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policies uh this April 30th 20204 welcome to the meeting agenda item one is the call to the order agenda item two is a approve all of agenda so somebody could please make a motion to approve the agenda for this meeting I move we approve the agenda as presented all those oh wait we got a second right a second uh second all those in favor say I I motion passes next agenda item is agenda item number three which is a call to the audience are there any calls to the audience or anything that we need to be aware of nope okay moving on to agenda item number four discussion on the policies that we've had last time we were here we completed the community council PowerPoint uh we finished jic as a group and then the task was to have Adriana and Allan clean up the first four paragraphs for us moving forward so take it away so if you guys go to the governing board board policy drive and into the not the um one that says draft but the one that just says governing board policy committee files and then you go to jic um that's where we have our edits and can we get it up on the screen because I give me one second just realized I didn't bring my laptop I have a question for you guys Doc is just not wanting to log in are we able to Contin the recording the minutes um you can record the minutes like on the side and then as long as you yeah upload them later I think it's fine I don't think the law it's the itself I don't think the law requires like contemporaneous minutes okay um hello hello hello so really we just felt like we just kind of okay so contextually for you the paragraphs were kind of like here's our Vibe as a governing board and then the next one was kind of like we're gonna make sure that we take care of kids and then the third one was like and we'll have procedures to do so so what we did was the first paragraph is nearly a exact copy and paste from our students rights and responsibilities then the second paragraph um is basically talking about like when somebody goes against that harm and we included a little bit more about um it's the community and then uh also that the offender needs to like learn from this it's not just about like punish the bully but it's like teach this bully how to behave and then the last part is just about how we'll do our it's just a true like guide us into the next part which is like these are the procedures we have for this and um again it talks about like the preventative and restorative elements give you a second to read it read onl [Music] I should have went for a run I just sat at my desk don't scroll it oh I'm sorry the last purple paragra and that's all we're reviewing right now MOD Pizza not new off of Indian School and 44 love that place I think it sounds good you're good with that yeah okay cool I agree with what we came up with Adam what do you think you did any questions for some reason the part where it says uh procedures shall support students Who present such behaviors for some reason that word support is sort of where you at sorry oh the last paragraph last paragraph uh second sentence yeah procedure shall support students who present such behaviors um like for some reason like the word support I don't know what almost sounds like we're going to support the bullies but I mean I guess in a sense we are trying to and that's what we're saying support all students that like that they're GNA uh if you keep going it's to like provide safety for all students and provide harm so incorrection we should we can shall support students who present such shall support students correcting I don't know well the intention behind the phrasing was to um one get away from all we do as punish kids right um and that we want to make sure the procedures are I mean there there there should be consequences and the rest of the policy speaks to that but U but that the procedure should also like provide then some proactive pieces to help to support that child in making better choices in the future so that that was the intent behind that phrasing if we need to do some clar clarifying wording well maybe um I kind of I kind of see what you're getting at and it is kind of a weird sound to the ear yeah so maybe the procedure shall provide adequate support or maybe responsibility to redirect the learning of the offender I mean I know I do agree like in you know I mean yes those students still do need support however it just it almost reads as like um the procedure shall um and while people are processing that maybe if we put shall properly support because I think then the word [Music] properly if that makes sense so so the procedure shall properly thing if you put properly is there if they read it the way you did properly would make sense but if they read it the way we intended properly would be confusing what about if you what if put the addition now okay sorry yeah I like that yes but but it see but it's not just correct it it's also to prevent because it's also about preventing future Behavior right yeah the procedures have support students who present such Behavior to correct their behaviors and prevent further future behaviors a good run on [Laughter] phrase I would say maybe replace future with further and prevent further further would technically imply f future and then we don't have take the first then take the fur take the take the further before prevent yeah is that using that word correctly so would like chronologically but further could just mean like inconsequence with you know oh sorry in like likei that continue I would say I think future is a better a more accurate word further okay as in the way that it's now the sentence is now structed future for [Music] true and that similar sentences at the end of paragraph two oh I see what you said well that's about supporting the learning of the offender it's worded a little bit differently and probably more clearly I think we should do this now sorry let me change it again uh h okay and I'm fine with the first paragraph but I just have the question are we um because it it looks like it's taken from exactly the mission and vision that we we have for CSD but my assumption is that missions and Visions change and policy is less likely to change are we limiting ourselves by using that ising we agree to in the policy JK like we took it directly from there and I think so I think it's a two-parter one the reason it's we put put it in there is because the charge was to better align to current practice and so it would be up to the next superintendent or like in six years for Jay to want to if he changes B comes in this stuff and then the second part um never mind second part is something unated I was thinking I was thinking about when we said this will be an addendum to it and this will be a followup I'm fine with that I just I was I was just curious if it was limiting by using the exact same language but it's good all right well it sounds like we have now put jic the rest okay so there's that good good job you too do you mind copying and pasting that into the I will take care of that not in the not at this moment um the further future yes the further future and then in our order agenda it's review clean policies but I almost feel like if we jump to the including the hate speech and kind of give you guys a reasoning of dilemma that we had um we could probably scratch that off of the list if we get to do that now or do you guys want to do the policies first what what what's your suggestion so the order that we put things was we would go and review all of Allen's changes and then we would discuss doing hate speech but the hate speech like ultimately when we started working on it we like came to an impass that will impa actually let me just tell you because I'm taking too long with the Preamble so the hate speech is very passionate I know I like I'm like what do I do this is take me forever um the hate speech we try to look for definitions but truly like hate speech is almost almost all of it is like protected under the First Amendment unless it's like to direct like uh threatening of somebody else which is already encompassed in the student harassment threat and intimidation so then we're like okay well maybe we should put hate speech in a different space um because I we know that we're trying to eliminate it off our campus but then also address it and what we found was in what policy was that I knew you ask I know it was I think it's the students rights and responsibility we basically say that they can't use any language that goes against the Community Values and it was so broad of an umbrella that it actually gave us more space to work with if we stuck with that particular definition then when we tried to like narrow it into like what is hate speech so we just so that's our reasoning for like maybe we shouldn't really include it in here and where it would be included if we wanted to look at further policy why are we um why are we not going to include specific language about hate speech though well first of all there's no legal definition Second of okay but second of all the the Supreme Court has ruled that most most things that are label hate speech are actually free speech issues um and and thir thir we believe that our the policies that we've already revised allow us to address hate speech without having to necessarily call it hate speech and I also I I had also suggested that really if the procedurally of hate speech is something that's more than is something that's more than that really should play out in the um discipline Matrix as an indication because it's there's really no there's not like a got a safe doesn't find it like there's no governing body that says that's it's a thing that we um should be specifying separately from other yeah so where we issues basically harass so in reality what we've been doing is kind of what it would be you would give her if it was like a hate speech used to like intimidate it would be a violation in harassment and then a violation of inappropriate language but in our policy here IT addresses the hate speech um like later on it just says harassment be related to and then the different types of ways that it could be hate speech and then again I think that like just the first amendment issues I mean that's if that's like legal right we're not arresting anyone for Aid speech so it doesn't really matter if it's a free speech issue like it's free speech for a kid to call another kid stupid they might still get in trouble for that at school right but they get they get in trouble for language that's that's it's just on if we're labeling it I I will say as a teacher in the school district District I have seen a wide variety of interpretations of school policy on like racial slurs with the most like what I would call the most vague of that being well racial slurs are just inoffensive language and the kids kind of swear all the time so we're gonna say don't do that buddy and move on right because in policy it is lumped in with offensive language and I think unless it is reflected in policy that hey this is a different and specific thing I think you might continue to see people interpret it that way unless they're very explicitly given some guidance on what is which I think I mean James you even mentioned the discipline Matrix is hard for the aps to do that without any kind of policy to them I think the issue though is when you really look at how to do it like when we were trying to put hate speech in right now um it in order so it basically is all about the intent so if we put it in here as harassment we've said harassment is like an intentional to harm the person and so we elimate the ability to do it for like if like the two of us are playing a basket that's a bad example I would never do this to you but that if you like two friends are using the language in that way if we put it in harassment then the person could say no I wasn't intending to hurt his feelings the other kids like I agree he wasn't intending to hurt my feelings we now can't use the violation of hate speech but we could use again the inappropriate language and the rights and responsibilities I mean I agree I was want I think I mean my thing is we already have a huge hate speech problem our policy already says you can't use inappropriate language at school so essentially we' be saying ah we're not addressing the hate speech thing in policy what we're trying what I'm trying to say is we are actually better off leaving it's not that we're not addressing it but it doesn't work for harassment because it'll limit the ways that we can use it and then if we try to Define hate speech in the language like in a language area it ends up it ends up being like it's you're it's like less plausible to defend because it's not well I'm looking like cuz someone put in the drive this like Milford school district policy I'm sorry if I missed it while I was gone did you guys talk about this already you came in right as we were okay so I think like this this policy is like pretty specific says it's regardless and irrespective of context right and regardless of who says it right hate speech is hate speech and so in the drive it says speach Milford school district and it has like a full policy which includes administrator staff students visitors parents and Guardians the whole point is that it shouldn't belong in harassment that's that's the first part so that's all we were trying to say is it doesn't make sense to have in harassment and the best place we could find was there I don't care I would like more about it so if we but we just don't have a place to put it then I agree that it doesn't need to live in harassment I think we do need it needs to live somewhere so what does that mean if we're creating a whole other section of policy are we allowed to do that because we were just supposed to be looking at current [Music] policy I mean I would say it's related policy I think you could make a recommendation I don't know [Music] review or discussion on policies and any you know I mean so like discussing and revie so can we just make the recommendation so then so we should leave it till then okay because that's that that's the Dilemma there's like a list of miscellaneous recommendations okay when we do we say like we'd like you to continue we want you to think about like aligning the employee and yeah so where when Adrian and I were thinking that it's already in the policy that we review we're referencing jic um letter F that says conduct or speech that violates commonly accepted standards of the district and that under the circumstances has no redeeming social value now maybe we we can add some that's now we did we talked about it a little bit um off campus oh no was off campus that spech that was that was not hate speech it was just like inappropriate because people have in being disciplined yeah well and also this is like like you see number six on the Milford one it says basically when someone is using hate speech off campus or through information on the Internet or whatever if it causes a substantial disruption the educational process or the operation of a school it may be still be subject to discipline sorry I was just assuming it was on I forgot you I was assuming it was on so I just had forgotten You' said to turn it off or something like that this this Milford policy really is just stating them that we don't we don't do these words anywhere there are the many places you can't use the words it's not like defining it or anything no way at the top it says like racial epithets and slows to national origin I mean that's like the definition right okay here's one case I found where it combines both issues where the 10 circuit ruled that a high school cannot punish a student for an anti-semitic message posted on social media outside of school so I know that combines both issues but well that was the problem that like basically everything is going to stay like if we were going with what we've been saying which is like we can't go beyond the law then if we were just say like this is the violations that you'll get for this it just it just it ended up being very cyclical like you can't really justify this in the courts or if there was any like push back about it and then it was like I don't know we just couldn't find the right spot which is why we felt like that one was broad enough where we could punish I think that that is Broad enough that you could punish hate speech if that was someone's intention however if we have a staff member that their intention is to kind of not deal with it because either they're uncomfortable or because they don't want it to be a bigger problem or because they don't want to you know get into an issue they might not feel confident having that conversation then that all that like vague language allows them to sort of sidestep the issue of hate speech entirely and just not address it that does happen too so I will I mean I'll just give example I mean we had an issue at my school where a bunch of students were essentially in a group chat through seesaw sending racist things to each other and a few of them were punished for like they got like a det lunch detention for inappropriate warning or inappropriate language and I was told that we can't do a little lesson about why racism is bad because that's critical race Theory I don't think that that person actually thought that I think that that person was just really uncomfortable having that conversation or drawing attention to that sort of thing and so they decided to kind of Kick the Can down the road and not worry about it right and so I think having explicit policy that says hey employees of the school district we support you in pursuing issues of hate speech on campus or at our schools would be helpful because you could also get situations where teachers or whatever are afraid of being like well I don't want you know someone to come after me because I don't know they're being too woke or whatever the concern is creating new policy like she was saying that we have to start there yeah I guess I guess that would be the the recommendation can ask a question like just in terms of legal background um what is been your background knowledge in terms of the success of policies that are around hate speech I don't know that there's a lot of districts that have hate speech policies honestly because when I I remember when I was researching this before it wasn't really a lot was coming up I did see when I tried to look on like the UN like what they do and they have like a threshold of like when action should be taken based on um like hate speech and it I can't remember was it rabbit R rabet I don't know action or whatever it was like the context the like number of people that heard it and something again but then again that would be like really creating a new policy for it yeah um and even they were even in that they said like it's pretty much protected unless it's like specifically threatening but that doesn't address all the ways that we see it because we see it used I think the way you get around it is yeah by if it like and again it's like tying in the things from some of the other policies right the way you can regulate it is if one it jeopardizes like people's safety or two it like interferes with like the educational mission of the school you know or is is like going against the pedagogical mission of whatever's going on that's like from that newspaper case where they're like talking about divorce and pregnancy and the high school didn't want them talking about it in the newspaper or something I don't know but so I think you just have to like we would have to address it in that way if we created a new policy by kind of saying like we can't really we can sort of we can sort of Define it here it is and if it's used and it doesn't of these things then this is how we're going to deal with it basically and that would be we would need a student one and I think we would need a separate staff one yeah so then that would be like did we write down the recommendations anywhere did I just put them at the bottom of the I think maybe they at the bottom L well I'm gonna put a comment then or add a comment to this one would it would it be a sub policy or would it be its own policy like could it be um like where would it land because there is that one part it would be brand new I think it would just be its own policy under student conduct like a j something policy right in the midst there and then the other one would land somewhere in in the staff one right I'm confused I thought I thought Hobs vetoed I don't think we had a CRT law here oh we don't okay that person was not citing a legitimate legal concern I think they were oh okay I was like wait did I miss something I was like did that happen before she got elected I know a lot of things happen before she got elected I think unless you explicitly tell people this is a thing that our district supports pursuing okay and people that are uncomfortable having those conversations sticking their neck out are going to find a reason to totally get it sweep it under the rug gotcha okay or something else I think it just highlights the need for a policy like that because have some open to interpretation and I think as a parent like I know on multiple occasions I've had the kids come home and say oh so and so uses the nword oh he never gets in trouble and and and it's been multiple times they brought up like typically it's been the same person using the word and I know like from seeing it kind of like from their perspective they're like they know it's wrong they know it shouldn't be used they know it's hurtful they know it's racist like why aren't you growing UPS doing anything about it type of thing so um I think I think taking a stance as as the the district and just making sure you know yeah it's not illegal but it doesn't mean it should be allowed yeah and from a discipline standpoint you you really have to be intentional about the conversation when you're talking to the offender to have them understand that it's not the same as calling somebody a poopy head it really is there is a difference in and then obviously that conversation is different depending on the age of the kid also right okay all right so I put that like student harassment so that's going to have to be a recommendation but we can add it to the presentation Nicole can you send the presentation to to us to me so I can post it today oh yeah I couldn't find it when I tried to search but I just was like up the names I didn't know what you is it in the Shar drive it is it's in the governing board policy folder I wrote those stupid hand notes because I didn't see it talking about the community counil yeah it's in there it's under hate speech okay so then if um so now it's just the cleaning up of the policies do you w to how does how do this the problem is we also still need to talk about um JKD and JK K I think we correct me if I'm wrong though I think we were going to like do those after we go through these so we have something to get the lawyer by the end of the day yeah there was we did want to submit at least something to the lawyer before the end of the day we didn't want to come out of here with nothing we should so we should do JK at the very end but do all the other ones now and that's fine you guys just want to start at the top the Ji sure so we're now in the working from the C from the copies of the documents that are in the draft governing or whatever the that folder is called okay the draft governing board policy revision 42322 and ignore all the titles and the documents other than the ji J but um based on all our decisions this is the ji is pretty straight up there's nothing it's just reflective of whatever minor changes we made to it what are we looking at so everything's been cleaned up and it's the final draft I think our intention is just like everybody read through it see if there's anything that you see that's glaring and then send the lawyer so we've already reviewed these this is including everything it's just cleaned up and then had we dis we had discussed this previously but maybe the way to do it is they obviously already have access to our existing Gra so we're still going to request that maybe like a paralal go through and make a document that has track changes I didn't have them to give yet I certainly okay are we ready to move on to J jir um so on jir when I was doing the cleanup I had a couple of question a few things that we needed to come back to let's see um on page one we have this we had this we inserted this definition of Rights she sneezed I saying got um I wasn't sure if we intended to keep a definition there or not so I it's just um and it's actually the and then actually the same thing with responsibilities because we come up with definitions I don't know if they're necessary or if we want them in there I think they were just more working definitions because we were getting confused so pretty Alan I feel like yeah I think we take them out but if we wanted to keep them we need to at least clean up where it's like what are distri beyond the legal rights because that just feels kind of flipping well and I didn't reord it because I wasn't sure if we even wanted the definition so I guess the question is like if you were reading these do you think people readily know what's the difference between rights and responsibilities I mean I guess they'll get it by reading them yeah or is that not good enough works yeah cool anybody have any different thoughts no okay so then take it out yeah sweet all right and then um going on to page two item J I just wanted you guys know that I rewrote a little bit of text to make it make J just kind of read better so just make sure that we're in agreement with that wording because that was not already agreed upon wording oh okay I mean I know but it isn't un it isn't untrue thanks I appreciate you acknowledging that I just the way it was wed to begin with just it got into this awkwardly I don't even remember what that was at this point but and then I'm I'm thinking since everybody's looking at the policy rather than going back to talk about additions to the governing board we can just do that simultaneously if that works I'm sure wa say that one more time I'm sorry uh we have to go over the governing board like Pol not policy presentation that we're going to get that's right and part of it was the things that we've done and changed and so he and I went through and Kaa came up with like what we would say but I think we should just do it simultaneously so if everyone's okay with jir as stands if I can just read to you what I what we believed were like the big changes everybody good so we were saying that um in the student rights we included more references to the psychological and emotional well-being of students and that we also um re rephrased or refined things to talk more about your responsibility to the community versus compliance to the authority like we thought those were the big changes are there any that you guys would want to add anything that we maybe missed and and we're just on the presentation it's just going to be like here's the policy we looked at here were the things that we refined so we're not going to go like example to example those were just like The Umbrellas are we good with those okay right all right that takes us to jic um if Katie did her homework then I might be able to get this I'm sorry no judgment and then I I did I did find note on there okay I did find one one spot where it was we had left in the idea of obeying and I know that we cleaned out that word so I just wanted to let you guys know that I revised yellow part about the B information en tile 1 use possession distribution or sale of tobacco alcohol drugs drug material or other items interfere with the sa to operations of school that's was defined by information in title 13 okay and then your note was fix this did it already say as defined by information in t 13 or did yeah we didn't reward that maybe that's why I wrote f all right well you have until give me a second Maria all right um okay that's it for jic and so when we put about the things that we did um we said that we included an element about when students like can when they this is a better way to say but when they don't need to obey that there are times where if a certain if they're told to do a certain thing and it's those three things like if a teacher or somebody tells you to go against a rule if something that they're asking you to do would nor knowingly harm another person or if it would feel unsafe or harm you as an individual so we added that to it and then again we re we restated things so that it was more about the expectations that we want kids to rise to versus just obedience um and obeying Authority so right there on on that note no child is expected to follow a request of tells one or more of the following circumstances would have I guess I'm thinking like you know considering like religious do that one more time I'm sorry like like like I don't know I mean be you're referring to again right here jic student conduct the third paragraph with one two three underneath it uhuh um no child is expected the follower request if it entails one or more of the following would like violate like their religious belief be something that would need to be included like you know take off your hijab or eat this pork I don't but then again obviously no teacher could that be under cause harm to the individual person or is in direct violation of a known regulation or rule established by the superintendent or govering board I think where would there's probably some discrimination policy somewhere wey job we have that and then I think well I think generally there's some sort of discrimination policy somewhere in our policies not necessarily in the J section so I think that applies do oh all right so well well Katie works on jic a jica is the overview um related to student addess it I mean I don't have any notes that I need anybody to necessarily look at on that um jic a a is the one that starts getting into like needing to review the review and the cycle for review and all that kind of stuff um again everything that's in the cleanup version is what we agreed upon so I don't know that there's necessarily anything for for us to go through um jic which I oh wait hold on can I tell oh yeah I'm sorry go ahead thank you we were just saying that the things that we would tell the governing board is that um we talked about making sure that religious SAR was accounted for um in like in the Discrimination policy in the address code the there was allowances for that we also just said that we indicated or clarified the timeline for site review and then lastly we reflected um that we made sure that the dress code policy reflected um evidence of disruption to the environment were originally was like you can't wear this because it could be specifically was like hats sunglasses that we now so now it kind of it's more of like when this causes A disruption the school has a right to say no anything else do you guys remember from dress code yeah something I wanted to bring up because the parent had mentioned it to me um about I think you know they had been told for at least like for the graduation or the promotion ceremony come up coming up I guess the kids were told they couldn't wear blue or red I'm not sure if that's I this is coming from somebody else so I don't know and I don't know if that's something she heard from her kid or if it's something that came out I don't have an eighth grader but is that something that would need to be addressed in dress code like or what's how like can a principal be like no you can't wear blue or red because they can be like no you can't wear blue or red because we have like the uniform code policy so if they put it in their uniform codes like many many years ago manav Vista put you can't wear red in our at our school and we just took it out like three years ago wait you're saying this is just for promotion though this is yeah that's what I heard because I mean as of as you know because as far as I know isn't the address code relaxed for or different for PR I mean yes I have no idea why they said that I not on campus so I think there's a little conten but whatever yeah and they were I guess they're also told the boys were told they couldn't wear suits they I think that person needs to talk to their principal because I in principal discussions about promotion I haven't heard anything that seemed like because also yeah I mean like if this this could be a big thing for some families no they want their boy to dress up but so who wear suits and I and when I was at excellencia too they have a well it's like telephone right the principal says one thing the teacher hears another thing I don't I don't know I think that they here we don't have anything that says that they can or can't do that yeah is there a way to protect it in here or or was that something we want to avoid as well we our policies don't go specific as to um dress code right the way that we would address any of that would be once we get to like if it's possible I think the only place who get addressed is if we got to the gangs and secret societies policy we haven't done that one yet and then anything else is super specific to schools so that would be like not something we do in policy we did do with the dress code policy but we're not going to make it we can't make it any more specific and then it wouldn't be serving the right purpose I don't think anymore to try to make it specific to protect something yeah you will limit people from doing other things because you'll have to specify what is okay in order to be able I think um we could talk about like once if this committee next committee because we're obviously not getting to it gets to the gangs and secret societies we can talk about in that policy ways to mitigate discrimination based on what people think are gang affiliated things symbols and colors and speech and that even assumes that that's why this this same related to that they're just making a red background they don't want the kid like to get lost in it or they're doing a blue screen and they don't want the usually not like red and blue it's a little strange but all right yeah purple however is totally fine all right anyway where both all right so then are you moving on I am moving on to jic I've already updated in the cleanup version the three paragraphs based on our conversation um I did want to note the next definitions I had some text for clarity because it wasn't there and it just kind of like became an awkward moment for me while I was writing um but then um somewhere down here um on page four um item what the item paragraph that's numbered six that was where it talked about keeping that stuff for six years and I I wrote it as two years based on the conversation we had last time but we never really defined that as a as a as a group [Music] I think two years makes way more s than six personally so I I like it for two year Well this there's a State Library State Library Rec the student maybe OD perhaps although this is awkwardly just about stuff related to blame harassment so it's not even like discipline records okay um then in number seven I just add a little bit text to again just for clarification purposes you can see the wording that was added there and then number eight I just basically rewrote the what was there because it was some awkward grammatically grammatically awkward sentences that were there but the content is basically the same as what was originally in there um I just fixed that people think it's too much I could then just take all of those and list them down there at the bottom you guys tell me I'm in J I finished letter e under sorry so J something what j i c and then letter E in that list I can keep it the way I put it or I can take all of those out and put them at the bottom on the list mhm okay cool um yeah so what you might note there is we I think we might just in general on that one want to refer back to the board because I I don't know if there's a legal requirement to engage law enforcement related to this statement that's written there so we're in um jic and it's number 11 this is Under reporting incidents right law enforcement authorities may be notified any time oh yeah didn't we talk about this yeah going back and for but yes talked about itens and if we talked about taking it I'd be happy to do that I just just didn't recall any decision related to it and we we changed it from will to May okay yes I remember that now I would say you can make a note of what we changed but then also obviously I'm I mean it could be something that you said that you could draw attention to and say we sure what yeah that's good no no no so it used to say sh right which I said was too broad of a net too wide of a net is there anything that prevents The District No but I think there's an argument to be made that depending on the beliefs of the collective board at the time that may be something that they're not interested right and so that's kind of where I'm getting at I mean I feel like if statute requir it's already addressed other plac yeah yeah and the May component of it is assume the district do so it felt to be so I would also hope that that's the case but you're not always going to be here and neither are all the people yeah and that's kind of where I'm coming from I guess what I'm trying to say is having it there as a May yeah gives me a reason to think oh I can do this yeah if we strike it then there's nothing to cause someone and that's why I said like thing that I said before which is kind of like more of a I don't know how as a Bard where this goes but like just kind of like a I think because this has addressed many different um policies so I think there's just something that the Board needs to do to like and I think it's I'm sorry come it's come up previously right also about the board's opinion of suspensions or whatever the perception of the board's opinion of things are when things haven't actually been clearly stated anywhere right and so I think that there's that's some work that we need to do on our end to make sure that with regard to this with regard to suspensions and expulsions whatever our cultural expectations are for that are clearly communicated somewhere and I guess that's our job to figure that out because we would need to be the ones right like actualizing it so I'm just saying that we'll leave it in there and that's something we can have a discussion about how we would address it as like an overarching topic sounds good for this one for the presentation we said that um like reorganized and we reorganized the very uh like forms of behavior in order to go from the broadest to the most we re refin The Bullying definition to follow more universally used definition in terms of like the power and the repea Ed and then we refined what acts constitute harassment so we clarified more about specifically what were acts of harassment good anything else you want to add and then J you put it in here because you deleted it um we just have to let them know that j i c KR um we're recommending to remove because it's a redundancy of what is in jic K I'm sorry jic KR we've REM recommended as a team to