss Casino yes yes it's hot yes Mr Homer yes yes so now let me just say thank you for catching that because otherwise we would have walked away from the table with that movie was too very important I appreciate it and now we really are for sure up to 16 [Music] . Thank you Lisa over here all right
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the day allows us to recognize Joe's fun family the career of the students and staff and reconnect the former Staffing students the day-long theater barbecue cornhole volleyball and Ace merchandise for sale including jail without a t-shirts thank you all for our line Mr chair we'll see where I'm on with our eighth grade and have a nice evening stay healthy and remain a strong spring also if you guys are confused about the musical petting zoo the music teacher put out all the instruments so anyone who just play them that's it thank you for clarifying yeah [Music] all right so we can send calendar it's almost we have a lot of emotions here so we'll start at one end and go around so Julie can you start with the first motion explanation that is more of education and put your items on the consent cabinet extended 2362-62 to 23-66 as recommended also made by July a discussion all in favor any opposed 100 seconds in motion carries Board of Education set Wednesday June 14 2023 as the graduation date for the Danbury High School for Me by Michelle thank you by Julie for discussion I just I have a question you got that email about concerns the tax graduation was there any I mean I know the things our graduations and everything but I'm just bringing that up to that apparent s or any quality I can speak to it okay say thank you everyone is not aware there was we did receive a message from one of our families who had expressed concern that graduation for Habitat was actually the same night of our Danbury High School my graduation that puts us in a really difficult spot this is not the first time actually I understand is we've had some overlap but the changing our idea would actually extend the end of the school year of date for us so we decided to move forward with the same time the same thing that we have it is an hour later hour and a half and there will be some cases in this case I was family might actually have a student I'm at old schools it's very impossible um but every now and then my understanding his death was explaining to me principal Donovan that it has happened a couple of times in this time here this year happens to be one of those times but I I don't know if we want to burn in the entire District extending the school year one additional day because that's what will happen if we wouldn't go to graduation it would it could also mean that something else could be a concept in terms of schedules if we did so but we did receive a concern about the fact that there was a contribution any further discussion okay one extension Warren okay motion carries Teresa DHS facility repaired quotient that the Board of Education regressed a drawdown of City reserves for DHS facility repair in course with 23-67 HQ foreign discussion all those in favor any opposed um one up opposition from Cape Canaveral and one abstention from Michelle Obama yeah no I'm not opposed relay there oh sorry okay so no post one abstention Photoshop okay motion caps Mr Russo action item C th February 2023 financial report motion the Board of Education except February 2023 financial report in accordance with exhibit 23-68 motion made by Mr Russo second second by Michelle any discussion just a momentary plus sure some clarification was asked for and was received and that clarification wasn't delay in acceptance Alice in order we have a full support of District staff thank them for the time and effort for the clarifications sure are you excited to be guys situations now I'm going to ask you about that I don't think this doesn't have to change it okay thank you Council not badly you never know so imagine 23-6 excuse me accepted 22-68 what should I mean by now wait a second I was thinking about Jesse discussion and all those in favor [Music] I have specialist okay motion cameras thank you tonight motion that the Board of Education except March 2023 financial report in accordance with 23-69 motion read by Louisa second by Warren any discussion all the fair all right are you opposed I have sections okay take care of Lauren this is a nice one for you I feel like this was a step I make a motion that pursuant to CGS section 10-215f the board of educational certifies that all food items offered for sale just for sale to students in schools under its jurisdiction and not exempt from the Connecticut nutrition standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut nutrition standards During the period of July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2024.
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this certification shall include all food offered for sale two students separately from reimbursable meals at all times and from all sources including but not limited to school stores vending machines School cafeterias culinary programs and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organizations and groups second definition is there a list it might be in the existence it's not excited over there I mean like if like can they sell candy bars you know like fundraisers yeah oh who's this are they gonna make money I think that might be interesting yes yeah but I wish they had a list not listed I think that would just be too numerous well we can certainly ask breakfast yeah just for clarification yeah all those in favor um two obsessions I Mr Russo as well healthy food certification food and beverage exemption promotion that the Board of Education will allow the sales students the food items that do not meet the genetic energy beverages the Connecticut General statutes provided that the following conditions are met one the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend two the sale is at the location of the event and three the food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store an event is An Occurrence that involves more than just regularly scheduled practice meeting or extracurricular activity for example soccer games school plays and interest Scholastic debates are events that soccer practices they rehearsals and debate two meetings are not available personal attack location means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food and members stands folks are made by Bridget thank you second by Ms Cooper any discussion all those in favor one abstention two extensions three obsessions Mr Russo Theresa and Michelle any other questions all right motion carries them tenants before um excuse me sorry I think that you're missing one motion for this donation that was part of the first one yeah two two that's uh 20-66.
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um so two I have two updates on the agenda that I would like to include three give Endive festivities of last night last night so the first report in update I'd like to provide you more that is industry partner day on April 20th 2023. we had a work session with our industry partners in which I believe we had over 60 people in the room mostly Partners in the room at every table that we had every Academy represented in this meeting in the meeting we have facilitators work through the curriculum department and working with respective industry professionals sitting side by side with our teachers with our assistant principals in an all-day work session working through in very broad Strokes beginning to think through what experience could look like for our kids in these respective Academies and so it was an amazing day for us it really just kind of kind of a launch for what the industry Partners the type of service and support they could be providing for us here in District at lunchtime we went by and had a couple of words of encouragement for the group it was again an amazing show of support from the community and look forward to subsequent meetings with them the group that came in is from the bar associate the bar group who has funded us through this grant to date and so the bar funders came to the to the meeting really just to kind of have put oversight making sure that their monies are well invested and we hired facilitators so they're all of our people creating Cara castanero and car directors Etc could also participate in this day-long activity so Dr Castro is not here this evening not feeling well number one but but also not feeling well at a study visit in Charlotte as part of the kind of the next phase of the book of last but not least and part two of um superintendo report tonight we actually just received the official word meaning in writing around the Connecticut Association of schools but we did learn last week that Dr Keisha Smith Davis the principal for greater Plain Elementary School has been identified as our Connecticut Association of schools and Elementary principal of the year so I'm looking forward to that celebration dinner I don't have a date yet I am hoping to have the opportunity to bring Dr Smith Davis in to meet you and we can read the formal letter to the public and to report that night and I think collectively we're all really excited for principal Smith David she's just been an amazing asset to the school community and so happy that it's everyone has begun to recognize the amazing things she does for kids in a decision last but not least and again did not make the superintendent's report but I would like the opportunity to also bring this staff member to our next meeting and that is um teacher I'm extraordinaire at Broadview Middle School we had our teacher of the year ceremony last night at Broadview Middle School very well attended we had a lot of folks in the audience around families through teachers moving on of their identified teachers of the years and happy to announce that we have Miss Christine Miller from Broadview middle school as our teacher of the year it's going to well the way that Connecticut does it it's actually for the 24 school year so but of course we announced it during the 23 24 school 22-23 school year but she will be the teacher of the year all next year right so she will be our spokesperson this also makes her eligible for state competition and she will being one of 169 I guess teachers across the state of Connecticut competing for the teacher of the year for the entire state employees really excited that he was I think granted this award and recognized by her peers I mean administrators here across the district and looking forward to bringing her and introducing her to the board really excited Kelly has been the excitement ever since she learned the announcement so those are the three updates from the superintendent report I'm looking forward to Bringing principal Smith Davis to you and Miss Christine Miller and Dr casimiro is back I'm giving for more updates about not only Charlotte visit a month study visit but all right so for more chair of persons report I just want to say a couple things I have Miss Cooper and I were part of the um interview a group that was interviewed by um you know the group making the decision on the principle of the year and um I still won't tell Miss Smith what I said um she's been asking uh in that meeting and I think that um crowd being a great playing parent for those years and go ahead and you know let's see what he said I've actually her whole time there um you know I've known her and she she's welcome to her and um it's it's a pretty intense question session they focus on a couple of different things when they're asking that and and I was kind of in between in between both there because I as the chairperson of the board and then as a parent past parent and still have a very close relationship with uh system but I totally deserved I'm so I'm proud of her I'm so happy that um you know she got this and she just really really dedicated I can't wait to do you know you're saying dinner but I think it should be more of a party um you know for for her but um yeah it's a great time because it's a problem you know those wanted proud days to be on the board um second part that is the teacher um of the year um celebration conceremony was was fantastic so I want to thank everybody Mike have everybody who had a part in that at a board members Michelle um at Lisa the jewelry all came out to um you know help support and it was just the the whole tournament was transformed it was decorated really well um I was happy with the refreshments and that's some fun you know and and that's a first um but yeah it was just great it was a great thing and um like I said that that those are the parts where you're proud to be on the board and really what it's all about and see all the teachers come together and support um you know their colleagues it just was a was an amazing night so I just want to say thank you for anybody who had a part in uh playing that was a was a great job and um that's it for me and the other four numbers I'm making this year I I just want to share a comment and hair pulls up the back and I and I'm going to tell us as broadbands as elected officials I was very disappointed as we attend functions to recognize teacher of the year principal of the year to me as an elected official it's just an important and I know we all have other obligations and we're doing other things but last Thursday night down at City Hall when there were no war numbers except two board members there to support our budget really made this war look bad and to me if no one is down there but the leadership of this boy may speak and you leave and it looked at really really bad to me that there was no support but it wouldn't add budget so this is about the third time this has happened since I've been on the board and Community people have said why where are the boys we have a public hearing when the superintendent and his Finance director has put together a question and no one show up except me foreign so I hope that if we move forward and we look at leadership and how we're going to go about doing things that we would make that a priority next year and my thing is I've been running up those steps for the last 30 some other years and I'm getting tired but no matter what goes down I will be there as long as I'm in blessing official to support the support of bad question yes I mean in the same sentence um I would like to say his name must be school but I mean I haven't been to so many to City Hall I mean I was expected to see more um board members not only at the city hall but also at the University event that the Tamil public schools have Saturday I mean nothing nothing I have parents asking like um where are the other members like it's on you and Michelle who was there I mean they don't see much interaction and it's been notorious I mean most people keep asking well I mean other than that I just want to acknowledge the hard work that everybody has been doing um Mr Kevin Mr casimiro Kelly at the same time with all his hearings um and all the hard work trying to present to the public and in general but I have general questions regarding um this is something that we have been talking about about the amount of experience that we are being having and we really want to know I mean what's going on after we send them um the kids out to different programs what happened and I mean what what how do we get to know I mean where are they standing because at this point we keep sending sending people out keep sending kids out who they don't know I mean what's going on with them and what if this the interaction how they react to their new environment and in general attempts to come that's it thank you anyone else I agree we need more participation um I've been trying to make every family University so I've got to spend a couple of hours there on Saturday it was great got to meet more parents um bringing on a lot of questions uh regarding the Career Academy not that you know questions that I myself was asking or I am not able to answer something we really need to open up that communication and there was an event Monday night I'm happy to catch on with it so I'm going to say that the communication accounts are public outside the Board needs Improvement and I agree I did though go um I did not I could not make Thursdays public meeting I was I was not in this new town but I did go to um the event Monday the ad hoc Education meeting and there were many board members there that's when city council was you know updating us we had a back and forth um and there was a lot of communication there that was um shared with us especially the 36 million dollar looming fiscal financial crisis that we face I believe you talked about it maybe 25-26 and I'm looking for more answers on how we are going to raise that money as a city because I know as it was said that night Danbury supports education more than 50 percent of our education our budget our use of value budget goes to education and it was skated there that night that as opposed to Hartford which spends 37 a resident will spend 37 percent to subsidize an education in Harvard area we in Danbury are spending 83 percent we have a huge I believe it's 85 million dollars coming up in the next two or three years how do we address that we have to be Innovative and we need more um options than expecting just to raise taxes obviously they will need to be raised but I'm concerned and so I need to speak on that issue I don't think that we're doing enough to plan out four five six years out to absorb you know the 460 students that came here after October 1st last year we as a community absorb that that's like six or seven million dollars so we need to come up with some answers on how we're going to pay it because if we provide a wonderful education and a new Career Academy Staffing it we need to be able to make sure that the people that paid for it or to be able to stay in the city and go so um you know I'm hoping that we have a lot more communication thank you very much so I'll entertaining a motion to adjourn from public session second okay any posts interceptions so I need to make a motion
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just ice um so Sean you know did um um did Sarah have more of a prepared presentation I know we didn't ask for one welcome to the April 27th 2023 electronic meeting of the environmental commission this meeting is in accordance with executive orders from the governor to affect social distancing and mitigate the spread of the covid-19 virus we intend to conduct this meeting similarly to an in-person meeting however please be patient if there are technical issues public comment will be via telephone only to speak during any of the public comment opportunities please call 877-853-5247 or [Music] 312-626-6799 and enter meeting ID 922-9696-1644 again call [Music] 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID 922-9696-1644 this information is also available on the published agenda in the Public Notices section of the city website and on the broadcast of this meeting on CTN Channel 16 at T channel 99 and online at www.a2gov.org watchctn single word okay um do you want to move on to the Sean could you read the land Heritage statement and then the Roll Call thanks Jeff all right um start off with Lane Heritage statement I acknowledge that the land the city of Ann Arbor occupies is the ancestral traditional and contemporary lands of the anishinabe including Odawa Ojibwe and badewad me and YN dot pupils I further acknowledge that our city stands like almost all property in the United States on lands obtained generally in unconscionable ways from indigenous peoples The Taking of this land was formalized by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807.
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foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] Board of Education supporter pursuant to the open public meetings act adequate public notice has been given by the Secretary of Eastern Township Board of Education in the following manner posting written notice on the official bulletin board at the Board of Education Office emailing written notice to the Burlington County Times and the Americas filing written notice please [Music] Mr Bob here Mr President Miss Fox Mr Canton Mrs Knoll here Miss Lee Mrs Ryan yeah Mr Thompson we have a quorum okay at this time I will ask our motion to go into executive session and motion to approve items 2.1 through 2.4 whereas an njsa 10-4-12 allows for a public body to go into closed sessions during a public meeting and whereas the Board of Education of Eastern Township has deemed it necessary to go into closed session to discuss certain matters which are Exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of the board will reconvene following the end of the closed session at approximately 7 30 PM now if therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education will go into session for the following reasons as outlined in njsa 10-4-12 amps 2.1 YouTube or do I have a motion Mr Thompson Ms Capello any questions or comments real copies Mr Bach yes this is Capella yes Mr physicaro yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Knoll yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes commission carries thank you foreign [Music] foreign right now [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] me um [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] with me [Music] thank you foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign thank you foreign thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] me ant [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] guys [Music] foreign [Music] Township Board of Education would you all please rise to the Pledge of Allegiance flag of the United States of America to the Republic of which it stands under God invisible repeating justice for all at this time board member Tracy Fox will read the mission statement of the Eastern Township Board of Education the mission of the HM Township School District is to promote excellence in an environment that engage with students in meaningful learning experiences and Partnerships with students dedicated staff families and Community the district provides a strong Educational Foundation that will Empower our students to achieve their unique potential Embrace self-directed lifelong learning develop foreign contributing members of the diverse thank you Dr Smith the floor is yours to begin presentation [Music] thank you Mrs Ryan and if if all of our staff and our student who are being honored this evening could please join me up front here along with our board president Leah Ryan and our vice president nishkanthan thank you foreign [Applause] so I'd like to thank I'm going to read a little bit and I'd like to thank Allison Baumer and Russ bulls for sharing details with me about that day March 15th that has shaped what I'm about to read the entire demacy team standing here before us worked together to accomplish something that was truly life-saving on the morning of March 15th at 10 50 14 a.m one of our teachers Stephanie Schuler experienced a medical emergency here in the cafeteria at De Macy while supervising students at lunch Mike probe still one of our custodians noticed students Gathering and founder on the floor as Mike notified Mike Romano our head custodian also in the cafeteria DMS student Isaac Flanagan to my right immediately ran to get help as well Mike got on the radio right away and asked for help for us Bulls Allison Baumer John Denning Susan Gagnon Brad Haldeman and SRO Steve Giordano all members of the AED team rushed to the cafeteria arrive within one minute and began to administer treatment a shelter in place was called Maddie Goldman along with other staff entered the cafeteria from the staff lounge and helped guide students safely out of the cafeteria after determining that she was unconscious no pulse or breathing Russ and Allison directed that 9-1-1 be called Kim DeLuca from Princeton foods made the 911 call at that time Allison Russ John and Officer Steve performed CPR AED application an artificial ventilation until pulse was regained and our staff member Stephanie Schuler started breathing Pat Bree directed EMS where to park and made sure students were away from the scene EMS arrived at 10 21 am and Steph was taken to the hospital the quick actions of every person being recognized this evening was an important part of the success that morning providing assistance all along the way from retired Evesham Police Officer Brian labetti to Janine Baptiste to Gene desort Rich glass Linda Klem Julian Roman Chantel Schneider and Karen serembis on hand this evening to join us in recognizing their efforts our Evesham Police including Chief Miller and ibsham fire rescue including Captain Freeman and other members of Houston police if you wouldn't mind coming down and joining us [Applause] and and lastly the most important person with us in the room tonight Steph Schuler and her husband Mike is here too and uh he's he's on standby in case you need to come down front too okay we'll read the certificate names in alphabetical order and if each person could please step forward to receive your certificate Matthew Armand [Applause] Allison Balmer [Applause] Janine Baptiste [Applause] Russ Bowles [Applause] Pat Brie Kim DeLuca John Denning Gina distort all right [Applause] Isaac Flanagan and are his parents here I think he's parents are eyes experience oh that's fantastic so glad you could joining us [Applause] Officer Steve [Applause] Rich glass Maddie Goldman Brad Haldeman [Applause] Linda Clem [Applause] Ryan labetti [Applause] Michael Mike probsto thank you Jillian Roman like Romano Chantel Schneider [Applause] Baron sarambis [Applause] and I I just want to add um and in hearing this from Russ meant a lot because you have so much experience with through your ENT work but how how common is it for this to be as successful as it was I have to say I just say very very rare right yes very very rare all worked out the way it should very very rare yeah I just think uh just a perfect illustration of how practice and preparation is in action you know and and everybody here um just from our whole board from our Administration from our town from everyone thank you all very very much thank you [Applause] thank you okay foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] saving a person's life we are bound to do the final budget presentation tonight and this is the next item on the agenda so I'm just gonna switch gears to the final budget presentation the uh this is the second budget presentation the first was at our March board meeting March 16th um there have been a few adjustments not many but um we will go over those and it's due to some supplemental Aid that the state released to school districts since um our last presentation so uh there is a very exciting new variable to our budget process this year that has not existed previously in any budget presentation and that is separate questions so we have two we're going to look at each one of these first because again they are what is new and different about this year's budget the uh goal of achieving tuition free full day kindergarten is our number one District goal for the years 2022 to 2025.
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notice it's time I'd like to call the meeting to order let the record reflect that all board members are Pleasant present please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you we will start with item B1 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community this evening I will turn this item over to Dr crotto as he was going to introduce for us a couple of our middle level athletic Champions and I would like to invite the board to join me on the steps to recognize these outstanding athletes thank you Dr Dean Madam president members of the board cabinet guests it's our pleasure tonight to introduce like Dr Dean said some middle level athletic Champions first our girls volleyball from Kingswood we'd like to offer them to come up come on up front get a picture the Kingswood coach awesome Round of Applause they are coached by Renee Puig hink and they are the Middle School level Champions this year so great job why the parents are snapping again a round of applause for Kingswood girls volleyball great job [Applause] next up for middle level athletic Champions is West Point for flag football so come on up [Applause] the West Point is coached by Austin pechtel so congratulations looks like they brought some uh trophies with him too so great job gentlemen awesome job congratulations West Point flag football great job great season don't leave yet we have a few more pictures all right congratulations great job Madam president that concludes our presentations foreign next we will move on to audience with individuals do we have any this evening okay Ms Densmore we do this is the time for the public to comment members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on this agenda pursuant to ARS 38431.01 action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date in order to facilitate accomplishing the business of the district in a timely manner a time limit of three minutes will be imposed for each individual or group addressing the board when you approach the podium please state your name for the record and first we have Mr Dave Marsh hello my name is Dave Marsh I live over by assani Preparatory Academy about a mile from there I just was wondering what the difference between governing a Preparatory Academy versus a Traditional School thank you and Madam president Mr Marsh we will ask Dr assai to contact you and provide the information for you thank you next we have Janet LeBlanc good evening my name is Janet LeBlanc a taxpayer in the Dysart District I would like to ask what fund 610 funds are used for that are listed in the consent agenda item of F10 within the expense vouchers entitled unrestricted capital outlay now in respect to the recent Arizona Family three news clip regarding Dysart requiring teachers to check a box stating that they will not attend any CRT critical race Theory or SEL social emotional learning sessions when attending conferences that are paid for by tax dollars I applaud the district if teachers say they just want to be trusted yet are upset about this policy one can't help but question their reasons for being upset other than that they must desire to attend these specific sessions when you think about it if a person does not care whether or not they attend CRT or SEL sessions why would they be upset when they are told not to attend them that's double standard thinking it's also a shame the media continues to play on the negative of double standard thinkers by taking such a positive action made by the district on behalf of the children and turning it into a negative finger-pointing issue shame on them for twisting truth into lies to fit their narrative please don't listen to them don't listen to their lies and know that each of you are doing a great job looking out for the best interest of the children that are under your charge and I thank you I thank you as a parent as a grandparent as a taxpayer and as a constituent thank you for being the district willing to step up and set a good example of true leadership thank you and Madam president members of the board will ask Mr Hicks to follow with Miss LeBlanc thank you Dr Dean next we have Mr Larry LeBlanc good evening my name is Larry LeBlanc I would like to spin right off of what Janet discussed this is a special note to the Educators in the United States of America education system I have said this before to all Educators Janet and I are your biggest supporters to all Educators with a solid moral compass and a dedication to share sound learning techniques congratulations and thank you for carrying a torch and upholding the guidelines as described in ARS 15-203 item 25.