remove it because it's like a rep in this case r stands for redundancy yes I'm wondering in the first place like why it was recommended to be adopted or like did nobody notice it asba yeah my guess is asba provided as an example why You' create an example regulation that is an identical reproduction of polici is beyond me but someone got paid to do it yeah JK yeah JK um so throughout JK they use the word pupil instead of student so I just universally make that change everywhere else it we're using student it just felt awkward yeah you know um and then just I I reordered some of the pieces so that these these paragraphs are highlighted at the bottom page one I moved up ahead of the stuff that's about the um the restrictions that we have for K4 because they apply to all discipline not and it just felt like we're talking about discipline and then were K4 and we're talking about General discipline it just felt it just didn't make sense to break it out that way um and that may be it from yeah that's it for me on that on JK and then I put for the things that we've changed the most in JK is that we uh clarified and delineated the differences between K4 um is it suspensions but K K4 and 58 for ability easier for readers um and then we also we clarified what constitutes acts of off campus speeech that was more relevant to behaviors we're seeing today result to social media those are kind of the big things that we put and then for jld DB I don't have anything that we need to relook at it's this is what we discussed and then I said the changes that we have are um we refined what restraint and we just refined restraint and seclusion techniques to better align to our current Crisis Prevention and deescalation practice you type those notes up could I trouble you to send a copy to me yeah I think they might be help helpful to the attorney as well okay as she's looking through the policies to understand why we made because otherwise she might try to put something back in not realizing it was intentionally removed okay thank you those would also be helpful for talking points at the Govern board meeting too rubber St that's what they are what we were gonna so basically well are we good because then I can just move straight to the policy we're all done looking at these is everyone good for these to go to the way okay start doing it now what good for me I don't know why I didn't get a single word right when I searched for this I'm sorry I could have just put it in there I was just thinking that where we put this slide like policies reviewed so far um all I thought we could do is just like have the one policy and then have it say like um updates and changes and then I will put a bullet note for the things that I just told you like a slide per policy a slide per policy is kind of how I thought we'd organize it on the presentation that be okay with everybody yeah I think it's better to have it a little more detailed for the board and then and then I can easy I type it up and I'll send you that too um I'll make the I'll make the lawyers things like in a narrative form instead of bullets and then people can just have that cop for what you say to the board um so then do you guys want to go really quickly through was everybody at Community Council and saw the presentation already so we could go really quickly to slide by side do you want to share okay sure um one thing I did realize after the fact I was like man I never put Jay or Katie's name on there because I mean you guys are huge part of this so I want to make sure put on their like what is it exop ficio or honorary attendees Mas masc so yeah so if you yeah notes in and I can go in in the next couple days clean it up I think it's two FS I'll Google it okay isn't it CI c iio yeah CIO sorry o f f i c IO more FS more eyes just now I'm questioning and then okay so then the next one was just here we said were the check this are we keeping it B bil lingualized for the board meeting what do you think we need to sounds more like politics so what did it say which is a policy it's Poli politics reading that I mean it is translating like parents reading it's like politics what are you guys talking about yeah I guess I can Google and see or translate and see if there's another word to be able to use for it well I I think we should have some if we're GNA keep it by translated we should have somebody a translator go through it like somebody who does translation as part of their job go through it to make sure it's correct can I make a suggestion could she do of these words they do they do kind like Google translate but way they translate it's like a very lital Spanish right that's you know Spanish from different places and the way that parents would understand like Po it's right it's the connotative language that you needed to yeah I made a first grade game once and I just translated and it was a dice game but it was a single die so it said roll like roll the die um and basically it translated like roll of death and I felt horrible um okay mind just do I just the translate for politics would do you mind just editing as we go Elizabeth and then you can just pop in and be like hey I think we should change this yeah everything okay okay yeah I just I looked up the yeah when just kind of still thinking about what exactly are they doing what are they yeah yeah no like right now I just I instead of looking up just policies I looked up policies and procedures and it gives me [Music] polics okay you were saying police us with a z right Poli with a Z yeah but's it's shown me a c on this one I don't know that would be police I would think Poli is police the only I got a little p o l i z with an accent over the O is what she's saying if you want to just change I don't know it's it's sorry if you just go p o l z p o i z or not the um the only I the only feedback I had or questions people had from Community Council is they were um unsure if what we were trying to do was to remove consequences because we um there was like talking about like the pipe to prison yeah full to prison pipeline um and so just when we present this to the governing board I think if whomever is presenting this slide is thoughtful about kind of going to like it's we're not trying to build a policy that's purely about like the compliance to Authority and like this and like the legal Le of it I think that um that was the one feedback thing that I got somebody was like we're talking about like not having like the like school to prison pipelines does that mean we're removing consequences for kids no that's not what we were talking about I think our board understands what parur languages I don't know that the community completely I was just say that honestly if I hadn't been sitting in this room when we mention when the word was mentioned I wouldn't have known that yeah yeah the parents in my table were asking that like what like they just kind of about that was their Fe know that would have been a good thing to get it a Short Round Table feedback on it and I I was asked by teer um but so I'm just going to highlight this and let's play with what we want to say there and then we good with the timeline for the governing board to Sugg updated in Spanish okay I just sent to you via email can you just look Ty it in by time I figure out what you're talking about we'll be here all night okay um and then that May 7th date so this this struck me at Community Council I find it unlikely to virtually impossible that we will have the attorney's feedback by May 7th at this point soy well I guess progress yeah progress report I'd say yeah present policy draft submitted toer to or no because not all of them are getting will we all have submitted everything by that meeting or no don't know I know Allen's hoping to get two more completed I don't know that that exhausts all of the ones on the table it did not it does not's a lot there's that's why one of our recommendations is that this committee needs to continue next year I would almost lean towards policy progress today yeah let's do policy progress because if particularly if Adriana puts those notes in what it'll say is we worked on this policy and these are the changes we try to and I just don't want to create a false expectation that they're doing first read on May 7 and then I'll fill these in for us but everybody knows with the content so then if you drop down to these are the things that we have and then we don't need I'm sorry no but are we going to have a slide about our recommendations I think we do no oh no after SL 10 so I feel like that should come after after the policies that we were told we were we had planned to review but ran out of time and then the recommendations right after well I would I think you can the recommendations after the slide nine which is the timeline after that yes yeah everybody preference anyone care and then I put them somewhere on one of these documents I'm just G rewrite them right now so work those are the only recommendations I can remember off the top of my head does anybody ask for them to do oh uh uh some sort of I don't know de position on law enforcement outside of mandatory reporting requirements reporting requirements else so then that's done um uh I thought she said Goodie and I was like oh okay cool I like that eliz's excited okay so then do we want to talk about presentation and Order does everybody want to present a slide do we want to do like sections like some purpose some do like the actual how do you GNA well okay who would like to speak if the board I'm fine with speaking should totally speak at least have to say oh my God this was overwhelming I mean you can say like your true feelings about this entire experience I struggle to stay awake um I'm I'm finally speaking up to be there that day for me even for any I can I can speak yeah I don't I don't have a problem with speaking um yeah I mean I don't have a problem but I I don't know as like an audience member I know sometimes when everyone takes their turn speaking it it seem get longer so I think if we may St a couple key people like maybe James since you were the chair of the committee I think that makes sense I think it make most logical sense for me to like at least introd you know and then you as a principal and then also you just you have a really good handle on it know myself not having been here the whole time like missed out on the first chunk and sorry really looking my board um session at 5:30 then we have a budget hearing did not contr this government governance science material adoption we're already on the thing so I mean yeah it's not like well you never know but yeah maybe just limit I agree's assessment I'm also sitting up there well I think one of the most important things is and I struggle with this sometimes too is to not read slides to people because they're up on the board see all that or put Less on the slide and talk more you got to memorize more you already know what you did since it's not done and I'm going to do it anyways I'm going to volunteer to do the like here were the policies and these are the changes we made it is a big chunk so if somebody wants to split it with me that would make sense but it feels unfair to be like hey guys guys get ready tonight to do this presentation when I don't know when I'll necessarily have this done yeah um so there's do you want to do the intro yeah I think that makes most logical sense so if you do slides one one through three committee members the objective all the way to the and through the timeline and then policies reviewed so far and then Daniel the recommendations for next year and our next step I can do that so slides n and 10 yeah and then do you want to just split up the I'd be happy to do that unless you want to talk because I I'd rather another teacher be up in front of the board than another administrator when's your prep morning yeah or whenever your special 20 to and then Nicole and I will just sit in the audience good go not our heads so then demonstrate do you want to split these up with me and then we can just get together and figure out like what you'll do once I get it done yeah okay will you send me a calendar invite just any eight to n any day8 to nine and then I'll just remember it I can figure out if I can do it can you just put our names in the notes so we I'm always paranoid that I'm GNA forget yeah okay all right cool 15 minutes take it away so we'll see how this how the group respond is our cut off time 6:30 today it is tonight no supposed to always Oh I thought we were like had to get out of this room at like okay so um just kind of as an overview because I I was I went into reading JKD and jke just Mak sure that we don't as we're changing other Pol recommending changes other policies don't accidentally run into policies that conflict with each other do you want me to have hold on a sec I'll get there promise um probably we'll probably start with JKD if we want um I don't think that's GNA happen if we don't get through these tonight but um I think this will just make it easier and CER down the line so what I what I discovered in Reading these two is that a lot of what's in these two particular policies are like legal components they are things that are about um uh due process rights um either because of federal stuff or state St like so there's not a lot of changes to the policy that I think we could we could really make in any substantive way um but I did do a little bit of Cleanup in both of them so um um um and I ignored um all of Katie's highlighting May and Shell's because I as I was reading I'm like no actually I think they all make sense that's where they were but anyway so I didn't really ignore them I just didn't do anything with them kind of put them there so um starting with J JKD with a stu which is student suspension um the first so the first major change that I am recommending is the text that's in purple I know you guys have not had chance to read this but I put by adding in this text in purple it I think it allows so in this policy there was like all that kindergarten through fourth fourth grade stuff that we already have in another policy and so I felt that by writing what's in purple in addition to helping kind of fill in the introduction here it would allow us to then just remove all that extra text that was just redundant from another policy anyway certainly I'll give you guys a moment to read through those first three paragraphs and then we'll get to skip some a bunch of stuff you guys want to update it since you which is specific because if you just put the just really you want I just updated but if right here you want to change that word I put it right there right so change it that makes yeah right here just you know just specified what it is what kind of meeting okay and then I don't know if you want to move it I really don't want to move anything up there because I'm gonna have to add St thank you thought comments on the first three paragraphs or thumbs up or something huh it's just gonr thank you all right we then I'm then recommending striking all the stuff down through Page whatever that is um through Page four or through Page Three which is all the stuff about kindergarten through fourth grade and so then it picks up um with regular education students um okay thank you for putting page numbers in on page four um again the most of the all the text is in black is in the current policy I just added in some extra text for clarification or to make it just read a little bit better um but again most of these steps are related to due process and um and procedural Rec requirements so and so it starts with suspensions for 10 days or less which is steps which are that A and B for step one and step two for anything from anyone on the suspension for 10 days or less for regular education students good starting at the bottom of page four we get into suspension for over 10 days um which really long-term suspensions um again almost all of this is text that's already in policy except in step five where um K you had made a comment about burden ofof and I just responded that I don't know that there's a definition of Burden ofof hold on related to this but you find something other and then the other comment was because some Antiquated language of tape record as opposed to just recording but it's so much richer than it has yes that's why I prefer vinyl however so Alan just to clarify the changes you made are in purple everything else is correct there correct that is correct okay and that's true throughout the whole document even at the beginning that is true throughout this entire document and then the stuff I'm suggesting can come out I I did I did a strike through on I have a question have question I'm sorry on the on the policy review so far do you guys want me to update that in Spanish too or do you guys just want to leave it the way it is right now uh can you leave it the way it is right now and as soon as I finish I'll give it to you because there's stuff to add so if you revise it now we just have to go back and do it again so on number six I think one I was like oh what is usually you say the burden of proof you're referring to what was already stated would be the burden of proof right that's not there but then also like okay um so I don't know what you guys want to do and this like I don't this is all this isn't like No And and like and and that's why in my response to your to your question I felt that really what this was getting at is that it's up to the district to like right innocent proven guilty kind of like it's up to the district to prove its case for why the long-term suspension is appropriate for this child as opposed to a family having to come come forward and prove why it's not appropriate certainly I get that I think the other thing if that's there I was just curious then like what you know just for some transparency sake as far as like Equitable due process for everyone that goes through this process because there's no way right now to say that everybody's getting the same level of evidence against them for whatever punishment's happening right no and so you could have somebody who gets the same amount of days but somebody had some scant amount of information that was provided but they say that that means the approv for the district and why an independent hearing officer listening to the certainly but that do they listen is it the same independent hearing officer at every hearing that's what I'm saying like I'm talking about trying to ensure Equity across due process hearings for everybody so that people aren't getting different outcomes and disperate evidence presented against it also says that it doesn't have to be a hearing officer yeah it could be it just says it could be it can be arranged by a hearing officer or by the superintendent it doesn't say independent part of that thing where we were like is this something this the board this was just like left in there or no that wasn't that something else on burden of proof you're pretty I mean I think in the middle schools across the district like vaping is a huge issue and just from talking with other Middle School teachers in the district there's some schools where the the AP and the principal are like well we can't catch this kid on camera vaping or we can't catch them with a vape pen we can't punish them and there are other schools who are like well they were nearby when the bathroom smells like weed so oh okay yeah no no no so it just kind of depends on no I'm at a different school and it's the same conduct that I'm not getting suspended for a week and the other person's just hanging out at school well also there's something to be said about the fact that with a in a school environment there's not going to be a lot of evidence or proof of things Happ totally totally there's just going to be a lot of hear sa from children which are notably not certainly so like I guess what I'll start with is this right there's like few there okay in the criminal system right and even in the Civil system there's burdens of proof right one of the lowest the lowest level is any evidence right that's the lowest level of a burden of proof then you have like probable cost which is like enough I'm sorry excuse me let's start a over any evidence any of reasonable suspicion that's enough for an officer to stop you on the street to talk to you probable cause is enough evidence for someone to arrest you clear and convincing evidence is enough for somebody to take your kids away permanently you know beyond A Reasonable Doubt is what you get in order to be criminally convicted right and so like there's tears to this it's hard to explain these even as a lawyer in Trials civil or criminally but what I'm saying is I think we should Define some baseline level of evidence that needs to be presented any evidence seems a little broad to me but I'm thinking somewhere in between any evidence and like probable cause or something like that is kind of where my mind was going that I think is appropriate obviously I'm not thinking we need to have a criminal trial here but yeah I just think there should be some baseline level that then indicates well EV any evidence isn't going to cut it right because that's where I kind of want to stray away from at least something else that's corroborating you know so it's not just one piece of hearsay from one person is enough to like suspend somebody yeah I think the level you're advocating for is typically just keep in mind this is long-term suspension yeah certainly so this gets elevated and it's put into a process for a hearing yeah so there is more review of it and typically if somebody suggests that and my question was then is I see this is like the about this is kind of outling about what they're going to be informed of in the hearing so I guess my question is is is that information about the burden of proof defined in some policy about these hearings anywhere no okay because also if you just presented that to the I get that what you're trying to just communicate to the student and family and it's hard to know how to defend something if you don't know what kind of evidence the district is sufficing to present against you how do you defend it if you don't know what amount or what level they need to be at and the lowest level of evidence I've seen in my time here for these would be the equivalent of prob okay yeah so that's just kind of where I was thinking because again this is to like give notice to the student of what will occur at the formal hearing and if yeah could we instead with the burden of proof instead of saying burden of at all but would say like the district um the district has responsibility to provide like witness statements you like something more specific so it's like I don't want to lock anybody into specific things that wouldn't fit the incident I don't know I'm just putting this it's a weird thing to put in there and like I just or could it just be like provide their evidence like would that be enough because I feel like I hear what you're saying about the burden of but I don't know how you I don't know how you define that in here other than saying like the district needs to provide some sort of evidence evidence related to it student is entitled to a statement of the charges so that's just the charges the other thing that goes hand inand with that that isn't really people don't probably think about is it implicit is it not in this I don't know but obviously implicit in the criminal system with burden of proof is that me as a criminal defense attorney and my client have no requirement to present any evidence of my innocence right right and it shouldn't be held against me if I don't so I think that's another thing that's implicit in that that people probably don't think about [Music] either do we want it implicit in here or do we not care have a similar thing like these are just questions that came up in my mind when I was thinking about it maybe their questions for another day or for the board I have no idea I know we're at 6:31 on the last time I say has anyone here participated in a formal hearing for over 10 days I yeah I mean it's been a long time yeah it's been about five years for me yeah I was say from that process is no I'm sorry no no that's fine like because I think maybe we could just keep it as one of those highlighted things like the statement we did in the last one the may contact law enforcement put it on the list of miscellaneous and I can make it a conversation withy I think a lot of the things that we change are based off people's personal experiences working in the schools and if this is the kind of thing that happens once in a blue moon it's going to be really hard to get certainly reasonable feedback about how to change it no I get better I agree I agree and I know that especially in the realm of long-term suspensions you know if they're not happening that often my four colleagues probably feel very passionately about it in general so yeah and I what the thing that I think was most shocking to me for the few that I was involved in was how formal the process was and we have had them there have been times where we've been unable to get an outside person and we've used an Insight staff member but by and large we typically use somebody who's like you know does does the same work for multiple districts it's Mr MZ for many years was the person that we used and U he was like a retired judge so I mean these were people that were being for the most part my experiences with people who were being brought in that were bringing a sort of that courtroom decorum and exposure to it but that doesn't that isn't necessarily So based on what's here so yeah totally so anyway maybe it's not something we can talk about the thing is this like eventually there's decision is final there's no outside cause of action you have really because this this suffices for a due process right so there's no way anybody can sue once the board makes the final decision I mean they can attempt to as long as you've crossed your teas and daed your and followed your due process policies there's not anything that's really going to come out of it and so what I'm saying is knowing that that's the case I want to make sure people have as many rights as possible within the due process like procedures because I know how it's just like an employment law right or if you're doing like arbitration or you know you're kind of just oh too bad you already got what you got moving on so yeah anyway I know it's 6:34 so we could just leave it and I can think about it and talk about it with my colleagues if we need to all right that one then take us to it said special education students I actually changed to students with disabilities because it's actually those students under special education and Section 504 okay that that um there's slight differences between the two but um I make sure that they played out here properly thank you Alan for going over this more or less for the less than 10 days is the same as it is for regular ed students uh which is why my answer to your question on on the bottom is No actually they're supposed to be TR like they're non-disabled peers if it's l if they're under that 10day question I think maybe oh on that one I didn't think I was when I asked for that I think I was thinking in general not just for oh and so I just put it there but it does say that under the yeah yeah so I think I had just seen it twice and I would agree though like yeah the issue is I know the issue is is like procedur how it work yeah how do you do that on a one day suspension yeah by the by the time you'd convene whatever process you needed in order to overturn the suspension certainly My Hope and this isn't great but my hope would be that if a parent was unhappy or a family member was unhappy or a student was unhappy it could be easily directed to a a grievance form and that has procedure so that there is that feels like there's somebody hearing them I've even had one make it to my level this year okay it does I'm not saying it commonly totally okay cool when we get to suspension for over 10 days for special ed um there's more purple than in any other section because I'm like mate we need clarification here and again for students with disability over 10 days is either consecutive or cumulative over the course of that school year so it it even even count the days differently than we would for a long-term suspension for like regular student a mess a few years [Music] ago for e are we good to move on uh the next session alternative suspension I did nothing with because I had no idea what to do with it it is I I get conceptually why it's there um but um no I know the language reads like weird Chain Gang situation um oh man oh forgot about this sorry I was like never mind but I this kind of just feels like our ISS policy isn't it this is like technically what's happening whenever a student is in school suspended sure and I don't know that I think um necessarily for all of our yeah think what that is referencing is that some school districts if I had to guess they have an ISS program housed at a specific School certain right and so that would essentially that's why that's there but it says sh so that's why I'm like we don't want to keep that there I think that's I if I had to guess that's in the vein of the old logic of suspensions are effective because it puts the onus on parents to deal with their kids if we're going to in school suspend your kid well we're not inconveniencing the par anymore so a way we can do that is by making them provide transportation meal Etc so I would feel very comfortable removing that yeah I would concur considering how many or how many families are even I actually on I would say there is some Merit to having three which is just the idea that like I mean if we have a situation where we have to suspend a kid okay you can't go to the football game after school making sure that Mom isn't like oh go wander around the neighborhood and hang out with your friends after school I agree I think number two's fine I was just concerned about one and two yeah so we're striking One and Two from from item from make it one you know I'll fix and then of course I highlighted the next thing I was like I don't know so I think the language I think the language is very harsh yeah but so I could give you an example where let's say a student vandalizes a bunch of stuff certainly they've earned a suspension but instead they get ISS for a day and they're going to spend their recess of that period instead of you know for our ISS for example my school oftentimes kids are in a lower grade so maybe instead of recess with the third graders he gets to clean up the cafeteria certainly is there a way to make this L yeah I think maybe is there a way to write this in a way that sounds less archaic and punitive is what I'm trying to get at Social isolation it shall be discipline intensive I think grounds keeping and litter [Laughter] control altern to suspension program rather than being of socialized civilization yes geez maybe service doesn't have the harshness of groundskeeping and social isolation like are we going as far as having them picking up that animal experement like what are we doing here so I think if instead of I think instead of social isolation um we could just out say like the alternative suven program is intended to separate students from their peers yeah and then instead of everything else you could say it may it will include academic work and may involve community service I think that's a way better way do that tell the kids will what too if they get an alternative placement that there there's a removal from their community so that could be another way to say it yeah well that would that would although I would argue that the entire School is their community so I like it depends on what you're it depends on how this is being implemented whether or not that we actually but then the rest of these are interesting I mean I get it students will be isolated from others by means of barriers or distance at a location I just sorry I know I didn't know what we and I think um I'm sorry I'm just like picturing some random Stone building with no windows that the child's getting thrown into will participate can be parents May participate by providing that's all they need uh just the same highlighted portion instead of parents will participate parents May participate by providing support supervision where needed I think that's a good idea too because lots of parents when a kid gets in trouble lots of parents are like oh I'll come sit with them in class right or whatever yeah and um the a I mean I think all that mean I would like to leave that in because I think um in Meet confer this year we talked about like there was a lot of interest in exploring some kind of ISS program something a little more structured than sending kids down to a different grade level where they're now inconveniencing a different grade level teacher certainly and so all that means you're talking a districtwide ISS program though is my question Regional okay the idea was Regional that would be okay uh like similar to like three schools for uh one one particular post so I think a just leaving a in policy just means that you know this ISS may be at your child's school it may be elsewhere right it may be in a separate room it uses weird language that I think that would be comfortable changing I don't know I don't like the word VAR say students may be separated from their peers by I said will maybe will be separated from their peers by means of relocation oh yeah or distance I just don't like the word isolated because they're not isolated there's always someone with them they're not leaving them in a room all day by themselves to say going back to what you said the Learning Community it's really their grade level here you say remove them go to a third grade room we're technically not removing them if if what he was saying kind of stands so I wouldn't say a third graders like an eighth graders peer yeah what he was saying when I said we're going to remove you from the learning community and he mentioned well you could say that the entire school's so that's what we're saying then if you say age level here yeah I said students will be separated from their peers is what I was saying peers is I think peers is spent a lot of time in in school suspension in middle school so you know this policy well is what you're saying well back that school now and know has built more prep it was called personal responsibility classroom I spent a lot of time in there writing a lot of things about what I shouldn't be doing and convincing them to not try to call my parents consistently now I realize I was probably unmedicated and bored that's probably what was going [Laughter] on um what is the term that we use instead of St time like we talk about academic minutes things like that what's like a good term B it or C it says ordered study time will be established of instruction yeah I don't know what personal maintenance means that mean they go to the bathroom or what is that yeah yes that's what that means so we could could we just say any time away from their assigned area will be approved planned and approved by the supervisor yeah I'm like let's take out SE and just leave it as areas also we should change the word confined yeah because we don't want to get them into the other policy I students are limited to their assed are I like lied sounds friendly where's the duct tape I was like that kid yesterday that was outside the room this chair this chair and I was like you can decide how you get there do like this cool um the first one students will be separated by from their peers by relocation or distance can we just say or by relocation tell me what letter you're on sorry a I went back up that's the wrong direction my bad I I reread it and I was like oh this doesn't sound right by relocation I like that yeah or distance just say they'll be separated from their peers how they loc and yeah just to leave distance also at a location determin by like the last part about taking materials home I will say that we often have kids keep their stuff with us so that way just requiring them to take them home at the end of the program each day I understand if it's like if it was old Compass but we're not writing this as though it's Compass we're writing as like an up placement within the school I think this is saying that anything they bring to school they take home with them talking about their academic materials though yeah if they're if if this is happening at their school there's no they don't need to take stuff home when it's happening not take their backpack and like their notebooks and so you wouldn't have them leave in yeah I I want them taking their personal stuff on for sure but like the E is putting the burden of them bringing all books and paper and everything they need in order to do work to the location I and then take it home each day so they're doing three days of this they have to take it home and then bring it back that doesn't make whole lot of sense of it's happening on our campus I feel like part of the intention of this is that like the school is not not responsible for like housing them in like a consistent location where they keep track of their materials and provide them with these things like thinking about a kid that comes to school each day to go be in third grade or whatever on ISS like they take their stuff with them to and from school every day they don't they don't like for instance at our school they come and they check in all their materials for us if they're going to continue and then we go through like their we go through their day like hey how did your work go we keep all of their stuff and they restart with us because we don't want them to to take it home not forget it at home and then we're so so that's it's just a difference in how people do it well to strike it out if we don't specify the only way I could see it being important is it just one day becomes like a not at your school location yeah which sounds like it might be could be a possibility in the future not currently just not currently just to let everybody know it's 651 right now and we're g to we're going to need to stop by seven yeah out no we are not yeah well so we'll add it to the add it to next year's list but also like I said I think ultimately we're not going to see conflict between and the other policies we've worked on so we should be okay okay thank you for indulging and trying to get through as much of this as possible we have no more meetings after May 7th that's ending this committee like when do they redo it I'm just trying to get through the agenda number six meeting scheduled um so basically ENT we may have to have them put it on the 21st we're not okay so we'll we'll count this one done you'll redo it and then you'll just reach out to everybody but we don't need to worry about finding availability after and and I do have a favorite question to ask which is we have um Alan one of Allen's other teams has Rec recommendations that are ready to come forward um Dr dup mentioned today that you may want to offer a multi- team opportunity to look at those recommendations that I understand that correctly uh yes so um Dr dben um is looking at bringing the Behavior Support committee this committee and the assistant principles and the ex Equity committee together to so we can share the recommendations are coming from our committee so that everybody all the working groups that kind of all the overlap right that we talked about earlier this year can kind of hear what that recommendation is so then would it be if that's G to happen it would I know we all want to go I also want to go but do we want to look at the calendar and just have people here now tell you what they're available for well I I will let you know that the date that Dr Duan was looking at for that meeting is May 15th and the reason I think it'd be helpful members of this team present is to check to make sure that the tool set I mean clearly Alan's part of that team and I'm sure he's already been checking for this but to make sure the tool sets in alignment with the changes that are being made to the Poli day actually um it'll be um Dr D was thinking 4:30 to 6:30 because that's the typical committee meeting time so it' be familiar to all the members of the other committees I good you I can do the 15 it's it'll be it'll be virtual yeah that I did that detail I did not well I don't know I don't know that for a fact it was I made that assumption based on you saying it was our normal committee that is true I don't know but Dr was going to Happ we can make it work either way we can either set up we can either set up a virtual link for purposes of those who can't be physically present in hybrid or if it's virtual it's for the sake of I'm gonna send everybody a calendar invite say tentatively interdisciplinary committees inter disciplinary sounds like a right now sounds like that kid who's like their stuff's all packed sounds like a sporting event interdisciplinary all right anything else for the good of the order well I'll just say since we're still on the record that I really appreciate everyone and all the time you put into this everybody in the room I think we couldn't have made this happen without everybody um I know you might have been bored sometimes I was too I'm gonna be honest but um I fell asleep once I really appreciate the work and effort that everyone put into too I know it's a lot of dense and lengthy discussion that sometimes seems pointless but it isn't pointless and so this is like a huge thing for me and while I don't think we should just be like going after things that we have as personal agendas on the board I think it's just really important and it's part of the reason why I we in for the governing board and just like really excited for us to actually make real changes and try to do things that are a little bit different in the so I appreciate everyone openness to conversations and thoughts and and all the time and effort everybody so thank you so much thank you for all your free not legal advice well I guess your legal advice is always free true well you guys pay for it yeah can I get a motion to adjourn please motion to adjourn second all those in favor motion pass meeting adjourned thanks everybody what

calling the meeting to order roll call Maria oara I'm here obviously Rick Ry I'm here Gary Ary here Amanda Buchanan is absent Dennis Miss vender here okay uh Mr Watkins will you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance iedi 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 so much Kylie d you have any public comments I do have one okay oh Chris [Laughter] Watkins it is [Music] yes and now the end is okay we're good um all right thank you to the board and our District administration Miss Nelson um this is exciting you know to see a presentation on the stadium and you know for brevity's sake the cost is going to be the cost and so I would just request respectfully you get over the sticker shock and you look down the road at what the best use of this property could be 50 years from now you got 40 acres you procured that 40 acres and it was very difficult it was a long process um but I you know we've all spent time in Orange County La where there is very limited space uh on school campuses for ball fields for mixed use with the community with public parks Etc and I think you've got a phenomenal opportunity if you use this property wisely and get the the best use out of it we all know that we want that Stadium but we've got to look at what the community opportunity is 50 years from now and so we have to do this and do it right uh but board members just please understand that there's a cost Associated uh with this that may be hard to stomach but sometimes you know that inaction will will freeze us and it'll freeze the community and so you've got a forge ahead and you got to trust that Matt is going to count the beans and make it happen and he could do that okay so let's all get on board with this this has been a very long time and I'm excited to uh see what our presenters have today and let's get this [Applause] done thank you so much transitional kindergarten project update and funding op options by Mr schulenberg thank you I don't know uh Chris you put a little pressure on me I don't know if I appreciate that today um sorry to spoil the Thunder but I'm not going to talk about the stadium first I'm going to talk about transitional kindergarten a program that the state has mandated that we offer to our four-year-olds um you have the board members you have in front of you a copy of all the slides in this presentation I apologize for the size of the packet but I wanted to make sure you print I printed the full slide so you could read it and take notes if you'd like as we work through this presentation uh as you recall uh this is a slide you've uh you've seen parts of this slide before historically our TK kindergarten enrollment over the years has been right around a thousand kids um the past few years we've seen that decline a little bit we have a bubble moving through the system that ends kind of about fifth grade right now fourth third 2nd 1 or a little bit below and our current kindergarten enrollment as of October 23 and I picked October because that's our seabeds date that's when we report our enrollment to the state our kindergarten enrollment in October was 877 now why I'm pegging that kindergarten enrollment is because the California Department of Education has estimated that about 60% of eligible TK kids will show up to TK so keep in mind if that comes true for us in our full implementation year of 2526 so not this next fall but the following fall fall of 25 we could expect somewhere around 500 to 525 transitional kindergarten kids so that's a number that's a Target that is a best guess based on some historical data some some assumptions from the California Department of Education and even in speaking with the demographers Davis demographics a demographer that's working with us on our facility master plan they're really using that 60% guideline because there is no no established Trend or no established history of transitional Kinder um that's reliable at this point in terms of demographics so just to refresh everybody's memory um we are in design um for our TK project at Desert NES yakal in Sandia um architect and Engineering is in process we have a bid from Silver Creek modular for our classroom buildings um and we have an anticipated d submission date DSA being the division of State Architects um they must approved any new construction on any of our campuses we have an anticipated submission date of May 23rd um and thank you for n your head Mike I I seem to remember I got that right um so that starts the process DSA looks at those plans um they make comments Architects makes revisions uh we take that project out to bid we construct and as you'll see later on our Target occupancy date is the fall of 25 for those TK classrooms a little bit of context for why we're building the classrooms we are why we settled on the number of classrooms we settled on at this point um go back a year our 2223 transitional kindergarten enrollment hovered right around 270 most of the year a little bit higher a little bit lower um and those those 270 kids in that window they turned five between September 2nd and February 2nd it was a six-month enrollment window so classrooms at 24 to2 keep in mind that is 24 kids in a classroom with two adults certificated teacher parent educator um meets that requirement so that's why it says 24 to two even though that is one room two adults so with 270 kids you need about 12 rooms we had 13 TK classrooms that year transition to this year our enrollments right around 305 been a little higher been a little lower that's an eight-month enrollment window now so it's for the kids that turn five between September 2nd and April 2nd classrooms at that same ratio you need 13 we have 15 so we have some open seats in our transitional kindergarten um that have not filled this year now we look out next year 2425 using kind of our pattern the last last year and this year in terms terms of how many months of the enrollment window have been open how many kids we've got enrolled in our transitional kindergarten I'm making a educated projection um this is by no means the what we're going to have next year we really don't know until they show up in terms of the transitional kindergarten crowd but it turns into a 10-month enrollment window next year September 2nd through June 2nd so at that same ratio of 24-2 we're anticipating a classroom need of about 18 and we're anticipating we can secure three more TK classrooms in our district without significant disruption to any other academic program so we believe we're going to be on target next year we're fine the following year 2526 if 60% of that 877 number comes to fruition we're 510 maybe it's 515 52 but I'm going to use that 510 and that now is the full transitional kindergarten implement ation it's for any child that turns four by September 1st so at 20 to2 different ratio now um I dug through the California Department of Education FAQs on transitional kindergarten and the only reference to that 20 to1 ratio I could find was for the 2526 year for this year it was if funding was available funding wasn't available for next year if it's funding is available I'm not anticip ating there's going to be any extra money coming from California to fund extra Staffing at transitional kindergarten next year so we're going to assume 20 to2 again that's 20 students and two adults in one classroom so at that number we're going to need about 26 classrooms with this project anticipated opening for the fall of 25 we will have 30 designated transitional kindergarten classrooms so we'll have a little bit of space that of course um for 24 25 so again project design status desert NS yakoma Sandia we're also upgrading playgrounds uh for our Kinders on those three campuses we're installing shade over those playground structures we're installing shade over a portion of the Quad at each of these transitional kindergarten areas because shade has been something that our families and our students have identified as a big need so as we're in these areas we're able to do that uh 12 total classrooms for at each location again online for occupancy in the fall of 2025 so our estimated project budget that has been supplied to me by uh Mike Woods Mike is uh joined us today in the front row you've seen Mike here before he's from California Professional Management he's our U he's a principal with CPM and he's that's they're our construction manager on this project uh been working with us through the design through the engineering they do constructibility reviews and then when we get to construction they're the boots on the ground every day making sure everything is done correctly but he had with his team has put together a potential total budget for this transitional kindergarten project of about $16.5 million you'll see it breaks down into 10 and a half for the modular buildings and the site work that site work includes not only the installation of those buildings on concrete foundations there's concrete flatwork there's playgrounds there's shade there is Ada path of travel path of travel updates that's the American with Disabilities Act uh make sure all of our constituents kids staff parents can get to the classrooms um there's some parking lot upgrades we have to do at one of our sites uh so there's lots of different things rolled into that 10.5 million there's General conditions in construction management about 1.7 and soft cost contingencies and escalation I'm sure many of you have seen what inflation has done recently and it it's it's still there there's still inflation albe it's slowing down but also um we have architect and Engineering fees we have allowances for DSA comments if we get into uh DSA approval um and they make comments that costs a little more or we get into construction and there are certain conditions in the field which require us to make changes that were unforeseen at the time of design so we have some um I'm going to say padding we have some padding built in to ensure that um we we don't go over 16.5 for this project in fact we hope to get a little bit of back but we have it there as a just in case so one of the things I want to talk about with this project there are other ways to secure classrooms in this District besides building classrooms um we have a preschool program currently uses seven classrooms in our district desert NES Phoenix Rancho verie Sandia sitting bow and Vanguard to classrooms at Phoenix Academy that particular program serves threey olds and foury olds and as TK continues to expand serving our four-year-olds State preschool most likely will decline in enrollment now I say most likely because there are families that may still opt for a preschool program which is a halfday program versus a full day transitional K program for their four-year-old so it's kind of um we don't know what's going to happen over the next few years however that does give us the opportunity if that program declines in enrollment it gives us the opportunity to capture some of those classrooms back for TK and or other specialized programs in our district so something to keep in mind another option to facilitate classroom space for TK expansion we look at our K through three currently at 24 to1 uh through our grade span adjustment class size reduction in our local control funding formula there is the ability to refine those class sizes you know we have to meet uh under legislation under law in the lcff it's a 24 to1 School SCH site average across those grade levels a class can be slightly above a class can be slightly below you take an enrollment count you average the classroom you average all of the classrooms and it has to be 24 we can make adjustments there and I just picked third grade as an example on our most recent enrollment sheet we have 962 third graders throughout our wonderful District in 42 classrooms you see 962 divided by 24 if you do the math it's not 42 but that that's how many classrooms we have that's why the word actuals is there if you take 962 and divide by 31 just a number I pick does not mean anything it's a hypothetical that requires 32 classrooms you could we could capture 10 classrooms that like one at every School site one at each of our 10 k6 and K8 campuses for the expansion of TK now that means a reduction in Staffing um and that also means some funding consequences there is a possible loss of the lcff grade span adjustment funding which is about $52 million however we do have the ability to negotiate a different average in K3 class size to offset that loss of funding so there's a lot at play there there are some pros and there are some cons but that is an option moving forward if building classrooms is not an option in the future so this is a slide you've seen before you saw it on March 7th I know that was a long evening but I wanted to bring it back in front of you um for our funding mechanisms that local districts not only Apple Valley Unified but pretty much most districts across the state they have several options one of them is a general obligation bond that is taxpayer approved debt um if you recall we did measure s back in 2004 our taxpayers approved that we use those Bond bond funds to build sitting bow elementary and middle and do some modernization throughout our district another option is a parcel tax a parcel tax again is also voter approved debt and there's a difference between the two a general obligation bond is a supplemental tax levy based on the assessed value of that particular property a parcel tax is a flat dollar amount on each parcel whether it has improvements or not we have certificates of participation the board is familiar with those we did Issue a cop back in 2020 um and we've done cops in the past to fund smaller projects and we also have some local funding sources fund 40 for instance is our Capital facilities fund over the years we've had our Redevelopment agency Revenue stream um has been deposited into fund 40 uh that is a supplemental tax increment in a specified Redevelopment area which we are members of two now those Redevelopment areas were actually suspended by some legislation years ago but the tax increment funding continues to flow tell for us sometime I believe it's around 2050 when those RDA agreements expire and then that Revenue will no longer flow to Apple Valley Unified along with any other members of of each of those rdas but that is money that is only for facility use the construction the modernization or Debt Service payments for facility use for instance we're currently using that Revenue that RDA Revenue to pay the current debt service on our current cops we have fund 25 developer fees um if you recall recently you approved U increasing our developer fees based on the um State allocation board AC back in January they increased the level one developer fee both for residential and Commercial properties those will go into effect here um I believe in June um that gets a A amount of money per square foot of residential development or commercial development they are different amounts um but that is a it's a fairly significant Revenue stream when you look at large say commercial facilities for instance the Big Lots distribution warehouse that was recently completed up in North Apple Valley that got us about 00,000 in developers fees so when you look at maybe a million square foot Warehouse there's potential there for tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in developer fees that can come to Apple Valley Unified when those uh when those facilities are built in our district boundaries and then there's the residential side the residential side for us over the past few years really hasn't generated a lot um with no large tracks or anything like that it's mostly just the infill development but the developer per fees they have their uses are really kind of restricted to new construction modernization uh furnish and equip classrooms and they're really designed to offset the cost of those additional children coming to the district and we have expanded learning opportunity program funds this is one of those categorical programs that um Governor Nome started recently and is uh it's he's really behind the El elop program um it's doing great things for our kids I know we have a lot of Staff teachers and classified that work in our Ela program uh serving our kindergarten through or TK through sixth grade students in their after school programs um lots of great things going on my daughter in fact Works in our elop program at cting Bull and comes home every day with a new story about the fun she's having with the little ones I'll just leave it at that good and bad days but she loves it we have some excess elop funds because the governor has dedicated so much and it took districts like us and like many across the state a while to implement these programs we have some carryover funds that will expire that it would be appropriate to utilize in our transitional Kinder because those buildings we can purchase the buildings and then use those buildings in our elop program and there are other things we can do with these elop funds as we move forward perhaps uh enhanced campuses with some additional outside furniture um outside structures for for outside activities outdoor activities in our after school program so there's some flexibility there and of course there State Facility bond funds we currently are not in line for any of bond facility funds Bond State funds um they have over allocated any bond funds at the state level but they are considering a state Bond on the November Ballet Now the state bond is a little bit different than a local Bond a local Bond The Debt Service falls on the taxpayers in that local area for instance the taxpayers that live within Apple Valley Unified School District a state Bond it's really the state issues those bonds and the state uses their general fund Monies to pay the debt service so it's an obligation of the state but what that does is that possibly would give us access to matching funds from the state if we're able to provide local funding for medium to large construction projects in the future so a little more specific about our local funding sources fund 40 our Redevelopment agency funds and existing cop proceeds if you go back to 2020 we issued that cop those proceeds are actually held at US Bank as the trustee but we report those funds as part of our fund 40 so you may look on our financials and you're going to see about a $4 million balance bance in fund 40 about 3 million of that is actually held at US Bank as our cop proceeds and RDA our Redevelopment agency funds continue to flow into fund 40 and that's a balance somewhere in the neighborhood of$ three to4 million or somewhere in the neighborhood um in in terms of using those funds for construction of our transitional kindergarten maybe that would fund three to four million because I would not recommend spending that fund down to zero because that fund allows us um access to facility funds quickly for maybe an emergency repair uh maybe we have a large roof that goes bad or a swamp cooler on top of a gym that costs $200,000 to replace it's an it's a quick uh It's Quickly accessible facility funds for things like that fund 25 developers fees could Supply funding for our transitional kindergarten project again there's about $6 million in there and again I would not recommend utilizing all $6 million because we still have other expenses that developer fees would be appropriate to utilize uh furnish and equip classrooms um if there's any other classrooms that we need to modernize or convert for special programs based on the students that are coming to our district and then our expanded learning opportunity program funds again there's four to six million available that will not impact any of the ongoing programs at our school sites this is funding that is not utilized some of it is set to expire but our allocation each year more than supports the elop program we have in place at our schools so looking at those three local sources readily available funds for our TK project could be anywhere between 11 and16 million and again I would not recommend the full 16 because that would spend each of those down to zero and there are other items that may suffer if we're spending all of those funds and again there are some restrictions on the developer fees and I'm sorry there are restrictions also on the elop program funding so that was a lot that's all centered around transitional kindergarten before we move on to what the crowd wants to see does the board have any questions um comments any Yes Rick I'm sure it's in here so the total expenses needed for the TK project is what we're currently estimating a a budget of about 16 and A5 million doll for the transitional kindergart for the TK project yes and then we have available we have available 11 to 16 yes readily available funds we have 11 to 16 and and I set that range because 11 is probably a level that I would recommend it's comfortable it leaves some money in each one of those accounts for other types of projects um emergency repairs that may pop up so about five million then basically if we go with the 11 yeah about five million maybe that we might need to find another source okay great that was my question thanks okay obviously you know I'm gonna ask a question right certainly um my question has to do with um you currently say you have uh 15 to 18 classrooms right now right we currently have 15 transitional kindergarten classrooms this year yes classrooms and so when 25 comes along which is required that we provide those we will be needing about 30 classrooms if we continue with in the trend that we're going is that yes Miss opara thank you based on based on our best estim based on last year and this year's transitional kindergarten enrollment relative to relative to our kindergarten enrollment and utilizing the CDE guideline of about 60% I'm estimating and this is me this is my math sitting at my desk with a little scratch Pad I'm estimating we'll have somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 to 525 TK kids show up in the fall of 25 and if they do at that 20 to1 classroom ratio we'll need about 26 classrooms with the completion of this particular project we'll have 30 classrooms available for our TK kids throughout our district now we are required to offer transitional kindergarten to anybody that wants to that's eligible to enroll it is not compulsory our families are not required to attend transitional kindergarten we're required to offer we're not required to offer it at their home school and we're not able to expand every campus at once hence we chose desert NES had some area immediately adjacent to its existing kindergarten area um and that's on the west side of town we chose Sandia because their kindergarten area is adjacent to the vacant lot on the east side of Campus that we own and it's easy for us to expand into that lot and expand the kindergarten TK area and then we chose yakala again I'm sorry Sandia on the south end of town and we chose yakala kind of central East depending but yakala for us historically has been a great source to cover our overflow and we do have some space at yakala um adjacent to their kindergarten classrooms is the yakoma park and we have been in communication with the town and we have informed them that it is our intent to take back that Park that we own that they've utilized on a facilities use agreement for many many years um but we do need that space to expand our kindergarten area to provide for our Kinders and our TKS so we'll have those three sites that technically will have um extra capacity to take overflow from our other tk6 and tk8 sites that's the plan par our plan yes is to take the whole park because the kindergarten area is currently right along yakala road so we we're going to be expanding our Kinder and TK area into where the play equipment currently is and south of the play equipment in between the play equipment and the yakala garden there's a field space or we're planning on utilizing that as a field space for our Kinders and our TK kids as a play area so that we'll have to close that to the community for the safety of our students so my next question has to do with the bond the bond measure yes um we you talked about the local Bond and the uh State Bond let me go to the state first if the state Bond passes do we have to apply to have access to the funding or do they have a a um a formula that they will use to be able to allocate us whatever it is and if that's the case I'm I'm beginning to think that there's a good chance that we won't get everything that we think we need out of the state bond is am I correct well I'll I'll I'll try and answer all those questions it's it's yes and and maybe and could be probably right um yes we do have to apply for State bond funds and they have attempted to overhaul the state facility program the last few years and I will be very honest I am not an expert in the state facility program um I would have to bring an expert on board to advise Apple Valley in order to best navigate the process to ensure that we are applying for every cent we would qualify for from the state Bond yes they have a for formula um I don't know how that formula Works um and you're probably right we won't get everything we need but one of the key components to qualify for State Bond funding Bond facility funds is typically a local match so if we have a project that say costs $40 million I'm that's just a number and we're seeking State Bond money will probably have to put up at minimum half those funds most likely more to access any state bond funds to get to that 40 million threshold did I answer that did I answer yes you did okay thank you okay anybody Mr Aron no all right we go to the next one all right yes thank you thank you so now for what the crowd's here for if you recall I'll back up this is a slide you've seen before going into the granite Hill Stadium project we were looking at Synthetic Turf field of course with lighting and all weather tracks seating for 4500 a Fieldhouse for our athletes locker rooms training room coaches office officials room weight room snack bar restroom facilities because when you have that many people in one place you want to feed them and you also need a restroom Forum facility parking traffic areas and some possible ancillary facilities for maintenance and operations and before I go any further the two gentlemen sitting here in the front I have Scott Griffith he is the managing partner with SGH Architects uh his firm is the architectural firm on this project we picked them through the RFP process his firm Scott and his team have been great to work with and we have Mike Woods from California Professional Management again our construction manager on this project uh Mike and his team have done uh many projects for us throughout the years here in Apple Valley again we selected them through an RFP process specific for this particular project so um I know Scott's got some slides as part of this in a little bit Mike is here to answer any questions that may come up that that pertaining to budget estimates uh but I think we'll kind of tag team when we get to that point uh so anyways here's a reminder and we'll move on so this is a slide straight out of my March 2004 presentation that evening when we looked at the budget now again Mike and his team did this budget working with Scott and his team based on conceptual drawings it it's it's difficult to budget precisely when you're just talking about conceptual drawings you're using some assumptions you're using some some knowns but there are still a lot of unknowns so this budget looking at sports field and equipment concessions the team room offside improvements because we do have some offside improvements we have to do we'll have to improve Esau's Road depending on how far we build out um but just a side note not on the slide I have been approached by Rich berer he's in the engineering staff at the town of Apple Valley and he has expressed interest in partnering with us and possibly seeking some Grant funds to assist us with the off-site improvements his goal whether we can achieve that working as a team with the town or not is to improve Esau from the current edge of the Granite Hills campus all the way out to Central and then Central Avenue North along our property line to improve that intersection and traffic flow immediately adjacent to Granite Hills High School and the future Athletic Complex so again that's in aside not in the slide and that's just we've had a conversation and I will be absolutely pursuing that with Rich over at the town of Apple Valley to see how we might be able to move forward so that would be offside improvements a general conditions and construction management and again soft cost contingencies and escalation and that's where that's where we're dealing with you'll see that's $ 14.7 million and that's a big chunk of money because there's a lot of unknowns between now and when we actually may be in construction on this project there's inflation there's construction costs and Scott made a comment to me when we were meeting he he made a comment if the state passes a facilities Bond there are a lot of school districts that are already in line with what's called a shovel ready project their DSA approved the plans are all ready they're sitting on the Shelf ready to pull off and go when the money's there what does that mean construction trades are busy Construction Supplies are hard to come by because there's a lot of construction what can that do to our costs bump them up so we're trying to accommodate for a little bit of that because even as we're sitting here in what is this April of 2024 um we are and I asked Scott just at the beginning of this meeting we're at least 12 months from bidding this project that means we have construction documents to do that means we do a constructibility review with Mike and his team that that means we go out to bid that means I'm sorry we're about 12 months from bidding this project I apologize not constructing we're about 12 months from bidding so we have a lot of work to do between now and then and we're we're making a best estimate oh Mike and his team and Scott his team we we're making a best best estimate of what costs might be when we're out there 12 14 months from now so that's a potential budget is that number real no I wish I could stand here and say it was I wish I could stand here and say it won't go up um but it it will but hopefully we're prepared for that so where we're at in the project where we are in the status we're right now still in conceptual design and design development Scott's been very patient with us his team we've kind of um we we went fast then we had to go slow then we sped up then I said wait a second we gotta we got to think about this very strategically the construction document phase is the next phase and then DSA approval is the next phase from that and right there is a chance to have a much better idea of what construction costs would be when we get to DSA approval so and then of course we bid it and when you bid it now you know what construction costs are going to be with change orders still have some contingencies there's field conditions that come up I mentioned those as part of the TK when you start moving dirt around when you start out there you you find things unfortunately um so and then there's construction so um Scott and Mike have joined us again there there's who they are in print um Scott's got a few slides that him and his team have put together that talks a little bit about when we get to construction which is a ways off but when we get to construction how we might phase this project what's what's part of a first phase what's important for an operational facility um so I'm gonna ask Scott at this point to come on up if he would um I'll stand next to that's the slides for but that oh come on machine oh no it do yeah I know it was working fine there we go me so I'm going to let Scott talk a little bit about uh phased uh phas budget breakdown exhibit and go through some slides so thank you thank you for having me I appreciate it um so this this slide here obviously is the the proposed facility at full buildout which is what you've all seen um if we build this if we build this entire Stadium as designed this would be the final this will be the final uh result this one here so what um it's being finicky so what um what Matt tasked Mike and I to do was to put together you know um the you know if we were to build a minimal amount of a functioning Stadium what would that look like and how do we because not every part of that Stadium would need to be actually built in the in initial phase uh and it's all obviously budget driven right it wouldn't need to be built in the initial phase to at least have a stadium where the the students could play um you could have some spectator seating obviously toilets and Concession and things like that are important um parking we could look at you know maybe phasing in additional parking as as it grows we could look at things like adding additional seating in the on the stadium side maybe we start with a smaller amount of bleachers and then grow it as the need of the uh of the of the district and the school needs but at the same time it could be something that maybe you don't maybe you don't ever need to expand the seating maybe it's maybe the state the seating is fine we started out with I think 25 2500 home side and, 1500 on the on the visitor side which is which is a large it's a large Stadium most you know most compreh con Comprehensive High Schools um you know have somewhere just south of that so um I think that you know the starting out with maybe 1,500 and a th000 seats um would probably do okay you know the bigger events like graduation things like that would obviously require more but there's an option to maybe bring in some temporary bleachers for those events um as needed and of course the Press Buck um would be built as part of the phase one so we looked at different phasing um phase one would be what we would consider to be a functional stadium that could be utilized and then phase two would be to bring in like the team rooms and things like that then we put numbers to each of those to try to see can we get to a number that's palatable that the district can take you know take on initially and then maybe build on that over time as funds become available and feel free to ask questions anytime yeah I know you got it you got it is it so I have a quick question on that one before you you move on would you like to go back yeah okay uh for that one um you have phase one two three um it appears that you can't do phase two without doing phase one correct yeah well what we did is we tried to break it up so it made sense like in other words you know you need the track and field right that's obvious you need that and then you obviously some supports you know the infrastructure for that would need to be put in you wouldn't want to put you wouldn't want to build a stadium and have to trench to get you know utilities and things like that so we tried to and it was through a a s of discussions and you know what makes sense what doesn't what could come now and still work as a stadium what could come later you know I think the you know obviously the team rooms uh the the site has has facilities now that could be utilized in the interim until something more permanent could be built at the stadium um we could look at options of doing something more temporary for a a concession in toilet room maybe maybe it's a portable I mean there's lots of things that we kind of talk through I think uh Mike and Mike can chime in too I think we looked at a couple different Alternatives and it was it wasn't any less expensive to build a permanent building for concessions and toilets as it was to bring in like a temporary building yeah so it really wasn't much cost saving so it made sense to have that to move that into phase one initially we had it in phase two and and and and Maria you're right in in the ordering in the order of operations you really you you absolutely got to start with phas it would not make any sense to do any of the work in phase one so what what Scott and his team really did is