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plus a quick couple of reminders in Spanish for those that need interpretation devices to the backup all right we're going to get started here shortly I know we still have folks that are um are coming in um so give us about maybe 30 more seconds okay a couple of housekeeping items restrooms are off to our right if you go straight back first Hall to your right you make a right and then first Hall to your left we have a few sets of restrooms there okay okay so we're gonna go ahead and get going here my welcome everyone I want to make sure if we are receiving the uh interpretation services that we are the red they're ready to go let's give a thumbs up on um we good okay we're good all right perfect okay um my name is Robert Saldivar I'm the executive director of Educational Services here for our district um so we're going to go and get started again thank you all for being here and Welcome to our final lcap Gathering okay um before we get started we would uh our board approved a land acknowledgment back on March the 7th of 2023 so we're going to go ahead and get started with our land acknowledgment we respectfully acknowledge the Anaheim Union High School District that the Anaheim Union High School District is located on the ancestral land of the Gabrielino tangwa people we gratefully acknowledge those on Whose ancestral homelands We Gather as well as a diverse and vibrant native communities who make their home here today okay thank you everyone I also we also want to acknowledge some of our dignitary folks that are in the crowd um we're going to start with uh Board of trustee for the Anaheim elementary school district Ryan Rellis Ryan are you I know I saw you out there are you in here yet he's still outside okay oh there he is all right thank you thank you for being here Ryan we also have from Fullerton joint uh Board of trustee Lauren klatzker Lauren in here I know I saw her somewhere Lauren all right and then I know um some of our board members are going to be stopping by as well I know trustee Guerrero will be here and some of our others are not going to make an effort to come here as well so so we appreciate their efforts to be here as well we have our assistant superintendent of Educational Services Dr Jaren free I'm not sure if he's in here yet but we just want to make sure we acknowledge Him and thank him for being here and then we also want to thank all of our folks who have been a part of really you know just supporting the lcap process obviously our student our ambassadors who worked hard to recruit all of our students to be at our focus group meetings are all of our directors and and just Ed division staff that help to facilitate the focus group meetings um if you're in the room please stand up if you're standing up please raise your hand and let's acknowledge all of them we appreciate all of you thank you thank you some of them um might be into overflow room I think we're going to be okay without the overflum though um we have Mr John Bautista our Pio who's helping with the live stream I'm not sure if there's John John you can raise your hand thank you John for helping out with the live stream and then we also have um Lucy and her team who helped us so she's our our support staff but help to set everything up from the catering to everything you see in here and also with our mno department and their team who who have helped to support all of the setups so so thank you to all of them to Quinton and his team and Lucian and their team thank you very much and also um thank you to our transportation team I'm not sure if Scott and Scott Sanger and Rob Lewis are in here are they in here yes if you could raise your hand for all the support with the buses for our students we appreciate it and Dr Nancy nian as well our assistant super business thank you for being here all right well without further Ado I'd like I'd like to introduce our superintendent Mr Michael matsuda who would like to provide a welcome and a few words for us all as well thank you thank you and let's give it up for uh Robert Saldivar our executive director Where's Robert yes yes you guys that you just gave it up for him okay so uh you can do it again that's fine uh I first of all I want to put a shout out to three schools that just became California democracy schools hope let's put a shot at Hope Gilbert yeah and Sycamore Sycamore in the house I think it's uh we are and this is the biggest clap is that we are the first district now to become a district democracy District in California that's awesome and this lcap process is proof that democracy is Alive and Well in the auhsd that all of our folks are students our parents our staff have a voice and prioritizing District budget through the lcat process and this is why we have so many visitors from across the state asking how do we do it well we do it the auhsd way which is this is it you know it's really the tacos that that do it for us so um yes that's right tacos so I'm really proud of this process I know sometimes it seems like hey it's a long process but you'll find out um it is the right process and again I remember when we started this when you started this I reminded the group that we are the only District to fully fund social workers fully fund uh Community Liaisons fully fund the amazing training for democracy schools and other teacher training that have positioned us as a transformational district and it's because of this process that we have normalized all of these amazing support services that we offer so I you know even though we have 13 Community Schools out of 19 we intend to by next month hopefully have all 19 schools of California Community Schools as well right we hope it'll be quite something so more to come and I'm really excited to hear the results of our lcat process thank you very much okay thank you Mike for for your welcome and your words and uh we want to continue now with as as many of us know for those of us that work in this District we typically start our meetings not only here at the district but at our school sites as well with our our vision and Mission and as our vision as it is behind me on the screens as it reads to create a better world through unlimited you and our mission the Anaheim Union High School District in partnership with the Greater Community will graduate socially aware Civic minded students who are life ready by cultivating the soft and the hard skills and hopefully for our students that are are here today and have been part of this process hopefully you as you're hearing this you think of your experiences in the classroom as superintendent matuta just said you know 20 of our schools have now been recognized as democracy schools and so just the experiences that you have in the classroom thanks to your teachers and all of our support staff the training that we provide the resources that you are seeing our vision and Mission come to life in in your experiences in the classrooms and on your campuses um and our core values you know again when we start our meetings we also like to reflect on our core values and really this is how um how how we achieve our our mission and vision so they're right behind me we have seven of them so we take a few seconds to to reflect on our core values and maybe think of of one or two that resonate with you as you think of the lcat process over the last couple of months our experiences that we had in the focus group meetings that we had the conversations the dialogue at the tables that we had with you know with our students our community members our families our staff you know here at the district at the sites and and how we live and breed these core values through a process like lcap or at school at the site with the work we're doing at the site or in the classroom or here at the district and before I hand it over to Dr Hernandez again our social contract right we we have a social contract that all of our sites um you know have have adopted and in one way or former another whether it's a social contract Norms values that a lot of our teachers will will take our students through a process where they come up with their own Norms their own values their own beliefs about how how to treat each other you know how how to how to treat each other the teachers in the classroom the staff member in the classroom how the staff member should teach us to treat the students expectations and things like that so we have awesome District we also have adopted a social contract in every meeting that we have we like to review the social contract I know in each of your focus group meetings this was a social contract that that our steering committee had come to agreements on and um so just as we go through the social contract as you reflect on it maybe think about one or two that resonate with you for the purpose of this meeting what comes to mind for example thinking of equity of voice and has that been represented throughout this entire process have we heard from our students our family members our staff at the sites our district folks our community members have we heard them their voice and these focus group meetings that we just came out of um you know the idea of trusting the process right as we continue to navigate the lcap as we look forward to to the recommended draft actions that each group came up with okay okay so now what's next so I'd like to have Dr Hernandez come up and to take us through the next uh a few steps here so let's give Dr Hannah's a big round of applause thank you I said I'm Dr Hernandez this is my first year helping facilitate the lcap and it's been such a humbling process and I am truly honored to be in front of you this afternoon and thank you for your commitment with these sessions and these focus groups I'm at auhsd we see that lcap engagement process as an opportunity to tell our story our accomplishments and to gain some comprehensive input from all of you our educational Partners so we believe that in order to reach Real Results it's vital that the lcap is planned with intentionality and connects us with our students families and community so through the annual lcap process we shed light on areas of growth as well and through a collaborative process we've come up with action items that will be presented tonight from representatives from R4 focus groups so again thank you for your participation for helping us develop and organize and plan this important plan it is a unifying process that involves significant and purposeful engagement which includes all of you so this is just a brief overview this is a three-year plan this is year two of our lcap we will be presenting our lcap at a board meter a board meeting later in June um I will go over just the the purpose of the input process today so for all of our guests here the input process is about building consensus so that's what we're going to do tonight um we're going to review all of the action items that you guys work tirelessly to develop in your focus groups again this is not a vote it's building consensus our actions are recommendations and they help establish the district priorities also actions that are included in our lcap do not take the place of our negotiations or bargaining process so for group one basic services this group looked at rate of teacher misassignment access to standards aligned materials and facilities in good repair and they looked at this data and came up with action items at this moment I would like to invite our student representative that's going to read the action items that group one developed so if I can have Alexa Diaz come on up [Applause] you um okay okay so for group one uh our first action was that auhsd will isolate specific funding geared towards hiring and retaining teachers with appropriate credentials to support class size reductions especially in core and PE classes to increase the ability to build deeper and more authentic connections between teachers and students to increase College and Career Readiness through course offerings and to support all students in achieving life Readiness skills so our action 2 is facilities maintenance and its staff I.T staff will upgrade critical electrical infrastructures such as switch such as switch gears which provide our energy and like solar services to counter our energy use as well as servers so their their goal here is to um sorry their goal here is to satisfy the conditions that the state of California will require in the next 15 years to support our 21st century living as well as supporting our more um like electronic and electric courses that are being offered in our schools more recently um this is all for students our staff and our community to ensure our access to clean and renewable energy that supports our 21st century living our action three is our technology equipment resources and training will be provided by the EIT staff Tech coaches and or Specialists to enhance student engagement access to rigorous curriculums in an up-to-date 21st Century Learning environment and that is it thank you Alexa and what school are you representing today Kennedy thank you Alexa so for group two um the priorities they looked at were state standards people achievement course access other people outcomes and this group analyzed and disaggregated performance standards data standardized test scores evidence of College and Career Readiness people enrollment in a broad course of study pupil outcomes in a broad course of study and to read out group two's action statements I would like to invite Nagata [Music] [Applause] um okay so our first action is that school sites will increase the number of teachers to support reduced classes reduce class sizes for the purpose of improving the quality of instruction and engagement and student outcomes such as aspect scores and graduation rates for swds and EOS action two the district will allocate Advocate funding for schools to have a 250 student to one counselor ratio in order to meet academic social emotional and career needs of our students in order to best serve students we need to address smaller case loads for our action 3 we came up with school on District staff for research and Implement flexible learning opportunities Bell schedules and block scheduling hybrid classes and programming and expanding e-learning and course offerings for all students positively impact and improve graduation rates at spec scores CT pathway completion and adg eligibility to reduce the need for remedy remediation thank you I'm here representing Anaheim High School thank you so for group three parent involvement this group looked at looking at efforts to seek potential input and decision making for how we provide professional learning for our parents and it was also promoting parent participation and I'd like to invite Mario vandespino to come on out [Applause] so group three is Parental involvement action one ahsd will allocate additional fundings to reduce class sizes teachers and support lower staff caseloads counselors social workers psychologists site administrations for all students especially McKinney we know Foster youth playerlingual students low income and students with disabilities to provide for individualized attention strengthen one-on-one relationships with parents and students safe learning environment a social emotional learning opportunities and representation to student voice action two in color in collaboration with Community Partners parents organizations and the student body School site will the school side will plan for multiple similar opportunities to be inclusive and various parents Guardians schedules for families to be informed and involved to create positive School culture and ensure the proper interpretation services will be provided for equilibrium access action 3 district lcap will allocate funds so that all students especially English Learners swds and Foster youth have access to and can participate in Osco activities dances sport activities and events during the school and after school to increase mental wellness and promote a unified school culture and I'm representing Anaheim High School thank you Mario and finally group four people engagement and school climate they looked at our attendance rates Dropout rates graduation rates also looked at our chronic absenteeism suspension rates sense of safety and connectedness and to read their action items I would like to bring up a group of students they wanted to come up in solidarity so Ari Ari cardena Michael Flores and Karina soliman [Applause] hello Amara Cardenas the a Laura student ambassador I'm Karina Solomon and I'm representing Savannah High School and I'm Michael Flores the gobert high school student ambassador group four we won a Anaheim Union High School District we'll keep small class sizes to 30 or less students per class to allow teachers to identify students needs and reduce class class size to support social emotional needs while allowing students to build peer relationships okay so for Action two we have District leadership will be more intentional with the Staffing of psychologists school counselors School social workers and other qualified staff and existing resources in order for all School sites to have a wellness center and to utilize mental health supports more effectively and for Action 3 ahsd will hire or keep more counselors keep smaller caseloads and provide quality academic and social support to all students so if we can give all of our students another round of applause they were super committed rain or shine they participated in our focus group so thank you for being a part of the process and sharing your voice now here comes the auhsd lcap input process all of you received a half sheet with a QR code so if you can take that out and this is where you will see a Google form we're asking that to input the password that's unique to you that was given to you when you entered at the check-in it is case sensitive you don't have to include the quotations but it is case sensitive and then we're going to go ahead and give you five minutes if that's enough um to select your top three actions yes we have we do have a question [Music] there's a encouragement you know because the boat that checks the votes if you vote for actually those charging tracks I I can't hear you 've heard everything so there is some uniqueness to each action item although some of them may address class size but others address other Staffing ratios so we left them as they were written by each Focus Group so they are we can look at them as a theme when we tally them up but again those were action items that were developed by the members of each Focus Group yeah no worries action so you if you want to if you want to select let's say action item one from group one three times you can do that the form allows you to do that any other questions so we're going to give you some time to go ahead and submit your top three priorities everything is you're saying just saying that you can't read the whole thing it's interesting because when we look at it we were able to see if they scored the topic and see them can't they if they just go to the top just as an FYI if you scroll to the top of the survey they should all be listed there so again scroll to the top of the survey if you're having a hard time when you go down to vote and it's cut off scroll to the top and they should all be listed there we're going to verify that in a second okay Okay so at the top once again just to clarify at the top of the survey there is a link if you click on that link it will take you to all of our draft recommended action items just to clarify there should be a link at the top of the survey that takes you to the um to our slide deck that has all of the draft recommended action items to um so it should be on correct now if you have any questions need support just raise your hand we have folks around the room our group four three recommended draft action items is has been corrected thank you Charles for doing that so that should that should now be accurate foreign thank you bones I can't see the whole thing apart so so Eric's bringing Chromebooks I need to see most people so if someone does have a hard time on their phone and they're not quite sure people can log in and with it it's pretty clear you're really willing to breathing okay just um as an FYI if someone needs to see the draft the recommended draft action items simultaneously as you're voting um we have some support over to my left you're right we have Chromebooks where they will help you with bringing those up so you can look at them versus having to go back and forth okay but again if you scroll to the top there's a link to this slide Deck with all of the draft recommended items for each of the groups okay so we have a couple of more things to go over before we are able to take the data from those who are here and and to show you some real-time results which is what we're going to try to do in the next five minutes now keep in mind that we still have quite a few people that weren't able to be here tonight or this evening so we are going to send out instructions be right with you give me a second we're going to send out instructions to those that we're not able to be here that have been showing up to our meetings okay we will be sending out um a code for each of them to be able to vote with the link with instructions to when it will open for them and when it will close Okay once we have everyone's vote we will take all of all of those that voted and cross-reference out with those that have been showing up just to make sure that it was someone that's been showing up and and that to make sure they only voted once okay in terms of you know they didn't try and reuse the code um so we'll clean all that data up we have a question over here in the back two so what we can do Charles are you coming to answer that no do something and we'll send out instructions if not then you could just email us we could then delete your Vote or right let us let us just let us discuss that Amy are you saying something yeah is that not right yeah okay yeah okay okay I gotcha so we're going to give you another word all right we're going to collect the one you have to make sure we omit it okay anyone else with uh wanting to do that good all right so now over the next few minutes as we're um trying to aggregate the real-time data we have a couple of more things that we want to you know just to in the interest of time while we're waiting for them to to show us the real-time data hopefully if possible we got a couple other things to update you on so before we get to our special guest here one of our students um I want to make sure that we acknowledge we have trustee Guerrero that was able to join us if you want to say hi hello thank you for being here okay um and then on this slide here again you you heard you heard from our students who were willing to come up and you know and and speak address address um the audience here and read out the draft action items from their groups um a lot of you who who obviously are well aware of of all the things that our schools are doing from the soapbox speeches to the different uh projects in the classrooms from the Democracy schools that have all been recipients because of the work that they're doing there's a lot of evidence out there of of the learning experiences that our students are receiving in the classroom thanks to the hard work of our teachers our support staff our counselors and so just to highlight some of those things again we wanted to include a slide um here with with some of the things that we wanted to celebrate our our a through G rates that have risen from 30 from 35 to 52 over the last six years district-wide um yes big big round of approx for that our graduation rates that have also risen from 86 to 91 percent over over the same time frame as we heard earlier our 20 democracy schools we are now a democracy School District the only one in the state so a huge round of applause to that are 13 Community Schools that were funded by a grant close to 24 million dollars and for the eight remaining we're waiting to hear if obviously we're waiting here if we're going to be receiving funding for them as well so again a huge round of applause to the great work that has gone into that and again none of this could could not be done without the support of all of our folks at the sites right our teachers our support staff instructional aides office support counselors administrators our parents our students that are in the audience our district folks that are supporting the great work that's going on at the site so huge round of applause to everyone for that and and now just as a small sample size to what we often see in the classroom right our ours our student experience and what when we think about the difference between what we're doing as a district when you think about what voice and purpose means right what the soft skills mean um our vision right and everything that we've reflected on we we have a student here Susana quesada from Katella High School who is uh who we have the honor to see uh this evening a sample size of of the student experience in the classroom thanks to the work that's being done at each of our sites Susana if you'd like to come up and she will be partaking in her auhsd talk all right in 2023 it is unlikely that you'll find a classroom full of confident students you might find a few you might find 10 saying they feel confident on Monday and only six saying they feel confident on Wednesday confidence is so weird it's a word we throw around so casually it's the thing every young adult wants more of except for money of course but how exactly are we supposed to address the lack of confidence and low self-esteem of today's teenagers we see how such a problem is already affecting our real world according to the Dutch Ministry of Education students with low self-esteem struggle to make decisions about their education such as choosing a major these students often drop out of their selected Majors while students with healthy self-esteem levels complete their degrees in the majors they initially chose now why is this important for one I hope my surgeon is confident in their career choice but more importantly we see how our self-esteem can affect our long-term goals and the overall outcome of Our Lives low self-esteem creates a lack of self-confidence I asked a group of students what caused these feelings of self-doubt and poor image in them and one word stood out to me the most expectations students explain that feeling an inability to reach expectations is what drove their confidence to the ground we create these expectations through comparison through what we wish we could do and what we know we will never achieve comparison is not only the thief of Joy but it also pickpockets our competence a heartbreaking response from one of the students I interviewed was I want to be the person others see me as because I will never see myself that way if students didn't struggle with these self-esteem issues perhaps we would see more teen involvement in our schools and our community but instead us teens fall into a cycle of excessive self-doubt and self-criticism we wish we could just please everyone but it does not have to be this way you can start to build confidence in yourself right now we must tell ourselves that we are capable of achieving our goals and everyone is truly capable just look at what you have already done how far you've already come another part of this positive self-talk while it's kind of cliche is to reassure yourself as many times as you have to tell yourself I can do it people often link their identities to their thoughts so use this to your advantage and more importantly remember that nobody's really looking nobody's actually watching as teens we can all be a little self-absorbed but how exact how often do you actually pay attention to the people around you how much do you just forget about them once you're not in their presence perhaps the best advice on confidence that I have received is that a confident person does not need permission because they trust themselves so I invite my fellow teens to do this trust yourself to be yourself you might shine brighter than you think thank you foreign wow thank you Susana and again just the power that we see in in an educational experience that the ones who sign out just exemplified here at the podium um and and that Bill's confident as she spoke to in in a sense of purpose right and again that's that's what we're about that's what our district is about is helping our students to build that confidence to find that sense of purpose through through cpsf you know and then when we connect the Capstone to that what that means to a lot of our seniors who've been going through that and reflecting on the many projects the many opportunities to do a whether it's a TED Talk a soapy a soapbox speech some meaningful Civic Action Project whatever it was that really spoke to your heart inspired you and now you're able to come up with confidence and speak to that present to it reflect on it through a Capstone showcase and how many of us as adults had that experience when we were in high school or would have been able to do that given the experience that we had in our our own education so just the difference in in the education that we're a 40 in our students here at our district so again a huge round of applause to Susana and all of our teachers that are making this happen I believe we are ready so this is real time correct okay so here behind me we have from the folks that are here and voted real-time results so as you can see we have group four action item number one and group three action item number one seemed to be head to head right and then we have group one action item number one and group two action item number three taking the seem to be battling for second and third right and then the rest are also close yes sure we can definitely do that give me a second let me go back to my notes you have them perfect okay so we'll do maybe like the the top four or five so we have group four action item number one auhsd will keep small class sizes to 30 or less students per class to allow teachers to identify students needs and reduce class sizes to support social emotional needs while allowing students to build relationships Action Group 3 recommended action item number one at uhst will allocate additional funding to reduce class size teachers and support lower staff caseloads counselor social workers psychologists and site administrators for all students especially McKinley vento Foster youth pluralingual students low income and students with disabilities to provide for individualized attention strengthen one-on-one relationships with parents and students safe learning environments social emotional learning opportunities and representation of student voice right those are top two close in a close uh second or third however you want to see it um let me see if I have the right one here okay so this is group one action item number one aauhsd will isolate specific funding geared towards hiring and retaining teachers with appropriate credentials to support class size reduction especially in our core areas and PE classes to increase the ability to build deeper and more authentic connections between teachers and students increase College and Career Readiness course offerings and support all students in achieving life Readiness skills our number four is group two action item number three school and District staff will research and Implement flexible learning opportunities examples are Bell schedules block scheduling hybrid classes programming and expanded e-learning and course offerings for all students to positively impact and improve graduation rates aspect score CTE pathway completion and a3g eligibility to reduce the need for remediation and we'll read one more I think the top five are well there's a few others but we'll go ahead and go with number five as well uh group at group two action number two here's a recommendation the district will allocate adequate funding for schools to have a 250 to 1 counselor ratio in order to meet the academic social emotional and career needs of our students in order to best serve students we need to address smaller case loads good okay all right thank you Okay so as a reminder let me check the next slide yes as a reminder we have as next steps these recommendations will be presented to our Board of Trustees at our June 8th board meeting that month we have two board meetings right we have this specific one on June 8th to present the lcap and a couple of other things to our Board of Trustees and then our normally scheduled uh June 15th board meeting where our Board of Trustees will be adopting taking action and adopting okay so just want to put that on your radar if you can join us I would be great whether it's in person or if you want to you know log in virtually you will have that option as well all right in person or virtually okay and and again just you know before we close out and go to our launch we just want to make sure a huge thank you to to everyone how about brooker's Junior High I think we have our our team here our principal is our principal here Mr amancio where's Gill you want to raise your hand your your team Gil did an amazing job of of setting up for us and and just you know went above and beyond so we appreciate your support and your team and welcoming everyone um all of our our educational Partners um that have joined us our Community Partners you know city of Anaheim agira Poco everyone our parents our our students everyone our families our staff I mean we know these are busy times it's it's busy times all year long um and you guys as as Dr Hernandez said earlier you tracked the weather conditions that you know that we face and and a couple of those situations we were facing some pretty severe weather with the with the cold and the wind and the rain and we had students walk in walking walking over to their locations wherever their group their groups were meeting and and just to make sure that they were a part of this very important process our steering committee Representatives um just just um we're not going to name names because there's quite a few names we have close to 40 folks that are on our steering committee but just who they represent so they represent our steering committee is made up of representatives from afscme Alta apga asked CSEA these are all of our unions right that represent each of our all of our staff members dlac Representatives PTA what's MMA I'm sorry sorry MMA who's here there was a big fight this last Saturday like were they here okay I apologize MMA PTA I thought that was a typo okay um our student ambassadors again another round of applause for our student ambassadors thank you um they're they are also a part of our our steering committee we have a couple of our student ambassadors um our folks from our education Support Services Human Resources I.T student Support Services special youth services our superintendent's office everyone is a part of the steering committee so we we have additional meetings that happen throughout this process we always meet at least a week or or two before our actual focus group meetings and our our initial meeting in our last meeting as well so again thank you to all of you for your support and in closing just want to make sure we're on the right slide you know as as we think about our vision again our vision to create a better world through unlimited you um and we and we saw samplings we've seen samplings of that right um and you think about our students and how we are doing this so where's the evidence of this and when we think of the evidence we think of our framework in cpsf our purpose our soft skills our five C's our technical skills our Pathways all of our CTE Pathways that afford these experiences our clubs our programs our vapa our Sports our student talks our soapbox speeches our Civic engagement our Capstone just to name a few right and really the the role that the lcap process plays in helping to guide this ship that we call education and the journey our students are on I am often reminded when I think of all of that I'm often reminded of the quote from Nelson Mandela that reads education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world again we all play a critical role in ensuring that at the end of this educational Journey that we're affording to our students and that our students are taking with us that they feel confident as we heard right and empowered and prepared to truly change and help create a better world so thank you all for your support and we look forward to seeing you on June the 8th have a great day