like you mentioned that phase one is um what do we really need to have a functional athletic understanding that there's expansion coming but all weather field and all weather tra seats restrooms a little bit of parking lighting lighting and then and then planning for the future expansion by making sure we get the infrastructure and for those future expansions at the time when we're building it just makes more sense more efficient it's cheaper and Scott how on the on phase one what was the the number of Home seats available uh I think we we dropped it to I want to say I believe we dropped it to 15 1500 home and a th visitor with possibility of expansion yeah we could build it up to that that 2,000 home seats is that right we kind of went back and forth so I I wasn't exactly sure how we land where we landed we've talked a few different numbers any other questions or should we keep going okay so this is a more granular breakdown of what would be in Phase One um so the orange the orange part would be the actual Stadium the seating the bleachers the track the fencing um and the uh concession toilet building um also we there's some things we'd have to do DSA is going to require we provide Ada parking and access Stu so a portion of the parking lot would want to be built in Phase One it may not even need to be to that extent but we had we wanted to start somewhere we wanted to provide adequate parking and that would parking would also uh share with the existing parking on campus and so it's really it's tied together so um and then there's overflow parking uh um the uh offsite improvements are things that have to be done so we don't that's not really an option putting the utilities in is really not an option some of it will be utilized immediately some of it will be future for future expansion and then um the new uh concession and toilet building so that gets us to a basically a direct construction cost of 26 million uh with a total project which includes all those other cost that that Matt had mentioned uh project costs of 34 million in phase one so that would get you a functioning stadium that kids could play on and soccer football games um other events graduation any questions specific this also like that pathway the existing cus if you're familiar with gr Hill Campus the that pathway essentially leads to the current location gymnasium the and in phasing the construction like this you know are able to do phase one that's where Scott mentioned we're gonna have to utilize some existing facilities for a little while hence that pathway now also if you're familiar with that particular area Grand's High School between tennis courts and the existing practice field and then you go out to that Lake there's a grade difference so we will also I mean that's just looks like a simple sidewalk but there's going to be some stairs there's going to be and Matt we're gonna refer to that as salmon not orange I'm sorry [Music] salmon um I got a question claric Matt that is that's a that's a serious sorry I meant salmon that's that's a yeah that's a serious faux PA on my part I apologize Matt I have a question real quick on on phase one um what is the from if we were to put the shovel in the ground tomorrow what is the timeline on construction from once it's financing is there and that can you you have a possibility you can answer that so we didn't I have I did have a I can can actually he'd be more kind of putting together the construction mindl IDE yeah I'm Mike was CPM um by the way I've seen all you folks before um start a construction I would plan anywhere from 16 to 18 months for phase one so if we we started uh summer of 25 or the fall of 25 we would hope I don't want to promise it that you could utilize your facility in 26 followup 26 that answers football season right appreciate it thank you yeah that would and and just oh go I I was going to mention even within this this phase um and I talked to Mike a little about it it might make sense to set aside what we call bid alternates and let's say so we put it out as a package and maybe we maybe the bleachers are like a bit alternate right so if the numbers come in higher it gives us some flexibility to make some moves maybe the bleachers don't get built in phase one maybe it's Phase 1 a again again when depending on funding uh but it'll just gives more flexibility so at least you don't have to you know shove the whole project at least you can build you know a good chunk of the build of the project and then add on later on so there's some flexibility even within the phases that we've that we've listed that makes sense any other questions next slide yeah that there you go so um phase two would as and we looked at like three phases three and four phases do and 3A you know trying to break it down but as we got through it didn't really make sense so phase two we're anticipating or proposing that the team locker room weit room uh coaches offices would be built in phase two along with some additional support of space around it might be warmup shot put things like that that could be built adjacent to it um and so that and isolated at one end of the stadium so that could all you know make sense to have that all kind of done at the same time that makes sense and we're looking at about four and a half million uh construction and about six million total project cost for phase two any questions specific questions about pH yes I do um I'm looking at phase two and you are talking about adding um locker room so if are you saying that in Phase One if we have a team playing let's say so football I'm I'm from another country so we call it soccer uh let's say you they're playing uh football that they won't have a locker room in Phase One well Maria that's where SC mentioned and I mentioned earlier that if if we construct phase one as planned we are going to have to utilize some existing facilities Granite Hills has locker rooms okay hence that orange pathway in phase one if you recall that goes to the existing gymnasium it's a long walk is it the best situation absolutely not but is it a situation that many high schools across Southern California deal with absolutely not every high school has a locker room directly adjacent to their field space and I think Daniel might agree with that although this is absolutely what we'd like to have something there but I know he's been places where you got to walk been places where we don't don't even get to go [Music] in so so go all dressed down put your pads on so Maria you're you're absolutely correct phase one would not include a new locker room but would include the the concept of having to utilize existing facilities and that phase two that uh the field house there on the North End what's considered the blue color there it's not just locker rooms um it's it is it is a home locker room it's a smaller visitor locker room because they don't get as nice as stuff as the team believe it's a training room um and we have a CTE athletic training program at Granite Hills High School that could utilize that training and the locker room as a classroom it's a weight training facility it's appropriate restroom facilities a coach's office for the coaching staff to have a facility out there and also a room for the officials because you do want to do your best to make the officials comfortable so you get a few of the calls when you're playing on your home field but it it's just it's yeah sorry I'll stop thank you thank you if I if I can add too that I've seen in some districts where we've um doesn't preclude you from putting temporary facilities you might have a couple of relocates out there that could be utilized temporarily for home room for a home team and visitor teams and and officials and coaches offices too so we've seen that and just you know temporarily until they could build a permanent building so that wouldn't preclude you from doing that any questions phase two let's try and move to phase three here we go and and phase phase three is really kind of more like salmon colored salmon colored a more it's a more yeah we got it it's more of an OP kind of an optional phase if if you find that you need to expand your seating the bleachers could be expanded they would be designed so that we could do that pretty easily and then um we talked about maybe putting in some um either adding in some more Perman depending on funding adding in some more permanent parking along the um the visitor side of the of the lot that would have an access road back to the service and and maintenance operations area that could be decomposed granite um we could also look at maybe putting some decomposed ground on the other side for some overflow parking if that's something that's fairly inexpensive to do but we've seen that done too so lots of options and I think that's the key here is is how do we you know how do we build in enough flexibility to get you to a point where um the funding makes sense and still get you what you know the facility that you're looking for that you're desired so I think it's the right color it's it's the right color yeah can can we pause come just I was going to say what we did was we really were trying to be conscious with the dollars and so this this would be the concession and toilet room building it's really a pretty simple straightforward box it's got some ornamentation on it that's really kind of inexpensive to make the building a little bit more interesting if you will without spending a bunch of money and of course as we go through it we'll look at some value engineering ideas materials and things that we can really help bring the cost of the building down um as much as possible and still get you the program that you're looking for can we pause for a quick minute I need to take a little break absolutely thank you we'll keep this slide up and hey Rick we play r e e e I wonder how much that contributes to cost I know calling the medum back to order calling the meeting back to order I got thank you thank you um any questions specific to any information Scott and I shared regarding the different phases um Gary did have one question he asked about a the parking area in the lower left that really kind of is not included in any of the phases and he's correct it's not included in any of these phases at this point um but again that's part of the overall design future again and the parking along the west side behind the home stand but again there's still potential there's potential um for a lot of things between the stadium and Central in future design and development but we're trying to minimize costs and utilize existing parking if you look in the lower right hand corner of this particular image that's the parking lot with all the solar arrays in it so kind of flows from the campus are we going to have enough parking for the visitor side you know maybe in the desert and now welcome um you know uh miss okar that that's hard to say you know with a thousand seats on the visitor side if two people come in a car no we won't have enough parking for 500 cars just on the visitor side um that's why Scott talked about the possibility of doing some DG in that area between the stadium and the tennis courts possibly some DG on the home side it it isn't asphalt it but it Prov provides a um a hard smooth surface for individuals to park um and and again it's it's difficult to design a facility like this for the once a year event like graduation um even Apple Valley High School Newton T bass does not have ample parking for graduation um you see people parking across the street all the way into the be lot so it it's it's difficult um to design for an event or you want to design more for the more consistent but you're right parking will be a challenge yes and a mu um yes since Scott wasn't at the mic he said the the one thing no that's okay the one great thing we do have is we have 40 acres uh we have 40 acres there so we have the ability for a lot of flexibility and again um that's some DG um grading out the desert overflow parking so there is possibilities in the future but that that does come at as as an expense um but something to think about okay I'm gonna go ahead and click if the screen will catch up with me there we go all right so more to again the funding opportunities again I've talked I I repeated this slide just to remind everybody that you know geobond parcel tax cop local funding State Facility bond funds those are really what we have the opportunity to access and I repeated this slide these are our local funds that we have in hand where I talked about that range possibly using somewhere between 11 and 16 again I would not recommend using all 16 million of these funds because we have some other things that pop up that we might need to use those funds on but I want to caveat that with a stadium funding opportunities are a little more limited um developers fees are for the impact of the students that come with residential and commercial construction now in our Fieldhouse if we're able to designate a portion of that as a classroom perhaps we can use some developer fees to support the costs of a portion of that building it's a classroom we're expanding um if they renew the CTE facility Grant fund at the state level we may be able to access some of those funds for our CTE athletic training program and I also know Mr rencon has spoke of and I'm gonna put you on the spot but I won't make you get to the mic um Daniel wants a Jumbotron and I think that would be phenomenal you get a Jumbotron scoreboard and a CTE computer Graphics class to run the video the graphics the replays and you access some of that facility the CTE facility grant money to fund Port portion of that and I know Daniel's out researching grants and things that might be able to fund some of that so there are there's a lot of pieces at play in this and a lot of parts of the puzzle that we're hoping to bring together but when we really look at local funding sources that we could easily say hey we can use this on the stadium we're really limited to what we have in fund 40 our RDA revenue or our cop proceeds from our 2020 cop so TK has a little more flexibility in using the funds we have on hand versus the stadium so one option and we've discussed this previously is a new cop that of course is non-voter approved debt it's issued at the direction of the local School Board now there's a process we have to go through to issue a cop and the timing of cops is essential in this so I'm going to pause here and talk a little bit about the timing um the majority of the cost of this project is construction and you heard Mike say construction is 15 to 18 months out so borrowing that sizable amount of money isn't necessary at this time that comes when construction comes um do we need some funds to complete design do we need some funds to get DSA approval do a squa environmental review of the property um soils testing yes but the big chunk of money comes when you put the shovel on the ground so to say Rick it comes at construction that's when the majority of the funding is going to be needed so back to this again a coop is non-voter approved debt you borrow against a known Revenue stream and that's what we do we borrow we're borrowing against that RDA money and I said earlier that RDA money is going to continue to flow to us for about another years till 20 is that am I doing the math right 26 years let me get my fingers out and count um so we've got we've got some years left of that RDA Revenue stream um and as at the direction of the board about almost two years ago we facilitated the assistance of a consultant who analyzes RDA for school districts that's what they do uh public economics Incorporated um and they analyzed our RDA Revenue stream back in 2020 for that cop and again in um 2020 three and the RDA revenues have been coming in above projections which is good news for us that gives us a little more cushion in that RDA Revenue Street Matt I got a question on Cops real quick yeah um so you mentioned that the money shouldn't be needed until we break ground yes but how long first off how long does it take to get this cop certificates and then once wouldn't the contractor or the construction company want the money in the bank before we break ground and make sure that we can pay as the project moves forward I mean that's R I'm gonna take the first one and Mike may talk about what the contractors expect is that what you're gonna talk about Mike oh DSA okay thank you I'll I'll I'll mention I'll speak that into the mic so uh Rick to get a cop I'm talking with Mr Kim our financial adviser from Piper he was Tim card's partner over the years and Tim has since retired um JY talks about the process typically taking three to four months so it's a fairly short process but there are some steps you have to go through um we have to we have to inform the county superintendent schools office that we're issuing non-voter approved debt and they can they can issue an opinion they can't necessarily stop us from doing it uh but what Mike said to your second question um if we're going to access if we're going to go out to say that again Mike so I get it right okay if we're going to execute contracts so at the end of the bidding process when we execute contracts um the contractor the state the the responsible parties the people that oversee us are going to expect that we have the money in the bank so probably um four to five months prior to um anticipating the opening of the B um we would want to start that cop process so that's probably I'd say 12 months out and is there a limit on the amount that can be borrowed on the on the non- voter approved debt the the limit that we can do on a cop Rick I'm I'm not aware of a statutory limit on a cop but your borrowing ability is limited by your ability to repay we had aaly we did unfortunately Financial Times in the state of California have changed but we're healthy but we still need to pay very close attention to our operating budget well I guess my question is um on the cop for phase one can we borrow that amount to begin phase one which was 34 million 34 million because we're only at hold me if I look at this we're only at three or four million right ready right now right let me there's there's a couple more slid eventually maybe I jumped ahead you know kind of sort of I'll get there Rick but if I don't answer that question specifically um remind me but I do have some information in the following slides where I think we'll talk about that concept okay great my question is if you let's say you went out and and borrowed the maximum you could possibly borrow um is it going to impact our general funds give me a couple more slides Miss oakar and I will absolutely address that all right us just a step ahead of you man that's okay you're you're you're you're thinking great questions I I appreciate the questions um so a quick review we do have a 2020 cop our debt service of course is reported I've mentioned that there currently is no impact to the unrestricted general fund which is our fund 01 our operating fund it's all over in fund 40 our Capital facilities fund if we issue a new new cop you basically have two choices when you issue a new cop do we issue A new cop and limit ourselves to the remainder of our RDA Revenue stream or a portion of that RDA re Revenue stream or do we issue a cop that impacts the unrestricted general fund now when we talk to the county superintendent of schools they're going to assume that the entire Debt Service is paid through the unrestricted general fund because that is the worst case scenario for us if the RDA Revenue stream if there's legislation that changes that and that funding stream dries up our general fund has to be able to support the debt service so they're going to critique US based on that assumption so a scenario if we issued a cop for $17 million that is the maximum amount that we would be able to issue with no impact to the unrestricted general fund JY Kim our financial advisor prepared those numbers now keep in mind the caveat here 17 million there are some costs of issuance so we don't get all 17 million we get about 15 and a half so but we're paying debt on a $17 million mortgage for 30 years plus so that's a scenario no impact to the unrestricted general fund now if earlier I talked about this particular project and phasing it you know we're in construction um conceptual design we we're not to construction documents or DSA but imagine if we move forward forward with a cop to not only supplement our TK program and provide funding to get us to DSA that takes care of the next 12 months and then at that point we evaluate our district Financial circumstances the state's Financial circumstances um we also are exploring the possibility of a general obligation bond in the November 24 ballot will have that information at that point so there's a lot of things at play but that is a scenario another scenario if we wanted to borrow 30 million to supplement the funds we have on hand to complete both our transitional K and get this Stadium off the ground again Mr Kim produced these projections The Debt Service would impact the unrestricted general fund right right under $900,000 a year for 30 years per year it's a 30-year mortgage no the 8 870 till 20525 [Music] I another scenario borrow 40 million number gets much bigger on the annual Debt Service because when you get into those borrowing amounts you're going to pay higher interest rates so you pay quite a quite a bit more interest uh when you cross that $39 million threshold again these numbers were prepared by our financial adviser um these are numbers that I shared back in March I wanted to bring those back um borrowing money is expensive um interest rates are high right now perhaps 12 months from now they're down a little bit there is talk no these would be certificates of participation and they're essentially bonds some of them are they're they're issued at different interest rates uh depending on the market um but again interest rates there's talk that the feds May hopefully be reducing some interest rates in the near future maybe that would help no Dennis ah you know ouch so glad to see you so for discussion we have some discussions if questions we have an option to issue a cop to get to keep this project going to get it into design to get it into construction documents to get it to DSA for approval we are going to need a little funding a few slides ago I mentioned that 17 million is kind of a cap we won't need that much we have some funds on hand for TK we have some funds on hand to to do TK in the stadium say maybe a CO op in the neighborhood anywhere from 5 to n million enhanced by the funds we have on hand it gets us our transitional kindergarten and gets us this project moving forward into continuing in design continuing into construction documents Environmental Studies soil surveys and gets us to DSA where at that point then or up to that point we come back here and we talk about okay we're going to have more information at that time so you're saying go out for cops about n b 9 million now to get the project off the ground to keep it going absolutely and to do our transitional kindergarten classrooms and then when we get to further down than we would need to do a second round of cop yes how much and that second round I I I I wouldn't be able to answer that you know based on the projected budget but at that point we would have construction documents which would allow Mike and his team working with Scott and his team to really refine the budget and the and the cost estimates so I'm going to hesitate to say exactly what that cop would be for but we would have a much more refined number at that point to borrow as accurately as possible so I asked you last week when we had a brief discussion about this that I was going to ask your opinion on moving this forward I know that we're not making a decision today it's Thursday night at the regular board meeting when everybody's here um so that is your your opinion to move that first cop forward now for nine and then Rick I I think that would I think that would be an appropriate action in this instance to continue to to fund to use some funds in hand for our TK stadium and to borrow um I'd refine it working with our financial advisor to borrow somewhere in the neighborhood I said between five and N9 million to enhance the funding we have to keep this project going so Scott and his team produce the construction documents Mike and his team can continue can continue to work on that constructibility review and make sure everything um can be built as designed refine those budget estimates and to get this project into DSA for approval and at that point with DSA approval or even prior to DSA approval will have more information related to any possible local General obligation Bond we may or may not put on the ballot and how our community supports supports Apple Valley Unified um we'll have hopefully lower interest rates so maybe we'll get more money for Less Debt Service so we'll have a little more information at that point but that would be um my recommendation okay how how long do it take to get DSA [Music] approval no that's okay no you're you're good there starta [Music] on the side about months okay from time we sub I mean every time you did with the state I I didn't want it hopefully the answer wasn't going to be you know it could hold the thing up for a year or two because they can't get it and and I'll I'll speak that into the microphone Scott thank you you know with DSA there their workload does depend and and it can be I think Scott said he would anticipate probably six months but in that DSA approval process Rick there is um when we uh when Scott and his team would initially submit the plans and we have a couple things to think about at that point you know are we submitting the whole thing and getting the whole thing DSA approved and then phasing the construction because once you have the DSA approval how many years do you have four years to construct so if we have the whole thing approved and we phase construction you we we have to pay attention to that four-year deadline um however we also have the opportunity if we don't make that four-year deadline to get through all the phases of construction we do have the opportunity to resubmit um there might be building code changes there might be Ada access path of travel adjustments that we'd have to bring everything up but there is a way to do that did that answer your question RI yes it does thank most important we remember we're not a bank we're a school district our job is to service the kids you can save money all you want but we got to take care of look at all the kids didn't graduated gr didn't have a stadium it's just time how long did you teach there Dennis forever from 99 [Music] till yeah yeah one with the oh oh my gosh I have green on my slide don't I I gotta I gotta work on that now now I have a question I have a question for you Mr schenberg if uh we of course we're not making a decision today because we have to wait till uh Thursday uh to have further questions because the other uh trustee might have further questions to ask uh but if we should decide to um to submit all the three phases for DSA approval will it cost us anymore or should we uh I'm just thinking of what you would suggest we would would do that is that will expedite the process because what one of the things that I'm kind of worried about is that we submit just phase one and then we are in the process of phase one now DSA is bugged down and we're about to submit phase two but now we are now being held hostage for another 12 months because they can't come to our paper at that time so the question is if we submit all of them the same time and then just know that we have a window of four years to complete the task or sooner we no longer have to go back to DSA we just have to continue plugging along that's correct I I would recommend we submit all the phases to DSA for approval and then we build as we as funding becomes available depending on what we determine at that point um and then um then we are not tied to DSA for phase two phase three we have them approved we can construct now if we make major adjustments say we get into phase one and we say oh gosh we're going to have to talk about redesign this a little bit well that's on us that's our own alteration to the plans and maybe we go back to DSA for any adjustments but but that would be our decision not theirs does that make sense yes but yes I would absolutely recommend we submit the entire project at at one package so I'm assuming that this rendering that we have seen today because this the first time I'm seing the the the beautiful colors the salmon um um you know that the staff and the students all participated in the in the in the design right so that there's no bias remorse at the end of of this right well part of the part of the process we had we had some programming meetings we had a large group group initially at Granite Hills High School we involved members of the football coaching staff athletic trainer um former coach principal athletic director um it was quite a large group and Scott and his team kind of took that information and we we paired it down um we've had follow-up meetings with Mr rencon and Mr Powell had a had a few of those regarding the design and I know Mr Ren con has involved Mr Gonzalez um in reviewing uh the Concepts as we've worked through um the one aspect uh Miss Oar that we haven't had we did not have any students um but we certainly can at any point um uh Adam and Daniel we could share with maybe The Advisory Group superintendent advisory over at Granite um maybe maybe that's maybe that's something we can do in the fall with hey here's what we've got um so I'd have to talk with Scott about timing in terms of construction documents but the staff is particularly the uh football coaching staff soccer um and Mr Gonzalez is also the track and field coach so he's kind of football in track um and a retired track coach Mr Sloter was there to give his his input so we have had input from the folks that will be the primary users of this facility all right I do hear you saying is going to take for the class of 2027 I if if all everything falls in place is it possible to have it before the class of 2027 unfortunately I look at Mike and I he Mike and Scott are the experts in construction design construction in these facilities it's not me this I don't do this for a living U Mike does um and ing this project for the fall of 2026 is if everything goes to plan so that would be seniors in the fall of 26 they graduate in 27 that's if everything goes to plan in my experience with construction you always have little hiccups little speed bumps but I think Mike in his schedule and Scott in his schedule have built some time in there for some of those minor speed bumps um so I would hope that we have some of those we'd still be able to meet that timeline but any sooner than that I wouldn't be able to say that we'd be able that we'd be able to complete it sooner okay thank you well I think Matt that the option that we just discussed with pulling this the bonds now is going to FasTrack because we're we're not postponing anymore we're moving it right for we're going to be committed on the day that we pulled a 9 mil five to 9 million and get it to two gentle sitting here to get this project started to get it designed and through DSA absolutely yeah so I mean we'll talk about it more on Thursday but I mean my opinion need to pull the trigger all right any other questions Mike SC the 9 million um that as you're talking about using um local funds that that leaves sufficient funds in fund 40 and fund 25 and so on it would leave some funds in those accounts yes to deal with small emergency projects that may pop up you know an expensive leaky roof an expensive HVAC unit something that our routine restricted maintenance budget um might not cover um but again before we take action on any borrowing again that five to n million is a range I would work very closely with our financial adviser to establish an appropriate level of funding I would talk with Scott and Mike to see how much funding we would need to ensure that we get through construction document design and and DSA approval uh to support their teams in their work and of course before we pull that trigger I would come back to the board and and let us all know what exactly the plan is and then of course the board would have to take formal action on any cop so you would have all the information um and and again I could I could bring the updated balances or the the conceptuals about what we'll have in fund 40 what we'll have in developers fees what we'll have in elop moving forward utilizing some of those funds I can package that all together prior to the board taking action thank you any other question any other questions for Mike or Scott myself com thank you so much thank you very much thank you okay we go on to H board comments Mr Bender it's so good to see you welcome back welcome back be back any comment for Mr RC I just want to say again thank you thank you Mr schulenberg and all all the work that's been done um very very uh informative and I think really gives us the information that we need to move forward so appreciate all your time Mr Raleigh uh just briefly I'd like to thank everybody showing up here and I wanted to give some kudos to Chris Watkins here he actually actually came to me about a year ago walking in front of my house with his dog saying hey you're on the school board right I said yeah you know I am and you know we need a stadium and I had talked to Dennis about it later on and he's like yeah man we gotta we got to push this forward so that's kind of what got the ball rolling here and uh it's it's obvious that everybody's committed to this and I think that ' been buying property for 10 years yeah it's going to happen happen so this just didn't happen tonight appreciate everybody appreciate all the hard work that staff has done and uh booster clubs showing interest the coaches join up everybody thank you thank you so much um I'm going to concur with Mr Ry and the rest of my partners up here uh gry Hills deserve deserves a stadium and um it is time for us to um get really serious about it and not just talking about it we agreed that we're going to get this going I'm hoping that we stay the course and do what we are supposed to do and um and uh make sure that our children have a way to walk across a stage that is on their campus um TK is a requirement we must meet the standard or the expectation that the government has put in front of us so those two things are very important to us I am imploring imploring all of you that could come to be here next Thursday or this coming Thursday because that's when the robber is going to begin to meet the road and uh hopefully um we'll hear what what we have to offer uh today is just information and we couldn't make a decision because one of the trustees is out on um and an assignment so we couldn't make that decision we made a concession so that we'll hear from these um experts and then um Thursday we will hopefully um make a decision thank you so much for coming and uh the superintendent G yeah and and as Miss okara said just a few minutes ago another board meeting happens um this Thursday so today is Tuesday not tomorrow but the following day our normal time five is when we um uh start the meeting public session then go into close session to deal with the close session agenda and then we come back at 7 no earlier than seven can we come back out there's a variety of things on the agenda you can see it it's posted um including a discussion action item on this um particular topic I will say this again on Thursday night um we will be recognizing our retirees that evening um but as mentioned U Mr schulenberg mentioned a Geo Bond a a general obligation Bond um we are in the process right now um for any of you who have paid attention to the board agendas we are working with Eric Hollen Associates to have a facilities needs assessment and master plan for this District um which was sorely needed within the district it it um evaluated every one of our properties um Pie in the Sky of things that we would love to have versus is the must have the needs and the updates um many of you I think unique to this District our managers our staff live in the community and so under my name as the superintendent there is currently a survey out and again you'll be if you're in the audience again Thursday night you're going to hear this but the survey is out right now um regarding a general obligation Bond and all the survey is doing is to see where the community is in supporting um any kind of facilities Bond support for this um school district and so while there's no decision made um that's out there so if you hear it it helps to have the community um even a small audience a large audience anybody who is hearing that that survey is out there um recommend that they at least answer it honestly um because that's how we make the decision as to whether it's even worth going forward or not um the real work begins in several months if in fact fact the survey comes out that way I also appreciate the fact that the board took a pause on this um at the March 7th board meeting it was a lot of information it was extremely technical um just the the things that have come out um through reorganizing this and and setting up a a special board meeting so I appreciate the board being here and taking the time um to hear this I appreciate um Mike and Scott and Matt um who is taken the the major work on this of putting this together and and answering all of my questions as well as um things that I anticipated might be questions of others just for transparency purposes and um so I just I want to go um with a a major thank you for the time commitment and and um the opportunity to make sure that we have the information before the action item is placed next board meeting thank you thank you very much do we have any future items I know that next um next month we are going to be having appreciations um and uh recognitions longevity recognitions I would like to get the list so that I know where to pop up for the recognitions for the longevities she got maybe it may have come out to see you have the names of the people the people I I don't have yeah that's what I'm looking for I know the school sites we don't have until we get there I'll be at the school sites I plan to be in some of the school sites um uh there being no further business to come before the Board of Trustees it is recommended that the meeting be adj Jed I need a motion move all in favor meeting is adjourned for

agreement are not the city's responsibility according to a separate operations and maintenance agreement okay if that makes sense and that's it they're just basically restating the city is not responsible for maintenance okay for any of the passes or just the one that's on just this one oh okay we've never s m. approval and we still never um for any of the other underpasses okay is doing multiple right no the project is just doing hereon and it's because we need lane closures that's why M that is involved so for the entire from from June 10th until probably the middle of July from 3: to 5:00 p.m.