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
knowing where we live work study and recreate does not change the past but a thorough understanding of the ongoing consequences of this past can Empower us and our work create a future that supports human flourishing and justice for all individuals thank you let me just make sure I've promoted everyone who should be a panelist and all right I will start the Roll Call uh first uh council member Aquin here Ann Arbor thank you uh chairperson Brown you're in Ann Arbor thank you commissioner kalawart president thank you uh commissioner Curtis here Ann Arbor thank you commissioner Dale here in Ann Arbor thank you uh council member dish you're Ann Arbor thank you uh commissioner Gabe Randall here in Ann Arbor thank you uh commissioner Graham I think Mr Graham's sound was not working earlier so um don't see them online he was on for all of it so um commissioner Gruber here in Ann Arbor thank you uh commissioner Marson here in Ann Arbor thank you uh commissioner mursky here in my home in Ann Arbor thank you Vice chairperson Mitchell you're in Ann Arbor thank you uh commissioner nedric here in Ann Arbor thank you uh commissioner oriel and commissioner weyhing you're in Ann Arbor thank you uh and that is a quorum great thank you Sean um so let's move on do I have a motion to approve the agenda as submitted second um um any discussion any suggested amendments hearing and seeing none all who approved the agenda as submitted please raise your hand and say ah hello hi hi um in the opposed any abstentions okay it passes by uh unanimously the next item on the agenda is approval of the minutes of our March meeting um do I have a motion to approve the minutes um Shannon Gabe Randall and seconded by Lisa dish um any discussion raise your hand no I don't hear see anything um so who approves the minutes as submitted by uh by Sean raise your hand or say aye aye aye any days any abstentions okay I hear and see none so the minutes were approved uh unanimously as submitted uh the next item on the agenda is public commentary so this is an opportunity for persons to speak for up to three minutes please call 1-888-788-0099 I'm not sure that's the right number here please call 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID 922-9966 we'll start that over uh please call toll-free 877-853-5247 and enter meeting ID nine two two nine six nine six one six four four this information is also displayed on the meeting agenda and video feed City staff will select callers that have erased 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 nine 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 sounds 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 up to 30 seconds before a connection is established now do we have anybody online yet uh yes we do I have a caller ending in a number ending in one three four again that number ends in one three four I've had allowed you to speak thank you Mr Reynolds and chair Brown I'm Ken Garber I live at 28 Haverhill court on the gas ban resolution Ann Arbor's direct greenhouse gas emissions are rising fast due to new construction 30 separate gas burning developments now underway are in advanced planning will put almost 24 000 metric tons CO2 equivalent emissions into the atmosphere each year for decades to come dwarfing emission reductions from the city's free solar projects uh recently the city approved 320 new gas burning Apartments off Pontiac Trail and 78 new gas burning townhomes on Platte Road um it's constant but few are paying attention reduced communal emissions will offset only a fraction of the damage the a20 plan relied on the state to enable cities to require most new buildings to be Net Zero Energy but that didn't happen nor will it for several years to come so we need to ban gas connections and new construction we just can't keep locking in new emissions for decades going forward that CO2 as you know remains in the atmosphere for 200 years or more Keating the planet there is no path to a livable climate if we don't end fossil fuel combustion Banning gas and new construction should be the easy part a no-brainer we have proven and cost-effective Alternatives this should not be hard other parts of the of decarbonization of the transition will be but not this you may have heard that a three judge panel from the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Berkeley's gas ban ordinance this is obviously not good news but it's important not to overstate its implications for Ann Arbor first Berkeley has signal letter plans to appeal second I spoke with a U of M environmental law professor who calls the decision legally faulty third Berkeley's ordinance amended its building code Ann Arbor on the other hand is proposing to amend its zoning code and courts give much greater leeway to localities in general when it comes to zoning than it does for building codes so our situation is somewhat different also your resolution does allow for interim measures other cities are doing this for example Burlington Vermont has implemented a carbon pollution impact fee starting at 150 dollars per ton carbon for new construction with fossil fuel thermal energy systems um and also for uh Renovations and expansions we should look at something like this for an Ann Arbor bottom line of the resolution you have before you tonight um is uh sound uh it's common sense it's only a first step but we need to take that before we do some of the harder things so I urge you to pass it tonight with enthusiasm and thank you for listening to my comments yep thank you Mr Garber um anybody else on the line Sean uh I do see one other caller on the line but their hand is not raised so I say give them a couple seconds to see if they want to raise their hand if not we can move on yep again you need to you need to press star 9 on your phone all right I am not seeing a hand race okay well um well this ends the first period of public commentary uh there will be another opportunity for persons to speak at the end of this meeting um so the next item on the agenda is unfinished business uh which is the second reading of our resolution and supportive accelerated action on an ordinance to ban natural gas connections and new construction and major Renovations and in support of devising and implementing implementing interim measures to incentify all electric construction so um let's see do you want to put up the document Sean and you share your screen and put up the other document uh not the red line version just put up the the final word the the version that's all right can everyone see that yeah so first uh well do I have them first sorry do I have a motion to um um to consider this resolution I don't see Hands Up um Dharma Ackman has her end up uh Brooks Curtis seconds um so let's proceed to the discussion um this will be the second reading um I don't think it's been um significantly changed since the last reading um I think that whereas Clauses are all um are all straightforward and support the uh the resolve clauses so let's see I could read it out um a social and why don't I read it out um I do see a hand from commissioner Merson oh okay um um yeah commissioner Marston you have the floor yeah I mean I don't know if you wanted to read it I just had a question about one of the clauses sure um the the fourth From The Bottom the whereas the 2022 inflation reduction act provides substantial new Financial incentives for electrification and heat pump installation um I was under the impression maybe I'm incorrect that that was primarily for retrofitting existing buildings and so I just wondered what the you know rationale was for including that pause in this resolution but I might be on that might not really understand fully the the uh that inflation reduction act you know the provision in there there is something an inflation reduction act that addresses new construction um I believe it relates to uh part in the tax code called 45 L um and um I can't tell you exactly what the uh incentives are but there are incentives for new instruction uh construction as well as refer retrofits like you said yeah I have a vague memory of that um any other questions about the whereas clauses okay let's why don't we move just move down to the resolution Clauses and I will read those out so there are two resolution Clauses the first one is therefore be it resolved that the Ann Arbor environmental commission concurs with the Ann Arbor energy commission and urges the city council to ask the city administrator to work with the City Planning Commission to draft and pass with the great urgency fitting and declared emergency an ordinance Banning natural gas connections with extremely limited exceptions for all new construction as well as major Renovations and additions for council's consideration and the second result Clause is therefore being resolved that the Ann Arbor environmental commission urges the city council to ask the city administrator and the City Planning Department Commission to draft and pass with equal urgency a set of recommended carrot and stick measures that city council and the city Administration could Implement for example the restructuring of fees priority processing and using greater discretion when providing incentives such as tax credits and helpful guidance in order to promote all electric sustainable healthy reliable and affordable Construction in addition to other measures such as an updated state of Michigan energy code and zero code appendix so these are the actions that we're asking we're recommending to city council um um are there any comments about these any concerns questions on John mursky you have your view of the floor it's my understanding that the renters commission also approved this about a week ago last week [Music] okay yeah that makes sense because um in many communities some utility costs are now higher than than housing costs so um so this is always this is always a you know a question about rental housing um so let's see Chris Graham you have your hand up well hopefully you hear me yes we can hear you now and to reload Zoom okay um there have been some court cases out west maybe Boulder maybe somewhere in California John or somebody have you scoped those decisions to see whether there's a way around them here we had a public comment by Ken Garber um there's recently been another the City of Eugene Oregon has passed an actual gas ban this being sued as well uh where there's a lawsuit that's been filed um so John Mercy you have your hand up here over the floor yes uh Christopher or Chris addressed the question to me uh my understanding is the same as Ken's so it's obviously of concern um clearly the laws in the two states and the methods uh were different than what is potentially possible um here uh I have not read it yet but there's a lawyer on the energy commission and uh he did a review of the decision and um the situation in Berkeley um and it was his opinion that while it's not good news for Ann Arbor it's not something that is something that would uh indicate that we have no pathway forward even on on the first resolve clause [Music] okay thanks um commissioner Mitchell you have your hand up thank you I just want to say that I strongly support moving forward with this resolution which is advice to move forward for the city we are in a climate emergency and it's time that we take action that has some visible tangible outcome and I think that the one suggestion that we just heard from um Mr Webber who called in to consider a fee that addresses the emissions related to any installation that includes natural gas right now is a way forward it's not something that might feel good but it's in the other hand we will be suffering the carbon emission output of the any building that has these installations for years and years to come this isn't a decision that would be for just now or any time that that a building is completed it will be something that is in existence for 30 years 40 years and we're talking about a timeline of 2030.
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that is a very exciting goal and so it is very exciting by extension to talk about this means for achieving that goal which is through a separate proposal question which you will be voted on on November 7th 2023.
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to the issue of checking a box an agreement not to attend negative teachings what educator of the above mentioned qualities would not initial this box let's get technical about the magic box ARS 15-717.02 clearly outlines the do Nots of attending any CRT training it is against the law to attend any training of the sort so technically this box is not required but it is a great reminder thank you board and superintendents you'll form what the magic box is excellent God Bless America thank you next we have Mr Johnny Melton tough to follow good evening members of the board good meeting admin and Dr Dean good evening my name is Johnny Melton I'm a a Litchfield Manor both my kids are out of Dysart now they've gone away but uh still still in the district and I'm still rooting for you guys uh this has been you guys been a great board and I've been watching this over the years um and I've been very proud of I think everything you've done you've gone through some tough times there's been a lot of angry intense moments in this room but you've you've always managed to get through and we've done good things and uh I've said before I'm gonna miss you uh Dr Dean you were a blessing to us thank you for serving when you can and I wish you the best of luck in your next endeavor uh every I just want you guys I'm going to repeat what what was said before there's a headlines come up right how the headlines come up it's the public doesn't really get to hear both sides but you weather through it and stay true to governing in the way the public this uh this community expects you to govern and so really thank you I'll yield the most of my time and uh I look forward to watching what happens this next few years here so all right thank you me that was it thank you thank you we will move to D1 superintendent update Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community this evening uh just four quick things I think for but I might think of a couple more um and as we go through State Testing is completed um and kudos to our students and our staff for all the hard work during the course of this school year somebody told me today that we have 19 days of school left and so I'm not sure when that when that happened but parents just a heads up it's going to be on you here shortly so um but uh we're looking forward to finishing well both our staff and students with the remainder of the school year we are very excited to announce to our public and to the governing board that this year we set a new record for the number of art seals that our graduating seniors earned with the state of Arizona this year our seniors earned 138 art seals with the state that is the second highest amount of art seals of any school district in the state of Arizona we're incredibly proud of our outstanding art students and thank you very much to each of them as the board is aware our Three A's our academics arts and Athletics speaking of Athletics the state playoffs have begun for the spring season and our schools are very well represented and we look forward to a great playoff run by several of our teams and athletes and I would love to speak a little further about that but I'm a little superstitious and I don't want to jinx anything so we look forward to our athletes doing quite well in the playoffs and then finally this evening just a reminder to the board in an announcement to our public that high school graduation is right around the corner and that's scheduled for Monday May 22nd and that's at State Farm stadium and I want to let the board know that we'll be sending out all the specifics of that in the next couple of weeks and Madam president that concludes my update thank you Dr Dean we will move to item D2 governing board update well as you all know this is the time of year that we do a whole lot of celebrating of course we just celebrated some Middle School sports um I attended the Dysart Heroes awards ceremony and congratulations to all the heroes um thank you for what you do in the district every single day really appreciate it I also attended the Dysart Education Foundation uh dinner and we're 17 students receive scholarships and their stories were really amazing and I'm looking forward to hearing what they do in the future because they all come back and they give you updates and then last night we celebrated more students with the dsb live Awards and I'm really disappointed they took down the decorations because it would have been fun for everybody to see and and enjoy those as well that's it I attended I had a very busy week I attended um on the 14th I attended freedoms family bingo night which was an absolute blast seeing all the kids get excited when they filled up their little cards um we did win two prizes so I'm excited I also attended the Dysart hero Awards congrats to everyone that received them well deserved um then I also attended a three-day school safety Summit down at the Glendale Civic Center very very informative learned a lot the safety of our students staff District extremely important took a lot of information from there great information and then I also attended the Dysart student broadcasting Awards with Miss Joe Grant and Miss Densmore last night had an absolute blast all four high schools are doing a tremendous job with our Broadcasting so kudos to all the award winners very proud of all of our students and the hard work and dedication that went into everything that they achieved so thank you thank you I also attended the Dysart hero awards ceremony in addition to my deep appreciation for all of our heroes and nominees I especially want to thank Dr Dean for always making these events very warm inviting and absolutely entertaining if you've never seen him punch a stack of balloons you're missing out um last night I also attended the Dysart broadcasting Services Awards it was an incredible night and it was an honor just watching all of our highly talented students and staff one theme that was consistently heard throughout the night was family and finding that group Club tribe in these formative high school years is a truly powerful key to a successful student graduate and well-rounded adult I also attended the three-day safety Summit in Glendale there were just so many good presentations and speakers including members of the Secret Service FBI field office Maricopa County Sheriff Penzone even our attorney general Chris Mays and it was important to me that she mentioned her campaign promise to prosecute those who threaten school board members and any elected official um also was privileged to hear from Parkland parent Max schachter he's the father of Alex schachter who was murdered in English class during the Parkland Massacre and now he devotes his life to making schools safe and my big takeaway from this not the only one but the bigger one is that safety really is everyone's job and I can tell you from sitting at a table with Dysart staff with varying roles and responsibilities with everyone nodding their heads in agreement the empathy the sadness at the stories of loss the tears during the stories of survival and full under just with a full understanding of what we are doing right as well as identifying solutions to new challenges and opportunities to strengthen some features we are fully committed to an ever-evolving and comprehensive approach in keeping Dysart schools safe that's all I have I think it's becoming the time of the year where we all just probably start saying ditto um but this time last week I also attended the Dysart hero award ceremony and it's always a pleasure and one of my favorite pieces is hearing the little um bios or just the memories of the individuals that submitted the nomination and their thoughts about the person and it just listening to those stories and then seeing the individual stand there right before they get their award and um seeing either tears well up in their eyes or just just watching them as they're impacted by those words just kind of reminded me that everybody has a story that we don't always see and those last three years have been hard and this year is is I think our first semi-normal year and just remembering you know everything that everybody brings to the table and that despite any personal challenges or what everybody they may be carrying personally they still come to school every day and give their absolute best and their heart into everything that they do for our children and just really appreciate all of our Heroes all of our our teachers and staff but just it was nice to honor those individuals last week and congratulations again it was nice to share the evening with you ditto I was also able to attend the Dysart Heroes award ceremony and it's always a pleasure to shake every recipient's hand and tell them congratulations because we mean it so thank you to all our heroes and all of our staff for showing up and doing your best every day to give our kids a top-notch education so thank you next we will move on to item E1 I make the motion to approve consent agenda items as presented motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Christine Pritchard information to our governing board and have them have an opportunity to hear from our school principals this evening we will ask Dr assai and Dr croto to introduce the school cips just a reminder of the structure to our governing board um both uh Dr crota and Dr assai's position supervise all of our principals and Dr assai supervises our kindergarten through eighth grade schools and Dr crota supervises our high schools and our middle schools and Asante Preparatory Academy so with that I'm going to turn things over to I believe Dr assai she'll introduce the first two and then Dr Carter will introduce the third one Dr assai good evening Madam president members of the board it is my pleasure to introduce our first school to present their CIP and that is Countryside presented by principal Chantelle McNeese of the board Dr Dean and cabinet my name is Chantal mcneeson I'm very honored to be the new principal at Countryside Elementary School and it's my pleasure tonight to share with you some successes and some opportunities from this 20 to 23 school year so getting started all right I'm getting started we are for some and I have to tell you that Miss McNeese could probably talk for seven eight hours about Countryside and her excitement in what they're doing but her commitment to really um becoming a community-based school is so evident that she's taken the little piece of grass in the front of Countryside and made it into a front yard and she'll decorate um her the front yard of the school throughout the year with different themes and and uh matter of fact last summer when we went to visit she had a sprinkler that she brought in that she had going back and forth because she didn't think it was getting enough water and so we made sure Mr Hicks was not aware of that and the extra water that was being used but um Miss McNeese has done a tremendous job of working to to Really build a community-based school and I want to congratulate you thank you thank you Dr Dean and don't tell but the sprinkler has been going this week there was a little dry patch that I'm like we gotta green that up any questions I know you mentioned it being a challenge to be new um new leadership and and how that impacts culture but I can tell you I appreciate your positivity and I think that's going to have a great impact on the school so I welcome I welcome that change I think that's um I can just tell them the way you present that you're a very positive influence for the school and I'm sure they're very happy to have you um just curious so you mentioned a lot of tier one and tier two instruction RTI is there anything because you you reference some great growth that's already happened is there anything in particular in those tier one tier two interventions that you found was the most helpful or what are you utilizing exactly to make that happen small group instruction and knowing our kids really digging deep into knowing where our kids are at when they come to us and identifying what where the gaps are and then implementing that into that small group instruction in both tier one and tier two and then we are are also working closely with our trt tier 3 instructors as well to make sure that they are getting the practice in that skill three times a day if needs be um Ken don't listen to this um thank you Dr Dean for mentioning that she's um watering the grass there I think it's very important to water the grass to be able to grow yes I like that you've had the growth anywhere from five to fifteen percent um that's huge thank you I'm really happy to hear that you have Valley Vista students tutoring that is such that has been such a missed opportunity I think in some of our schools that are at least physically close by um so thank you so much for doing that I think that's a really good opportunity not just for Countryside kids but also for our high school students that might even you know want to be teachers after that so thank you so much thank you it's been a joy to work with them and some of them even attended Countryside so it's really fun to have them back yeah that's perfect full circle thank you yeah thank you any other questions all right thank you so much thank you very much [Applause] Madam president members of the board our next presentation will be from Mountain View principal Debbie Cruz good evening I'm just gonna adjust for a moment uh good evening Madam president members of the board superintendent superintendent cabinet and Community thank you so much for allowing me to present all the great things we're doing at Mountain View I'm very excited I am new to Mountain View as well this year um so we're going to dig right in I'm going to make sure I know how to do this oh off okay all right it's hooking up there we go so we have many self searching things was our campus was became becoming a data focused campus and that was that was district-wide I'm sorry school-wide we really wanted to dig into our data not only as a leadership team but also with our teachers so we plan monthly team data meetings where we would really dig into the data and look where each and every student was and how do we support them and what are our next steps for them this also fed in to our student attendance contract because we too were seeing some of those challenges so a success for us and a celebration for us us was for our parent-teacher conferences to sit down with our parents and talk to them five or more absenteeism is at that point what's our plan what do we want to do next to ensure our kids are at school because we know that's vital for them to learn we also dug into the RTI process and I do want to thank our district leadership for guidance on that that was new for me and I really do enjoy it um it's very systematic and working with our teams to really dig into each and every student that needs support for tier two tier three and dig down and say what are we doing do we need to get them into the nurse's office do they need to have that health screening do we need to talk about attendance do we need to look at that tier one academic and really dig specifically down to each child also moving our PLC teams to really really focus on the four critical questions and really using those questions to drive some of the work that we're going to do which I'll talk about just a few minutes another big success for us is celebrations we needed to celebrate our students so we put into effect student of the month celebrations we are celebrating academic success attendance success as well as student leader success each and every month and inviting our families in and we have a huge crowd so I'm very excited about that it's always nice to have our families at the school um a big success for us because as I came in I asked a lot of questions they said what are things that we can do to improve our school what can we do it was attendance we heard a lot about attendance we really have an awesome full-time guest teacher that is at school every single day and this is a celebration because it creates that consistency and all the students know this person so if we have one of our teachers out this person can step in continue that instruction and that it really empowers our whole campus consistent guest teachers too when we have openings we're getting people to fill them because we want that learning to go on for our students each and every day and one of those other things I love to celebrate so we have an envious perfect attendance unicorn our staff members names go in there they get chosen they get a little mini unicorn because we want to celebrate beating here because we know if they're there our students are learning each and every day with that teacher so overall General challenges first thing I know as mentioned already for my predecessor is that uh basically being new I needed to learn the systems I needed to learn the district um but the biggest things I would see coming in is getting our teams together in blocks of time for planning and really really really digging down into the standards the instruction and the assessment that teaching and learning cycle with our teams and going deeper because we had a lot of new team members as well we had continuing but we also had new collaborative teams looking at being data focused at all times using those four critical questions and really taking our PLC teams back to being focused on the four critical questions and using an agenda to drive that to ensure that we're always thinking about the data always thinking about where we're taking our students next successes well we have a lot of successes I'm super excited about overall one of the biggest things we looked at is we were we were tracking our student data so I showed you our acadians here Arcadian status is very similar to doubles so if you're used to Dibbles it's the same thing but you can see from the 21 to 22 school year in comparison the 2223 school year our middle of the year we are maintaining or we are growing we have a few small gaps which we are addressing in tier two and tier three but our numbers are higher mid-year which is awesome for us because it's showing us that that's continuing it's not falling as far as it had in the past our Benchmark at the bottom for ELA and math all the gold areas is showing you that we were at or above District average and the areas that are not are there areas that we're going to be talking about in just a moment so the areas of academic challenges for us is really third sixth seventh and eighth grade math as well as eighth grade ELA and what we found in many of these areas is deficits and foundational skills our third grade students our students where that covered year hit they had a lot of a lot of online learning therefore they have a lot of deficits they have a lot of attendance too because they just didn't get that Foundation they weren't in school during that time eighth grade we really looked at what is our most important or what is the deficit we're seeing much most and I'm going to go into the sport but eighth grade really it was talking about taking them to independent practice they were doing great with the guided but when we got to independent and they had to show that performance on their own we were noticing they weren't performing at that level so how are we going to work on these challenges we have a lot of ways a lot of things we're doing when we think about the areas of math some of the biggest things we talked about was professional development and coaching working with the district hand in hand as well as our TLS on campus we brought in also IXL math as a tier two in those grade levels and then brought that team together sixth seventh and eighth grade math and specifically talked about how are we going to use this program in a tier two what does it look like and sound like which students would be using that material and why how does it align to the scope and sequence so be very strategic in how we're using that information and that product for Team Planning we brought them together we also did ixlpd and then we really took them back down into the focus now we know the students has deficits how does that also feed into tier two because we know we can departmentalize when we get into those grade levels so we don't have to always just specifically be one content area how can we provide both we also brought in Mountain Math Mountain Math is a a spiral review that they do daily with the students it builds those foundational skills the automatician multiplication the things that they need as they get into the higher mathematics and the professional development support with alignment to aasa we really dug into how does asaa Mastery look and how are we teaching so we have to make sure we have to plan with the end in mind if we know we want our students to be successful so we did that through the item specifications as well as the performance level descriptors so that was quite a bit of work that we're still digging into because it's pretty deep so we're going to continue that as we move into next year third grade we did something a little bit more we actually reached out to District it worked with Dana and we asked her hey who out there has some Stellar classrooms that we could take our teachers to so our TLS whisper coached and took out some of our teachers to another campus showed them some great math and Whisper coaching is when the coaches next to them hey what do you see what do you notice can we do this in our classrooms what is that small group do we what are those students doing over there and really showing them that visual effect of what it could look like and sound like for 8th grade ELA I know I talked a little bit about taking them to that independent practice but a big part of this also was creating common form of Assessments so our TLS really supported our eighth grade ELA with that and then working hand in hand with Ela and social studies together because then we could get to bang for our buck in two different content areas and then we also were a part of the literacy leadership team which was pretty phenomenal for both of those ladies we also brought in Mountain Math again but we brought that in K-8 but we really needed it we really saw a need for it in eighth grade and at this time if you have any questions I know that was a lot and as you can see from Miss Cruz's presentation there's a lot of stuff happening at Mountain View a lot a lot of things that's only a little bit I know that's a little bit of it but yeah great job thank you that's exactly what my feedback is going to be is that you can tell you're just so involved and really digging deeper into things and very reflective within the whole process too I really appreciate that because that's what's going to drive the change that we're wanting to see and as you've shown in the graph there's already been some some signs of some improvements so thank you so much and continue to reflect as you're doing because that's that's amazing good job and I want to say thank you because it takes a team and our district is phenomenal I'm a very happy leader with leaders that are wonderful in our district and our teachers are phenomenal too so thank you but it takes team it's not just me thank thank you oh thank you Madam president and members of the board our final CIP presentation this evening comes from Dysart high school and principal Miss Sunny resch good evening Madam president members of the board cabinet and Dr Dean um it's my pleasure to present some strengths and challenges of Dysart High School so some some challenges we have one thing we noticed last year is that although we had great growth our El population wasn't moving at the rate at which we wanted them to be moving so we really looked at our El instruction and we were able to get a pretty phenomenal El teacher this year and he has really worked on the instructional pieces in our El classroom so he started by ensuring that we are teaching grade level standards to each of our El kids in their English class so they're getting their ninth 10th grade 11th grade standards in there but he has scaffold things so well for each of the individual students in order for them to get there so we really pushed kids we had really high expectations in the El classes and I just cannot wait to see the El score of the Zelda scores when they come out because I have a feeling we're going to have a a good rate of students reclassifying this year which is a huge kudos for us so we're really excited to see those results the other thing we started this year is we know noticed last year that our athletes continuously ended up being an ineligible the cup having issues with their academic progress so we started an academic demon Pride hour after school I'm sure you guys have seen in at Dysart high school we have demon Pride posters everywhere so our Mantra is demon Pride runs campus-wide and so our p is like prepared to learn our R is respect itself and others our eye is in the right place at the right time D is demonstrating respectful behavior and he is expect success so when we do tutoring we're working on that e we expect success so we're going to put supports and things in place to help you be successful so we added that hour of tutoring for athletes so it was mandatory whether they're they're passing or not because everybody has skills and things that they need to work on and we're a team and we're going to work on them as a team and then we're going to go practice so they did it an hour before their practice could start so coach just couldn't start practice or anything we did see some success with it we did see some areas that we definitely can improve on for next year which we will but that was definitely a great addition to the campus this year the other area of growth is our Arts as uh was mentioned earlier we did have an increase in art seals which is amazing um we're so thrilled that our students are uh having a great time with art and doing well with it and they've created some beautiful portfolios so we went from 8 to 13 sales so not a huge amount but it's growth for us and so next year we are teaming up with Dysart middle we have that choir teacher coming over with the eighth grade students and we're going to build our choir program as well as we made some changes in our theater program and then our Arts our Ceramics and painting those sections are all up next year we actually went from two teachers and a part-time person to three full-time teachers for next year so pretty excited to see what we're gonna what's gonna happen in the Arts again next year um the other thing that we're grateful for all the additions to our athletic fields so next year we definitely invite you guys to come out to our new turf field or or to our gym and support our students on these beautiful facilities we can't wait to see them finished so another thing that we're really excited about some challenges that we're facing we do have a high number of students that are in need of tier two and tier three supports unfortunately our students are coming in below proficiency so for example our current ninth grade class when they entered um ninth grade this year we only had 20 percent that were proficient in English and 22 that were proficient in math so that puts us a little bit behind the eight ball um so we do have challenges in terms of okay so how do we meet the needs of students and so we really have to scaffold for our students so we really have to work hard to stay on the pacing guide for the district as well as provide supports for students and so that's a challenge for us but we try to meet that each and every day for our students the other concern we have or a challenge we have is the high absentee rate first semester we had 18 of our students who Miss 18 or more days of school and it's important that kids are in school this semester we're already at 17 of our population that's Miss 18 or more days of school if they are here we can grow them we can move them we just got to get them to come to school more often for us so we're working on some of those pieces to see what else we can do to get students to come to school on a regular basis because when you when we start talking about our academic data you'll see in a minute we can move them if they will come so um some academic success we had some huge growth from Benchmark one to Benchmark three um because again we're kind of our kids come in a little lower so we are definitely scaffolding and pushing and pushing and pushing and so Benchmark one is kind of early in the school year and Benchmark three is later in the school year so when you look at our English data I do apologize don't be um in terms of ninth grade we went from a scale score of 9.63 at the beginning of the year to a skill score at 13.96 and so those are act indicator skill scores and then our math only went from 11.63 to 12.12 but if everybody remembers we did a roll out our brand new math adoption and so obviously we're learning the new math adoption we're dealing with those little Growing Pains but the good news is we still have growth so we didn't go backwards even though we rolled out a brand new different way of teaching for for teachers and different way of learning for students so uh Kudos that we still got growth out of them and in our 11th grade their skill score and English was 12.39 at the beginning year and they went to 16.83 at Benchmark three and then the math went from 15.35 to 16.13 so again we have growth and I know the ACT data is unofficial at this time but when you look at our AC data that is unofficial and rolling in we have growth in act this year so so we're super excited that we have growth in both well we have growth in ela and math kind of state stagnant which is expected with the math rollout and then science increased as well and so therefore our overall composite score has gone up as well but not only that when you break it down by skill score bands are kids that are mentally proficient compared from this year from last year to this year we had 10 percent of our population move over meaning we had 10 percent less kids performing in mentally proficient than last year and we did the same thing in proficient we went up 10 in our proficient scores so we have 10 more kids this year scoring in the proficient range than we did last year so great growth there we're very excited we can't wait for it to become official so we can share out all the the great things that we had going on and so when we we look at that the whole reason we're having growth on The Benchmark part of that is Achieve three thousand and I don't know if you guys these are really familiar achieve three thousand achieve 3 000 in terms of English is just a great program I really wish we had something similar to it that worked at the level that the English does for math but when you look at it our Lexile growth in ninth grade we had a 10 increase and 11th grade we had 11 increase in their Lexile scores using Achieve3000 and we use Achieve 3000 in English whether it's yellow English or regular English uh social studies and Science and so those all the readings are embedded in the program already so we're using State uh state standard ones all approved ones and then we make sure that in science they're reading science type articles but still using the same skills still practicing the same thing that they're doing in English they're just looking at a science related article so we're doing that across the the board with those and so next year what I'm doing is we are not going to offer social studies to freshmen because since they take a test their junior year I want them to have more practice with achieve three thousand a year they are testing um so we've pushed so we're in alignment with the rest of the district we will have social studies 10 11 12 like the rest of the district starting next year we were off because of Cambridge but since we're not doing Cambridge we're going to go back to the normal sequence so our kids can have that achieve their thousand their junior year when they're involved with State Testing so that we can give them some more supports um some of our academic challenges again because we have a high number of students that are coming that are below proficient so our our goal our main goal is to get growth out of them can we push them we would love for them all to be proficient but if we can't we want to get as much growth as we can out of the students and so we deal with those things but we try to overcome them the other thing we have again is the high absentee rates because again if they're not here it's really hard for me to educate them but when they come our teachers are here they accept them doesn't matter how many days you've been absent today we're going to figure out what we can do until we can fill in some of those gaps that you're missing and then the last challenge we face is student motivation so we know that when kids are not successful in school they don't love school so what we do is we try to find different ways to motivate them how do we when you are here how do we get the best from you so we do you have to celebrate success and what success looks for one doesn't necessarily look like for all and so sometimes it is that you came to school today that you completed work today and it might be that hey you did you didn't do well in the last test but now this time you're dead so that's success for that particular student so we really have to make sure we're celebrating those individual success and making sure our lessons are engaging so that our kids are motivated and want to come to school so um how are we working on these challenges the first thing we have to do is we have to tighten up our tier one instruction because our kids need tier two and tier three as well so we have to tighten up that tier one instruction so our main focus right now is this is to get as good at small groups as elementary schools and middle schools because you know that's not natural for our high school teachers but we're working on making sure we're running some small groups with our with our instruction um the other thing we really are working on with with our high school teachers is not leading to Mid modules our module test units modules um chapters whatever you want to call them they need to be doing checks for understanding throughout their lessons and they need to respond to that data so we've worked hard on making sure that tier run instruction includes checks for understanding and then are they really responding to the check for understanding so that we can help kids along the way the other thing we're working on is definitely our demon uh Pride hour we started that yes this year we've had some good success but we are revamping a little bit for next year so we can have even better results because our goal is for no athlete to be ineligible that is the goal um we're going to continue using achieve2000 in English science and social studies because we get great we're getting great results from it and our ACT scores when they become official and you see them you'll you'll notice we had great growth in English very very good results in English so and then next year what I'm doing is I'm creating a frosh experience class we're not going to label it as any type of support class or anything like that because as soon as a student hears I'm in a support class they don't their motivation dies on me so we are going to call a frosh experience we are going to do some Ela focus and some math focus and we're going to use it actively learn and actively learn as a program within Achieve3000 but it would be um different articles they're reading because the whole goal of actively learning is that it's CR it's teaching them critical reading skills and so they do a little bit of reading um they do a little bit of answering questions and then they do academic conversation about what they just read about so that's kind of what activity learn is and then in math we're going to use IXL because some of the schools in the district that are already using are having great success with it so we're we are going to use it as well for a tr2 for our frosh experience class and so they'll get some organizational skills they'll get some transitional pieces like how do we go from middle school to high school they'll get some academic support and then they're going to get some just fun activities and things like that so that they understand that school is a fun place to be because we're going to Target our bottom 25 percent so that we can build those gaps that they're missing so that we can get them back where they need to be the last thing we're doing is we are looking for new hires that understand that teaching at a title school is a very important job we have great kids and they they need you they need you each and every day and so we are we definitely we look every day for for new hires that want to come and they fit our vision at Dysart high school because we know our kids need the best so with that I will stand for any questions you may have and Madam president before we get to questions I just I have to just stop and um and just say that the three principles that you heard from this evening are reflective of the outstanding leadership that we have in our schools and we are proud to work alongside them and I hope that you're hearing the amount of hard work that's going into each building these are outstanding Educators and we're pleased to work with them so miss Rush thank you as well thank you um all the obvious hard work and dedication that you and your team are putting into the growth that you kind of gave us a sneak peek too so I appreciate that um just curious you mentioned that your ninth graders are coming in low and you're addressing that through tier one tier two scaffolding but is there anything specifically that you are finding either has worked well with like your sophomore class or in previous and even just like your cohorts or whatever to kind of give you an idea of what you may be able to do to help them catch up from the deficits they're coming in with so definitely in our 9 10 and 11th and we actually use achieve in our 12th grade as well we have found that Achieve3000 in terms of English skills and and getting them on grade level is is a great tier two support that we use we have not found that great piece in math and that's why we're going to the IXL math because some of our feeders are using it and they've they're having great results with it so that's why we're going to try it with math and see if we can get those same results um but in terms of being let's achieve three thousand and then I have a I have one two three academic interventionists that also pool for tier two and tier three as well and then they also do some push in so if teachers are struggling with small group my academic interventions will push in show them how to run a small group you sometimes run that small group for them if they're doing something else with the the rest of the class that they need to to be directly related directly doing and so we use them as well to help with those tier two and tier three supports okay we do that yeah so that first hour that's where they complete they can complete homework they can go to another teacher for tutoring but they have to have a pass that says that I'm going to this teacher for tutoring so yes that first hour is a mandatory tutoring for all the students and if they have everything done they are one of the best tutors I could ever have so we use them then to help tutor the students that are sitting in there that need help with whatever they do so yes that first hour is um and then they go to practice right after that hour have you had any pushback from that at all from parents or athletes um not really okay that's wonderful because I mean sometimes the the Athletics is the only thing that keeps some of our students in school so to ensure that they're still eligible just by implementing something like that is a great strategy so thank you for all that you do but and hopefully they don't start um so thank you guys so much have a great day [Applause] thank you to all our principals next we will move on to item G2 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community you know I'm finishing year 18 in the school district and as you're aware this is my final year in the district so I thought I would take this time to provide a summary of successes in the last 18 years so get comfortable we're going to be here a while and with that we will take a four hour recess we will see you tomorrow Dr Dean thank you Madam president and members of the board as you know we have presented information to the governing board throughout the course of the year on our success and our measures towards goals and so this evening my year-end goal report is going to be perhaps shorter than um others in the past because we've provided so much information to the governing board throughout the course of the year that we're going to just use this as a summary this evening and so with that if we can get the next slide that would be great the first goal that that we established with the governing board this year was increased academic achievement throughout the district by increasing accountability and a comprehensive review of our programs this evening you heard three of our principals present cips I think in a manner that you may not have heard in the past which reflects increased accountability you heard specific information from our principals in terms of what they are doing specifically in intervention specifically what they're doing with programs and how deeply embedded they are with their staff in looking at data and that is a huge or that is hugely attributed to our data chats with our principals and the two goal areas that we had set in the academic area is that by the end of the 22-23 school year which is now um in order to we wanted to increase academic accountability that all of our principals would participate in a series of three data chats um with me and their assistant superintendent and those data chats are designed to make adjustments to our instructional practices and interventions throughout the year with the intent to increase academic achievement and the second goal area in this uh in this particular goal is a comprehensive analysis of our title expenditures and our program Effectiveness that we held throughout the year to increase and maximize our student achievement next slide please as we look at our progress here I'm happy to report that we had four data chats with all of our principals this year leading back to last summer and so last summer was a summary of their year um previous and we have those data chats even with brand new principles to our school district because we wanted to make sure they understood what their data was and what that looked like and where our expectations lie for each and every school and so we held that data chat and then we've held three throughout the school year this year the board received some backup information with some samples of what those look like what our principals bring to us and how focused they are on instructional strategies and what the data is telling them the next principal data chat will be held next summer with the incoming superintendent and the team that he's put forward and we look forward to this District continuing on with this accountability measure that our principals have completely embraced and we are seeing evidence of those data chats in the practices that they are taking place in the school additionally we shared with the board during the school year the redesign of ischool and the fact that we took a hard look at our ischool data and the and that analysis showed us that what we are doing in high school was not being successful for the majority of our students and so we have completely redesigned high school and we look forward to that piece as well for the second goal as it relates to our title analysis and looking ahead during this year we held thorough evaluations of our different title grants and their allocations we've shared with the board on March 30th a very thorough presentation as it relates to our title analysis which programs are being successful and which program the programs that we're continuing and hard conversations and facing the brutal facts or as I said in in the book good to Great confronting the brutal facts of those programs that aren't working and and throwing them out quite honestly and changing the mindset from we continue to do what we've done because that's what we've always done to we work through programs and processes because they're successful and they show results and so we've been very very um very very pleased with the success there and then also as we shared with the board we are replacing the data Specialists with kindergarten interventionists to bring down the number of students in each class from in our title kindergarten classes so we're very excited about that as we look forward we are incredibly excited about the summer PLC Institute you heard Miss Cruz actually talk this evening about their focus on back to the four core questions of plc's we are going back to the beginning of plc's with our principals and with uh some of our directors as they attend that PLC Institute this summer and we are getting back to the core beliefs of what PLC truly is answering the four critical questions and what that looks like in our classrooms additionally we've talked extensively about summer workshop I'm going to give everybody a teaser there's another selfie video coming out from the superintendent on Monday where a summer workshop will be discussed again but we're excited to tell you that we set a goal we set a goal of having 65 percent of our returning teachers attend summer workshop with the hopeful stretch goal to get 75 percent and as of today we have 80 percent of our returning teachers who have signed up for summer workshop and that work is so incredibly important to to the the success of this District um this district is about to absolutely launch forward academically and I look forward to seeing that happen and then additionally we're going to continue our evaluation and effectiveness of our title programs we have some changes that we have put in place some of them are quite substantial and we will work to evaluate that throughout the course of the year to make sure that we stay on target and that what our our programs and Personnel are doing are successful next slide please the second goal in our school district has is related to culture and the two goal areas that we set with the board this year are an increase in attendance by our HR team at recruiting fairs in order in order to recruit and hire our staff and then the second goal being the fact that we wanted to increase the number of people who take advantage of our employee referral program because we'll actually pay you a referral bonus for folks if you could help us get them hired into our school district and so if we can go to the next slide we are excited to tell you that we have increased from four Career Fairs to ten uh this year additionally our job postings are becoming more efficient in terms of of the programs that we're using they're posted automatically on LinkedIn School spring and indeed we've hired 809 applicants from last July through April the 10th we're working very hard on consistent communication coming out of our HR team and as we've shared with the board we extended our Wellness Focus this year to include a financial Wellness component as well and that's going quite well actually our staff is very pleased to have that piece the other thing that I would remind the board of and we've said this previously is that we had a record number of teachers and administrators returned their contracts this year and so we're very pleased for that and look forward to great success next year the second goal area in terms of really helping our staff help us and help our district we have increased from 50 employees taking advantage of that employee referral piece last year to 117 through April 11th this year and just a PSA again to all of our staff a reminder that you can get a referral bonus if you help us hire folks and they stick around for a while so our best recruiter are those who work for us and we want to reward them for their Endeavors the next goal please by the way if you're keeping track that's um completion of goal one and full completion of goal two as well so goal three is our safety goal and the two goal areas for me in this area are that we would refit or retrofit all of our front office lobby areas in every District facility with security barriers and bullet resistant glass to limit the flow of traffic into our schools and to harden the front offices the second goal area was that we would complete a comprehensive school safety audit program and that we would really work to analyze and maximize all safety measures on all of our campuses next slide please as we have shared multiple multiple times throughout this school year with the board in our community safety is a very big Focus for us we are spending more than four million dollars this year on safety and safety initiatives I am very pleased to announce that all School sites have completed the retrofit of their front offices as well as the district Support Facility we have one facility that is in progress now and is scheduled to be completed in in the next few weeks and that will complete all of our facility retrofits for goal number one for goal number two the board has heard extensive information as it relates to our safety measures our safety plans and the focus areas of our safety including very specific information shared with the board in the last board meeting during executive session to date 120 plus inspections and audits have occurred on our campuses throughout the district um with really increased uh focus on risk management emergency drill audits we've shared with the board the feedback forms that Mr Yeager provides to the school sites after the audits um so making sure that we are using timely information to get back to our schools to reflect and make any changes that they need we've also spoken to the board about the very extensive Audits and the audit process that we have created and I'm excited to announce to the board that that our first School site extensive audit occurred today and we look forward to that process continuing moving forward additionally we worked very hard with our school administration and they in turn with their school staffs on trainings consistent updates and tabletop scenarios that are part of our district leadership meetings in each and every opportunity that we have to work with our leadership we're very proud of of the progress that we made in the safety area and in terms of goal three completion check our final goal for the year next slide please our last goal is resources understanding that the resources that we have in this District are from our taxpayers and it is our responsibility to be incredibly Frugal and Incredibly responsible with those um tax tax funds that we get we want to make sure that we are maximizing every opportunity that we have at our discretion to make sure that our our facilities are in top form and at the same time respect the taxpayer funds that we use and so the two goal areas that we had for the school year is by the end of the school year that we would increase the amount of grant funding that we received for our maintenance and upkeep of our district facility from the previous year as well as decreasing the number of bus infraction inspection infractions that we had from the previous year and we wanted that to be less than 25 percent of our total school buses next slide please as you can see goal number one as of April 11th there have been 36 approved school facility board projects that have been Grant funded by the school facilities board that means they're outside of our funding we've got additional grant funding for that with a total of 14.1 million dollars last year we received about two million dollars in those grants so we increased our grant funding to 14.1 million dollars this year again an increase of 12 million dollars more than next year Dr crota good luck beating that um goal number two um for uh for this year we wanted to decrease the number of DPS major in inspection fractions with our buses as you can see this year we had 8.9 percent of our buses that had major inspection infractions when they were inspected by DPS last year we had 21 the year before that it was at 50 percent and so we're very excited about the focus on safety with our bus with our bus our bus Crews and um I want to just give a huge shout out um to our uh our uh Automotive team at the bus yard because this reflects on them and they do a tremendous tremendous job looking forward in terms of um of our resources and making sure that we are absolutely responsible and transparent we've Frozen 14 district positions for next year which accounts to about six hundred thousand dollars am I correct in that Ken because I know I like to say 1.6 million but it's actually 600 000 right it accounts for it accounts for about six hundred thousand dollars that we identified in terms of funding that we can reallocate to different different areas in the in the district and so we're very very excited about that as we move forward next slide please as I finish my report this evening I'm very proud to report to the governing board that this team this cabinet team has worked hand in hand on a daily basis to accomplish the goals that we set forth with the governing board and I am very proud to say and I believe that I would only walk away with the district being in the shape that it is today this district is set on a path for incredible success I don't say I'm proud very often but I'm going to say it one time because you have to excuse me it reflects a value that my father instilled in in us and that is my dad said to us always leave someplace better than you found it and I think and I hope and I pray that I did that in the course of 18 years and I think that in this school year we've worked incredibly hard to put this District on an incredible journey that will be very very successful moving forward and with that I'd be happy to answer any questions hmm I like those guys thank you Dr Dean for that presentation and thank you for all of your service I know you and your team have you hit the ground running and you never really stopped um your your team as well have worked really hard with the inclusion of Miss Bowen over there who's also worked very hard I appreciate your leadership I appreciate the evidence that you've provided us and thank you for your hard work Echo that as well um thank you for sharing all the hard work obviously that you and your team have been engaged in um just specifically want to mention um what you'd said regarding evaluating programs thank you for that because you're right it seems like we were for a while just doing what we were used to doing using programs that we just always used not really taking a lot of time I found to actually say are they are they producing the results we want them to are they moving students forward and I really saw you take um great focus in doing just that and really taking the time to evaluate and change things up as you saw fit which clearly with even just three of the schools that we heard from tonight are showing great results so thank you for that um the fact I didn't realize that your goal for a summer workshop was so much lower than the 80 percent to see 80 percent of Staff attending speaks to how you've been able to engage staff and and get them to jump behind you and your vision and that speaks to your leadership the fact that there was a record number of Staff returning contracts um that really that again speaks to your leadership and sadly if you remember when you came on board it was going to be so many people leaving in droves in Mass Exodus I keep forgetting the word sorry um and instead record numbers returning more than we thought would come to summer workshop and again this was you and your team and your vision and the hard work you put behind it you put us back on track when it comes to accountability and academic success something that I think um we weren't driving as hard as we should have been and thank you for kind of Reviving that Focus for us and bringing again just that um that collaboration the The increased culture just the cohesiveness of all of our teams and I know that you'll say it's all set for you I understand it's also cabinet as well and even beyond that our teachers and staff but again your vision um and you only started officially in October so all of this occurred in less than one Academic Year so absolutely I believe you're leaving this District in a much better place than it was when you when you began and I really thank you for that ditto on everything um I I know that it was mentioned about the employees returning contracts but um on your goal B um there were 117 employee referrals that also speaks volumes not just of your leadership but all all cabinet and and to your vision as Ms Pritchard said um I have absolutely been blown away by your leadership um I and just a renewed focus on on the academics A Renewed focus on safety and just a renewed focus on what really matters which is our students I just want to say thank you I also say ditto on everything um only being on the board a few months I am absolutely blessed to be here sorry I've been probably cried but um your leadership and this Administration has really been phenomenal to work with I can go to anybody and ask questions and you're there to answer them so thank you thank you for everything and these numbers speak volumes of the hard work Dedication that everybody has put in since I've been here that I've noticed it's been absolutely wonderful to work with everybody and I am I'm very excited to continue this journey with you guys so thank you for everything that you've done yeah thank you next we will move on to item H1 Dr Dean Madam president members of the governing board I would be proud to present this recommendation however I feel it appropriate for next year's superintendent to do so and so I'm going to turn this to Dr crota thank you Dr Dean Madam president members of the board cabinet and guests Administration is proud to present a recommendation for the assistant superintendent of support services this individual is with us currently and it's Mr Craig musie he's here tonight with his fiancee and not so just some before you move on and vote as you know Craig is this right now as a director of student services it's done a wonderful job for us this year Craig comes to us with with a wealth of experience in administration just to outline some stuff Craig was obviously a teacher before he started but then in Glendale Union became a curriculum coordinator became the lead curriculum coordinator was an assistant principal I was a principal of one of their high schools went on to become the administrator of federal programs then became the associate superintendent of curriculum instruction and then Craig decided to join us which we were very fortunate to have him come and work as a director of students services in our district for the past year so it's our pleasure to recommend to you Mr Craig musee for the position of assistant superintendent support services for next year thank you Dr crota do we have any questions okay I will move to approve the appointment of Craig Missy as assistant superintendent of Support Services second motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Don Densmore thank you motion carries congratulations Mr musee [Applause] move on to item H2 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community Mr Hicks will briefly present information on this item thank you very much thank you very much good evening Madam president members of the board superintendent Dr Dean colleagues and community members I'm happy to pronounce to present this agenda item for approval this is a little bit different a little bit new so just a little bit of background this is the fourth year that we've received at divestarters received results-based funding each year we've been doing a stipend based and I know there's another agenda item regarding our stipend distribution next but currently this is a different part of that so we've been providing stipends for the last four years we do not use up all the money we are required to spend a majority of the funds at the site and so we've been meeting that but we've been carrying forward to balance and so the balance has grown and coming into this year is about eight hundred thousand dollars anticipated by the end of this year will probably grow to about 1.5 million dollars and so a couple of months ago we asked Ed Services team to get together and say how can you leverage this funding and kind of program it to get the best impact out of it to improve student achievement and so they did a great job I think that was a couple months ago and came back with some recommendations and then they kind of listened to the governing board study session and took a little bit from that as well and put together a final recommendation to use that and so this is the result of that work of putting together plan and they've come up with five options and so um as identified in the agenda item the five are to hire an additional kindergarten teacher at Freedom Traditional Academy to hire up to five intervention Specialists or ptosis teacher on special assignment at Asante West Point Dysart metal Thompson Ranch and Riverview to provide a PLC consultant from Solutions tree to service all schools throughout the district hire three El instructional Specialists to provide support at title schools and to provide training for our Countryside staff to implement the Spalding pilot in our kindergarten and so this is anticipated to use about a million of it not all of it will continue so this is not con this is all one-time money we're talking about and so the thoughts where we're going to evaluate and ensure that these are effective and and having the impact that we want there's some other qualify or other criteria that we have to manage that's really a business side of it qualifying schools versus non-qualifying schools there's a time element commitment within it it does have to follow under the guidelines of what is recommended and so we've our business department has worked with our ad services to make sure they're all in alignment with that and so that is our recommendation for these five options for next school year and I will stand for any questions thank you Mr Hicks do we have any questions okay I will move to approve the program utilizing results-based funding for a fiscal year 2024.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