I will messing up your traffic what Monday through Friday every day just just until the fascia beam is restored and painted and then on when we start the wing walls um we won't need the Lan closes June 10th is our hopeful start date for uh Northstar um there were some wires that go under the underpass that I recently had to investigate um oh yeah so here's the design so the welcome messaging will be on the left or on the on this facade only and um that's awesome Mary y it would be colorful yeah cheerful we're going to add some like CR mantis or something I I feel like it needs more insects yes more like findy findy things you know um Larry and Lucy were very much uh um behind the design and um you know that's challenging I'm excited cuz I'm I was worried about the the weather and the the the timeline and I'm like it's getting warmer it's getting yeah I know I think of people I was really impressed with Northstar when I met with them um they had to create um containment tarps that were custom for the train bridge because any work that they do has to collect the debris you know so that no and nothing can be done while cars are you know can't the work can't be done while cars are going so the lane closures have to be very strategic with where the work is so it's it's going to be pretty detail what's what's like the timeline what would when would you start how long would your day be well we're only able to close the road from 9: to 3: okay that's and that requirements and that's to avoid rush hour so the it's going to have a solar powered arrow and a B I don't know I I trust me this is like making my head hurt that I have to have a hard hat you know and all this stuff yeah um 9 to three for the facial beam but then we can be working on the wing walls anytime okay the um the sidewalks will be closed one at a time as well that is going to be a little tricky so I'm working with the Lis right now to make sure that they residents have access to safely get around and yeah which is important I'm going to have a community liaison every day that we're working to um to be able to this is a volunteer thing I'm working on right now so that any questions or people coming up or you anybody wanting to know about the project or just wanting to can talk to them smart yes because that's of the when you do public art and you're out there you get a lot of interruptions and that's fine you know sometimes we welcome it but I think for something this strategic and for safety every day that we're we're that we're painting we'll have a volunteer so all of you are welcome to um come down sit out there with some yeah you but we're going to have we'll have we'll have drinks and snacks and things our own stories like can we make St yes form so um yeah it's the Calm before the storm that's a big one that's a great entry to the city and the welcome is going into the City and the one without the welcome is is leaving the city it's it's it's a it's a Gateway piece the city has always wanted Gateway pieces that were identified as that this is a dramatic using public art it's it's it's very nice well done it would be helpful we are about 15,000 shy right now of our of our budget because Northstar added another 15K and the only money coming from mot the city is not no no money from Watco mot or the city this is all privately funded the nans are doing they're they're the Lion Share but then raised about 45,000 from quite a few other and you still have 15 to go mhm anybody out there if you need if you want to contribute that would be amazing amazing couldn't we do that couldn't we put something on the Kanas City or you know help them out to promote no but we could we can you know the volunteers that are down there while we're painting how much is it still the deficit is 15,000 that's cuz there were so many hidden costs um associated with this project there's so many layers would creative Wasa like post a link or something like that to contribute I can ask that our train is our fiscal sponsor okay if they would maybe donate the 7% that they taken off the top then we'd be fine you're so good well I applaud you yeah thanks everybody appreciate your support but I'm thinking on the um campus there are the art initiative thing and if you could invite some of the students actually active into you know working with you maybe they can contribute so great idea yeah I know yeah because Arts they it's under they want to do more public art I know that they do and yeah there's a lot of inexperience there interesting do you have any connections we can talk about after the meeting let me see the possib it's not a bad idea I'm more than happy to Mentor three to five year students through the process that yeah that would be amazing you're welcome participants right and not only the volunteers I mean someone could work with you um they are student artist this project is is so heavily liable um that they have to be they have to be insured under my workman's comp so I they have to be vetted and professional artists but if we were um able to work with the university I think that could be something we can agree on yeah is that only the case for this particular project so future future initiatives could you think about working with students from from the University definitely yeah yes yeah I think that would be great we um this project was slated for 2023 and so we did a kickoff public art program with 15 youth last summer a year ago we did the captain street underpasses so that was a mentorship program that was tied into this whole murals that Bridge Project okay so yeah it's absolutely part of the model mhm I think um including students in the whole process is important because we get so many people who come to our meetings and are like I want to do a mail it's like okay you got in the permit have you thought about this you know and they don't just don't think about the big picture of what goes into making that happen this is a colossal Beast of a project to learn about but all of them have things loopholes you got to right yeah ties into your um public art class you're talking about here John yeah should we move on to the special presentations John do you want to talk about your I guess your WR up as our special pres sure sure uh well I just wanted to to get these ideas out and to think about them um the um I mean the first one is the percent for art and and uh this isn't to suggest that this is easy this is going to be next to Impossible because of all the past challenges um the good news is uh that the ordinance is still in place never was removed it was just deactivated so it was just small little language put in the set aside was changed will not set aside but everything else that's needed for perent for uh program in the city is included um the other thing is Su M kic uh that she she was uh here and she was she did you work for her yes okay so um and um hoopie was her assistant or worked for worked under her so Suma coric uh she's absolutely brilliant um that um so she took an ambitious group of folks that came over from from really doing some super work in the city raising their own money and she helped Shepherd them into this particular program percent for art is is a unique program it's mainly for large cities and it was started to fund um the uh the mall in Washington DC so a a concept of of paying artists to help build buildings this was a federal program to start with and the National Mall to build all of those buildings that we see on the National Mall it allowed to spend more money than just simple buildings put really awesome buildings together this expanded into Philadelphia in the ' 50s and they did a mural program so they brought people that were um damaging buildings with graffiti that were put in prison training them how to do murals and putting them and so a miral program in Philadelphia in the ' 50s it was percent for art it took a part of and it's the concept that really attracts me and attracts most people if you really think about it every single project any big project you know I had a remodel in a house there was always a contingency fund stuff happens usually it's about 10% so this city does the same thing so if they fund something for $50 million you know there's a $5 million contingency and it's 10% so this program says well what if you put that contingency and shaved off 1% of it and literally set it aside for artwork and um that and the idea is as you build your physical infrastructure you build your cultural infrastructure so Ci's really grabbed a hold of this idea and uh from the National Mall to Philadelphia it just sort of kind of spread mly large cities that were able to have a support structure so a staffing M um and Seattle became the gold standard so uh I mean if you go to Seattle there's artwork everywhere and uh they have a huge uh percent for our program and it's very much connected to with their design review board so any any kind of improvement in the design is attached to this body that that has this money that's kind of set aside uh and uh so they took that concept sua coric said that's cool we can do it in an arbor because it's a smaller town and we can have you know a more control over it I mean in in Seattle they took all of the bus stops the train coming from the what's it CAC I think is the subway coming in every stop identifies the community with this just brilliant cluster of artwork um so all is good except uh there's a caveat is that most of the construction in a city like an arbor is grade level and Below 50 to 60% and those projects are funded usually by millages both so there were people at the time this was was put in place 2008 it was also at a time when we had our first black president and we had a tea party that said the hell is all this big government spending you know so these sort of influences came about and it was a uncomfortable focus on what and at the same time as you recall General Motors filed bankruptcy uh fizer left town there was a million dooll gap that we were laying police officers and firemen off and the art commission um I wasn't I was on at the tail end of it and at the that there was over $3 million that accumulated so at a normal year the city spends about $50 million that's $500,000 that's set aside for artwork in good years which when they built this building it was like $8 $900,000 but this group this art commission they didn't want anybody to tell them what art work they were the pickers they had the money and by gosh they're going to select the artwork and it just they weren't able to agree and consequently they ended up into this problem where they were laying City Safety officers off and they had $3 million that this body was on to stand when I came on the board I talked to it was John he at the time the mayor I said well Mr Mayor what what do you what can you suggest how would you what can I help he said buy art buy art buy art put art out go to a gallery buy something please John do something but if you do not I can't hold these folks back and that's exactly what happened so I said the mayor says that we need to get art out there well you know we got to make sure that it's the right kind of art and like so this just kind of Spun down so the problem is and then there was the legal challenge people were saying that this was voted on by residents and I don't see anything in the uh the resolution put to the to the vote about artwork so how do you uh claim that artart is an expensive expense of a construction project Su cormic knew how to do that you know the challenge was that you could not include maintenance or management for the art so selecting artwork could not she figured out a way to have the construction budget actually pay for the materials pay for the artists PID for all that but it she had to juggle and she was able to do that is to take you know a certain percent of this so the dry cidal you know there was Road set aside there was water set aside there was all of these different uh construction projects that were set aside it had to be within a proximity of the building so we were putting in artwork you front and as long as you know it's not really artwork it's a rainard well okay you know it's well it's you know it has to do with education it has to do so she knew how to do all of this and when she left nobody did no I mean people just said it's our budget it's our money we want to do with what we want and you can't do that so I think it's an elegant program an arbor is the perfect size we have all of the talent and now we have kind of the person that spent a lot of time she surveyed I think over 50 or 60 communities let me just she may not want to do it well she's just interim so it's just filling in temporarily until they refill the Public Services administrator job again and then we also still want to remember that that we're not doing it the same way John but it's somewhat similar because the CIP still allows all projects to still have that percentage set aside within their budgets and in all actuality right now we're having a lot of people focus on projects that need to start in the city um and I think it's the different way that we are doing the CIP this year because we do have a program that allows us to set it aside people can see the amount that's set aside they are actually have a program that they're using now um so I say that just to say that I know staff is very excited which is why we're seeing a lot of things happen right now and things moving now because as this as the list begins to reach whether it's engineering whether it's water um folks are starting to reach out more which is part of the reason why we're getting more and more people come to the art commission and say this is what I have are you all interested and this is what we're working on because some of them have already identified what they want to do in particular areas um so we're still encouraging people so I don't I I I think we're still doing that um but I just want you to know Sue is just here for a small period of time if we'd like to use her knowledge to ask some questions and see if there's a different way that as the art commission we should be working or could be doing some things different maybe that's a meeting that we can set up to have a conversation with her and bring I think um asking for more money whether it goes directly to um like outside projects that are coming to us or someone on staff who can Shepherd these projects as they become more have more projects happening within the city um I think it's a goal that we should look at adding um I think it's something we've struggled with not having any budget whatsoever to do anything with um so CU we can't even support the city projects as they come on board you know it's like yeah Parks you figure it out you know and I feel sort of bad like you know we don't have anybody to Champion specifically for the public art commission so if you're looking at that um what we end up doing is having most of our manager project managers take on that responsibility and it would be a wonderful idea if we had did we have this we did have like you know we had like a person like Aaron um it's my feeling that somebody in that type of a um Arena would be able to help better understand who's doing what where because right now we don't really know what's coming up and most of the time I don't find out until they want to come to the commission which is great because everybody's doing that more and more but just as you said somebody to truly focus on what's in there what's listed for art looking at that on a regular we just don't have to talk yeah I feel like you're you're the cut show on that's not there yeah I can't do it I mean I love to but and and and I'm excited that getting a lot of staff that reach out but we could do so much more if we could invest some time there doing that right so I mean how do we fund the parttime position whether it's through some of this you know additional Village I don't know what what that looks like or if it's there is a percent on top of what we're already asking on a CIP that's for that or yeah yeah and maybe Su would know Bas cuz I'm not ingrained in the city to know what the um climate is of people thinking about the budget and where that money could come from without it being super tulous yeah I think what what what V is saying and and I agree I got this up just because I I think this it was so unique and and and it just failed famously and created an enormous amount of bad will that to redeem this in some fashion to be able to say it was the idea but it didn't work for these reasons and this really is the way in which the art commission could function because to be frank about it I don't think that we really are accomplishing much and uh that uh that it's nice that we can try to inspire uh but at the very least and I'm not suggesting that having somebody like an Aaron would solve the problems I don't think that it would frankly but it has to be the art commission I think needs to be reimagined this might be a good opportunity to have Suma cormic think about it and it doesn't have to all be physical infrastructure but that's how the percent ran and that's why Vita is now doing this I mean this could easily be the prod you know I mean it could be run out of the parks and about a whole lot of other things it has to be this and that's fine I'm just so I put this together to be able to say maybe this is an opportunity to reink the out commmission and what our role could be and how we could be more effective and how we could um what we could do so that's that's that yeah and where we go from that is my next idea thank you John before we move on because that I I really like that idea of having a conversation with Su um to talk about how how how we might be more effective since she's had that history so I I think scheduling something early on for us to have that conversation and consultation will be great yep let me know I can check her I'll have a conversation with her and check her calendar and maybe I I'm not sure we be the whole commission so if we've got folks who want to raise their hands to participate oneon-one and want to have some input I do because you know what I want to know I want to know what happened to dry cyle personally how could such a brilliant project by a brilliant artist turn so bad be so broken pardon me so broken I don't know if it's broken the point is it it's not pumping water as it is designed to not pump water and that was the mistake people thought it was a fountain it's not it doesn't it has nothing to do with flowing water has to do with the idea that sometimes there's a lot of water sometimes there's no water and but that's my just my personal mission to be able to do that with Su so I'll volunteer to be on any committee any meeting if I can be allowed to ask her that what happened to dry well I would say at least one person from the CIP you can do it if you want or I can but yeah yeah doesn't matter so are we in the open discussion part of our strategic plan yes um I have an idea that's not percent for art related um to approach Larry and Lucy misson for a annual $30,000 Grant and we do a similar art prize kind of thing we have locations submit proposals we would love some art here and then we put out a call artists get met up with that location and we do so we would be managing the location the site access but also the artist access so that and they would all be City would all be city property Arts going through you your organization no no no through the art commission that we as a that we would our charge would now become running a annual prise type of it so it doesn't even to be exactly like that but I'm just thinking if we had a cash infusion of $25 to $50,000 a year um if we as a commission put together a proposal and approached um Lucy and Larry nisson um as an annual contributor and we designed some way that locations could be Parks could be City entities it could be tied into the CIP it could be um but they would apply and then that would go out as an RFP to artists um within that there would be maybe some mentorship built in each project has to work with a Youth Organization or partner with a nonprofit in order to actualize your project um it could be a partnership with the UN so then we could potentially find match funding um and we could then potentially work with nonprofits to come up with the match funding through their status so I I feel like it could grow um and with some seed money I know that Larry and Lucy want to give philanthropically to the Arts every year moving forward and I think we they're incredibly generous and they they want to see this body do something um and that's why they were at our meeting last week and that's why they continually want to fund things and work you know so how would the funding go to like one winning artist or yes yes it would cover the project and that project would stay here in that place yep it would be a permanent installation it would be part of the city's collection um if it was a mural then it would have a maintenance budget and maybe a 10year lifespan you know and then the new project could come in if it was a sculpture maybe and I don't know if that I don't think it's an event I don't think it's um you know a FES of fools type thing I think it's physical public art in partnership with youth artists nonprofits and the City of an arbor great idea I I work with Larry and Lucy they love art prise so I without a doubt I think that they might want to be the Picker they might want to select the artwork and exchange for not necessarily that's not necessarily but we I think they want to see their money go to beautifying and creating positivity in our community I mean their mission is to to love to sprad love through ART have that talk to them I yeah I mean I would like to put together a formal and invite them to come to one of our meetings you know and put something in front of them and really the only thing is their money would have to be tax deductible so how do we is it the an Community Foundation yes that we then work with to that's what the city does right yes okay new the foundation and we have an account there a public commission account there like is an endowment account so can't fun all the money directly through it well they at least know who we are they' set up something for us they could set up a Lucy and and Larry Miss feel like they already have something there they do they do yeah sorry and when that one might function better for this but I would love to see youth applying for Grants I mean they have some of the best ideas but they need the mentorship of professional artists we have an amazing community of nonprofits in wash County that um serve beyond their capacity all the time I think I think it would be a great way to get city entities involved and um excited about public art too I mean and sort of understanding the processes that go into inst installing or having public art within their space and you know once they've had it there they're going to want more of it right so it could benefit everybody Mary could could you think about how you would structure if we invited them here you know love to have a conversation and then what's the ask is there some you know like this is what we would like you to do Larry and in exchange this is how it would work and I think you would be you have your head into that how it could how it could work if you could like put something on paper sure I'll I'll I can Workshop it a little bit and then and and invite them here and uh because I think it's great they're good people they love the city they have a lot of money and um you know they gave an enormous amount to the art center just you know from the thing and whatever is well they're yes and they're funding their public art staff and that entire program that they is funded through their Foundation right and they're both artists Y and uh they're good people they I like them so I think everyone would I mean that would we'd have we'd be working we'd be doing more things you know as a commission but I feel like we'd have substantial purpose and we all have connections in the nonprofit sphere we have connections to Youth and um professional artists I think it could be a win win good um City would have to be involved I was going to say Year we We we'd be going all the way down the Legal Trail for sure um because there might be somewhat of a conflict there but they'd be able to take us down there and see what they need it seems like Parks is probably doing that on a regular basis the water tower the Water Treatment Center project had to deal with City legal and I mean we even flew in an artist from Mexico I mean any installation of art has to go through theal Department this is developing a relationship with a personal relationship um that might be a little bit different they don't have a um yeah we'd have to look at a whole bunch of different things for that but it's something that may seem like it's I I understand the concept but I can't really comment on how we would do that I think it's an exciting initiative we should have to our plan m y yep it's a yeah it's a goal yep might take a little while to figure out all the details follow there's also a few different banks that gave to the murals at Bridge Project that could be encouraged maybe to gift annually if this was something that was tipping off you know I mean this might be something you know while Sue is here this might be just a question to ask her um if this is something that the commission is interested in doing we do have you know a philanthropist who's very interested in wanting to see more public art so maybe we should tug her ear on something like this I mean it's it's big enough and it could be big enough where where would you like it to go and what would that look like she might be able to have some input on that mm yeah I mean my biggest concern is it seems like whenever we talk about bringing art that's already made into the city it's figuring out how it's safely installed in a way that doesn't cost the city a whole bunch of money cu the engineers are very specific I speaking specifically with sculptures about how it's installed so that it doesn't tip over or hurt anybody and usually that costs tens of thousands of dollars you know obviously this would be a temporary thing if they don't win so maybe there's different standards for a temporary thing but I know when we did the canoe imagine projects I mean they were installed for longevity even though it was a temporary project and it was expensive to do that um and so it ended up being an idea that was like oh we're just going to give the artist so much money and that's what the costs are going to be and then the city he incurred a whole bunch of costs to make them safe installed so kind of planning all that in would be important and maybe it's if you're a host you figure it out is that what I thought it was to be a competition and the winner got the big money to actually build the artwork they're proposing is that what you were thinking or were you thinking that say artist bring your art here and you know we will one of those folks will be had a purchase Award of $330,000 is that what you're imagining like art prize just like I don't know art prize yeah maybe I shouldn't have used that as a model because I think it would be very different I mean art prize is at the expense of each individual artist until they win so you have a m in another words yeah so take priz model out of it I I see this more as a call for entries but we would have we would allow sites to apply to have the art put there if that makes sense so maybe it's a um it could be a restaurant downtown with a courtyard what display our drawings and my cats and small models or the artwork itself do you imagine is that what you're imagining I don't understand it I don't think she's suggesting will display anything it's a call and then once it's selected then the artwork I and I had understood it as more of art like we get a bunch of you get to see them all and then they leave which has it all okay yeah let's back that up I I think I I think I was more excited about the hype that it brings and the annual yeah but not not a not a voting model it would be we could design the hype though I me and Allison could design hype I mean that's to do so uh I think the the thing about art prize and you're exactly right it is at the expense of the artist um so I don't love that right but it does bring art into a space temporarily and then when it leaves that space that venue or that City whatever feels sad that they don't have the art anymore and it would be a way of getting lots of different city departments or buildings or whatever excited about the possibility of having art in their space and if they didn't get the winning bid then they might be more inclined to do projects moving forward so it could build that Goodwill amongst the city and amongst people in the community that we've been trying to do if they were actually bringing the work here I don't know how you do it without well there documents you know if an artist is going to submit they there are documents and that's where I mean it's drawings and you know yeah I don't know it has the same impact as having a sculpture exactly it's not the same impact but you know it it wouldn't be quite as expensive and and that I mean the finalist we had you know big projects we had three finalists they came to town and they had a slide presentation everyone had a matat they had examples of what they were doing so that was physical and everyone wanted their monat you know surprisingly because it's just a small model of this huge sort of thing so I think there's a way to do it but I think you should also be involved in the meeting with Su MMI and I think our chair should definitely be M to be there uh and marionetta I do know also excuse me John that the DDA is revamping some of their art ideas um so they might be a good link to start to communicate with a little bit more um they're in the city bubble but they're not in the city bubble but they're they're developing their own art ideas and maybe in public yep to connect with the city um something new that they're starting so they're just getting that off the ground so that might be another Avenue that we might be able to look at within the DDA is that is that like a committee within the DDA that has regular meetings that we should be going to or I don't know I think they're just developing it now I think they have two or three people who are just meeting so I only caught the tail end of an initial presentation that they provided us um where they want to say we want more art within the DDA boundaries and how do we do that we're sort of somewhat going to mirror what the city has and kind of dub tail off of what the city has so that we can collaborate a little bit more okay um so it's coming I I don't know exactly where they are just yet but I know that they're thinking about doing been giving them suggestions on where they can include our for why C exactly were those the meetings at the library a few weeks ago there was like remember we discussed at the last meeting oh orinary planning meeting what was that all about I didn't go but I think they were more General than and maybe that's part of it either yeah not sure can I just add a little history to this body came out of a committee of the DDA the committee the DDA wanted to build the parking struction on forth and Washington and they wanted artwork on that they formed a committee to make that artwork that committee Ray D was on that committee evolved into a commission yes cap was of the city and cap involved in perent for art which is this body here I know where how I I think I 20 and a five for that the artwork that is now on is still on the structure mhm cap yeah remember that so so we have a connection in a history to the DDA they're trying to come back in and make another this is good let let them back in yeah um I mean they've never been separated but this is but yeah we should um if we know who the players are invite them to a meeting just to make Patrick I do we have room on our commission for any more we can make room there's always I will the commission to make room believe me I'm ready okay what going to be on call all the time 77 years old tired this I put these damn ideas out for 12 years we appreciate that yes I know you do kind to C back to public class which is right in your lady's lab I hope uh and it wasn't the mid 2000s I I'm 77 you see I mean Allison knows when it was was like 2015 when were you the vice chair 2000 um I think I I didn't actually come on as Vice I didn't I did these panel discussions before I was on Commission because I did the panel discussions when I worked for the Arts Alliance and I didn't join the commission till after I left there because I didn't want there to be a conflict um so it was like so I was doing those presentations in like 2012 2011 2012 okay so the public art claps you know I wish I could remember the name of the artist and I if I went through the roster I might be able to remember uh he was a young man and he exhibited all around he had really crazy ideas I loved him uh so and he designed a public art class and the class was about you know there's a big deal between Studio Art and public art and people just don't realize it you know studio art is brushes and and pencils and and public art is back holes and and and welders and all that sort of stuff so uh it's to introduce students to that concept and so um he came to me and said you know can you come to the class and talk about us of course I could but let's do something else let's make a practicum so uh the students for a semester uh took a call for art it was a mock call for art that I just put together and I just took it from Stadium Bridges the those glass panels I just took it and we took the class out to almond Dinger Park as well Mary thil talked about her project and what it went through and they were on a bus and so um they took this and they spent kind of the semester uh forming teams and each team would work kind of project and um they would um they you know they would discuss it they would research it they they would create an idea of sketch a budget a myat they would all come together and and we were in Chambers and uh we created a mock Review Committee so they all made presentations and the work was spectacular I mean the challenge was could it be done they didn't know we didn't know who cared it was a wonderful idea and that was really what it was about um and you know I thought some of this is worth trying for God's sakes um it was all televised and then we cut it up and presented it in social media so um uh they and and we gave them feedback you know well you know we think your budget here isn't going to really work and have you considered how you going what's the foundation here and this hasn't been thought through and what about that what material is this and have you thought about the maintenance but all these kinds of things that that if you were submitting for public part you you would need to do it so it was a trial run if you were putting this submission and um so if you could figure out someone over there that might like the idea and run with it I think it would be great for the um the turbine project the the canoe turbine one that was made by a university collab group like they actually did a project and P and did it I'm not sure if it was under an umbrella of a public art class or if it was a welding class or what it was but it'd be interesting to kind of look into that and see if there's some parallel was in in St Louis I think it was a it was out of school and a in a I don't remember the turbine project we probably have who it came from yeah I don't remember what university it was but they brought students here and they literally made it on site and I think how how how much did they get like $5,000 yeah something like that there was just no way it didn't cover their cost of making of those none of those projects said maybe the canoe project but none of the projects covered the cost oh no and uh Katherine widgery I think from Chicago that she had a piece that was already made she had her own canoes the canoe fan oh Victoria not Fuller yeah Fuller yes exactly yeah there's a reason why we bought that piece eventually cuz she never got paid enough money for and she she pushed until we really paid for her got that right we told to come and pick it up full circle and then she realized it would cost more to pick it up than any of them so that so that's a public art class and if you could follow up on it and you know I'd be more than happy to help and and and kind of presenting but there are a lot of other people here that could could do that we have we have a lot of stamps students that work with us through brush monkeys and that is one of the biggest complaints is that they didn't leave College knowing how to write a call for entries or um build a you know a presence in a way that would set them apart so that they could apply for these practical skills yeah sure so I think and they had talked about um a possible partnership with the business school to help them understand the business side so that could be built into well and you know talking about the Arts initiative they're all about connecting different parts of University and to the Arts and business school or even engineering school you know for foundations and what not it could be a really cool collaborative class and this would be worth having an art commission alone if this is the only thing that we did all year you know I classes I'm just wondering while you are talking about this public art class involving not only the University students but also the community people where will be the venue for the class inside the university yes the that class Penny stamps but the site of the artwork the community I it needs like a year to plan you submit the curriculum whatever so right exactly is it Mark Tucker teaching a similar class Lloyd Scholars he's with Lloyd Scholars and he's he's yeah he has the class the guy is he still there yes oh my God that's the guy the other thing is I think that if we identified some public events that we knew were coming up so we know that there's going to be a Bisal this year we can have a theme you know so we know that you know in the next year next two years there's going to be a project we know there's gonna be this art prize not art prize project going on uh we know there will be CIP projects there'll be B we do have another Bicentennial going through the school system that the city administrator wants to put in place as well so he's asking for some ideas on how the art commission would like to work with anaba Public Schools M so I haven't reached out yet to Peggy I was hoping that she'd be here and maybe have some ideas but he's looking to wants feedback from the commission on what could we do in the schools how could we put more art in the school we're looking at class classes that are within the school system um but yeah just in just to tie into the bicentennial or all the time tie for now to tie into the bicentennial but I was just suggesting that if we identified some project project then we could go to stamps stamps has at the sophomore level um they have a series of classes that all sophomore have to take that they call social spaces so the students are looking at art in the public realm or art working with nonprofits so um when I taught the class we worked at ipy with Growing Hope um and uh we did a project with the public Library here um so each instructor figures up figures out a project that the class works with small teams works on and if we had an idea of project a we could go and present to the teachers that will be teaching the social spaces classes and guard our interest and we could get a class to take on a project let me suggest a project the train station we're going to have a train station this City sooner or later there's going to be a train station in an arbor a big one a huge one what kind of public art would be connected with a train station well that's a very far off project unfortunately probably but what I do think that ties in exactly with what Mary was talking about you were talking about connecting with University or other nonprofits or whatever in this type of Hall that we were going to work on so that could be like so Parks decides they they want to bid for three different projects at these locations and they would partner with the class to do that I mean I think I think it all could fit very nicely together well isn't there a big budget for bus stops like they're going to redo all of those bus stops that's a brilliant idea that's on the CIP yeah right and there's an example in Seattle they did bus stops yeah so I mean all the CIP projects are potential projects when they are actually happening right I don't know but then these are also you know potential idea projects