so we need to take actions that we can be confident will start to address our goals and we need to see solid measurements that show our progress on reducing emissions all over overall in the whole city regardless this is a small step forward and I encourage us to move forward with it all right uh thank you commissioner Mitchell um are there any other comments or questions concerns um I just well I will just add it this um juncture that I have several uh old friends that are prominent environmental attorneys uh with environmental law firms practices um that I've been inquiring about their potential interest in providing pro bono work for the city in this regard um this has become a legal issue obviously and so um I think if the city legal department would accept some pro bono assistance that might help address some of their concerns about their budget and time so I think this is something that could be that could also be looked into um if uh should that should the uh you know should the challenges come um so let's see um uh do I have a motion to uh to consider a vote on this resolution uh Bridget Gruber erased her uh and then well Lisa dish you have your hand up here of the floor thank you I just wanted to say before we get to the vote that I will not be supporting this resolution I think that there there are some really good elements in it and I share very much the sense of urgency and concern about uh climate change um but okay I am uh I'm a lot more put off by the Berkeley result and because I have a you know I can vote as a member of this commission uh which is just an advisory vote but I'm actually sitting on the body that we're advising and as a member of the body that we're advising there I just can't see my way to put in a city in the kind of legal Jeopardy that um accelerating the gas ban ordinance would do and as you all are aware the city is currently also pursuing a path of renegotiating its heating franchise with DTE which is something that the city has a a clear right to do and so um back in February when we weren't aware of that option I was and the Berkeley case had not happened um I was more willing to say you know there are times when Ann Arbor should plays trails and be the first and you know okay Atlantis in court not a problem but I I feel like that's more reckless in light of what I know today so I'm not going to be support I'm not going to be voting in favor of this resolution but um I honestly understand that it's coming from a very good place for all those of you who have labored over it and are bringing it forward and will be supporting it tonight and so that's just what I wanted to say so thank you okay um thank you uh council member Desh um um Norma Ackman you have your phones your your hand up you have a floor thank you I wanted to also extend my appreciation to the Commissioners who worked on this as well as the aims of the resolution I am similar to council member dish I won't be boating uh in favor of this tonight I did want to say a few words just about kind of my perspective on you know what's driving this so I'm fully on board with using electrification as the means to meet our climate action goals and that we need to get fossil fuels out of our homes as I mentioned several times we're in a climate climate emergency and we need to take action and also you know I appreciated that the resolution made very clear we have the tools you know on the market today we have the technology for heating our homes heating our water um that are able to operate without gas and to do so with much higher efficiency Even in our Michigan climate um however I don't think that creating an ordinance to ban natural gas is the best path forward at this time primarily because I have serious concerns about the legal challenges both at the state and the federal level and also in light of the opportunity that I think that we have right now with respect to uh renegotiating our heating franchise um those two things basically are what's informing my thinking I did appreciate that this talked about incentives I think that that is a direction that is definitely worth consideration it's something that I've thought for a long time so also appreciate that aspect but will not be supporting this resolution tonight um commissioner murski you up the floor I would like to point out two things first of all the guest franchise does not expire until uh 2027 that does not mean that parties could not reach an agreement um on a new franchise in advance of that date but um I think everybody should consider who we're negotiating with secondly I would like to point out that there is a second resolve clause in this and it doesn't rely entirely on the first result class and by anyone voting against this resolution effectively they're voting against both resolve Clauses thank you um yeah um uh councilwoman this you have your hand up you have the floor we could split the resolution and vote separately on the resolved Clauses um I would support the second resolve clauses if it only if it didn't have stick but only had carrot in it but I wouldn't vote for carrot and steak because I think that that's actually redundant to the first resolved Clause because the sticks would be regulatory things like a ban in an ordinance or a tax or a theme so if people are interested in splitting the resolved Clauses there may be others who are just including them and if anybody's open to taking out the stick I would be happy to support the second result clause and I understand that you don't have to rewrite the stamping for Meaningful it's really hard on it and we can agree to disagree I have commissioner mursky grab the floor I for one would be willing to split the two just to make clear what position of the various Commissioners are that means we could vote on both I'm personally not in favor of removing stick because it would essentially take off the table anything like what Mr Garber mentioned it would also take off the table any fee increases and it would only then allow for incentives and we know incentives um often cost money and we may not have money to do that and also it would potentially take off other kinds of measures um so uh that's my my two cents thank you [Music] um thank you any other comments or questions okay well I'll just say that um I do think that the sticks um I don't have any problem with sticks remaining in there because um because oftentimes that's what's required to get just get people to consider moving out of their habits moving out of their habitual ways of doing business is when they see the sticks then they'll uh then they'll become more attentive to the uh to the carrots as well that's been my experience um uh commissioner Mitchell you have the floor and then commissioner Dale um we can we can't hear you sorry I'm generally not in favor of splitting and would prefer to have this be one single document however if we do do a split I want to make sure that we vote on each of them not just one oh yeah yeah so um so yeah my understanding is I I think it's a friendly Amendment so um I think so I'm willing to be contradicted but um I think it could be split um I'm happy with that myself um uh commissioner Dale you have your hand up here I I agree a split is better than than having two of our commissioners just say no to it right um so I think that that would make sense I maybe I'm just not understanding but to me taking the stick out I think what I heard was that having the stick is redundant because because of the first whereas yeah um if we are doing them separately it's not redundant right because now you're you're saying okay so if you're saying no to the first then the whereas or the the stick it's not it's no longer redundant for the second one right like because you might you might be saying that you're okay with incentives and you're not talking about a full band at all right so is it okay to have some sort of thing that's discourse discouraging it I mean to me that that seems reasonable so I I'm in favor of the sticks staying in oh okay um commissioner mursky and then commissioner Dar and then council member Ackman and then commissioner Morrison I would like to point out that the only stick is not a ban or is not severe restrictions there's a multitude of possible sticks and I would also add a stick could be that if a developer proposes a natural gas connected uh project that that be accompanied by a technical and financial evaluation and so you know that's not even necessarily a significant monetary stick um it's not a fee increase or anything else so there's a variety of different carrots and sticks and we're not in this resolution prescribing any carrots or sticks or simply suggesting that carrots and sticks be evaluated and that were not also even dictating what council and what the council resolution would look like the council resolution is simply this is advising Council to take this action and council could completely rewrite this based on our our input so I I think we should take that into consideration and in my view is we should leave the full palette of possibilities or possibilities on the table for Council as well as for City Administration uh that includes the legal office that includes planning department that includes the Planning Commission thank you thank um council member Ackman yeah I just wanted to say my understanding with respect to Sticks is I you know in its redundancy is that we're very limited in the sticks that we can apply and I think that the sticks are kind of limited to the ban so in that sense I think it's redundant another way to look at I think carrots and sticks or incentives is you know the status quo is the stick yeah not getting the incentive is the kind of the thing that you're missing out on so I would be in favor of splitting this but again I think the sticks kind of kind of I think it should come out and be focused on incentives well I think in some degree um you know the carrots and sticks are in the eye of the beholder I think we could we could substitute language saying any and all mechanisms such a you know to encourage something like that um but carrots and sticks is uh you know a traditional English phrase I think anybody understands um what's the um did you wanna okay um commissioner Marson you have the floor yeah yeah just thought I'd weigh in here on the carrots and sticks thing I think a band is a band says nobody can do it carrots you know you get a little benefit for doing something stick says you can still do the thing but there's a penalty to pay so to me ban is not equivalent to stick um and I think uh even if sticks are limited um it's still worth exploring what they are yeah yeah okay um uh commissioner council member dish yeah I'll just um I I have I have a lot of concerns that any sort of fee or whatever we would want to impose for people who went ahead with mass would I I would want to hear about the legality of that before I did it um I agree with council member agman that the stick is the status quo we have heard from Doug silby I think hasn't spoken to us or has he just spoken Planning Commission and Council how utterly impenetrable the processes he described his project which is a wonderful uh passive uh it's going to be a it's going to generate more energy than it uses his house that he's putting in Ward one and he described that he felt that his project had been hung up by by a year by a full year by our existing processes so um I think that there are a lot of things we can do for carrots and I would be fine with the language of any and all measures to encourage um electrification that's fine with me um I'm not going to vote for sticks so and I understand the expression and I'm well aware of the difference between the two but um from what I am hearing from developers including Jennifer Hall who stands in the position of a developer with respect to 121 East Catherine is that there's a lot that we can do um to with to City procedure to improve things and uh to do that for an electrified project would be a meaningful change so I am um I'm comfortable with moving forward with carrots and I won't vote for six hey um commissioner Mitchell and then commissioner marsky I just want to say that when I first heard status quo I thought that the the stick part of that meant that we're continuing to have the carbon emissions so um it was important for me to hear that explanation I don't um I just really feel that we are at an emergency and I understand that that there are others who are in a different position than me personally but um we are all going to feel the effects of the carbon emissions until we finally draw some kind of line so I'm drawing my particular line here so thank you commissioner Mercy I would like to say that I appreciate council member Jason's flexibility I would just like to point out I'm extremely familiar with Doug Selby's uh project and I would just like to point out that the obstacles that he faced have nothing to do with the sustainability features of his project or the fact that it was natural gas connected or anything else it had to do with the multiple layers of approvals it had to do with feedback from City staff saying one thing and then a reversal at a later point in time so it really this the the obstacles that he face and the The Five-Year timeline that he had had really nothing as I said to do with sustainability features and so we're we're not implying that we're adding additional sticks that would impede the kinds of projects that he has put forth in that Planning Commission and city council have approved and I would like to point out that about a week ago I sent an email to commissioner Gib Randall and her role as head of the the Planning Commission outlining a list of about I don't know six to eight different um possibilities of using the the phrase carrots and sticks broadly interpreted as other Commissioners have mentioned what types of kinds of measures the city could potentially consider I'm not advocating at the city Implement sticks that are unreasonable or that would not hold up to Legal challenge um and I think also that simply a consideration of carrots and sticks could lead to a brainstorming session that might lead to other avenues open to the city so I I think really um I mean I don't care that much about what we vote and do I certainly hope that what we do is see Mo activity on the part of planning department Planning Commission on City Council on on these activities that's my last comment thank you okay um any more comments on that topic because I'd like to bring up the negotiations with DTE as well that was also mentioned earlier [Music] um I'm not sure um um I agree with commissioner mursky that um 2027 is a long time in the future considering we're targeting 2030 for carbon neutrality and that these buildings will be will be there for and potentially be heated with gas for a long long time um so um is there I mean is there any since I'm sure there are sensitivities about these negotiations I'm not sure what um what the city has agreed to is there a uh is there a non-disclosure agreement formal non-disclosure agreement with DTE or anything um or anything like that that would um they would inhibit any uh Public Communication over these negotiations until they've been finalized uh tell her how to take it or leave it stage um I'm not sure if those uh I haven't heard anything about that um but this this concern was raised so I'm just putting it out there that um if we are negotiating with DT about an alternative known gas heating and then um and the deadline for that is 2027.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
I'm going to read it to provide tuition-free full-day kindergarten for all students shall Evesham Township School District be authorized to raise an additional 1.9 million dollars for General funds in the 2024-2025 school year these taxes will be used exclusively for free full day kindergarten approval of these taxes will result in a permanent increase in the district's tax levy these proposed additional expenditures are in addition to those necessary to achieve the New Jersey student learning standards the state only funds districts for half Decay meanwhile as I did a little research since the last meeting 96 percent of students in the state of New Jersey in kindergarten are in full day kindergarten so the state is winning on that one because districts have figured out how to get 96 percent of kids into full Decay with only half day kindergarten's worth of State funding and we are among that four percent right of kids that are in half day okay some of them are in our district so great goal great means to achieve it and we'll talk about why this is um a great means and a few slides later but what it results essentially in is 98 a year annually in additional taxes for the average assessed home in Evesham 98 a year which um flat out there's nothing a person can do to increase their property value for 98 dollars a year that's better than approving this this separate question because right now we are the only town anywhere that charges tuition for full Decay so when people are moving and they have young kids and they're looking at fifty five hundred dollars a year for full day K with us they are looking at other towns some of them start with m that don't charge tuition they tell me they're doing that I hear that um the reason is fifty five hundred dollars is because our full day program is designed to be financially self-sufficient that's good reason for that right so it so it doesn't have a budgetary impact um but this is you know uh going to eliminate that additional cost as a reason for people not to move to town and um that's from the financial aspect so you know for a can of paint and some brushes 98 there's nothing more a person can do to improve their home value besides passing this question of course there's also the the ethical and educational component of providing more investing more in our youngest Learners will pay dividends every year of their Journey with us and Beyond and it will provide equal opportunity to education for all students regardless of their parents and their family's ability to pay and those are wonderful wonderful goals that are embedded in this question all of which mean that truly at its heart this question with this question is really asking is who are we as a community and who do we want to be it's so exciting to get to have something of such vital importance as a community to work towards and I'm really excited to get to answer that question together over the next month leading up to November second question and the reason we didn't uh the reason we didn't do this separate question for Floyd kindergarten last November is because we are one of the lucky 150 districts in the state of New Jersey that has had its state funding reduced for seven years straight right we're currently in year five this budget is for year six of seven years of reductions um next year will be in year six and then planning for year seven uh we held off because we knew this year's budget development was going to be harder than all the rest because we you can't cut what you've cut before and it the cuts get harder and harder and harder and we thought if we hold off and we're cutting something that we want to keep we would still have the option to use a separate question to keep that item whatever that was um there there was going to be an educational program in this question and there was until a few days before the tentative budget because based on the projected State reduction we were going to have to cut an educational program it was family consumer science and at the last minute the state reduced our I could say like reduce the reduction they took less data from us than they said they were going to take and we were able to preserve family consumer science but the other part of the question is still there which is mental health services so I'm going to read the question to provide Mental Health Services for elementary and middle school students shall Evesham Township School District be authorized to raise an additional one hundred and ninety thousand dollars for General funds in the 2024-25 school year and then it has the same verbiage underneath that the that the full day K question had and that that those funds would be for each year moving forward Mental Health counseling these are services that are vitally needed right now and we have been able to provide some additional services using Federal relief money over the past few years but that is running out and we will we will lose that hence this question to try to preserve that moving forward because kids needs are greater than ever so very positive very hopeful that this question will pass as well we wouldn't need to ask either of these two questions and this slide tells the story of why so a district any school district in New Jersey can only raise the local tax levy two percent a year it's the two percent cap our district did not always take the full two percent each year and you can see on this graph how much we left on the table those expired numbers in red is what we left on the table that we could have taken without asking without a vote and we didn't and the reason we didn't is we didn't eat it at the time and at the end of the day any school district and we firmly believe this we are stewards of taxpayer resources our charge our mission is to maximize those resources for kids that drives our entire budget and it's the star we steer by with decisions we didn't need it at the time we didn't take it to the tune of almost three million dollars lost tax levy Revenue almost three million dollars which would be enough to cover full Decay to cover mental health to cover other things as well be great to have that now that's why we're coming again in good faith to our community with these two questions our community has benefited has not had to pay those additional taxes for the last 10 years so everyone's paid less the last 10 years because we didn't ask for it then we didn't take it then um and uh and I would just say as an underline to this is our district spends sixteen thousand six hundred dollars per pupil annually the state average for a K-8 district and there are 73 K-8 districts in the state of New Jersey the state average for K districts is nineteen thousand so we're spending two thousand four hundred dollars less per student each year than the average K-8 District and we provide a lot on a lean budget and we need to provide more and that's why we're asking these questions a little bit of History just to kind of illustrate in just on the in the spirit of lean budget how little our budget has budged for the last six years and that of course is against a backdrop right now of over six percent inflation right so there's forces at work always changing that make it increasingly harder to keep a budget lean this tells a quick story of the Lost state aid about we've lost about half of our state aid that we received since 2017-18 from almost 14 million dollars to just above seven million dollars and it's dropping more so it keeps going down right because that projected 2020 324 that's next year but then we lose more for 24.25 and there's no telling what comes after 24.25 because the state won't release their formula for how they calculate Aid so there's no way to predict you know it's based on three things student enrollment so our student enrollment has dropped 19 percent since its peak our state data has dropped 49 percent makes no sense the other two factors of the aid formula are commercial rateables we know that commercial real estate and Eve sham has increased in value and the third factor is um residential property value we also know that the poverty values in Evesham have increased a lot over that time span so basically we're punished for our success as a town as a district losing Aid and having to make do with less this breaks out that loss just year by year so you know and there this there's a happy story and a sad story on this slide happy story is that 23 24 reduction of 367 thousand five hundred ninety four dollars is a lot less than it was in the tentative budget because every S2 district is receiving back 65 percent of the aid it was supposed to lose for the coming year through a recently signed bill by Governor Murphy which was a it was a co-partisan bill Republicans and Democrats working together but it's a one-year it's a one year of reprieve right so so we got we gained back about 486 thousand dollars so that number that 367 is about 486 thousand dollars less than it was in the tentative budget but that is just a reprieve and what it means is that the 2425 number of 602 thousand is 486 000 higher than it was in the tentative budget so the bill will come due it's just delayed by a year um and uh yeah so that's the happy story sad story but it's more way more of a sad story budget goals I mentioned um so this slide not many words in this slide but it really really really really really really represents a lot of work and conversation so to achieve these goals means starting on our budget basically at the beginning of the school year talking as an Administration talking as a board talking as a finance committee talking getting feedback from all kinds of stakeholders to be able to figure out to chart the best path forward balancing that multi-armed scale because everything in a budget is on one multi-armed scale weighing pros and cons against these three goals to figure out what's the best path forward it means and you can't lose State rate a without there being a loss embedded in that process the loss is unavoidable but the effort is to try to mitigate it and cushion it to preserve what we can for students so maintaining the effectiveness or Educational Services while costing less money adjusting staff positions for enrollment and continued focus on student achievement we that enrollment piece I'll just mention we one of the key one of the bigger slices of the budget reductions the past two years not this year but the past two years were increases in Elementary class size so when we began that process our Elementary class size was below average compared with surrounding districts now we are on par with surrounding districts and we really want to hold firm on that we looked as we'll see in a later slide at Middle School class size this year but um we have not touched Elementary class size this year and I'm going to turn it over to Mr bashanti for a bit good evening everyone um the first slide here is showing the changes to our budget since the tentative budget presentation we did back on March 16th there's just a few changes the first is on the revenue side the additional 486 thousand dollars that we're going to receive um so that that'll be incorporated into the 2324 budget and then on the appropriation side where we're going to plan to use that money by increasing Elementary Staffing and then also the benefits that would go along with those positions the last two lines are just a minor change in our budget on purchasing of some equipment instead of outright purchasing it we're going to lease purchase the equipment that's the thirty six thousand dollar change there so really the uh the main change is the additional uh stated that we're going to receive to allow us to address uh Staffing okay this slide is similar to the slide from the uh presentation in March the the main difference is the additional monies that were received in the Staffing line which shows that the increase there and then in the the second uh line the employee health benefits which shows those additional dollars in there so this is a side-by-side of uh last year's budget uh compared to this year's budget the uh the two columns to the far right show the increase or decrease between the uh to budget years and then what uh what percentage of an increase or decrease that is so most of the lines are pretty well flat the the main two lines that you know have the biggest increases are the special ed line where we've had to increase that budget by 730 thousand dollars and then the operations and transportation line which was increased by a little over one million 1.6 1.063 million which is the biggest increase which is 22 percent increase and the the main reason for that increase was the um 2223 budget when we had put that together we we actually under budgeted the transportation budget for our uh out of um our subcontracted uh bus routes at the time when we put the budget together we believe that the contracts were going to get renewed and then after the budget was put together the contracts were not renewed and we hadn't put them back out to bid and it came in at a larger number so that's why it reflects a big increase uh this year that's the major part of that increase okay um this is the the same slide uh that we had from last month on the revenue side the the only change is the Top Line the additional um Aid that we're receiving is actually coming through Surplus budget to fund balance what the state did is they're giving us the money as part of our 2223 budget obviously we're at the end of the year we're not going to spend it this year so we're going to move those dollars forward to help address the 2324 budget so that's that's just really more of a counting thing we did get the 486 000 uh 787 an additional state aid however they didn't give it to us as part of our 23-24 budget they gave it is to us as part of our 2223 budget so it gets moved forward through uh Surplus through fund balance so that's the the main change there let's see all the all the other lines are still the same okay so um the slide here is the tax calculation the tax levy calculation we were already at two percent on our tax levy and the Tenant of a budget presentation that hasn't changed we're still at two percent on the tax level calculation so this slides the dental close to the slide that was shown previously uh last month you the tax levy has calculated um on a calendar year our budgets on the fiscal year so you take half of last year's budget the current budget we're in for the first half of the 23 calendar year and half of the budget for next year the 23.24 um you add those two halves together which gives you the total tax levy increase in dollars and then the the we got the updated rateables and then you uh compare what the new increase is for the 23 year compared to the 22 year and it's 0.0255 cents which comes out to on the average assessed home of 272 thousand six twenty eight an increase of 69.45 which is the same amounts that were on the attentive budget presentation so what does that really mean this is really the slide that tells what it means to the homeowner the property owner in the township so the First Column gives you the different values the the yellow row going across is the average assessed home in uh ifsham at 272 628 I believe that number is uh and I and then if you fall out all the way across to the right that's the 69 so 45 cents that the average person will pay now obviously nobody's house is exactly on that number so we give you additional numbers above and below based on whether your house is assessed at 200 000 or if your house is assessed it um 300 or 400 000 you just would follow those column those rows across and then the last column will give you what your increase would be thanks Mr Ashanti so non-staffing savings so eighty percent of our 80 million dollar budget goes to salaries and benefits eighty percent of 80 million and that is logical and is I mean ultimately our staff are the greatest resources full stop that we can provide for kids we try to find Savings in non-staffing areas when possible the first item there the four bus routes eliminated so we project 120 000 in savings we Mr shinty mentioned that we do contract out bus routes we contract out about a third of our bus routes we only have one bus company that bids on those routes it's Hillman bus company they're based not far from here and um it costs about thirty thousand dollars to the district for every bus route that is outsourced we would love to hire more more drivers to keep more routes in-house and as I plug all the time if anyone's interested in becoming a bus driver with etsd we provide benefits to all bus drivers who can drive more than 30 hours a week and we try to give we give all of our drivers that that amount of driving if they want it um so please just feel free to reach out to me we will cover all fees and training to get you uh onto our team um it has been incredibly difficult to find bus drivers everywhere it's a national shortage um and uh just a daily daily struggle to um reliably transport the kids that we're committed to transport um activity fee increase it's a small amount but we included it on here just because it's a it's a real amount because it affects people um the increase of five dollars per year for middle school and Elementary activity fee I would say when it comes to those costs and if anyone knows please let me know I am not aware of another District anywhere in the entire state of New Jersey that provides the extracurricular programming that we do here in etsd both at elementary and middle school level our elementary programming some districts provide none not a single after school activity for kids in elementary and as you can just take a look at the I know we've got more approvals in the agenda tonight and it really goes back to it the heart it's our staff you know it's those Human Resources it's our staff stepping up taking their passions taking their time applying it forward for kids you know and um tailoring it to what kids want to do it's just amazing and I just thank our staff for that because um the the dollar amounts don't equal the amount of time and preparation and care that go into that work we're going to talk about the bus routes so first up uh VanZant we're looking at the uh I guess the north side The Swim Club side of Woodstream and um this section of the neighborhood used to walk some years ago that is part of why we looked at it again and all of these changes including the two last year so last year we made a change to uh demacie Elementary we increased the number of kids walking there and to Rice we increased number of kids walking at Rice those two changes as well as the changes here have all been part of conversations with the township Evesham Police um as we move forward and and work on uh you know where are what lends itself best to uh to look at as increasing walking zones there will be more details provided in terms of what additional safety measures will be added for these changes like crossing guards and and more and that is part of what the Township's working on 33 kids that is a bus route another one from Van Zant kind of the Fox Chase area uh 27 kids that's another bus route and um there's a a walking path that goes from Fox Chase to that green belt that kind of in the lower left hand corner which takes the kids to uh to Green to Green Tree and then there's a cross crosswalk right there at Conestoga and Greentree jaggered there's two two slides for jaggered this first one is the area of dominions that's um south of brick road and west of Evans there's a crosswalk you can see in the lower right hand corner kids currently walk to Cherokee from this area so they're already crossing guards the township will find crossing guards for the Vans and changes but for the crossing guards here at jaggard they are already in place and then this section which is just basically continuing Southward from the prior slide 24 students plus the eight on the other slide so that's 32 which is a bus route those kids can walk down Arendale Crossover with the crossing guard walk down the Arendale and then there's a uh like a cut through sidewalk to the back of jaggard Marlton middle Briarwood so 33 kids um not the elementary and the reason we didn't do the elementary here is because there's a couple reasons but one of them is when you exit Briarwood in the lower left hand corner and you follow that sidewalk you'll get to what will be a crosswalk you cross over that crosswalk and you're on sidewalk again on the other side and then you follow that sidewalk and you want you wind right into the MMS School area and You Follow That Sidewalk onto the school you don't have to cross over the entrance to the MMS mes School area right so if it was elementary kids they would have to cross over that entryway Middle School they don't so it's a little simpler from middle which is why we're just doing middle Elementary is a a consideration possibly for a future but not next year 33 kids that's a bus route Staffing reductions so I mentioned before FCS the program that we didn't have to cut but um most definitely were prepared to uh not you know against our will all this is against our will because of State data reductions that represented 154 000 so that was put back in at the tentative budget presentation the items in so there's a key down below right so the the strikethroughs in in Black are from uh save prior to the tentative budget the strikethroughs in red are saved prior to this budget through the bill that I mentioned previously the 486 787 dollars we got back in supplemental Aid one year aid from the state of New Jersey we use part of that to restore the remaining non-certificated staff positions Elementary ta position custodial position support position the remaining money from that 486 thousand we are holding and we are watching and we are monitoring because we right now have multiple grades in multiple schools where we will need to add another section based on enrollment so we what that means is grade four currently the number of sections we have in that particular school they are maxed out they may be even a student or two above the max meaning the class size there is not at all where we want it we can add a section in to spread those students out because our goal this year was really to try to keep Elementary class size consistent with last year and look at middle school and so that's why we're saving that money because it is really needed there that's something we hear from staff as well through conversations is um how how what a difference that makes for them speaking of middle school so um the uh we are the only District in the county 40 40 districts in Berlin County we're the only one with two essentially two middle schools okay and we are the largest where the second largest District in the county the largest K-8 the largest with um middle school and elementary schools the only one larger than us Islamic Regional and they're nine through 12 District right so so we have two middle schools they both have house systems which means essentially it's like four schools because each school has two schools within the school so green and red yellow blue and that locks us in a bit to um 10 sections per grade per School to maintain the house structure 10 sections per grade for school so if you look at the projected enrollment for demacia next year grades 6 206 across 10 sections that's 20.6 kids per section 21 kids rounding up which is less than our class sizes in some schools in grade five grade four grade three which isn't right right we you you want we want more resources with the younger kids lower class size if we can with younger kids who need it more and that's where we are now right because we raise class size in elementary but the Middle School we've been locked into uh the 10 sections per grade so we're trying something a little different this year which we'll see in in the coming slide but I just want to this it's driven by that number 206. and you can see another highlighted number in two years 208 for Marlton middle that's incoming grade six in the 25-26 school year that could change but if it doesn't change the model that we're going to use with grade six to Macy this year will become I'm sure with uh Improvement as we're always seeking to get better but it'll become the basis for what we may do in two years of middle and it can become the basis for what we do in any grade in Middle School moving forward if the numbers if the enrollment warrants it because again taking this approach means we don't have to cut programs and at the end of the day cutting a program means that that program no longer exists for students whereas this approach means every every class every subject continues to exist for students here's what I mean so grade six um we'll have eight sections total not ten which means the average class size to Macy grade six will be 26 25.75 but 26.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Joe Grant motion carries thank you we will move on to item H3 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community this evening we bring forward a recommendation to use the other aspect of results-based funding to to distribute to the stipend list provided to the governing board in the packet two years ago was the first time that our school district are qualified for results-based funding I'm sorry four years ago thank you Mr Hicks four years ago we qualified for results-based funding and the stipends that we are asking to be supported this evening with this recommendation are paid for results that occurred two years ago and so the results-based funding we receive two years in arrears to be able to pay back and so this evening we are recommending that we pay the stipend list for the positions that were identified a few years back for this um for this particular distribution I would like to let the governing board know as well that cabinet will be working to bring forward a recommendation to the governing board of how do you best utilize These funds moving forward into the future and so cabinet will be working on that I anticipate well I could I guess I could guess because I won't be here I think that they're going to bring It Forward in like July or August um but I believe that uh or I know that cabinet is working on a recommendation of how best to utilize These funds from a program perspective but we felt it important to honor the commitment that was made to these particular groups a couple of years ago since we're paying back two years and then beginning to move forward put a plan in place that everyone understands in terms of program changes and so our recommendation this evening is approval of the stipend list provided to the governing board thank you Dr Dean do we have any questions well I have to say I did ask for this to be tabled and brought back and I I am disappointed that you've decided not to make any changes I've heard it several times tonight about um not continuing to do things because we've always done them and that to me is what we're still doing we're continuing to do that and I realize this is from two years ago but again I still wish it would have been reevaluated I appreciate the fact that you are going to um look at it for the for the future and I hope that we uh include some other areas that are close to the classroom but not just in the classroom but that will that do in their jobs uh help with um student outcomes and student achievement is there any position in particular that is concerning that's not on this list there are special ed preschool facilitator ESS behavioral technician and then I I'm sorry I'm not really um student support technicians but they weren't around two years ago so the that was one but I didn't realize it wasn't there two years ago and Miss Grant I will tell you that that following the tabled motion that cabinet did work to analyze that and as as stated previously and I understand the disappointment and thank you for letting us know that and voicing that our decision was because it was two years ago as we said however with the commitment that we will look at how this program moves forward for the future actually working in the classroom correct that Madam president miss Pritchard um have a direct impact on yes and these were identified several years ago um you know which is why we chose to honor that commitment to those pieces as we move forward I will tell you that we have a responsibility with these funds that if people that were in those positions at those schools two years ago are still in the school district even if they're in a different position they qualify for the funding for this stipend right because the gift I believe that's correct that's one example the gifted technology yeah so if they're still in the district in another position we would capture them and they would receive this stipend as well well I imagine it's very hard I mean when you're you can't give it to everybody and it's not to say not everyone has positive impacts on children but these monies are very specific and I think once we start splitting them too much I mean at least look to me like they're focused on where they need to be I mean I don't I guess we'll have that conversation at another time but we can't just give it to everybody and Madam president member Richard completely understand the comment and that's where cabinet's analysis will continue to move forward and and there will be a different recommendation in the future any other thoughts or questions okay I will make the motion to approve the results-based funding stipend distribution for fiscal year 2023 motion made by Crystal Chaffin seconded by Christine Pritchard motion carries next we will move on to i1 request for future agenda items I have one um I would like just because and I'll send an email I guess getting specific but I would like to have an information item that reflects whatever evaluation we've been either evaluation or assessment of our Athletic program since Athletics is one of our Three A's and where we've looked at our academics and how we're growing our Arts programs and how we're growing through like art seals and things just as far as Athletics we um I just want to make sure that if that is going to be our Focus that we ensure that we have um a culture a winning culture and we have coaches that are successful for the sake of our students who rely on our programs for athletic scholarships or just parents who contribute a lot of money into a sport or activity and want their child to have a great experience under proper coaching so if we can just at some point similar to like the cips we do for academics just kind of an update to the board on on a pulse on our Athletic program district-wide member Pritchard we can certainly do that thank you very much right next we have a call for an executive session pursuant to ars38-431.03 for the superintendent's hearing evaluation I moved to establish executive session to be held immediately during a recess in the regular meeting motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Joe Grant motion carries we will adjourn we will head to Executive session oh that's awesome okay at this time we will reconvene the regular meeting and I will make the motion to approve the superintendent's urine performance evaluation and performance pay in the amount of 20 percent reflecting the superintendent has satisfactorily achieved the approved goals for the 2022-2023 school year second motion made by Crystal Chaffin seconded by Christine Pritchard motion carries congratulations thank you very much at this time I will move to adjourn the meeting motion made by Crystal Chaffin seconded by Joe Grant Don don't vote no wonder what would happen motion carries we're
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
um then um I would hope that there's some um that there's some public engagement on this issue um going forward over the next uh four years commissioner Ackman um I mean council member Ackman you have your hand up and then commissioner Graham yeah no problem I wanted to just comment on that I mean I think as commissioner Mercy said 2027 doesn't mean that that's when it's actually going to be you know when any negotiation is going to be finalized that's just we know that that's coming so I don't think we should read that as this is going to take until then um secondly I did want to point out that you know I I'm not part of the you know legal negotiations and that's not you know subject to discussion however I did want to say that there are public engagement sessions about this that were just announced I believe yesterday um and they're happening in May May 18th or sorry May 11th and May 18th um I believe this was announced to the office of sustainability so just wanted to let you all know since you have asked um well thank you so much um commissioner Graham um I'm going to vote for the resolution in respect for its ideals but I'm sure the council will do what it does um but there's a whole different Avenue of I guess electrification or get the fossil fuels out of houses that perhaps we can get more traction from I have a substantially gas Field House and one bill in 1960 which isn't terribly well insulated um the quandary of without a lot of time to recoup my investment being in my 70s um sorting out how to proceed with diminishing the use of gas here is not something that's easy and I'm I'm I'm cognizant about these issues I understand engineering I I get it but it's still complicated and it seems to me that again without sticks um the city could have programs that help those who are inclined to do stuff more than we are and in a gentle way again without sticks it's less threatening and and um maybe more people will shift sooner maybe the net result is more than we might get from new buildings that aren't willing or that are willing to go for it all electric just my two cents thank you um Shannon you have the floor um I feel like if this is going to have any effect at all that um the planning staff has indicated to me through uh the planning manager that they are basically booked in terms of their capacity and so in terms of what they see is the priorities they've got the comprehensive plan and all kinds of things happening the only way in my opinion based on what I've been hearing that they are going to work on this is if they get direction from Council and so it feels pretty important to me that if any of this is going to go forward that we need to have um Council supported and so you know I I haven't been listening to all the City Council meetings but if both of our representatives are saying that they're not going to vote for it then I think that it would be pretty unlikely that everybody else would on Council and maybe maybe um console presentation and Ackman could kind of let us know what the temperature is that would be my my guess but they can let us know um so it this is really hard because like it on the one hand I don't want the the perfect to be the enemy of the good here because it could just the whole thing could just get tossed out um at the same time I completely agree with the fact that we are in this emergency we need to do something about this and so uh but I feel like you know it's not just up to us it's the only way that this gets any traction is if city council tells planning staff to work on this and so um I feel like if if we're going to be able to get anything out of this that we probably need to put this in a state that is more palatable to what's going on with city council um and um but I would be curious to hear what our city council folks say about that obviously you're not in charge of what other people's opinions are but you've been talking about some of these things I'm sure so I'd be curious to see what you what you all think um thank you um uh commissioner Mitchell you have your hand up here you're you're muted I am muted I'm not muted this is the message that's really what this is and I really hope that council members I I know that you're hearing it and I know that you agree that we're in this emergency but somehow we do have to make our way forward because we are running out of time and it's not just for us it's for the future hey I'm commissioner mursky and then commit and then council member Ackman I'm going back on my word only to comment to commissioner Graham's comment commissioner Graham this only addresses new development and major Renovations so it doesn't have anything to do with uh existing natural gas customers and forcing them to go over just so that everybody is clear they just want to make that that clear for everybody to say thank you and I'm quite clear of that too okay um commissioner Ackman you have you have the floor and one and two respond to commissioner Gib Randall I appreciate the question as you said of course we can't speak for counsel but I would say that um as council member dish said I think splitting this off editing this to say recommended set of measures that city council and the city Administration could Implement you know I think I feel like the rest of that is just fine and I would be supportive of that so if that would be a way forward to split this into two resolutions but that I would feel good about that okay um thank you um so we have uh what I would consider a friendly Amendment from Council Members Ackman and Dish about splitting this into two uh splitting this um into two resolved Clauses with the same whereas Clauses so that's my understanding is we'll maintain the same whereas Clauses with both resolutions but we will have two separate uh resolved two separate resolutions with just the one resolved clauses and those one for the second result should say recommended set of measures instead of carrot and stick okay so do I have a motion to um to accept that Amendment from anybody um maybe just the changed wordings sent to us and then just to make sure that I'm not voting on something that um and so usually if John could make uh if Sean has a clear sense of what we're asking for and could make the change and either show it on the screen or send it to us that would be great um there were a couple of objections to the idea of splitting and I'm not sure that um it can be considered a friendly Amendment if there were a couple of objections and so I think and I have I am not an expert in parliamentary procedure but I think we might need to take a roll call vote on splitting um given that there were a couple of objections unless people wanted to people who made those objections wanted to withdraw them now and if anybody knows this better than I do please speak up but I know that's how we do it right right yeah I think that's the right way so I think the first item was um the first consideration is to alter the language in the second resolve clause and the first result in the second result Clause to remove parents mistakes Sean could you put up the uh the resolution is submitted yes I can do that so here we have both of them so so the amendment is to remove the suggested change in the language of the second resolve clause is that a set of recommended measures that could Implement um so just removing striking the Keratin stick in quotes um language from that resolution so do I have let's see do do I have a motion to accept this change this amendment the second resolve clause I'm having trouble seeing people and so moved yeah so which order should we be voting on all this in them to read the splitting first and the amendment then the change language or I think we'll change the language and then we'll do the split okay cool then vote on each foreign so okay so we have uh and I think we've exhausted the discussion on this topic so let's proceed to a roll call vote um Sean could you what is what is it exactly is the language now of the second Clause it would be just striking the Keratin stick and just leave it as a set of recommended measures that city council and City Administration could implement thank you um if I will just uh chime in and say if it is helpful I can make uh the um after votes have happened I can make whatever changes are voted on behind the scenes while we move on to our next agenda item and then after that agent item we could return to this and half of it um we might do that um but um I think I let's get let's um let's conclude this item on the agenda first um but um but it would be good to see the final versions um so the amendment is what we're voting on is just striking the Keratin stick um phrase there in the in the second result clause so um let's have a roll call about on that um I have a movement from commissioner Marston I don't believe we had a second on that motion then oh we did from commissioner from council member Ackman okay thank you and so discussion I don't see any hands up um I don't hear any anybody so um so all who vote uh to strike that keratin stick language um let's see let's uh let's go through the roll call for that I think that's required all right um council member Eckman yes thank you uh chairperson Brown uh yes thank you uh commissioner yes thank you commissioner Curtis yes thank you uh commissioner Dale yes thank you uh councilmember dish yes thank you commissioner Gib Randall yes uh commissioner Graham yes thank you uh commissioner Gruber yes thank you uh commissioner Merson yes thank you uh commissioner burski yes thank you Vice chairperson Mitchell no thank you uh commissioner nedrich no thank you uh commissioner Oriole is absent uh commissioner wahing s thank you uh is um two no's and uh the rest of our guesses except for the absent yep so that uh so that passed so the next vote would be um splitting it up into two into two separate resolutions so do I have a motion um for that against consideration um Lisa dish seconds um let's let's just uh why don't we proceed to just I think we can do a voice for it on this one I don't think so because there were objections to splitting so yeah leads to my recovered okay well this is my reminder that I need to revisit the Roberts Rules of Order so I'll defer to your judgment on that so okay let's um so the question is um shall this resolution be split up into two separate uh resolutions which maintain all the whereas Clauses in both resolutions but which uh the resolve Clauses are separated that's the question um so do I have uh uh do I have a motion to consider that I think we did didn't we I think we're good yeah um I think I was the uh the opponent and I could withdraw that opposition [Music] if I was the soul one to avoid you know request not splitting okay I mean I I would like to point out that this doesn't prevent anybody from voting in favor of both resolutions well that's correct yes so um all right so do you want to just go through the roll call again on that on that question on um all right uh councilmember Aquin yes thank you uh chairperson Brown yes thank you commissioner Keller work yes thank you commissioner Curtis yes thank you uh commissioner Dale yes thank you councilmember dish yes thank you commissioner Gib Randall yes thank you commissioner Graham yes thank you commissioner Gruber yes thank you commissioner Marson yes thank you commissioner mursky yes thank you uh Vice chairperson Mitchell yes thank you commissioner edrich yes thank you uh commissioner Oriole is absent and commissioner waking yes thank you uh that is unanimous yes all right thank you okay so um the next question is um uh voting on the first resolve clause which is urging city council to ask the city administrator to work with the City Planning Commission to draft and pass with a great urgency fitting a declared emergency an ordinance Banning natural gas connections with extremely limited exceptions for all new construction as well as major Renovations and additions for council's consideration so do I have a motion to vote on this um on this resolution on this revised resolution uh Lisa dish um and seconded by anybody ah Brooks Curtis um seconded it so any discussion all right we want to do the roll call again on the first resolution the first resolve clause all right uh vote on the first resolved calls uh council member Ackman no thank you chairperson brown uh yes thank you commissioner yes thank you commissioner Curtis yes thank you commissioner Dale yes thank you uh councilmember dish no thank you commissioner Gabe Randall yes thank you commissioner Graham yes thank you commissioner Gruber yes thank you commissioner Marson no thank you commissioner mursky yes thank you Vice chairperson Mitchell yes thank you uh commissioner netridge no thank you uh commissioner Orioles absent and commissioner waking yes thank you um uh that is four knows uh the rest yes which I believe passes so it passes so um okay let's proceed to the vote on the set on the second resolution amended resolution uh containing the single resolved clause with all the uh We've submitted whereas Clauses so the second Clause is therefore be it resolved that the Ann Arbor energy commission urges the city council to ask the city administrator and the City Planning Commission to draft and pass with equal urgency a set of recommended care measures that city council and the city Administration could Implement for example the restructuring of fees priority processing and using greater discretion when providing incentives such as tax credits and helpful guidance in order to promote all electric sustainable healthy reliable and affordable Construction in addition to other measures such as an updated state of Michigan energy code and zero code appendix so do I have a motion to vote on this question um council member dish do I have a second um uh Brooks commissioner Curtis seconded um do we have any discussion no I hear in CNN so um let's proceed to a roll call vote Sean on the second resolution all right but on the second resolution as amended uh councilmember Eckman yes thank you chairperson brown yes thank you commissioner Kyle work yes thank you commissioner Curtis yes thank you commissioner Dale yes thank you councilmember dish yes thank you commissioner Graham yes thank you commissioner Gruber yes thank you commissioner Merson yes thank you commissioner mursky yes thank you Vice chairperson Mitchell yes thank you commissioner netridge yes thank you commissioner Oriole is absent and commissioner waking yes thank you uh that is unanimous yes all right thank you Sean so I think this concludes this matter and um I understand and just in closing I'll just say that I understand the objections to exposing the city to Legal challenges but I have to say that um I don't think any meaningful change I'm aware of has ever happened without legal challenges and that uh and that I I would encourage City staff to look into look into and accept any pro bono help that may be offered uh that's acceptable and what might help them um um through this process so um so the next item on the agenda is the solid waste updates and budget discussion um thank you so much um we've had a lot of data submitted that's been posted to the registrar so um you have the floor I'm gonna I'm gonna kick us off and then turn it over to Sarah if that's okay commissioner well thank you all for the opportunity to speak to you tonight we um we received some questions and we want to take the opportunity to hopefully address the questions you've had and answer them tonight um our plan is for us to go through the questions that were provided by chairperson Brown and commissioner mursky and hopefully address um you know the full amount of questions that were provided to us um we also would like to take the opportunity to share some things that we've identified um SM opportunities associated with the solid waste program where we see the environmental commission um helping and providing support and guidance to our Solid Waste team so we'll hope you you'll be open to hearing some of our thoughts on that I want to first thank our staff for spending the time um Sarah Mason spent a lot of time and also some of our financial team um pulling the information together that's been provided to you and also drafting the answers to the questions that you'll hear from tonight so appreciate the help that they have provided we have in addition to Sarah tonight we also have Molly mashieski here so we brought our both of our subject matter experts on our Solid Waste program so we're we're hopeful and confident that we can address the questions you might have um I'm gonna just uh start with answering the first question that was provided and then I'm going to turn the floor over to Sarah and she will take us through the rest of them um and that question was who is responsible for understanding um budgeting and monitoring and achieving Solid Waste Financial targets um the the budget that we have for solid waste is is very complicated and has what I've been told is somewhere close to 3 000 line items so this is not something that one individual is responsible for necessarily completely understanding and um being conversant in the complete budget so we operate in a collaborative environment when we have a team our Solid Waste leadership but also our financial um support from the CFO and her staff so together that is where the the expertise lies in being able to be able to communicate um and Converse about the full content of the budget so it's not a single individual's responsibility or purview so with that um I will turn it over to Sarah and she will walk you through the rest of the questions thank you thank you Brian um good evening everyone thanks for the opportunity to go through this I'm not sure if every all of the rest of the commission saw the questions submitted so I will read them maybe paraphrase and then provide a response just so that you're clear on the discussion so the first um set of questions after I was the one that Brian addressed was around the new climate Village revenue and related Solid Waste expenditures um I believe you did get a written reply from OSI before this meeting and then I'm going to address the other couple of questions that were mentioned so the first question was around what the exact plans in the final budget for the spending of the climate military related to Solid Waste programs in the uh it does list two uses um one is the purchase of a truck for the expansion of commercial recycling collection that's budgeted at 450 000 and the other is for creating implementing and managing a commercial compost program and that amount is actually four hundred thousand dollars I think um there needs to be a correction to that amount for the total of 8.50 that you saw in the response from OSI within that four hundred thousand dollars um for the commercial composting program there is flexibility on exactly how that money will be spent for the program development we are intending to hire a person that will help us flush out what that plan looks like the second question in this category was around um if the plans had changed from the original two-year allocation and it said if plans changed versus the original two-year allocation plan when and why was the environmental Commission in the solid waste Community not consulted before the budget proposal was finalized our plan did not change the next question was around the purchase of the truck and as I mentioned we have one truck budgeted there was a follow-up question of if the truck would be an EV consistent with the a20 plan and they the truck will not be in EV because the technology is not there for a front load garbage truck um that's an EV there are side load trucks EV that are being used in communities but not front room trucks at this time the next question is around the that why is the full-time employee that's budgeted a tenth of the commercial compost program is supposed to be operated on an ongoing basis in its attempt position because this