that could happen whenever right so that wants itself a package of projects right there so let me just Segway into that Alison panel discussions Allison was able so let me give a little background to this my you know before life Wasing television so I wanted to take our televised meetings and literally make a television show out of it so I created an introduction interviewed most people's to sort of who are you and what do you like about art and all that and there was a break and there was an so so it was a television production and I'm sure the guy in there saying oh please don't don't because it takes a lot of planning and you know so but I thought why not I was young and that was before I was 70 7 um probably 67 uh but um so that was the that was the idea and I thought we could get people to come and give a presentation and we would tell them you're not just speaking to seven or eight people you're speaking to like 150,000 potentially tell you know and so that was the charge that Allison was given uh find these people and she got people from all over the state uh to come here to an arbor and to give their stick in a in a panel discussion and we tried to ask smart questions and Allison had most of the smart questions and she gave them to us and we just read from a piece of paper I think as I recall but uh and then the public came and I loved it uh but it was a lot of work and you know I'm sure you got tired and so it only lasted for a year or so but there were several panels and we you know I mean at the yearend report we put it on that and everyone applauded and well that's really great yard commission you know and so and we had the print media saying you know there were these people that met at the city and gave us presentation with the win and all that sort of stuff so I think it would be great but I'm Alison is not 77 but she's tired and I'm sure she does not want to do this at all she will give you know like three paragraph description of how to do it and then you a rum and you got to go do it yourself so the point is I I really liked it I think they could and if anyone wants to resurrect the idea of turning our meetings into a television show a live television show think about it open it up with some freestyle oh yes exactly you have video inserts famous MC Rapp exactly so uh Jamal would like to take that on I'm sure uh more than any of them so that's that is that concludes um the ideas that I came up with that my wife thought was crazy so amazing ideas and suggestions I'm wondering do we also have other working groups reports M reports I think as far as planning goes um I would still love to see us working towards using the endowment funds for some sort of granting purpose what do we have to gift every year it grows every year we haven't done anything with it um I want to say it grows by like $2,000 a year but we haven't used it in can how can it be used I mean whates we changed what it could be used for about 3 years ago and we can create art we can maintain art we can do pretty much anything we want I think it was like $50,000 at the Community Foundation we could use the interest that came off of that which was about $55,000 a year I don't think we could touch the itself but we use that and it was pretty much what we wanted to when we were able to change well we got a $50,000 donation about 3 years ago when we did all that those changes I see um so that was on top of what was already in can you find out what our balances I mean I'm probably not on the account anymore if I am I shouldn't be cuz I'm not sure anymore can we take that 15,000 you're you're so nice yes I will so the reason we haven't as you all recall great the public prent went away because there was a lot of feelings about the commission doing whatever hell they wanted with the money and being the voters of what art got put in place so I I'm very cautionary about how we use those funds and make sure it's a very open transparent process that Barry could apply for and get for sure um but anyone would have the opportunity to apply or and get which is why I'm suggesting it's a granting process we have clear timelines and rules on how we're going to pick who gets the money um cuz the last time we took anything out was for an ad right in the Observer for the marting brush so it was just a marketing expense so could could we say set aside funds for you know like they have grants for like emergency funds for artists you know you've run into something so if there's an art project related that whatever team or a group was working on and they ran into some complications that that money could be used to fix things ient the thing is as you know people come to us asking for money for their projects whether it's a contingency or just materials all the time M and I don't want it to be the fact that okay we're ready to send the money next project that comes talks to us they get the money you know I I would prefer we have a timeline and we have rules and why we're and and it could be open to what whatever related to the project it could be that you've run into you need an extra $15,000 or it pays the artist or whatever I don't I mean I don't think when we you mean you should operate like an official uh sort of appointed commission from a municipality yes oh God especially because those dollars are a part of an ow which is also part of a foundation really like I totally you so how many of you familiar with the awesome Foundation I you are Jamal right yeah I mean that is a simar it's you show up you present your idea you have a onepage pro proposal these it's $1,000 like that was gold when we were at neutral zone all the teens were eating that up every year it was such I mean if we had if we knew we had ,000 a year we could create our own version of the awesome we need all the applications by July 1st we you know it's or whatever Spring by May 1st you know we need all the applications we as a committee vote you know maybe we bring in a couple of outside voices I don't know how we do that maybe our advisory committee but I mean that would be a really quick way I don't know what and then I think they give the money and then they're they're done with it they don't monitor they don't they're not Li we should ask for a report I think okay if you want to be in I remember um a friend of mine got it and was able to upgrade his videography equipment right you know it wasn't like it has to be it has to be Arts related but it could be for a festival it could be for I think as long as we can say it's somewhat related to public art right well what if you turned to go back to your television show idea what if you turned one meeting a year of the art Commission because the one time we got a lot of public commentary was the arpa funding right that's when we actually got people and that was of so we have one and that's when go over we do the vote or however if there presentations that happen during that meeting and then the vote Happens live at that meeting and you can all tune in they a town hall meeting and our friend in Mike in there you can do this at your facility so we all move to ctm and they're set up for a town hall meeting so we can invite people in and and make sure your idea and it's a it's a exactly whatever what's the reality TV show where people have an idea and they go and they Shark tankk Tank tank it could be like awesome Foundation beats Shark Tank kind of thing what's your an idea let's hear it is that what they jump on things in pools and they have to swm no John I don't know I do want to S them caus me to think about something about artists and and me that uh the public housing commission and I know this by serving on the uh the design review board they're building uh a a small apartment a building in Terry town on that little parking forth and Catherine forth and Catherine exactly and part of that is going to be designed for artists and so and at a reduced rate and they're going to have Studio space and gallery space in there and so um and they found the money uh so that maybe we could collaborate with them I mean and I'm you are and who's the who's the who's the direct of the power commission Jennifer what's her name her name is I'm getting confused because abalon is a part of it Jennifer Hall J Jennifer Hall see you're getting to be 77 so Jennifer Hall loved the suggestions and ideas that I presented and wanted to kind of circle back the point being is she's aware of a resource that we could be and she's probably also tied into money and so you could try to build a a more of a relationship so that we could have a little money they could have a little money it could be addressed specifically for artists you know in need to complete a project or whatever at the very least I could see there being a relationship moving forward of us like having our meetings in that space or like it being another public space that is that that's the go so there's going to be a three different uh Community areas and there one is going to be in the space primarily for the residents and then another is going to be uh kind of split we're we're kind of fleshing out the idea there's going to be split of a maker space potentially and then just a public space in general where hold meetings or do art galleries or live performance with music um so yeah so I'm I'm a part of the committee that's kind of helping the vision of this not like the design of the space but like the vision of the public they we're going to have a public gallery on that side wall indentations that it would be a rotating Gallery so that's that is absolutely super part of it is going to be like permanent art uh in one of the areas is going to be permanent art dedicated to um some of the black history of uh downtown in Arbor um don't know if it's going to be like you know historic stuff or like new stuff um we're not sure on that yet but some of that is going to stay kind of permanently but there's going to be space where it's going to rotate too that is super and Allison you said we could have our meetings there I love the idea of rotating our meetings why don't we have it in community halls in schools just or at the Art Center at the art CER of City Hall and but they can be televised right yeah they could or they just they don't have to be televised yes they do we need we need needs to be a TV show right Bonita this could solve the art in schools you know cuz I get requests three at least three from schools every year for murals and they're usually funded by the pto's and those those finances differ depending on the neighborhood um so they typically the schools can't for what they want me to do so they could then apply for this grant I mean we I mean that would just be huge if this Amor Public Schools knew we had $2,000 to give away every year we'd get so many applications um from art teachers from principls from students we have someone in the schools who is our commission Peggy Peggy pgy what could we call it that isn't the awesome Grant like let's name it yeah what's the name of than golden paintbrush any day yeah what think about that what's the name of our paintbrush sucks I'm sorry didn't you create the I was going to say ini created I brought it up I I I brought you said yeah keep going part my idea was to rename it okay and they went wow that's that's difficult why don't we just keep it brush is running your battery is running um but yeah I think that that project's been on a working group for a long time and can we group we do we know can we that would be nice yeah what's what working groups do we have do we want them all do we need them all we want com yeah combine them leave me off of them anybody got that L of like 11 um I find it it's the last report together yeah we have a communication working group youth Outreach working group special project working group Outreach working group leadership working group fundraising working group m is there a whiteboard one white board there is one p up there I don't remember which one the grant was under I uh just Bita did you see your batter is getting low it got it you plugged in okay I thought that was the fundraising where the gr was fundraising okay okay who's on the fundraising working group in there uh I am Alison Sarah and Mary all right so yeah we get to make the foundation that's not what it says he just made that upal will you go through all the groups what am I on all right so CIP CIP yeah is well first uh business owners and develop developer work that's John by himself um CIP is Sarah Allison Mary and David as a non voting member but we could have one more person you said Alison and Sarah and yeah okay yeah could we have one more person on CIP since David is a non- voting member yeah I think so if anyone wants to anyone want to be on C well let's go through them let go through them all and since Peggy and Sophie yeah we're here out every group now we have many on the grou um out group Outreach Outreach let me see go in my order what I have here Communications m is Allison Sarah and maretta fun raising already said but Allison Sarah and Mary nominations leadership review is John by himself this why you can't leave this can't you own two groups by yourself um leadership and art placement work Allison Jamal Sarah and Mary but that's different now because it's it's Vice chair chair and then whoever else wants to be on it is on later okay yeah so that would be F myself I can stay on it if you want but I need to get off some of these well I think we need to combine some and get about what we want to do cuz actually I'm realizing this might yeah this is from the last one did did you get assigned to any groups not yet not yet okay so we uh you're ex official on all groups I think seriously the chair is a part of all groups half year p yeah he said don't do it um special projects is Sophie Jamal Sarah and Peggy Outreach is Jamal maretta Sophie and Mary I think that's it you said um Jamal Sarah and Mar maretta Outreach Outreach Sophie marinetta Sophie and Mary that's s and what was the youth is that a thing I think that got absorb Outreach okay okay that's what I was going to suggest so could leadership and fundraising combin I think that makes sense and what about special projects like I mean who who would really take on the kind of outlining of some of these ideasal logic was a catch all she didn't fit anywhere and got stuck in special project special project I mean it was like it seemed like every year there was something the mayor wanted us to do M came out of special projects and golden paintbrushes golden paint brush is special stickers the neuro that's in the the council chambers was special part of special project I want to go see that yeah it's Cloud that's what I would have come up with no I think that was smart actually for the timeline that they wanted exactly you would not have come up with clouds Daniel would have never never allow drawn drawn clouds to go in the council chambers but it would be awesome clouds if he did it would be unlike any Cloud you had ever seen they would be and I would love that they would be but these clouds are different so I mean I would like to help think through this sort of awesome Grant slash pitching a proposal to some local funders that we discussed is that what would what would that be under would be under fundraisers if you you didn't mix that group okay well I don't think we should mix it but who I feel like we need to beef that group up right now it's a three of us do do you I mean we should have a that's have four so we need one other person on is anybody else interested that one yeah that okay um that's awesome well before we leave today let's schedule something cuz I think this is fresh this Suns ex this exciting yeah two cool projects and then what is the max amount of Commissioners we can have four four about on the council oh is it eight or seven oh n9ine n now we're at nine aren't we yeah we're at nine okay we can have more if we did this we can appoint our own folks advisor advis yeah a counil a public art Advocate counsel it was something was a really nice naming that is not it but and the the intention was is that you wouldn't have to have a meeting there was one meeting a year and we appointed them and so we could appoint the dean of the art school to be on it so that we could put his name down but he would be this and we put a newsletter and the group could function kind of in a way you can have anyone you want come consult yeah I think I would I think it would be really I have somebody in mind as a new stamps graduate and then another Community artist that I'd love to see involved in some way but we're we have one more seats on the commission but we can maybe fold them into committees student Commissioners they can work on a working groups and working groups are a great way to sort of be involved and then get their feet wet and then whatever happened to the the idea I thought we had a student yes that's part of the Outreach working group is that still ongoing there coming on board well we had a student and he joined a special projects meeting I think a couple of times School stud a business school student yes but um we haven't met in a while but he did come to one of our like special projects meeting Sophie yeah Sophie was kind of spearheading that but speaking of Special Projects can I be off of that group now yes okay thank you I'm going to come off of communications I can stay on fundraising CIP leadership think that's enough for me fundraising CIP and leadersh I'm also on those three that fun but am I am I also on Outreach I think you are can Outreach get absorbed into Communications yes they kind of the same thing that's smart I think they could they're totally different people on them but we could make them one aren't they well the only I'm on Outreach and Communications good so good then that makes it easy to combine them what were some of the latest things that Outreach and Communications have done just so I can that I mean Communications we kept talking about having a social media presence okay but didn't do it okay all right but we are now permitted we have pered we have a Facebook page we do not yes this grant it's going to be big yeah we if that's turning into Communications I would stay on that to help social media I mean if the Outreach if that's going to absorb Communications because I would I can do some Social Media stuff okay so Communications outreaches one so Sarah and you both are on that who else was on Sophie Jamal marionetta and Mary on Outreach and then me and marionetta on Communications someone wants to come off of I would come off since I'm on fundraising CIP and Leadership that doesn't mean I I don't need to be I could still be a part you know Assist if we start hyping and need more I feel like everyone could have a hand in social media and it doesn't necessarily have to be like a Communications thing because okay cuz we would all get access to that or it would be a group would it be a group you would join that you could post on or no how when we did it before um John gave everybody or a bunch of people access to it we all share stuff to it I think David was the highest contributor so we could have an Instagram yeah we could make our own the challeng did not want the liability Associated they they've changed their mind can have it now they now changed their mind so you are you looking at me to ask me or you know that for a fact because I can't remember they told us okay I don't remember so if I was to make it you had a scar that that wasn't true anymore but well yeah that's like yeah why create a mockup of of Instagram Tik Tock uh before before I'm not even on Tik Tok I don't feel welcome on that PL I think keep it simple and talk to each other we do Instagram Facebook for old folks well Facebook and Instagram are us so you can operate both of those from one place it's really easy yeah we were trying to get a student to come in work for us and it didn't work City logo is that right so you can use fig cool so we just did we historically we can John has a page that still lives that you could reigate I suppose but or you could steal content from or just a new one running so I have uh uh an aror creative caucus um and public art is well as the one that we okay so uh you're you're happy to uh to contribute stuff but I would Rec command you do your own cuz I my experience before was just crazy uh so but I could take some of your post and anything from it phot of marry Daniel a whole series of them I stopped by the narrow ones took a bunch of photos interrupted them of course they they didn't they didn't throw any pain on my wife's car so that nice yeah I can I can help with social media cool want to contribute something they have to get videos of you painting yeah actually by do you know Ted ribbons he went to Pioneer he's a musician he he wants to it's kind of fun he's giving us three songs to pick he's going to document the entire murals that bridge projects and create a music video oh that's cool and then allow us to have access to all the footage he's going to do interviews we'll see that I know there you go there's our Instagram so yeah I live that's espe people that are asking so about public art man AR and do some interviews get Doug also the city the cities I think there's like 25 in the city you can go to creative caucus and I have about a 100 posts of the University of Michigan's public art with all the background and a grouping of different shots the artists and all that um as well as the city's public art and then I have a collection of about 500 images of public out all over the world wow Mar meta you've you've seen that can you public idea book can you please share that the at us or whatever send us the in sure name of yours so we can check on that image are you talking about your P Pinterest page Pinterest yeah it's a Pinterest page oh okay yeah yeah it's it's linked I think in like four different places on our website and stuff could we talk could we like promote upcoming like events that's what I'm thinking this awesome we could do whatever we wanted before I felt like it had to be very much like this is the city's collection and and when I asked before it was like I can't even say that this same artist is making something in some other city that was a no no but this time when we talked to him it was kind of like go for it so okay I mean top of the park and events that are happening up there yeah yeah yeah I know Asha is doing a ground mural for top of the park stuff like that yeah yeah our partners our city Partners Art Center DDA all the festivals you we got this um and our District Library stuff coming up with the black metal black white Metal Mule stuff what's going with that well they're redoing you know how they had black artists featured on the what do they call it the by the side of Library oh right right right Curtis was involved with that right yeah Library Lane there Library Lane yes so we're helping pick new artists for that oh they're going to do another round of are they vinyl murals this time focused on bentum the artists were asked to um they have access to the libraries archives and so inspired by something black history in the library archives they're they put a call out for artists to Great create these new murals I love that is there a stien for the artists involved or I don't know I don't know yeah let me don't give me to line I don't know who's doing it is the art is the library doing Library St yeah they're a good partner too oh they're a great partner I I talked to the uh director of the MTA this is probably about five or 6 years ago he agreed to put uh artwork I was just like student artwork in the buses yeah so they're looking for PSA kinds of art at& I mean the a AA yeah right exactly so the so he was very excited about that and said yeah you know figure it out organize it and uh so that would and he's got plenty of space trying to look for stuff how would it not get vandalized well there there's a bus driver you know it's it's inside the bus it's inside the bus so it's inside the bus he even was open for ideas to put a the entire bus uh that that's not as expensive as you might imagine to wrap the bus wrap the bus less than a grand that's fine really well they can apply for our yeah exactly so um but and the the point being is inside the bus there there's these little the cardboard or whatever that you just they stick up there and they he can't really advertise yeah so it's pretty much Public Service kinds of announcements so it's but artwork and you know you could uh so in any of that I I heard Whispers that there's also going to be um art on the walls in Liberty Plaza at some point so just to brainstorm really quick who are our Community Partners that we want to start really just getting public art involved in public housing commission the bus system the library particularly with their uh games Summer Games mhm the DDA Art Center Crea bla we've participated in the summer games the last two years Y and it's perfect artwork you know you say top go look for some no but that would be yeah Summerfest how about the Fairs around there's someone I can't remember her name but she's involved we're donating a sculpture this year what we're donating a sculpture this year destination in Arbor yes yes art destination destination right yep yep no more Chad give a sec you said Banks Banks yes yes the public schools right and yeah aaps yep there's there's a there's a series of annual brochures put out by the previous this cap and in there are contributors donors and they specifically list different banks and different businesses and you might want to look back where is that I it's a newsletter well it was it was like a magazine it was like uh The Observer only about you know like 20 Pages or something like that and it talked about what this group was doing and it promoted the uh golden paintbrush but on on on the back page it listed all the sponsors they would be it would be a good source okay gotcha yeah of funders of of at least names you can say I know you contributed to that art commission before and I can send you if you want copies of those yeah just one I guess so it's for to noon y were there other working group projects that we should talk about carrying over for our plan things that working groups we're working on that they want to make sure it's still happening like I don't know the youth stuff or are we still wanting that to par be part of our plan I think I think so put that under Outreach I guess yeah yep I feel like we've we had some momentum in that area but it didn't ever come to quite panning out but yeah I think I mean some of the stuff we talked about will kind of tie that in as well so I would like to keep that there yes Mary can you send me that updated list now that you got everybody moved around in different yeah I can do a version of like a brainstorm from today not minutes or anything but just to share with the commission just while it's fresh yes I can I think she's asking working groups and who's on what groups oh the working groups oh this is pretty um did you make notes of that by chance I didn't but I have all the merging of the groups you do you have the new new new names of people on the groups no no she has s hat you I think I got so maybe should we just say it real quick I think what about we do a Google sheet and then you okay yeah a drive Google Drive can you place the old one and then we can you know Ely that will go in the report you're write about this meeting yeah so thanks okay I can start it that sh yeah and if you want to make your report live and editable I can add to it you know you know if that would help you know okay sure you yeah so today is our annual report meeting yes okay okay it's nice to see everyone can we do more in-person meetings or are we tied to the way um we can do more in person um at least the warmer on yeah for sure yeah I can look at the calendar and see what might be available um I'll see how this room came out today cuz I think there may be something with the the video producing of it too um so we'll see how this one came out that would be nice and I could go a little bit forward and maybe what's our next next a maybe yeah skip aou when do we know when our next meeting is oh I think I actually have it in my calendar because like July July July 3rd I'm actually out of town weird that's a weird right before the oh July then after that what's it um of July September yeah September 4th yeah I'll check the CTN and see if should we do we want to keep our July meeting I I won't be present um but I will try one week before right or one week after are we able to change the date V right yeah we can do we want to do June or in August end of I'll be G the month of July so oh how about everybody just send the schedule of when they're going to be here so I have an ideal of the dates that everybody has G and we can look at some other new dates looking at July me folks being gone and obious folks being gone I'll be here I'm here I'll be here it's it's not a problem for me if we're zooming cuz I can yeah yeah always yeah so maybe you saying just move the July to August or June I guess it makes me probably in person I think we should try and have our um working groups meet between them I mean I would like to meet with leadership as soon as possible right or is it leadership fundraising fundraising leadership eming fundraising and Leadership emerging no no communication Outreach I think with yeah those guys leadership is um they will do any like if we need to change our bylaws that's how we brought in so just just outreaching Communications fundraising is what I meant and fundraising let's get together in the next few weeks huh yeah start an email okay sched cool and in the meantime let's get our ideas in that report so we can yeah I go Council thanks everybody are we aour meeting to all favor can we get food at next one

e e e I [Music] [Applause] you [Applause] I [Applause] he [Applause] [Music] spe it's good [Music] afternoon thank you welcome everybody to our Elementary Spring Concert thank you so much for being here to support our elementary kiddos uh please make sure you silence your cell phones and be sure to clap for them after all their numbers because they've worked hard and show them that they did an awesome job um first up we have our preschoolers and they're going to say the Pledge of Allegiance for us so would you please stand for the pledge [Music] thank you preschool all right we're going to transition so first no yes first graders stand up I all right four kindergarten and first grade who will be singing apples and bananas I need a home for my dinosaur and I am a pizza [Music] ready app Banas I like to eatat eat app and bananas I like to eight eight eight ail G I like to a Le I [Music] to I like to an ande I like to I I I I I like to [Music] hi I like I like I like to I like to boops [Music] I need a home for a dinosaur I need it right away I need for dinosur Mom want to give I gave breakast a he love those Corn Flakes but also ate the spoon I need a home from a dinosaur I need it by away I need a from a dinosaur mom want to give [Music] away he saw my dad's new slippers his favorite shade of blue he ate my dad's new slippers now one my go I need a for a dinosur I need it right away I need a home for a dinosaur mom wants to give away I like to let my sister go play in the dinos and probably eat trouble again I need a for dinosur I need it iur give my mom want to give away mom wants to give him way [Music] scoot forward Scot forward Dam SC forward ready I have a pizza I am Pizza I am pizza cheese cheese from tomato sque sque onion and mushrooms onion and mushrooms oroo I am a pizza ready to go oh I am a pizza I am pizza pepperoni BL I am a pizza I am Pizza I am a pizza please take me home I am a pizza I am [Music] Pizza top out of the oven out of the OV into the box into the box into the car into the car upside down upside down I am a pizza pizza now I'm my arm no no it was dramatic no it was only dramatic got all right next up we have second grade they will be singing ham and eggs a Pizza Hut um after a Pizza Hut I forgot to put that on the program we created a song it's called a Taco Bell then we will have I've Been Working on the Railroad [Music] fpop flip flop eggsegg I up down FP flip a pizza a pizza a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza a pizza a pizza Acky in a pizza M McDonald a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza mcdonal mcdal a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza a pizza h a pizza h a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza H A Pizza H A Pizza H a kenty Fried Chicken and a Pizza a pizza H Pizza a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a [Music] Pizza a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a [Applause] Pizza a taco B ready one two three a Taco Bell a Taco Bell a in a Taco Bell a Taco Bell a Taco Bell in a Taco Bell Fred in a Taco [Music] Bell on the all the live long days I working on the rail road just to pass the time away Can't You Hear The Whistle blowing R up so early in the you hear the C Shou your horn glow want you glow wants you blow your home you blow blow you blow your's in the kchen with's in the kchen I know and singing on the I thought we're going to do the chicken dance this one the wor good [Music] gra your chairs you just have a quick transition for fifth grade they've got some stuff to get out but while um they are setting up I'll let you know what they're planning they um are such a small class they're kind of shy to seeing by themselves so we came up with a solution with playing Boom whackers at the same time the tends to help their nerves they like those so that's what we came up with so we will be playing o to Joy lightly row and F Doo for for [Applause] let's go B hey come on what [Music] [Applause] we know I can say right this one you're seeing second one two ready go [Music] so all [Music] the glassy waves we [Music] go the let the wind and [Music] sing and flow sing and flow in my little bo [Music] ready yeah right one two three ready and go mmy CR the [Music] [Applause] me me me [Music] a [Music] ch [Music] ruined it ruin it for [Music] I have no idea where my spot is matter not supped to I [Music] really that's oh you have to be my part hello uh my name is Mr monos uh I had the pleasure this year of teaching fourth grade music and um we had a really good time in my class but I'm not going to do it next year um because our schedule's changed so we're going to do a little bit of singing a little bit of shaking a little bit of recorder and a little bit of um bucket drumming so um music's going to get louder [Music] hello my name is Lexi our first song we'll be doing is wait me shake me morning to all right let's take a b take a b go okay let's go job hello my name is Colton and today our next song will be from the new ws and we will be playing the record thank you here we go [Music] oh [Music] wow am mean there you go [Applause] hello my name is Kane our final number will be I am never going to give up and we repeat performing on the bucket drones [Music] hey hey did you turn it up four times [Music] you [Music] to [Music] is St like all the [Music] [Applause] is never this is [Music] I am [Music] go go [Applause] Rec [Music] sh there a be oh [Music] s [Music] all right now we have third grade um our first two songs are the ones we're singing I will explain the last one when we get to it um so we have I like singing and then we're going to sing when you're [Music] smiling I like singing you like singing and we like singing together we like singing on a sunny day in Spring I like singing and you like singing We like sing together we like sing is [Music] free scoy dooo scoy dooo do do [Music] I like and you like we likeing [Music] [Applause] together weing together [Music] [Applause] scoobydoo scoobydoo [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I like singing you like singing and we like singing together we like singing on the sunny days [Music] I like singing and you like singing and we like singing together we like see anything we like singing Anything is s yeah [Applause] [Music] when you're smiling when you're smiling the whole world smiles with you when you're laughing when you're laughing the sun comes shining through when you're crying you bring on the rain so stop your sighing be happy again keep on smiling like you're smiling the whole world SM with you with you with you when you're smile when you're smile the for with you when you're when you're the sun comes shining through but when you're crying you bring on the rain so stop your sing be happy again keep on smiling CU When you're smiling the all World SM with you with you when you're smiling when you're smiling the whole world smiles with you when you're laughing when you're laughing the sun comes shining through but when you're crying you bring on the so stop your s be happy again keep on smiling when you're smiling the whole world smiles with you the whole world smil with [Music] you smiling with you to circles all right we have one more um dance to do for you um Mrs mlar approached me when she H out our concert was going to be on May 1st and this is called the maple dance which represents the beginning of Spring and it's a tradition that goes back many years um with but we are using ribbons around poles and so this is called the M pole dance fifth grade come back up get your instruments fifth grade is going to accompan accompany us on some percussion instruments all right getting ribbon ready hold on Maybe for [Music] the [Music] on [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] all okay I have one more request it's not on the program we're going to chicken dance so stand up if parents want to join us come on down to the floor for a chicken dance spread out spread out whoever you want what do we do all right chicken dance I'll show you how you doing no no all right kids if you don't know how I'm sure your parent does or people around you do so just follow along [Music] where do you want to stand at all right you're toing she's want to dve me out [Music] he [Music] a [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] all [Applause] right thank you so much for having fun with us on the chicken dance if you want to take your child home with you you need to check them out with their teacher so if you want to take them home with you go check them out with their classroom teacher thank you so much