position is intended to develop and start the program to get it to a place where then it would be managed by existing staff and an ongoing manner the next question here um what are the smart goals for the commercial compost program and um any metrics or targets by year that will indicate whether or not the program is a success and at this time the measures of success for that program are not yet defined that will be part of the program development that's Yet to Come however I do want to mention that this is an area I'm in the after we finish going through these questions I also have a short update part of that is talking about our Solid Waste metrics in general and there is an opportunity there I think for the commission to help with looking at what those metrics are and maybe looking to redefine them at the tracker programs so that more to come on that question later the next category of questions are around solid waste budget variances and you've received several Financial reports um there was a fourth quarter FY 22 report provided at the October meeting and in the interim I believe in March we provided a year-end annual summary from FY 22 and so the question here is that um there were why were there multi-million dollar changes in the operating budget between the two reports and I think that there was just some confusion in um comparing the numbers so the uh Solid Waste fund fourth quarter report for FY 22 um included non-operating expenses um it it lists total expenses that includes operating and non-operating expenses however in the annual report those two categories of expenses are listed as separate line items so if you compare the total expenses in the fourth quarter report to just the operating expenses in the annual summary it's not uh comprehensive because it would be the fourth quarter report is the sum of both operating and non-operating expenditures further the finalized FY 22 numbers were not complete until after that October 27th meeting and so there were significant changes between what was reported at that time in the final figures so the annual summary report for FY 22 was post audit and the FY 22 fourth quarter report was before the audit and so that is the other reason that those numbers do not align the next question in variance is um this is a question around what caused the variances between FY 21 and fy22 and what were the drivers of these variances and how will they be reduced in the future um and there on the revenue side um the biggest variance for mpy 21 was around the recycling processing credit it was reflective of an unanticipated Rebound in a volatile Market which has in fact gone back down so if you have any familiarity with the Commodities Market related to recycling it goes up and down as an example um the basket value for our recycling the composition of the city's recycling proton in April of 2022 was 99 a ton in November of 2022 it was seven dollars a ton so we're back up to around 25 but it goes up and down and it was up unexpectedly I think as a rebound after covid so um and the other variances there were reflective of investment losses the next question still around variances um oh we received a question also on year-to-date operating budget status for FY 23 which is the current fiscal year we did provide those reports earlier this week um and so I think you've got the information there through the end of March and the final question in variance is the big positive variances in FY 21 and 22 were in the non-operating expenses they added 9.3 million to the solid waste fund balance our significant non-operating expense variance is expected in FY 23-25 and if so why so those big credits that 9.3 million that was added and the fund balance calculation are primarily reflective of the year-end net present value of future liabilities for those non-operating expenditures so a significant factor in the changes the liability calculation is a singular data point and the 30-year treasury note rate at the time of the calculation which is the last day of the fiscal year due to this the changes in liabilities are difficult to predict but we are currently projecting increases of 225 000 annually for fiscal year 23-25 okay um the last category of questions were around the solid waste Reserve fund and I just want to say the point of clarity there's no separate fund we have one solid waste fund so that's just there's no separate Reserve when there's one fund uh the first question is can the solid waste Reserve fund be used for any purposes other than Solid Waste related expenses and the answer is no and the fund only be used to cover unanticipated variances or one-time expenses this is like a slightly more nuanced but not necessarily however it's best practice for our operating revenues to meet or exceed our operating expenditures therefore it would be counter to that practice to use the fund balance to add recurring expenses to the budget without an outside Revenue Source eventually the budget would reach a point where you don't have enough and Reserve to cover those ongoing expenses uh so the next question um is around future use for the solid waste Reserve funds or the fund balance so we do keep there's about 19 million dollars at the end of the last fiscal year and fund balance and 25 of that is held in reserve of the 25 of the operating budget is held in reserve which is about um five million dollars which leaves about a 14 million dollar balance and so that will actually come down quite a bit because we do have capital projects such as the drop-off station that will be heading over the next couple of years um as that gets built and the project cost for that at this time is estimated between six and a half and eight million dollars so we won't know more until we get construction cost but it's gonna be a pretty expensive project uh the last question in this fund balance category um is an acceptable practice that available access Reserve funds sit in a bank or investment account for years and earn a return that is not allocated specifically for solid-based purposes no returns gain on Solid Waste funds are allocated specifically for solid waste purpose um there was also a question about what spending has proposed an upcoming upcoming budget cycles and the solid waste fund operating budget largely stays fairly consistent year to year so unless a new program is added there's not a lot of variability in that spending year over year okay um and that is all the questions that we received in advance on the financial report I don't know if there are other questions at this time um we'll do our best to answer them or I can move forward with the rest of my update um well thank you Sarah yeah why don't we yeah let's not wait till the end for all the questions so we have one hand up now from John mursky you have the floor I I just wanted to say thank you very very much those were excellent answers um forgive me for all the detailed questions but it really helped me better understand um the situation and hopefully it helped the other Commissioners and hopefully maybe it even helped you that's my experience with these kinds of things is that when you have probing questions everybody learns in the process and so thank you very much I have no further questions yeah yeah I also want to thank you Sarah um for for answering these questions um in a thorough manner um yeah and I hope I hope you learned something about it too they weren't intended as criticism stressed trying to broaden our understanding you know of the solid waste program um I think let's see I had one question um and that was um I know that the the city can face liabilities for the closed landfill you know for its close landfall so I was wondering are you reserving uh are you dealing with that or did have you purchased insurance um to cover those eventualities or do you have um do you have uh money reserved out of the solid waste fund for that eventuality yeah that liability is accounted for in the non-operating expenditures for the solid waste fund so there are um I think it's three different categories I know that one of them is opeb one is the landfill liability and yes the other is capital assets so those are the three categories of non-operating expenditures um so yes that is accounted for okay great um thank you um so on uh commissioner Dale you have your hand up and then uh councilman Brockman yeah I also just wanted to um thanks Sarah I think um a lot of the questions that were posed by other Commissioners or ones I had so I appreciate that um and I appreciate how succinct your answers were while still being very thoughtful and thorough and um and I'm wondering if I am I imagine maybe you have those answers written down just for quick reference since you went so uh quick through all of them is that something that you'd be willing to share I know it would be nice for me to be able to go back to those answers if I you know you went through a lot so if I wanted to reference those in the future is that do you have a document like that that's like the FAQs um that you could share with people who are interested it's currently written as sort of note so I would have to see yeah um just sort of notes to myself at this time but we could probably provide something um that summarizes everything yes thank you um council member Ackman I just wanted to hop on the Gratitude train um I had heard that this budget was a very complicated one I didn't know it was 3 000 lines so I just really appreciate the work and the collaboration that went into providing these very thorough and succinct answers so thanks to everybody that worked on this yeah any other questions for Sarah at this point City staff no all right so Sarah please continue okay let's okay I do have just a couple of slides just to let's just okay yeah Sean can you um can you give Sarah the Privileges okay it's not I see something that says advanced Advanced sharing options I don't see oh it just apologies I got it okay all right we can see that thank you okay wonderful go through this kind of quickly um the first is just the things we're going to cover Solid Waste fund update which we just went through a quick update on downtown Solid Waste issues winter compost metrics where I do want to spend a little bit of time uh talking and then just touch briefly then a couple of things we're looking to do in the next year or so things that we're focusing on we have covered this so downtown Solid Waste update um city council did approve the new commercial franchise contract with WM for refuse falling on March 20th that does include a subscription service for commercial compost collection to be provided by my green Michigan as a subcontractor to WM The Collection under that agreement begins on July 1.
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um this is just a sample sample sample sample imagine that word is like written up there 10 times sample um but just to illustrate so by each house losing a position the other positions will pick up a remaining section from the position that was lost and the way that lends itself well is one in the humanities meaning English social studies and one in the stem area of math science and then based on certifications and teacher interest and a few other factors we are uh coming up with our Apollo 8 our lineup of teachers who will Pioneer this approach and the teacher interest piece is absolutely vital right because um this is new not new everywhere you know lots of places people teach more than one subject or have more than one type of class to prepare in a day but new for us here we had this long time ago there are a few teachers who've taught more than one subject in a day or more than one grade in a day but it hasn't been we haven't had it for a long time this brings me back to 25 years ago when I taught seventh grade language arts social studies in a house system grade six to eight Middle School kind of like sometimes to Macy reminds me of it because it was out in Oregon and um the uh Shasta Middle School class of 35 kids and I also taught help in PE one section so you just think about New Jersey being the number one state in education which we are U.S news and we'll report ranking for this past year there's a reason for that because we would look at a class size of 35 and say unacceptable and there are many states in the country that our kids are in direct competition with where that's typical and even low I've kept in contact with teachers from out there my brother and sister-in-law both are teachers in the same town out there in Oregon and um there are class sizes of 40 now we're talking about 26 here I looked up that Middle School the other day on the web because I couldn't remember that the houses were named after mountain ranges in the Pacific Northwest and uh not surprisingly I guess that they don't have a house system anymore they eliminated it due to budget cuts and now there are traditional Middle School structure so this approach right here helps preserve the house system that has been part of what we what we do in etsd and we'll see in a later slide that may not be possible to preserve indefinitely but with this approach we've preserved it for another year middle school special ed this is a class size um in the theme of class size so uh we will go from 12 in-class support teachers to 10 per Middle School through all staying still all staying under that maximum class size of 10.
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and we're currently working with WM on the transition plan and Communications I mentioned this previously the biggest change is that um the billing and customer service will be responsibilities will be moving from the city to WM and the city retains oversight for those functions but customers will get to interact directly with the waste hauler which is something we heard during our stakeholder engagement and putting together the RFP was that they wanted to be able to have more direct access to the provider otherwise we have seen some improvement in the downtown alleys we continue to work with the downtown stakeholders including businesses to improve the Aesthetics and another part of this new contract is we have a focus on trying to consolidate some of the collection containers to improve the efficiency and the number of containers you see in the space that will also open up room to add compost containers should businesses want to add that service as well um on winter I was also asked about a winter compost update we've had winter compost for two years now we started with the winter of 2022 and we continued in 2023.
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so there's a class size within the class size students who have been class support in their IEP there can be up to 10 of them in any given class and that's the class size within the class size so the example there three in class Support classes with eight students that have in class support in their IEPs instead of four with six I left that slide in just to illustrate that was for two positions the lengths that we had to go to as part of that budget development process didn't end up being needed thank goodness but um the lengths that we were willing to go to that we had conversations with those teachers about to save 150 000 dollars that would have eliminated a program okay back to uh the tuition-free full day K separate question because this is all connected with the budget so we'll start with the left hand column first a yes vote in November means and this Recaps some things I said earlier everybody every kid every kindergarten in our town gets full day kindergarten full stop property values up etsd joins the rest of the state I mentioned that number before increased student growth investing in younger Learners and state funds for preschool expansion and I put that last just and it says while they last so Governor Murphy and his budget address about a month ago for the coming year said that he's allocating up to what one billion dollars and a couple of the pennies in that billion probably came out of our pockets from etsd but he's allocating up to a billion dollars for preschool expansion tuition free free full day preschool for every District that's the state's goal and there are districts around us that are working on this right now and have even started it we have to figure out full decay in order to be able to not be in the same position again in X number of years where every District around us has free full-day preschool and we don't and that's where we're going to be if we can't get full day kindergarten solved and the best way to solve it is with this separate question that's money on the table um if we vote no and people have asked this people have definitely asked this question and they and that is a very understandable question because every coin has two sides and we can't truly understand a yes without understanding a no and vice versa we don't want to have to talk about this but it is prudent and logical to talk about it since it is part of understanding the ramifications of this question we don't intend it in any other way other than informational working backwards simply trying to avoid we don't want anyone like after that November vote to say if I had only known that's the last thing we want to hear if I'd only known how would we pay for tuition free full Decay through a regular budget well we discussed so the ballot question is for 1.9 million that represents about 1 million in in tuition Revenue so we'd bring in about one million dollars in tuition Revenue each year for full day kindergarten and we put that right out to pay for the the Staffing that we need for that program the other 0.9 million is to add the staff that we would need because of course with full AK for all that's going to mean adding teachers those aren't it doesn't include one year costs there's there's one time costs of adding bathrooms things like that all that we're going to cover through our our regular budget but 1.9 million in recurring costs to provide tuition free full Decay through a regular budget would be incredibly difficult everyone can see what we went through just to cut less than four hundred thousand dollars and we lost less than four thousand dollars in state aid and we can see what we went through for that it will mean it will mean difficult conversations possibilities include reducing educational programs we looked at the family consumer science is just a sort of a it's a real example of what it takes to save money in a budget that was a program 154 thousand dollars eliminating Middle School House system we were just talking about it 525 000 that can happen on its own as a standalone step there isn't another District in the county that has a house system anymore and the reason is partly budget cuts closing demacie elementary school again just a possibility that has to be included because of that dollar amount it's a last resort we don't want to have to do that and again that's only in the column that says if if a no right so I mean I have to have to talk about it but don't none of us want to creating fifth grade centers at the middle schools so that step can only really happen in conjunction with the closure of the Macy Elementary because fifth graders we don't have the space at Middle School to accommodate fifth graders without creating space and the only way to create space is to close Des so you have to think about those a little bit in combination um selling properties for development we have two properties country farms in Cambridge we've been in communication with the township for over two years now about selling those properties um we're still in communication uh if it comes down to choosing to have property that we maintain and we mow and we take care of the trees that fall down on people's fences from that property or turning that property into financial resources that can support equal educational opportunity for our youngest learners the answer is to sell them the answer is to sell them and if the township and to someone you know but those properties are intended ultimately the reason a school district comes into possession of property is that it benefits students and those properties right now are serving no benefit to students and then other steps which is like a really big umbrella uh to give that's just a small example after school late buses you know and again it's a journey of a thousand steps to get to 1.9 million but some districts don't offer after school late buses we have such robust after school programs that we need our late buses we have a lot of late buses that run we don't want to get rid of our late buses We love kids participating it would be I mean just you know it's all just different degrees of pain talking about each of these things but you get rid of after school late buses now maybe you're actually preventing certain kids from participating and we want to open doorways wider we want more kids involved in everything we do so we don't want to have to do that but that is a step that districts take Step Up journey of a Thousand Steps that's one of those thousand steps is eliminating after school late buses um and again something we have to talk about as a list but only um in a forced way so that everybody understands the 360 degrees of this question as we walk around and consider it speaking of questions um before we do that I just want to come back to this for a second to the end where we started back at the full day K question just because we just talked about the yes and the no but I just want to put it back on there on the front burner of everybody's Minds what the wording is and some some number I didn't share yet somehow it didn't come up but opportunity we're one of only eight districts out of 600 in the state of New Jersey that charge tuition for full day kindergarten we do a lot of things really well for kids this is an area this is an area it's our number one goal for the next three years we're we want to and we need to get better and we need everyone's help to do that and by helping us you'll help us help all of our students all of the children in the town I have such strong faith in our town that this question is going to pass the story I told about Oregon we moved back I grew up right around here we moved back to New Jersey my wife and I when we had our first child because I wanted our kids to grow up in the best place for education in the country which is New Jersey and we moved back to South Jersey because I knew the school districts here and I knew that would be true and I know that the reason people move where they move is based on schools so many of us have a similar story that's how we ended up living in Evesham my family and we paid the the full day tuition you know but that doesn't mean like everything changes always and while we've Stood Still on this topic the rest of the state has changed we weren't always one out of eight out of 600 districts it was used to be more but that's only going in one direction that number is only getting smaller and smaller and smaller and and this is a tremendously positive opportunity for us to say something really powerful and positive about who we are and where we're going and it also unlocks opportunities for preschool so it's incredibly exciting complete faith that it's gonna it's gonna go well anyone with questions please reach out now that you know if we've come to this moment of the final budget approval and we got approval from the county for the wording of the two questions we're going to be ready to move forward with promoting and trying to increase awareness about the two questions that we're that we're working towards um you know but that starts now so anyone with questions or thoughts were welcome all voices appreciated on any topic and I look forward to lots more conversation as a community as we work to getting this done together um thank you very much to the board for listening and any questions just uh I just want to do some clarity uh things here in terms of questions but also some understanding here and let's let's focus on full day kindergarten um first off again thank you for this thank you for this presentation thank you for everything you guys have done here uh and I've related that before and uh I'm very appreciative of it um I want to make sure that we're we're seeing things together here because in terms of the the the no scenario all right those are if if we've if the community decides that they don't they want to vote down question one those are simply if we decide to plow through with this decision even after a no vote these are just clearly options I don't want to go out there and I don't want the Assumption to be that we're holding schools hostage for for full day kindergarten and the reason I I just want you know I want that to be out there that these are just clearly options and not definitive steps of what's Happening am I we're on no you're absolutely right and I'm thinking like you know that word possibilities on there because I used some yellow highlighting on other slides like I'm throwing a yellow highlight up on that word based on your question you know possibilities possibilities how would we like how would we pay for it not that here's how we are going to because that's that's a thing that like that could scare people if we we don't clarify that enough like no matter how many we bowled it we italicize it we you know we we highlight it a thousand times they'll see and I now I know this because of the experience of what I've been through sitting here on this board about really honestly 10 years ago um that that phrase close a school that phrase alone can can scare people and when we when we did that in when that happened in when we when we when we committed to that that was a that was in a whim right it wasn't a whim for us that was a four-year very calculated very thoughtful agonizing decision to do and I just wanted to be clear sorry I just wanted to be clear to people that we're not whimsically throwing that throwing that out as hey we're doing this if if you vote if you vote no that's I just want to make sure that's clear and I apologize if I'm beating that I'm beating that bush down a little bit but I just want to emphasize that that that's not what we're doing here we're just doing options correct we're just we're just answering the possibilities possibilities you know um and with ultimately the greatest possibility of all is the left hand column the yes column you know and you know going back on that I that's another thing that always gets lost because there is a there's a group of citizens in Evesham who will clearly benefit from full day kindergarten those are new parents parents that have kids in the district they will benefit from it they will see they will see the benefit the the other side of the coin is always the it's always the people after the fact after the situation right and sometimes it gets lost improving home value gets lost all right and it's funny because in in class the other day we were we were talking about this this idea of of push and pull factors like the reason why people move is because they get pushed out for a reason why they come to a place is because they get pulled in the more attractive things that a community has the more people get pulled in your housing market becomes a simple supply and demand issue the more wants that are in the town the more demand there is the lower the supply the better those values go up the more things that we offer as a community makes that Community ultimately better makes that housing market ultimately better it climbs the values of those houses and I want that to be clear here that when we make a decision like this we don't want to just cater to one particular group even though this is important to those to those students it's incredibly important to have that we don't want to be isolated as that only is that only town around here that doesn't have full day kindergarten but sometimes it's just when you're another part of that Community who doesn't have that kid you don't realize the impact that'll eventually have eventually all of us will leave here we will all move from this town and we all hope that our property value and how we sell our home is stronger than when we bought it and a lot stronger than we bought it because it's our greatest asset and I'm a believer I'm a believer that the number one reason why people move places why young families move places who are always the buyers in these type of communities is because they're looking for the best school district possible and if you really want to sell your home eventually at a high rate you want to Intrigue that young family or that young couple that's looking to build a family to show them and prove to them this is the place you want to be because we have the best school district we offer the best things that's the number one thing they're looking for they're the most likely group to move here so I understand I understand that part and sometimes I feel like that gets lost but in the terms of this I really believe it's important to understand the value of what even if you do not have kids in the district the value that it will ultimately provide you won't feel it right away like it's not an immediate feel for those people but that value will will be important down the road it's hard sometimes for someone who's tight for cash or or is worried about the raising of their taxes or you know they're on a fixed income that's a hard pill to swallow but that's the ultimate gain there and if I can just uh piggyback on that for a second and I think we're all you know listening to Mr physical we can all think about individual kind of vignette stories that illustrate the largest teams of what he's talking about people that live near us in town are stories about how we came to live in Evesham I'm thinking right now of families who live in Evesham who I have seen their friends from other towns move here to to move in near them you know so so like there's a exponential positive compounding where as people move in more people want to move in and that also includes grandparents and other Generations right so and I mean my kids are in college but I'm already imagining wherever they end up that's where I'm going to end up you know as a grandparent hopefully and and I know we've got 55 and up communities here that are designed for folks in that stage of life and they and there are a lot of people who want to follow their children and their grandchildren wherever they go to be there to help and if they're coming to Evesham again the compounding positive effect yeah thank you for that question anyone else questions are oh it's not yes yep we've talked about specific pieces since that's since that's the role of the township to ultimately determine I haven't really wanted to speak preemptively about something that is an ongoing area for them if that makes sense uh just yeah I mean we we definitely talked about each of the changes and different things that could be added and um so I know it's on their it's in their uh working uh considerations what would what would be put in place but um since that's not really Arlene isn't we could have conversations but Arlene isn't ultimately to make those determinations so I just I love answering questions so I feel like I wish I could answer it more specifically but I I feel like if I would do that I just wouldn't want to step on the toes of anything that might be in the works if that makes sense yeah we we truly appreciate and I'll just add one more pieces we appreciate that very communication with our Township we really appreciate the work with them over the last two years to vet out these changes and talk about not just the transportation but things like the SRO shared services agreement which saves our district half of the cost of the sros which we know are incredibly valuable and we appreciate and I'll just say you know tonight we saw Officer Steve Giordano the SRO here at the Macy who we think of the S Rose as providing security he also helped Save a Life and um so thank you to our Township for that uh shared services agreement that's in place I just because it's on my mind all the time so I just say every day every day I'm thankful for that yeah thank you yeah that's her I think it's a really helpful illustration of the similar situation for a lot of people so I appreciate that Miss null mrcaro let me bounce off that for a second um when we talk about full day kindergarten we you know I focused on the I focused on the cost and the cost benefit analysis there a little bit in terms of push and pull but also that's the key here about what we do because my daughter we paid for full day kindergarten for her and we paid that tuition for her and look it's not an easy pill to swallow it isn't it's not an easy pull to swallow at all all right it's it's definitely costly and you really got to think about how you're going to do it um I'm so very glad we did and one of the things that I think is a strength about what full day kindergarten can provide here which I really hope that every kid has the opportunity to do so here how we handle full day kindergarten we don't provide a half of day of of Services of education and a half a day of play time and rest we give kids here a full day of school I can't be said everywhere that does full day kindergarten all right there are places that that's not like that but here what you're you're going to get that money's worth because and I've seen it with my own eyes as a parent and as a board member it's not just a half a day of of of of school and then a half a day of well we're going to take a nap and have a snack it's not that full day of activity it's a full day of learning it's a full day of experience it's a full day of prepping that kid the right way to get to first grade and to get them to succeed later on it's amazing at a time period in a child's life where they grow the most it's important to fulfill that and like we said not everyone has that opportunity to do so ethically we talked about here the value to talk about the ethics of it that's also incredibly important as well thank you any other questions all right thank you good evening can you hear me good evening hi this is Amanda prito I live at One Yorktown Drive I'm a member of the wood stream neighborhood um I have a Saturday [Music] this evening said that there is nothing more important than security preparedness and the value of a life and to that end I am here representing many wood stream families this evening with serious concerns about the removal of bussing from the poolside neighborhood I would like to read for my notes so I am sure to cover all of the uh the notable highlights that I've been collecting from the neighbors many of whom are in the room tonight so first of all underscoring the safety of our children busing was offered as you mentioned to Woodstream several years ago as a means for students to get to and from Van Zandt Elementary School in a safe way therefore safety should never be compromised even in consideration of budget I would like it to be noted that we have contacted the Evesham Township Police Department and we are waiting a response to our open records submission we're requesting data on traffic stops speed tickets that were issued on Greentree Road other traffic and accident related data that we are certain will support the hazards and our concerns about Crossing Green Tree Road in addition we are looking into information around sex offenders in our area the reason being that children are now going to be expected to navigate on familiar streets near unfamiliar houses likely unsupervised at various hours of the day another Hazard that we've discussed is not only Greentree Road but the surrounding areas specifically close to the VanZant building which was built to have hold 250 students and now is around 600.