yeah already we're already extra two minutes my 10 minute timeline I just have to read faster I do that I like a challenge all right we are live so if you want to go Ahad and I will call the meeting to order at 7:03 flag of the United States of America and to the rep it stands one nation under God individual with liy and justice for all Davis here Mrs here Mr Golden here Juliana here Mr James here here all right so I'm going to set you on fire tonight and do our public hearing on the 2425 budget we'll do our presentation then we'll open to the public should anyone arrive and then um we will actually approve um our 2425 budget as you're aware there's no changes since we submitted to the county office so you guys are in good shape I have to speak to you because I don't have anyone else to talk to you so um I'm addressing it to all of you even though you're well aware here's our board members um budget total and line item percentages let me just grab one thing guys is the tuition for what we paid at Overbrook or what we paid for students in out District uh on which side uh budget yeah the expenditures would be Pine Hill or anything that we're sending out a district some the special needs I think the tuition on this side would be some of the uh because I think we still taking in a couple for the special needs for our tuition room right yeah we don't have incoming tuition oh okay yeah that miscellaneous Revenue that's actually includes Student Activity and interest amounts as well as we usually budget about $10,000 in miscellaneous um revenue from like use of school facilities when Chuck sells a bunch of scrap stuff um when we sell technology things that nature that goes all into miscellaneous Revenue I want to disappoint Adam of course I have a paper version with all my notes so as you can see for the 2425 our Revenue sources are local tax levy so that's what comes from Berlin Township that is what the residents portion is that contributes to our school budget tuition and miscellaneous Revenue that's what I just um explained to you that does include Student Activities a few years ago we had to start including Student Activity balances checks and balances into our budget so that changes all the time but generally whatever's on the revenue side whatever we generate in Student Activities is kind of what's supposed to go out so it comes in it goes out so it's just it's $40,000 we put in there but that's all our grade eight so whatever they collect then that goes out whatever they collect for a book fair that generally goes out so um but that has to be within our budget now State a is what we get from the state so there's multiple different levels there we get Equalization Aid we get um special education we get Transportation Aid we get Choice Aid we get security Aid um so all of those make up that over $8 million so 41% of our budget is from the state 51% is from our local tax Lev semi a is actually school-based Federal Medicaid reimbursement programs so what that means is there's a portion of costs that are associated with providing health related Services um to our Medicaid eligible students in our special ed programs we get a portion that back there's a huge report that that um our child site team secretary does and that my assistant does that they report um speech salaries um benefits nurses all things of that nature for our Medicaid eligible students in our special ed programs again not a whole lot of money but it's something Surplus this is money that if you remember when our auditor was here he said we have I think it was 417,000 or right around there um that's usually supposed to be sent for one time things because there's no guarantee that you'll have that from year to year so that's that and then also money that we anticipate having at the end of our FIS schal year that we can roll into next year to balance our budget so that's where that number is only 5% of our budget our federal grants here you'll see on the expenditure side that that Grant and special Revenue that's a combination so they're not going to match the federal grants are only the esa so Title One title two title four um and the I grants that's all that's that's all that's included in there so that comes to our total um budget of 20,9 58,4 if we go over to our budget expenditures we have tuition so we're going to get to this it's broken down on each one so I don't want to you know beat the worse about what that is but 24% of our um tuition that's what makes up our budget so it's Pine Hill it's out a district it's um charter schools which are new this year so everybody that's reporting there's a charter school um system in home room so if a school reports that they have a resident student that's attending a charter school we are responsible for funding that because that Money Follows the student so this year we do have one student for 24 25 going to a charter school um in Atlantic City so I don't know if it's relative works whatever it may be so we are responsible for that over $20,000 to go to follow that student at a charter school employee benefits that's um pension contributions that's health benefits um workman's cop insurance things of that nature regular education that's our teachers in our gen and program that's supplies um technology there's a whole bunch wrapped up in there that's a big one special education that's our special education classes that's our child study team staff and services that's related services and special education Administration that is your um principal supervisor business administrator um all of those offices but again I'll have more details on the next slid with what exactly is in there maintenance and transportation that's kind of supervisor of buildings and grounds and all of his staff as well as the entire Transportation our Fleet our maintenance our staff um our transportation software and then the grants and special Revenue the reason that one is so high much higher than the Federal grant is because that includes our preschool expansion a um so that comes up a little higher because that has both of those in there again comes out to our total operating budget which matches the revenue side and they both include The Debt Service amount so that's our bonds that we have from years ago I think we only have five or six years left on those bonds from the referendum um so that'll be nice that'll be a savings to the township because the township pays that over and above uh the tax levy that that was 2% right 2% is your local tax ly no what happened when we did the the the cap like that is a 2% I'm saying we're P remember we had to do the bank cap oh yes yes we're done with that we're only doing 2% now so that was obviously came in above that year we raised our tax levy more than 2% we're back to just going 2% again if there was any need for Bank cap which I hope not but if there was that would be a separate resolution that we would have had to have discussions on we would have had to file with the county office so now we're back to just 2% so like I said here's our total operating budget here's all the breakdown of the percentages they were on the last slides if you don't want me to hover I'm that was a negative on that one negative one or less than it was last year I so I'm sorry oh number two it's like less than 1% I can so it didn't go it we didn't lose it it's just less than 1% of I thought it last year no okay some it usually goes up but not by much th 2,000 it's not B because it's hard to do that report to prove that you're maximizing your funding because it's not just showing all of your money that you spent it's also getting all of your parental consent back on time it's also getting teachers to do random moment in time um surveys things that nature where it takes a lot of followup followup followup did you do did you do did you do um and sometimes you just don't no matter how many times you try you don't get 100% there and you have to have a certain percentage in order to get um all the funding I had a question how much money do we get for Choice students um I don't remember that ad we have our budget itself is um we get quite a bit of money in our school we I can't remember off hand I will follow up with you um and there is a Formula also to determine how much it is per student which I can get back to because I don't have off the top my head either I had to ask the state when we had a student uh leave and went over somewhere else that we had to charge them back for that they went out of District they were Choice student here they went out of District so the resident District was responsible for the difference between the money we were already receiving and the out of District placement so there's a formula to calculate to determine um how much that choice amount is so the regular education like I said 25% of our budget over five million this is teacher salaries this is our basic skills program supplies textbooks curriculum uh co-curricular so all of our Sports and all of our clubs uh Media Services which is the library guidance technology and Chromebooks health services and supplies the nurse and then professional development um and instructional Improvement that all falls within reg regular education pot of money tuition this is our students in grades 9 through 12 attending over Brook High School they're also the students attending Camy County vocational school students that are in added District placements whether it be the um uh camp County I mean the County Special Services School District or other state approved um private school placements and Charter School like I said which is new and then other special at high school placements so even if we have a student um you know that's high school level but they're attending another District because they have a specialized program that we don't have to send them out of District we cover those costs as well I think we have one still in uh special education is 14% again teacher salaries very similar to The General Ed but doesn't have all the technology and things of that in nature uh teacher salar supplies occupational therapy Physical Therapy speech therapy um all the child study team related services so any evaluations that they have to have outside um any type of ABA or behavioral type things and then the extended school year as well is all falls within special education employee benefits this is our health insurance our pension contributions our social security contrib contributions workman's comp and tuition reimbursement for our staff so pretty much any type of benefit that the employee would get it falls under there 14% of our budget Administration and Central Services this is our administrator and clerical salaries this is our supplies communication system so our um telephones and things like that legal services auditing services and anything for the board of education so um any type of trainings you ever decided to go and we had um Mrs here with our superintendent search that all falls within administrative Services as you know if we go over the amount that's budgeted we have to beg and pleed with the county office to approve a transfer in there maintenance and transportation that's our custodial salaries are custodial supplies utilities maintenance supplies and services Transportation in-house and contracted um liability insurance so like our property insurance that all falls under there and capital projects as well fall under there Grant um Elementary and secondary Education Act that's there's Title One title two title four Ida that's um there's a preschool portion of that and a basic portion of that so that's for our individuals with its disabilities Education Act and then our preschool expansion Aid is also um within that and we do have Carri funds that we have to spend next year that won't disappear so they'll go towards a one-time thing and they can only be used for preschool we're working on a preschool while uh so the 2425 budget includes um it was approved by the county superintendent and executive County School business administrator on Friday April 19 we did receive an additional 1.14 million in state aid an additional 96,5 9657 in preschool expansion a um this is good news obviously we had some large increases in our budget um specifically some of our tuition um transportation is always still a big one for that contracted Transportation a couple new special ed teachers uh related services so um that was a huge help we will want to continue to watch our enrollment numb especially when we do asssa next year to make sure that we are continuing um to have growth or you know we'll just have to get a little bit creative so we're always kind of thinking ahead and with having Mr Lee here now as new we've been all kind of brainstormed and talking about things to you know structure or improve or whatever we can do um so I feel like if we ever get yeah we'll we'll kind of be in a good spot to come up with something real creative um we are adding a fourth preschool classroom um we will need to add more in the future so we have five years to do so so we'll be talking more on planning with that as well um that is to ensure that we keep the prechool expansion Aid uh all four classrooms will have a combination of three and four year olds two additional special ed teachers at Kennedy have been budgeted for as a result of increasing numbers we're going to be monitoring that area closely to make sure that we're kind of strengthening those supporting programs like the basic skills and the RTI so that way maybe we can eventually try to you know reain in some of those numbers um $138,000 in in purchase services so that's otpt um behavioral therapies things of that nature those numbers have gone up as well tuition for has gone up about $460,000 they're kind of in the same boat that we are they're having a larger enrollment at this point um that the numbers keep growing the kids are continuing to come in which speaks volumes about our our school systems but it doesn't help a lot of other things um special uation of public schools has also increased by 94,000 due to high schools having inhouse program for our special ed students that's also through um pin hill ccts tuition is down um we had a certified tuition adjust adjustment which means when the tuition adjustments came the certified tuition rates came out from the state it obviously came out a little bit lower than what they had charged us so then they have to owe us they give us a credit back off of um what we'll pay next year the county um special services School District enrollment has increased by 62,000 due to an addition addition placement and added District tuition costs have increased by 225,000 if you remember one of those students came in mid year this year that we had to send out and then we have one or two more planned for um next year so we're going to continue to monitor these um with Mr Lee's help district C saving measures uh we're still involved in the public employer trust for our health and benefits package um 88.5% for the overall health benefit pack package so I think we were I think it was 8% for the one nine for the other and maybe zero for something else whatever it was 88.5% so that's not really bad at all to for an increase uh participation in our Burlington County Insurance Fund participation in Aces electric e rate um which pretty much pays for our Comcast internet e rate we get that reimbursed and our semi programs which I told you about before the special ed Medicaid initiative uh shared services with ed services for transportation nurses and child s team services in the event that we need them and the creation of those in-house keeping those inhouse special ed programs to return District students to District we're hoping to be able to eventually generate some tuition Revenue um from those but we've had some stamping changes so we want to make sure that we're um in good shape before we would expand that to the outside 2425 maintains all existing positions including co-curricular all negotiated agreements have have been agreed upon for the 2425 uh school year the increase uh in tuition to kind help for our students attending Overbrook the increase in special ed staff and Professional Services increased cost for custodial supplies and maintenance due to increased cost and inh house repairs so this is just because things are more expensive we all know that um so you had to budget more for the services that we either have to bring in or the services that Chuck does himself in in house so even buying the supplies um an increased cost there and then the district is looking to expand our transportation department by one driver with the increase in preschool my goal is to maybe have some preschool only mixed in with some Kindergarten buses um just because those numbers on some of our regular buses are getting a little those buses are getting a little bit tight um with the amount of kids that we have so we're looking to bring in one more bus driver hopefully um this will also help with Overbrook because those numbers continue to grow so our buses that we have there are and those kids are bigger so they're a little tight those are big grown children um young men and women uh the property tax impact so you'll see we have the general fund from 2324 over to 2425 you just have your difference in amounts so minor increase in our debt service fund uh only the 2% increase on that tax levy once this is approved I'll have to do an a4x which is tax levy certification that goes over to the township um and then they'll start to generate their payments to us in July so in 2023 the average home in Berlin Township was $187,000 $18734 and then for this year for 2024 It's 188,189 So based on those and my formulas and calculations that average assessed home the property tax increases $51 per month for than local school taxes that's all I have where's mello's money I don't know where Mell thanks for that the man yeah I said I don't know where it is I only get 2% all right so at this point even though there's no public we still have to open the meeting to the public in case anybody wanted to comment on um our public budget hearing so can I have a motion as a second to open the meeting for the discussion of the agenda items only motions second hearing none and seeing none let's do a motion a second to close please motion second and then we just have to do the approval of the budget so um we approved the adoption of the final budget as approved by the executive County Superintendent of Schools the board adopted a tenative Budget on March on Monday March 18th and submitted to the executive county superintendent of schools for approval the tenative budget was approved on Friday April 19th it was the tenative budget was advertised in the legal section of the Courier Post on April 26th and the final budget was presented to the public during a public hearing um held this evening Wednesday May 1st 2024 um so the Board of Education hereby adopts the following final budget for 2425 and we have all of our general fund expenditures taxes to be raised special Revenue Debt Service our total budget amount is 20, 95847 those expenditures and revenues match and our um taxes to be raised is $10 m84 and 84,7 two can I have a motion and a second on this motion second want to do a roll call any questions uh Mr Davis yes Mrs Helo yes Mr Golden yes Mr Juliana yes Mr Jones yes Mrs oriente yes all right thank you um so let's there's no one in the public and that would be for non-agenda items only so we're going to pass that um so can I adjourn the meeting if everybody's good second thank you all for coming out for a special meeting we are great J thank

e e e uh Marcus is running late and Lisa is not coming correct coming to Marcos is running late he gave me a heads up so okay we're uh we're live will everyone please frankly good when please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay I'll take the first role and the reason why I say the first role is because of we take the original role then we swear in our three incumbents and then we take the role again just a protocol so I'll start with Mrs Abu here Mr capano here Mrs Fredo is not here tonight Mr Garo will be here Mr nadw here Dr pontano yes here Mr ranor here Mr Russo here teraka uh mrak no that's okay Mr yanuzzi here okay okay I just like to read a quick statement if I may the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision of this act psite Park Bo of V sc's notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time in place thereof posted in the office of the bur clerk bur Library bur Rec Department the office of the board of AD the office of School number 3456 and the high school on April 16th 2024 and notices were forwarded to reporters the record April 16th 2024 this is an official meeting so now we will swear in our newly elected individuals I I said Marcus is running a little late so I like to call up if I may Mr capano first with me John take you hold one and you'll sign one and you'll sign two you keep one and then I will keep one for myself okay let's do the if I'm going to so Jo I would like you to why don't you raise your right hand and put your left hand on a Bible this way yeah all right and I and I'll read it to you all right okay that's easier for you good you're good right okay I Joe capano I Joe capano do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that it will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and this state and this state Under The Authority Under the authority of the people of the people so help me God so help me God I Joseph capano I Joseph capano do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education for the office of member of the Board of Education and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God first furthermore I affirm furthermore I affirm and declare and declare that I am not disqualified and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant as a voter pursuant to to rs19 semicolon 4-1 so help me God thank you I just want to thank uh my fellow board members um specifically Michael russos Marcos uh for being part of the team also want to thank Dr Kono for uh all the great support she's given this board uh uh in the last year and uh I also want to thank a good dear friend of mine Steve Russo he's helped me tremendously in my 20 years here so thank you everybody and let's continue to do the great work uh Mr Russo okay Mike good job J thank you thank you Mike you'll keep one you'll sign two keep one okay so let's take this one Mike I'll read it to you Mike so and if I'm going too fast or you can't understand me and you just you just let me know okay left hand on the Bible mic raise your right hand I Michael Russo I Michael Russo do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that it will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government and to the government established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I Michael Russo I Michael Russo do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office for the office of member of a board of education a member of the Board of Education and that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God furthermore furthermore I affirm and declare I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified that I am not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 so help me God thank you good to have you back sign that one sign the two mik and you keep one like I said Marcos is running a little late that one this one too uh let's see that is that's Joe's that should be yours Mike and you keep a copy to yourself thank you so much thanks so much okay okay thank you Mike thank you Joe okay the next step of this is to do it after thank you nominate we want to get a nomination for uh president uh again Dr Pantano thank you for a wonderful year thank you for all the signing I know your right arm is thicker and stronger right very happy not so thank you thank you so much for always being there on time and being supportive asking good questions I really appreciate all your support so thank you so much and while we're speaking I want to congratulate my colleagues on the board Mr Mr K on their 15 years although I understand it's more than 15 years but you will be recognized on May 7th at the Bergen County School boards association meeting for your 15 years of service on the board and you should be getting a pin for that and with my comments I would like to uh nominate Mr Capo to be president okay so we we got a we got a first from Dr pontano and we got a second from from Mr Russo is that correct for Mr capano for president okay okay thank you both all in favor say I I all right thank you so much congratulations Mr thank you everybody thank you okay and I would like now get a nomination for vice president I'd like to nominate Teddy tabaka all right that was Mr capano second that was Mr ranc Court okay thank you both all in favor very good so move awesome congratulations aw so now we went through this process I have to take the role again I was reading all the the uh bylaws and protocol so we have to take the role again uh Mrs Abu here Mr capano here president Mr capano Mr Gara will be here Mr nadw Dr pontano here Mr ranc Court here Mr Russo here Mr tabaka VP and Mr yanui here okay fantastic okay fantastic may I steal the moment yes I believe you have a plaque for thank you thank you for reminding me Dr Hayes I had my note but uh took me a while to get to it back to Pana Dr P I am very grateful that you were the president of the for education and presided all around meetings the year I was super with my first year as inter superintend schools I thank you for your generosity with all the time you gave me I thank you for your willingness to always help me with problems and issues that arose that I P you on and I mostly thank you for your Sage advice every time I had a problem there aren't a lot of superintendent who can turn to another superintendent and I thank you very I appreciate that and I really thank you for a wonderful job being so inclusive with me I think you had a great year together and I look forward to having you another year Board of GRE thank you all on behalf of all of your colleagues on the board of education this is presented to you for your service as Board of Education president for the 2023 24 school year and it's for your dedication and service to the CL public school thank you very thank you okay now I'm going to quickly kind of run through the uh the agenda I should have reorganization agenda so I'll run through it I'm not going to go through every single L it so I'll try to get through the Salient points and I really try to get to some of the newer your vendors and contracts partic uh particularly the ones that are specific to uh curriculum online learning and all that good stuff so I I I'll run through this um like I said we just congratulations to uh Mr capano and Mr tachia president vice president awesome stuff so I'm on page two now again all this go go through it goes adopting of bylaws and operating procedures all the administrative uh minutia if you go to maybe the fourth from the bottom you see that Mr Lombardo again is being appointed as our affirmative action officer and M ARP is going to be our uh anti-bullying uh chairperson same year-over-year myself I'm going to be the qualified uh being appointed qualified purchasing agent authorized bid threshold to be 44,000 so that's page uh two page uh three uh the one thing I want to point out and thank you Mr capano for pointing that out this afternoon is we have a a new a new vendor third down from the top called Pure sand uh which is a uh custodial Supply vendor essentially our on the ground person Anthony D Stefano has moved from atra to Pure sand and we did a side by side comparison between atra and pure sand and the cost were very similar the products were very similar and Mr D Stefano who we've been with for years we thought it was prudent for us to migrate over to uh Pand they are State contracted have a County cooperative so there's there's no need to bid on their product uh but Mr capana pointed out to me that competition is good and we still should keep atra so we'll have kind of a dual custodial Supply vendor in 2425 we'll have atra who's our incumbent and we'll have our new vendor called purean who are on the ground uh custodial Supply manager so to speak Anthony DFO will move to Pure sand so we'll have atra which we're going to add in the minutes you only see pure sand here on your reorganization agenda on page straight Mr capano thank you for that input I appreciate it um again the rest of it is TD Bank there can still depository Bank page four it gets into all the different accounts unemployment our current account Food Service account athletic account petty cash that's what all this is about essentially in regard to what you're approving um at the bottom you see you get into our state contracts D just excuse me one minute um just educate us I know we we mov the work sessions to 6:00 p.m.

e e e Andy can you take a roll call aif here Hulk present Hil here Nolan yeah papis vote here Gorman here all right we need a motion in second to approve tonight's agenda so moved second aif yes Fulk yes Hil yes Nolan yes vote Yes Forman yes please join us in reciting pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America I'm so I be but you know what makes perfect sense thanks everyone for coming out in this bonus board meeting so yeah thank you I appreciate you guys coming out for the presentation today and thank you guys for coming on this extra special board meeting we appreciate it we got a few public comments tonight so we'll start with uh Gene Meyer Jean Meyer resident I have a few points to share first of all again I want to say that we need an independent enrollment forecast and a facility analysis I just heard from a substitute teacher that there have been several unused rooms in Central High School the last few times they taught I want to see that the use of every room in every school has been evaluated I don't trust until I see so there should be some sort of probably very lengthy thing that people could look at if we decide we need a new high school it needs to be a price more affordable by far but the high school was designed for an extra with extra money spent to build a third floor this needs to be checked out professionally I heard from a chicagoan they put addition additional floors on skyscrapers all the time get the outside done in the Summer with the school closed so the students are safe and then the inside could be finished when the students are in school um additions every building and additions when possible should have plans for more additions or additions period um that would allow for our growth and that high school was planned and many editions I guess put on but well planned editions are a real costs saver and they aren't something that we need to be ashamed of if they're well done and especially if they're planned for and then finally I um wanted to say as far as having the best the best of material things or equipment doesn't necessarily and oftentimes doesn't really make the best student or the best um prepared um I hate to use the word citizen but um person to support themselves and be a bonus to the community so um few years ago I was asked to teach um a uh high school chemistry for um a homeschool learning Co-op and my class of six students one of them went to MIT the other one went to University of Illinois um the other students did well too but colleges are clamoring for those homeschool students and often times they don't I mean in science they have no Labs sometimes they still do tremendously and the labs that we did um were using kitchen items pots and pans and electric burners instead of bunson burners and um things of that nature and these students excelled and they're excelling as far as I know in life as well so um just a few things to think of and thanks thanks right next up Mike man okay I wish I could comment after this section because I'd like to hear a little bit more about where the board's actions are going to be about the enrollment study however that said um I have something over here that again some this rumor I don't know how what it is but this is what I was following here that one of the board members said something like I'm try not to name names well I'm not going to names because then I can't do that but anyway a board member said something to the effect that eight community members isn't enough to convince him that an independent analysis is required okay you can okay without saying thing my thought was like are you sitting on your brains on that and I'll say why because first off having that independent study number one the community wants it number two it gives you great insallation because if you have an independent study you can go semi roboco semi plausible deniability for one and then if the analysis comes out with what you want you go look what we did I mean you look it's a win-win for you by having that independent analysis it's a win for the community it's a win for the school board and it's a win for you know looking great so it's win for the school board so with that I urge get the independent study done because a lot of mistakes have been made along the way and the people and when you said that eight people aren't enough yeah they're not here they're this was a meeting on short notice at 5:30 30 so you're not going to get a lot of people I know a lot of people that have interest in this they're down at some political rallies right now okay so with that said um eight members here I represent Plato Township as the obviously as a supervisor but I hear a lot of things so for those eight people that aren't here I got 75 people talking to my ear telling me something entirely different so don't let that number fool you that there's not an interest you know we're I got my feet on the ground and I hear what's happening my talk to people so I know where they're at and again I can't emphasize enough what the independent study will also do for you okay if you if it shows that you get what you want so the I guess the obvious question would be why would you not want the independent study I mean is it that you've got your mind made up on something and the independent study might interrupt that that's the only thing logical conclusion I could come up with but the positives are you have the independent study you can say and if you get wrong you go well I don't know the independent study what you wanted they got it wrong good you're off the hook if they get it right you look like Heroes okay all right thanks Mike next up Micheline Walch hi everybody uncharacteristically of me I don't have much to say other than I came here to say thank you thank you for taking this step um for hearing the community and for taking the opportunity to learn more about this process and allow the community to learn more about this process and I did want to try to clarify a statement that I heard at the last board meeting I think Dr Nolan it might have been your comment that there was a feeling that there was no point maybe in doing this because if whatever the solution would be was going to exceed that debt ceiling limit no one would say yes to it anyway so what was the point and I wanted to clarify that the larger Community felt not that they wouldn't approve anything over the ceiling but that they didn't know they didn't know that that was a part of this picture and had it been discussed that would have felt like more full disclosure it had been pointed out actually in the 2016 referendum if you go back through the presentation there was actually a slide that showed it had to be a $22 million referendum because the eav to carry a new high school exceeded the 13.8% debt cealing limit that was out there and that was shared with the community back in 2016 so the community at large was somewhat aware of that on the periphery so don't feel like there's no point coming back to the community if whatever the data shows whatever the data shows the community will support a solution around it if it's built on a strong foundation and there's consensus around what those numbers are and what that looks like so please don't take the community's no as a no forever and a no to anything they want to see the data and they want to be open and included in that process and understand the full picture before they say yes so that was it thank you [Applause] thanks all right move on to the action items so need a motion a second to approve the consent agenda so moved second question no there was just one item all right f yes M yes Nolan yes F yes aif yes Gorman yes motion is carried next we need a motion second to discuss and approve Contracting RSP to complete an enrollment study so moved second all right so I have um talked with Robert Schwarz to try to establish the availability for him to be here this evening so thank you rob for coming I'm hoping you can hear me um if you give me a thumbs up I can see you so yeah you're there I think that according to my tech person this is not my gig so I'm going to say we have a we have a special element here that hopefully will track our board members as they ask questions to you but I think you have to turn on your camera or video can you see my camera Rob see you for okay you can't see anybody else to my the in the okay so the front table okay so should we move this back so that they can see Fred and D he can come over here all right I mean you want to squeeze in we're gonna have to move back really far if we want that to work blue shirt raise your hand can he see you too I think hopefully you can see all the board members now if not then you'll you'll at least hear them talking when they ask questions um so thank you so much Rob for coming and and joining us via um Zoom we appreciate it I know your presentation ready for the board after the presentation I do believe that the board has questions um that they would like to ask you relevant to what you can bring to the table some of the questions they might have um so after you're done with that presentation we'll open up for them to ask you questions um and then we kind of go from there so do you have any questions for us Rob wonderful I appreciate this time myself people that understanding the work that we do the first is in the areas of statistics and demographic piece beers GIS analysts visualize things you'll see some examples in my presentation as ites to your we've been in years3 cwest States and some of them I think you probably seen some of our work just to the east we only work with school districts and that's presumptions in your District we build the high school do we do we do additions the two pieces that you requested to assist you with the moment analysis and Capacity Analysis see some of those come into we have LS of services that we work with so we're just talking about the en analysis analys is a facility boundaries looking at fut sites everything kindie have to build a found have to build with the idea of how we ches that may our Anis Le into some questions afterward is we typically are 97 to 100% accurate in what our forecast is what would happen with the instructional modality how people chose to be in school put the data together so just some examples that I have here on this to help super so the first piece that the en and of science at all what's happening with people that are moving into your community um those are some maor work migration lots of really cool things we'll focus on Housing and Development so just in a brief one of we able to do student projections and those student projections then Le the way in the some of the other storyes the last thing I want to say about this the data creates storyes not it's not coming and projection here in this particular instance CP wesal number of kids we get into the projections this is of Iowa which is on the and build stend and then giv us a sense of how those kids are being placed in the system do some other ways we look at District district and how and's just like you seen in the past because sometimes there's movement of students that might be related toogs might be related to teachers that they like or don't like babysitting all sorts of reasons um also see some colors in this case it's only builds that are under you know do do% the first important thing is the local dat so we work with the cities villes to get a lot of dat how dat Shar works is always what type of agreement they are willing to work with RS exp Millennials we were bu years ago years AG theys ofely Statics we you out I have a wi open and so what we found over time that if we do our we work with the local expse a lot statistics down something very simpl lik R for would be studes of the modelet science how does thats and so interest rates close to% so does thatan already and things that we look at that are ou a little bit you can see here is we try to get so as students through system what is theel andad sense perspec students are being retained and if have exis class become how many are still here so we started out this is Mig and so this is ementary the of the represents students prev rece services analy they not here we work with the district to try to validate based on transcripts reg districts theud that right side theas schas building also District students re most we at I mention whaty to St are sleit dropped 28 that time perod buil almost 18 is something weel as changing based Dev to show you another District that actually is GR sast this districts refs to be able to appr the to [Music] mat accuracy Fastow so you go back see this development was we had a lot your AIS decision I don't yeah so Rob I think uh we want to pause pause take some questions here so we can do with enrollment separate from the Capacity Analysis so if we can open up for questions for our board at this point in time I think that's what we'll do V on right there any questions yes so Rob I have a question about um the uh variance right so there's got to be a the likelihood you know the confidence interval between here and here in a district that we have you know my concern would be we're left with o if we're on this end of it you definitely need a new high school if we're on the lower end of it we definitely might need a grade school we need to retool some things and then we're still left with multiple options that could be significantly different financially so how narrow are your five and 10 year projections um and I understand it's based on the data but you have multiple 20 plus years of History here how narrow do you tend to be where you're kind of looking at there could be three different options based on again this interval potential projections great question um so typically I would say devation or 95% confidence in what we would be for for your projection Bas that are unnown so for instance let's say development just go employ and have all theseal bees that we do our requested first is we changed the model for that last period iev years and I what would I years ago and how did that variables influ to as L thank you Rob I have a question um there's a lot of data and um when the study is done um does your reporting back to the school district include narrative explanations to try to understand how the variety of data sets that you present um um should be understood to a lay person to a a board of education to understand what