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um relatively small volume collected over those the services provided the first week of the month uh on your regular collection day um but we do think that it has increased uh the amount of compost collected on the whole at least for 2022 2023 will be a little more difficult to tease out because we had an ice storm at the end of February and then immediately started collecting storm material as well so it might be a little challenging to discern the impact of each I did want to share though um the tonnage collected so the blue bars represent 2022 the orange bars 2023 January February March so you can see in both years each month a little bit more is collected this is obviously what I was mentioning um a bit outsized because everyone's trees had damage uh but we we did see even an increase you know in the first two months of the year over last year so we think that we've did a better job of letting folks know about the service and more people are aware that they could put their card out that week for collection so we'll continue to track that we don't at this time have any changes planned for the program for 2024 once a month seems to meet the need for most residents for that collection okay jumping right into my metrics conversation um this is shows you the percent of the annual tons by program type so orange is compost or Organics blue is Recycling and gray is trash uh percentage of the whole from these are fiscal years so from 2018 through 2022 which is the last complete year we have data for um and so to get at the city's diversion rate you would it's the difference between the tons landfilled or the percent landfilled you know in the total we've we've been averaging around a 33 diversion rate um this looks fairly static um however I'll show you on the next slide our overall tons collected have continued to decrease which is um a beneficial metric to see so okay sorry I see John commissioner Calvert you have your hand up because you have a question yeah Sarah quickly sorry if I missed it but what is this based on weight volume good question yes so wait so percent of the hole by weight yes um and I also want to just mention that you know this is an imperfect number this represents the tons that we have data for we know that there are some um leaks in the system if you will there might be more recycling that's happening that we're not able to capture and so we are also looking at ways to gather more of that information if we can gather it in a way that's sustainable and repeatable year over year um yes please I just want to point out too that the university has their own recycling collection so this is this is what the city collects and what the city of contractors collect only so when we're thinking about community-wide we're not capturing that data in our metrics yeah very good point Thank you Molly for jumping in this is a similar chart to the one you just saw however this is just in tons so total tons collected by program type and so I've circled this 47 700 as you can see that the total tonnage which is really the ultimate goal is that we would like to see waste generation go down recycling more is wonderful but we are very focused on waste prevention waste reduction and then what you have left doing the most responsible thing was either composting or recycling and so we do think that that's a good indicator this is where I wanted to spend a little bit of time however weight-based metrics are challenging um we have seen a light weighting of packaging material over the past couple of decades and so when you look especially at like a recycling rate the material going into the recycling bin has gotten lighter weight by Design you've seen newspaper drop out you've seen a lot of glass containers drop out so when it's a percentage of a whole if your trash is staying heavy then it gets increasingly difficult to add percentage points to a diversion rate based on weight also a weight-based metric completely misses anyways prevention that happens so that doesn't get captured because you're not collecting it and weighing it so um there's some leading communities and others in the industry who are really looking at Upstream metrics how can you measure waste prevention how can you look at maybe waste generation per capita is it decoupled from population growth is it you know how far is it above some baseline if you have a baseline um people also look at things like capture rate instead of recycling rate which is of the available recyclables generated how much of that are you actually capturing and then there's also a need there's some qualitative measures there's some intangible benefits that happen especially in the circular economy work when you're making connections and you're keeping things out of the landfill you're keeping them in circulation you may not have a way to record every transaction that occurs but there are still benefits that are happening so all of that to say um staff are looking and evaluating what metrics we're using and trying to choose you know the optimal subset of metrics um that better reflect the city's current climate and circular economy goals at reducing overall waste generation things like preventing food waste and increasing reuse and I think that this is really an area where staff would welcome um input from the environmental commission and working with you all on thinking about what those metrics could be that's my plug for that discussion um to be had later so I also wanted to give an update on the proposed new drop-off station we continue to work on that and we did do stakeholder feedback which the commission amongst others we sent out an email to around 85 sort of interested stakeholders folks that represent communities uh that their residents use the facility or otherwise are interested Partners we also have held two public engagement meetings we helped one at the senior center at Burns Park one at Pittsville Township Town Hall and got a lot of great feedback we have narrowed the three conceptual designs down to one which I'll show you on the next slide but just a general timing update at this time we're hoping to have the site plan submitted to let me back up a second in case you're unaware the proposed facility is within Pittsville Township so while it's a city-owned property we do have to go to Pittsfield Township Planning Commission and their approval process for this project so we're hoping to have that site plan submitted this summer and when receive approval then we would um go out for construction document hopefully get that started early next probably early next year at this point and then the facility would open in the fall of 2024 spring 2025.
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we saw this in covid that the parking lot the surrounding streets cannot accommodate the number of increased volume of pedestrians and vehicles that we will see as a result of limited transportation from buses again we have a petition signed from Woodstream neighbors over 35 signatures from concerned parents who will be affected by this and we would like to state in addition to the other highlights that similar to how Colts run handled this situation we are prepared to amplify it through local media if needed thank you very much hello my name is Lauren zacconi I'm at eight Valley Forge Road I also live in the Woodstream neighborhood and I have one child currently attending Van Zant who does also take the bus as my neighbor stated our biggest concern is the safety of children Crossing Green Tree Road children as young as five going into kindergarten expected to cross that busy road as many of you know you likely travel that road it's a major cut through between Route 70 and Route 73 and it's often heavily trafficked and there are many times that police presence is there due to speeding other types of activity unfortunately very recently there was a story of a dangerous person who allegedly committed a very serious crime and stole a vehicle and was driving down Green Tree Road and was stopped [Music] um install another vehicle but regardless of all the details it was in the middle of the day which would be when the students would be at school leaving from school so that's with a heavily trafficked area Our concern is crossing that major roadway in the presentation there was mention of crossing guards we would like to know some more information about the other safety measures that would be implemented would there be more than one crossing guard would they be at multiple points along the Route because there's a large presence of students that would come from the Charter Oak Side of Greentree also the Brandywine side and also the neighborhoods in the Fox Chase area The Meadows would there also be additional crossing guards in the other streets because once our children cross Greentree then they're also expected to cross through other streets and navigate through the different neighborhoods to then get to the school um there was mention of a shortage of uh crossing guards previously which was one of the reasons that led to the busing what if some of the crossing guards are absent due to illness or anything like like that or their ample substitutes to take their places to maintain the safety for our children similarly in Colts run um a situation was presented where busing was proposed to be removed but the an agreement had been made to prioritize student safety and that bus had been preserved so we would like the same consideration in the Woodstream neighborhood because again we're just concerned for the children's safety on that busy road thank you seconded Mr Thompson any questions or comments regarding the appointments okay seeing none no coffee Mr Bach yes Mrs capella yes Mr physicaro yes Miss Fox yes Mr Kathy yes Mrs null yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson motion carries a motion to approve item 7.1 do I have a motion Mr Thompson Mr physicara any questions or comments regarding the minutes seeing them I'll call please Mr Bach yes Mrs capella Mr physicaro yes Miss Fox Mr Canton Mrs Knoll yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes motion carries we're going to move point one through eight points facts and Miss Capello thank you before we get into questions and comments I would like to give this more to Dr Smith once again thank you president Brian um we've had a couple big items already this evening a recognition of staff to save to life with one of our staff members plus our 23 24 budget presentation [Music] so big news we have even one more item I want to talk about tonight and uh [Music] and at least what happened [Music] foreign [Music] to determine the best path forward and the pros of the district calendar updated to reflect and embrace our community of amazing students today is a vital accordance to the success of our students today and for all tomorrows to come kids that are seen kids that are hurt kids that have belong feel better perform better and grow better I'd like to thank everyone for parents staff and students who've reached out to me about the possibility of having particular holidays to our calendar and I have heard from people over months in the past all those voices matter your voices matter and thank you Dr Smith any questions or comments regarding the superintendents report okay seeing them rock all things yes Mrs Fox yes okay yes yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes the commission carries okay moving to item nine curriculum instruction I would like a motion to approve items 9.1 through 9.3 so I have a question Miss Nolan Mr Thompson thank you any questions or comments regarding curriculum instruction okay sorry under field trips I'm very interested in the Black Run Preserve special event field trips Marlton middle debasy middle who exactly can just tell me a little bit about that since I I'm so interested in that yeah yeah well there's a lot to say on that and I'll just give a teaser and then yeah yeah so um Watershed Alliance is working with our tier three programs in Middle School to provide opportunities for kids to basically put science into action for in a real authentic context and practical purpose personalized to their local community and what that means is they're going to go to the black run Reserve which is the gym the environmental gym that we have here in town in the southern town if you haven't been out to see it I've watched that preserve grow and sign into Trails which is improvements every year here but they're going to measure basically the biodiversity of the water and different key spots throughout the reserve see how it's changing most importantly is it being negatively impacted by essentially what is a growing Community all the time right and the data that they gather is going to become part of a database that guides playing in the decision making for the practice Watershed and there's also a tie into the University of Pennsylvania a graduate student who's doing the registration involving the same work so just a huge shout out to Mr John volpa president of the president of black run as well as the entire friends the black run for their support including a donation made today of two water barrels one of the MMS monarch butterfly project which I'm looking at two people right now it's bakulik for seizing the moment to apply for the grant for that project and Mr Hoffman principal of MMS for spearheading and overseeing like all the great things that happen in this including uh the idea for that project in the first place so um yeah any other questions or comments regarding curriculum instruction okay Mr Bach yes Mrs Capello yes Mr roscaro yes Miss Fox Mr Canton yes Mrs null yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes Mission carries Mr campaign second Mr any questions or comments regarding any of the items in finance and operation yesterday yeah I just wanted to applaud the finance committee for all the hard work over the last couple months to budget together especially Mr virginity and his leadership in that process um I said it last year you'll kind of just sit up here and say we need things for me right if it would be five percent off this we need 10 off this and then it's really the building level staff the principles of the leadership there that get it done so actually anything we just kind of made this stuff up so um I just wanted to again reiterate the fact that the finance committee is more than just the three of us who sit in that room every month um for every couple weeks I wanted to come in to build a global staff membership for really making it happen thank you Mr Hampton any other questions or comments regard okay Miss Noel I just wanted to comment on the student transportation contract with Noel since we weren't talking about transportations here 10.15 student transportation contract renewal this is the contract with Hillman's bus company and so they have agreed to um continue with the contract for another year at the increase of the CPI grade which is wonderful that they agree to that but I just wanted to point out to the public that the total amount of the contract is 1.9 million so that is quite a lot of money and Joe I will always remember when you said that to Macy classroom about they may have won the battle but we will win the war and I don't want you to forget that so any bus route that we could take back whether um it'd be bringing in more full-time bus drivers is very helpful that's awesome thank you any other questions though Mr President I mean I haven't forgotten it um I mean I don't really pay attention to half the things I say anymore but um no but seriously um no I I loathe these kind of contracts I don't like them um and you know it's and it's one of those things where you have no choice but you have to go with it until you can find the internal solution I look I I applaud The District in its efforts to reach out to find drivers and I I made my statement on that last meeting and I was very clear about that that that is something we need people that are around this around here we're talking about you know we're talking about safety of kids and we're talking about all that stuff but I'm a big believer that you have people from around this region who come in you have them in-house you train them the way you want them to be trained you have them in a system where you want them to be I think that's more important I think that is prevalent for for our for us to have in transportation I think the transportation department needs to grow I think the money is better spent growing the transportation internally than it is spending it on some free agent who's going to constantly raise their rates on us I feel like that all the time so no I have not forgotten that um but I am waiting so ever patiently for those people who are willing to step up and take those jobs and be a part of this culture in this community and I hope that again the the petulance of people who may be listening to us now maybe there's somebody out there who says you know what maybe that might be me maybe I'll do that and I think that will be a phenomenal idea because every time I spend a dollar on somebody who comes in here and wants to be a part of us is a better dollar spent than spending it on a free agent that I don't know what's going on over there who's going to constantly raise their rates however we if we don't think it's copacetic to say just okay just I'll tell you [Music] well driver safety is okay to say I'm just one of this okay put your money evham drivers are top notch and because I've been near Hill mix um you know I see how they drive and they're not coming to our schools I know other school district's higher levels but I've seen how some of them drive and you know that also is hard to swallow normal pain so much as well and any any time our students can see the same face over and over again it creates you know an inner safety thing once in a while so so we can get this number down to almost zero because that would be great any other questions or comments regarding guidance and operations Mr Bach yes Mrs Mrs Cavallo Mr physicaro yes Miss Fox yes Mr canson yes Mrs Knoll yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yeah yeah motion carries I would like the motion to approve items 11.1 through 11.9 do I have a motion capella is tax thank you any questions or comments pertaining to personnel miss them okay retirements so I don't know if the moral to medal people very well but I been communicating with you Pond delandolfo who is so wonderful I'm sure she's touched many lives of the families in Marlton middle blue Hall I've only known her for a year and three quarters but she's always been very helpful and I want to wish her the best in her retirement and everyone else who would retire at the end of the year anyone else regarding personnel okay that's right that's right I uh I just wanted to congratulate uh Mr in this on his retirement and thank him for his uh many years of service to students um we wish him all the best and the next chapter I think um yeah I need to understand do you guys notice um I but I did want to shout out Mr Moyer at MMS and his retirement when I look back at being at MMS for me my most fun experience was getting the apartment the choir there and something that struck with me until today and I think Peter Cherokee and it was a very formative experience Mr Moore was required director of money so a heartfelt 19 to prevent all the lives that's touched over this process any other okay seeing none of coffee Mr Bach yes Mrs capalo yes Mr physicaro yes Miss Fox yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Knoll yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson motion carries [Music] on your policy so we'll move on to um committee reports does any committee chair have a report they wish to share power we met foreign [Music] draft and I also want to remind everybody that some performance reports are working out and find School reports on the district website it is by school it's also by District you really are curious you can go to the doe website and see every school in the states take care any other committee reports we're going to move into Old business which we do not have new business we do not have and now we're going to move into open public comments the meeting will now be open to the public referencing any ideas however your questions or comments pertain to litigation student or personnel personal Lighthouse or negotiations we ask that you students superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public we ask that you limit your comments to three minutes per person and off is meant for one comment s is there anyone that wishes to speak during public comment seeing none includes public comment are there any questions or comments to come to board Mr physical I just want to uh I want to talk about something real quick the we weren't here last last meeting we were over at moral to Middle because they were putting on a production of Legally Blonde in in this I will call it a theater in this theater because that's what this this is really to me um I came to see it I came to see it I brought some of my uh my Cherokee actors with me and I have to tell you to watch this program grow see how not only has it flourished but watching watching these these middle school kids get serious opportunities to do legitimate musicals I I can't tell you how how important that is um not every kid is a sports kid not every kid can play football or play basketball some kids they just use the other side of their brain all right and to see that opportunity here and to see this place jam-packed to see them and to see everything they did that um as a theater guy myself and as a member of this board that warms my heart and I am extraordinarily proud of of those students I hopefully look forward to seeing them someday on on a bigger stage but I also want to say that the staff that puts on that production when there's it's a large staff I mean they bring a lot of they got a lot of Volunteers in there all right all the way from the top but married all the way down they have really built something special here and I am very willing to move a board meeting in March for them any any uh any year they were really really spectacular and I wish them all the best in their in their future Productions or comments because it's not just the performers it's also the behind the scenes truly something for everyone that wants to get involved absolutely 100 100 correct I should have mentioned that and that's that's my bet uh but the uh stage crew the lighting design sound design students run those things they run those things they built those things they put those things together they put their time in stage crew's a funny group I mean they put a lot of work into what they do all right but they don't want the Adoration they just want to know that their job is good I know that from my stage crew I mean that's they operate they operate in the shadows all the time but those kids deserve as much recognition because they put together beautiful set pieces beautiful lighting design um and they should be really proud of that I'll just end by saying thank you to all the administrative assistants in our district I know I'm a daily but they do a lot of work behind the scenes and they do a lot of work that's not noticed so thank you very very much and last week was volunteer Appreciation Week so to all of our volunteers parents staff and our board members sitting thank you for all your time very very much appreciation week and every school has some wonderful things planned and you just reminded me because um parents are asked to donate if they can to make that food even more special so yeah I just want to give a shout out to the teachers yes I was going to say that next week is Teacher Appreciation Week so thank you in advance to all of our teachers and staff throughout the buildings we appreciate you the students appreciate you and the parents any closing remarks I think we can end it on that note at this point I'm turned Mr physical Miss Noel all those in favor aye
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