we should do with that information or what not so we'll sometimes have things that are more General what you of the iture a to usually when you um do this for uh school districts is part of the service that you provide uh to do a a Public Presentation to the Board of Education where the public is also able to listen to you present here's what we did here's what we found all you know sort of uh summarizing what's in the reports absolutely sometimes s people in theity were of what they might to be because they just did not approve a referend in the last months so as they move forward are requ re hey Rob just a quick question I want to make sure I understand so it's like a 10e look back when you're looking at our data I know you kind of outlined it but is it is it 10 years that you go back to look at the history I we look even back most we may not even able to years backy whatever they can back that's mostes so if we could go back more you would go back more if we give you data back you would go back further so your quote for the enrollment analysis is that fixed or is it dependent upon the workload that you receive and do as you begin work talk service you said an interesting point that you look back you look at communities built 20 or maybe even 50 years ago and see how those communities are are progressing through the years I think we're a little unique in that 20 years ago we had like less than half of our population because half of our communities weren't even around so I mean you could count corn but that's about it um so how do do you look at just numbers because it's dayto data data obviously statistics but then do you look at past referendums compare that with other districts around the nation to see when they passed to see the debt that people are paying to the school district currently when those bonds are being finished when new debt would be you know add on to one's tax bill you know if if our bonds are ending tomorrow now my next year's taxes are going to drop you know $33,000 a year and now you want to pass a referendum in four years well I've been living large for a couple years you know I bought a new car and I did this and that now you want me to add on to my tax bill because of this referendum that is obviously needed because of your data how do you handle stuff like that even go into that how do that Co to be able to create that or that option sure thanks how long does it take to uh produce a study like this yeah weeks we have and I think your timeline do you tend to get push back from any of the municipalities so for us right we have multip municipalities most of it's not um unincorporated land at this point right right um do you tend to get push back from any of them about providing data don't thank you the formulas that you use are they unique to your company like have you derived these formulas all statistics so anyone who come up with statistical analysis is really how WEA differents can stal so in your calculations with just using this uh Iowa example and the growth seems pretty uh straightforward um knowing a little bit about the West De Moine Area and all that um how do you how do you calculate in all the uh approved but yet there's no vertical buildings going in going into a presidential election where rates are probably going to have some pressure to move down and people are going to start to want to you know think about moving um how does that calculation you know what did what did this example from Iowa show as it relates to vacant Parcels that are going to go vertical here question I'll try answer that in several ways so model mod talk and that's this District consistently any questions about enrollment all right Rob I think we're ready ahead move on to the Capacity Analysis we need a motion first right you want motion first we can you want to wait then I don't care wait forward we'll go ahead and move forward capacity right capacity prods will poti for yourct it's driven by some of the DAT but capacity as because I he things all the build we have unused don'ts because your counselor full own one they want to open up so important so when we look at your capacity there's elements arear experienced AR bu ele does this abely 100% AR what I would call an assessment for what construction cost be we're not Architects we're not Engineers we're trying toate talk we typically look at on that top look at the space three ways ate eluc en and the L function and something well never that have ad or really that top point at oper and we have driveway all that know room can l are repurpose this is as we compon that's kind of those differents just have to understand part of how we're going be looking at builds I think we put together a timeline here so want am part of this capacity is things that we oural abili we at stud for they were successfully impl we have IDE um and all these elements the end School space this is an example we have more stac I that a question about do you look at for building capacity uh the possibility of additions rather than new buildings do you look at land space or parking like playgrounds gym space um you know student pickup workflow um you just because of building has the potential to be added on maybe it doesn't work because of other things maybe we've done other additions since the idea of going up was thought of you know we going up now doesn't really work do you look at any of that or just really just current classroom size and the programs that we're running in them is the addition and we're still able to provide the progaming stud High than question Rob one thing you mentioned is about the programming um I guess if you can kind of elaborate on that so like if you look at our current High School structure and some of the different classrooms that we have but if we were to do another high school or a bigger High School there's more programming that we could do so are you looking at that when it comes to capacity or just kind of current state or of what value a that might Ates bues us to no no that does that makes total sense um I just have two more questions I'm going to try to get one in before Jay takes it from me so the what are the benefits of doing both analysis and then what's the timeline on if for some reason we just did this one like what you said the other one was eight weeks what is the timeline for this type of analysis fa that analysis so that in July do this and so thect it col question I think so um so so I think so if I'm gathering it it makes sense to do them both at the same time and then that would not change the timeline if we did both one takes 8 weeks the other one I guess takes three months that doesn't change the timeline if we do both at the same time but it sounds like the presentation is separate you don't intertwine them like one in like one doesn't give you more information for the other it's it's basically separate is what you're saying okay en okay that makes sense okay anything else so you know getting back to so you've been doing this for about 20 years and in that 20 years you've provided several uh studies for school districts um what have in your uh you stated that you're 97 to 100% accurate on what your uh views are um what have been the biggest aha moments or epiphanies that the districts have come back to you historically and said gosh we wish we would have gone this way or that way or maybe we did you know too little or too much or you know what what has been over the 20 years some of the wins and some of the takeaways l aw and we that were outt we and changed spaces at different tops um and I mentioned that because Focus development and we want to understand of thec your those are all but how you receive students School District able app local questions okay Rob we we appreciate you uh joining us this evening so thank you so much uh we're going to go ahead and let you disconnect so you can have the rest of your evening back um and then we'll be back in touch with you um either direction that the board goes so I'll be back in touch with you tomorrow than thank you so any motion to dis um well we've discussed to approve Contracting RSP to complete a facility study second so um oh sorry are we a discussion yeah yeah we're uh what is the cost 30 the cost of the enrollment for what they gave us the enrollment analysis was 17,500 cost of the Capacity Analysis was 12,200 so combined cost is 29,7 and these are amounts that are way below anything that requires bidding and things like that right bidding is 35,000 so it's underneath the bid threshold yeah okay great okay even that being said I did reach out to other vendors um the challenge with the other vendors is they did not do the Capacity Analysis I do think there's a benefit to having a vendor that can do both yes um we could go one or the other you could go like definitely applied population Laboratories out of University of Wisconsin was only $4,500 for enrollment analysis so it's $133,000 less again all they gave me in their proposal was they were going to take our enrollment so I don't know what that looks like yeah um for $45 I don't think you're going to get much I would not I would not recommend that and they did not do any capacity the other two vendors did not do capacity either so this is the only vendor I was able to find that did both um as a kind of unit and you saw all of the things that in the school district so and then they did uh loal Stu St Charles pal IND IND Indian Prairie Indian Prairie yeah Rockford Public School System us them so they've been used by a lot of larger as well as smaller districts so they have kind of a I would say a plethora of experiences yeah how do we feel about the timeline um when I spoke with them I asked them for the August timeline that's why you're sing an August timeline because if we're going to go out and look for a referendum we need it uh to be done sooner than later otherwise you miss the opportunity for the election yeah um so they felt uh as he mentioned um they did feel that because it's kind of their L they're finish up a lot of projects Summer's a little slower for them so they felt that was a benefit to us and that we're coming in during a time that's a little bit less impactful for them so they didn't feel like they were able to meet that timeline they didn't think it was aggressive but they felt they could think it would compromise any no our August meeting would be on the 19th two days before school starts first day of teachers um and just from a practical standpoint if we need we' either need a meeting probably right after that or presentation the week before and then we have our normal scheduled boarding just so we're prepared for that it would probably require another special board meeting yeah yeah yeah I I don't have any other questions you to move forward no more questions I don't have more question yeah yeah someone commented I don't need an enrollment study to uh to blame if we were wrong you know I I'll stand behind my actions and decisions whether I have something to blame something on or not you know um but I think we're I'm still not in agreement with either of these but I think certain folks of the community have said they wanted to do it so hey at least our Administration can get back to you know focusing more on kids rather than just where they're going to put those kids but actually on educating them making sure the schools are running appropriately so you know that's a that's a plus so um so yeah I'll go for it just to get it done and to get you know hopefully we don't waste 30 grand but yeah so well I'm excited to vote for it because I want to see better picture verify our numbers something wrong verification of numbers it could be the numbers that we have are perfect let's have verification or maybe they're off a bit and this study can give us a greater resolution of how to move forward I I I I think the biggest selling point to this um is that uh the community seem to uh vote against the the you know the the the plan because they felt that they didn't have the data um I don't want to keep you know putting this referendum on uh an election and losing for the same reason right so um look it's uh relative to what we're spending to build you know uh for our kids uh it's peanuts so let's go ahead in my opinion get this commission get it done and um you know what if the data comes back and tells us oh my God we were dead wrong we don't need a new high school fine yeah and if it comes back and says you know you were right but you know here's some nuances great so I right and hopefully those 3,300 people who voted no all cared about our our process our decision it wasn't about the money Mone hopefully it wasn't just 200 who cared about that and 30100 who don't want to pay more taxes so so I you know it's I I think I think for the kids sake I mean that's why we're all here and that's you know I think let's let's go for it and you know I'm a stats guy I want to see the statistics and I think that um I I think that people will be surprised I I also don't agree with just putting um peac mailing things you know I think I I'm not I'm not in favor of doing that so doing one off type things I think that you know that would that would certainly add more complexity down the road to keep going for referendums and stuff so let's see what this comes out and then we can have deep discussions about which way the district goes something I do want to say before we vote Yep this is intentionally meant to be public at no point did this board refuse to do an enrollment no study yeah no it was never done and I feel like that's the implication of a lot of the emails that I've gotten is there was an active refusal to do that and that's extremely frustrating as a board member or a parent as a parent to be vilified in that way so that's all I'm going to say about yep so leave with fact not fair ready to vote Yes I'm ready let's go on that first motion for the enrollment study are we separating the motion okay Hil yes Nolan yes vote Yes aif Yes Fulk yes Gorman yes no the facilities do we need to make the motion for okay the second one the second one I would just do it again yeah I'll make the motion you have that already I had the same one both times so my I thought it was enrollment but I can make a correction is it better the second one is for the motion is a motion in a second it's required to to actually approve the facility the facility studies okay so we need a new motion we just made second I I said second yes ready for the vote then okay yes Nolan yep papis I'm sorry V yes aie yes Fulk yes Hil yes Gorman yes any motion second to adourn open session and move to close session for exception to C2 vote Yes aief yes Fulk yes pil yes Nolan yes Gorman yes motion is carried thanks again for coming out I think

e e e find a seat welcome and thank you for being here this evening the first order of business is what I call the preliminaries this is where I go through some of the basics and explain how we will operate tonight town meeting is not the comment section a select bard of school committee meeting order as a public forum or a public hearing what tal meeting is is a legislature for the town of Ashland and tonight we are City legislative session together we collectively approve the town budget vote on Capital purchases approve bylaws and more my name is Adam Schuster and I'm the moderator my job as moderator is to serve as the presiding officer of this legislature I believe that part of my job is also to ensure that those here in tenant understand what is going on I'll do my best to explain anything out of the ordinary if at any time you have a question about something please ask as there are likely others with the same question I'll be guided in running town meeting by the Third Edition of town meeting time which is published by the Massachusetts moderators Association and generally recognized as the authoritative guide to running Town meetings in Massachusetts joining me in the front of the auditorium are members of the school committee members of the select board members of the finance committee Town Council Lisa Town manager Michael Herbert assistant Town manager Jen ball Finance director Britney yak Pony and APS superintendent Jim Adams with me on stage are town clerk Cindy Livingstone and Deputy town clerk Chris Sullivan this meeting is being broadcast live and recorded for later rebroadcast on waca TV welcome to those of us watching to those of you watching when you checked in this evening you received an orange index card it is important that you hang on to this card as you will not be able to vote without it because votes will be counted based on the display of cards non-voters and members of the press May sit anywhere in the auditorium I will generally be able to determine the results of each vote by a simple show of cards in the event I am unable to do so we have tellers that will perform an actual vote count tonight's tellers have already been sworn in please ensure that you have turned all cell phones and other electronic devices to mute if you must take or make a phone call during these proceedings please leave the auditorium to do so the warrant that was posted and from which we will be working tonight constitutes a notice or warning to all voters of what we will discuss tonight town meeting can only take action within the scope of an article on the posted warrant similarly any discussion is limited to the scope of the articles on the posted warrant town meeting acts on motions if there isn't a motion before town meeting no action including discussion can take place in order to allow for discussion I will entertain a motion and a second for that motion after each article has been introduced and explained but before discussion commences once a motion has been made and seconded it is subject to amendments from the floor the procedures for amending an article are listed at the back of your handbook in the section titled selected town meeting procedures if you have a question or comment during discussion of an article make your way to one of the two microphones and wait to be recognized after being recognized please state your name and address and direct all your remarks to me please keep your comments brief and ensure that they relate directly to the article being discussed if you are unable to get to a microphone please raise your hand and I will have one brought to you when it's your turn to speak to ensure that we are able to hear from the greatest number of people each speaker will be limited to one three minute turn at the microphone during discussion of each article uh frequency limits will not apply during discussion of the annual budget but the time limit will if you are responding to a question please do so through me there should be no direct discussion between parties at town meeting all debate is to be conducted in a respectful and courageous manner no comments of a personal nature are to be made Rude Behavior especially shouting bullying and personal tax will not be tolerated and anyone unwilling or unable to comply with this rule will be removed I'd also last that everyone refrain from Applause and similar out outbursts during discussions with 14 articles in the warrant I see no reason that we can't complete our business this evening I'll do my best to keep things moving along but ultimately the length of town meeting is up to all of you in the audience we have some announcements this evening May is mental health awareness month despite many recent strides in how our society approaches mental well-being many Americans still don't have access to the highquality comprehensive treatment and care they need in fact the US Surgeon General has called mental health the Public Health crisis of our time across the country during May individuals and organizations will step up to raise awareness of and help address the challenges faced by people living with mental health conditions in ashin Department of prevention and Human Services invites you to learn more about the programs and resources that will be available throughout the month to support mental health including art saves Ashland on May 9th from 4 to 7 here at the high school to celebrate art and mental health for more information visit the town's website Ashlin mass.com and search Mental Health Awareness Month 2024 annual Town elections are three weeks from yesterday as always I'm predicting a beautiful day with nothing but Sun skies on May 21st the the date does change every year though I never say always say May 21st I always get the right date so I'd urge everyone to get out and vote and when you do take a neighbor or two with you everyone votes here at the high school and HS are open from 7:00 a.m.

like to call to order the May 1st 2024 budget and finance subcommittee meeting of the Greenfield school committee at 3:04 p.m. and uh I will take a roll call uh for myself Vice chair Martini present member Childs present and member genive is not present with us today because she's not able to attend and we have a quorum so with that uh let's dive right into the agenda the first item of which is an update on the um FY 25 budget well I will start and then Andy certainly can um fill in the blanks um we went to the ways means meeting for our operating budget last week I think last Tuesday if I can recall correctly um lot of questions about um you know specific changes a lot of the Staffing changes that um we talked about at the school committee meeting with the budget presentation like the fluctuation from one line to the next that we talked about um some questions from from uh one of the city councilors about why we pay for parking at the church parking lot um I'll share with both of you it is not just our buses that park there we do not have sufficient parking at the middle school in and of itself for all of the central office staff and the Middle School staff so it's not just a matter of moving buses um so I don't know if that resolved the question but um that was a topic uh of discussion um I'm trying to think if there was anything else significant um there was some public comment on the front end um about uh priorities for um music program but the um parent um had some made some statement that suggested some um incorrect information about the budget process like there should be a line for music supplies in the high school budget for an example so Andy spent um I think a fair amount of time outlining for Ways and Means why accounts are the way they are what we've talked about at school committee in terms of really needing to streamline the accounts and the challenge that we will have the committee will have for a while in terms of comparing Apples to Apples if we were to um connect FTE to each budget line we can do that but over time that won't really represent the FTE in each building because they might move from one line to the next year to year um so we had quite a bit of that conversation and um outside of that I I feel like we did a pretty thorough discussion and I think I think the committee is aware um the mayor recommended a 4% budget increase for the schools instead of the 5.86 that the committee um voted on but it we had a we identified a billing issue that had been in place with KM muscus and so we have um a credit with the company so we're going to take that credit next year to help offset some of the difference between school committee's budget and what the mayor moved forward and then we will also um use some special ed revolving to fund some of the specialed tuitions so we were able to address the mayor's budget amount um without any impact on staff thing to address the Mayors we do have a few staff reductions due to enrollment we had bubble classes that are now not going to be in the buildings where they were and such so um we do have a couple potential stuffing changes due to that not due to the budget so now we wait for the end of ways and means meetings and then it goes to city council okay they also did fund the money requested with the ele for the elevator repair Ways and Means um did recommend that funding okay questions member child um I don't think I really have questions because the only one would have been about the Staffing reductions being due to the bubble class issue and I think it was pretty well explained okay uh I have a question so you can get another minute to think on it um are there any um potential non-staff reductions in relation to the mayor's budget as compared not at this point okay no we've um I I say that like I said we could address the entirety of the difference between what school committee voted and the mayor's recommendation um by using special ed revolving and then with the transportation credit so at this point no but certainly um any further reduction would result in non-staff changes okay we have you might be happy to hear this if I haven't shared it forgive me I'm not remember if I shared this at the full committee I think I did we did hire um the two music positions okay and saying yes so I did talk about this yeah which is which is positive we hired in elementary library media specialist right Karen that was yes so we're very excited about that um so um you know and and that's good to get those hires now for next year is very encouraging I think it is unfortunate that we potentially have opportunities to interview and hire people because many of the districts in western Mass are having to make substantial budget reductions so they're you know we have applicants because their jobs are getting cut in other places okay what were the numbers on the credit that we had with KM Mascus and um the use of the special education revolving Andy will know the credit was $1 13,831 40 and we ended up using the transportation revolve or sped tuition revolving the balance is that 163,944 okay and even then if I may the when we built the budget the uh amount that we normally use out of the transport or I should say the special education tuition revolving is give you an idea $300,000 so not that we're quote unquote hoarding money or anything but it does give us flexibility for any unanticipated special education expenses that might occur next year where we're we're using just about a little more than half of what we normally project to use each year so it's not decimating anything where we're even so let's play out the scenario as far as a concern of some nonoperating cuts that if you know city council were to do something there's we would be able to have discussion as to whether or not we would even need to make those cuts I I would like to uh amend your statement Andy a little bit to say we still could have unanticipated special ed now I just don't want anyone to think that even though we're in May that because we are in May the special ed budget is static at this point it it most definitely is not okay um was there anything else that you thought was important to add Christine or Andy uh I always feel like it's important to share the fact that last year we talked a lot about addressing the $2 million issue not using eer funds for Staffing going forward I know there was some strong feelings about that and we did have some staffing changes last year but I would like to point out that we are one not cutting stack and two potentially adding positions back in and when neighboring districts are cutting 10 17 20 positions for us to be in the position that we are um is what the challenges that we dealt with last year was intended to do so we we took the hit last year to reduce any impact this year and I believe it worked exactly as intended so what about for the year after this next one is it going to be a cut then higher cut then higher thing or is it more of a foundation from last year's tough decisions I mean I know you're not psychic but um I don't know Andy might be are you psychic Andy um I think that we we have set ourselves up well I believe leave um using Revenue sources using um non you we're using our grants very effectively we have used our eer funds very effectively and um you know we certainly can't speak to what the city budget will look like going forward you know the mayor was very clear at ways and means that she was using one-time funds to address some increases uh particularly the insurance um we had a significant Insurance increase at the city level I believe it was 177% Andy if that's correct which is a huge impact on the city budget um but I I believe our spending plan and um the way we've used funds sets us up as well as we can be given the uncertainty of FY 26 Andy I don't know if you want to add to that or subract from it no I mean again just a little more detail if we the other funding sources that we normally use to offset trans uh the budget the transportation revolving the special education tuition revolving that we just discussed school choice circuit breaker um we in the original fi25 plan if you remember we actually had very little if any of those being used in fi25 and so now again not that I'm going to say that the whole intent of the eer funds were to do exactly what it is that we've done here uh which is in a sense use the eer funds to quote get us through what it is that we have been through without using these other funding sources to potentially buy I'll say buy us time to get back on track for I'll say normal as normals can be funding operations at the city and state and federal level of whatever normaly is when it comes to that but you know so uh what I I just alluded to and the other funding sources we using half of what we normally anticipate for school choice in our normal years we weren't touching Transportation revolving uh funds for next year so those are things that I'm going to say not that we're kicking the can down the road but to some ENT we potentially are kicking the can down the road as far as you know I I don't want to say building up the reserves because I'm sure city council people would not like to hear us you know saying that we're actively doing that but to some extent we are it's good budgeting for us to be able to sustain the educational programming that we want here by having these funds available to us so that we can make the decisions that we do year to year and then I'll say also that in these times even before covid and the pandemic you know because of the funding that goes on long range planning is year to year you know things change so frequently you both at the state level you know and then in some of the areas that we see some volatility and we just talked about special education could have some maintenance and heating and you know operational things on those sides that just ends up H making us have to make some decisions mid year so all that being said I'd say we are well positioned knock on wood everyone for uh 25 and 26 and hopefully Beyond it remains on my Horizon um for FY 26 that the um district will be looking to hire six to seven staff for the expansion of ful year um science and social studies in the middle school and um and we have also previously discussed uh potential Staffing uh changes or adding um in relation to enhancing foreign language instruction that was previously cut um so can you get out your crystal ball and say how uh how confident do you feel about the ability to budget for and absorb those next year so one thing I'd like to put out and absolutely Kate with the redistricting that will take effect in September um basically the work around looking at student numbers and staff needs in the anticipation of September of 25 will will have to be redone almost sorry Karen from the start because it will have been by that point three years from when we did our initial uh planning and not to say that our thinking was wrong but you know the numbers will need to be re-evaluated um so when we talked about adding six or seven staff um that is accurate but we will need to look at the numbers of students at the high school in 8th grade that are moving the numberb of students at the high school at that time how many sections we'll need of all of our courses class sizes at all the elementary so at the end to address the needs for full-time science and social studies the over under of numbers might not be that high did that make sense yes good you know so so if our class sizes at the elementary are smaller and we only need three of xrade level instead of five then those two staff hopefully can move to teach at the middle school and that's that many less new staff we have to fund so I think that's you know that's a piece Karen will get to look at as she gets partway into next year okay that kind of leads um into my next question is I was wondering if you have any um updates in terms of how kindergarten enrollment is going um we did have numbers we looked at very recently as a matter of fact um the numbers all right Karen you're my memory aid Four Corners at this point is still floating around having one kindergarten as a opposed to two the positive is at Four Corners historically the enrollment that we have about this time of year has tended to hold so we feel a little more confident that the enrollment at Four Corners is not going to fluctuate too much from here the part that is less than excuse me um less than certain is that in our other two buildings kindergarten enrollment tends to um explode as we get very close to school and Newton is already looking high so there is potential that we actually may need a third section of kindergarten at Newton so we'll keep going but I don't think we'll have a firm number for kindergarten at um Newton and potentially Federal until unfortunately well into the Summer Okay so we're watching right Miss Pat node we're watching but obviously reduce if we reduce a kindergarten in any building certainly and need to increase a kindergarten in another building obviously are that would be an opportunity for the staff person to stay with us you know okay and um just one other uh side question in relation to the elevators um do you anticipate that work um starting and being completed over the summer starting for sure that's the plan being completed I can't speak to that um Karen and I met with Mike H dro the facilities director today and he shared that there's you know an 8 to 10 week delay in ordering some of the parts based on what he's aware of right now um so we'll be following up um and getting that process moving along as quickly as possible I do expect some of the work to happen or to start this summer but I'm not sure that I can say it'll be finished hope so okay um other questions member Childs none of them are immediately jumping I apologize I've got viral brain fog okay um if there is nothing else that anyone would like to add on this item I will move on okay uh the other item on the agenda today is discussion of a school committee budget calendar uh which was previously talked about at school committee and uh I put together in the materials for today's meeting a number of examples of budget calendars from other school committees um so I hope that folks had a chance to look at that and um I'm going to I'm going to see if I can Master the uh art of sharing my screen which I don't usually do if you can't I can so just let me know okay okay okay um you might need to do that it says host disabled aend screen sharing or you could again I made you co-host so that should enable screen sharing for you okay there we go okay so in here there are um budget calendar examples from Andover Arlington barnable Brookline North Reading pey Somerville and Oxbridge uh there are plenty there are other ones I just wanted to get a good handful without being excessive so um it seemed like this was a good number um these are called different things but are generally along the lines of either budget planning calendar or budget development calendar and um they are created differently by different committees I'm sure according to their um respective needs uh so some are kind of a list format like Andover AR lton is kind of similar barnable is different because it has um a different kind of set of columns with um a time frame for things to happen where in systems this thing happens where for example as a workshop in the school committee versus an administrative thing what the action is and what the purpose or deliverable is on that which is sort of similar to other ones um I thought Brook line was a great example of alignment between what they budget and finance subcommittee is doing next to the school committee next to other uh entities on the municipal side I'm going through this really quickly because I don't not intending to um take any actions per se today I just wanted people to look at this um this one is North Reading pey is more General U looks like one that one I love rather than a date and they similarly lay it out like Barnstable in identifying which um entity is responsible for the thing uh whether it's the state or the school administration or principles and department managers Etc and then what the action is Somerville does it more more of a linear thing I guess and I liked this one the way that it was laid out um in terms of what their bud Finance uh committee is doing because I appreciate that um guidance from another from another committee and uh and then xbridge it looks very much like um like some of the other ones so everybody has this in their materials I'm not going to keep it on my screen I just um I wanted to share that for the public for a minute um okay and that should be accessible to people if they go online and look at these um meeting materials if they want to take a look or just go Google searching uh various school committee web pages and see what they have up there um for a budget calendars so um I wanted to just have a a brief discussion about the themes um that are in these um examples and talk about what um what the committee might subcommittee might wish to do or um propose to move forward with creating a similar document for Greenfield so um as far as I could tell I think that there are two main um themes that I could pull out of all every almost every budget calendar that I looked at from all these different School committees so um the first one was time frames and the most important time frames are uh of course the ones that occur within the school administration in the school committee uh and they all have similar points in the budget process starting with the school committee developing a budget calendar and adopting it uh which most of these committees seem to do annually and um then items that delineate when Capital Improvement project requests are made when budget instructions and forms are distributed to leadership um like building administrators and department heads and when they're due back and when the uh Administration has conversations or collaborative um reviews with them of those requests and uh I think that that piece would be helpful to have as an an informational item um in a budget calendar because this does it pertains to some of the discussions that have come up recently I think with regard to um the funding of music programs in Greenfield because we've had some people come in um for a public comment who don't um understand how the budget is developed for this and um I think it would be helpful and enlightening for people to see when and how um those departmental budgets are um made and put forward to Administration and discussed and and all of that chrisye oh thank you um I would like to um I guess just share a few points is one um I believe that everybody on this committee is aware that we work backwards from the city's budget calendar we get the city's budget calendar which identifies the dates that the mayor is due the budget from the school committee and then and we work backwards to the with the um public hearing requirements and then we work backwards to the date that um ads need to be placed in the newspaper based on the newspapers timelines so all of that really flows backwards only after we get the budget calendar from The City the second piece I guess is a it's an administrative um element and I understands Kate your concern about um people don't understand how the budget is created um I guess I'd like to share I've identified that process multiple times every year that I've done the budget um but I would strongly request that the committee not identify specific dates for administrative tasks the date by which the superintendent presents her budget to the school committee is certainly something that's committee level but superintendent meetings with department heads um I think a range of General times so that people see the sequence is great but for the committee to dictate when the superintendent schedules meetings I think is I think that those meetings are an administrative task I think um I could be wrong and I haven't interviewed any other uh of these committees that created the their calendars um but I would I would Hazard a guess and I would be happy to go do some footwork and ask people of this um that the dates that they put in were not set by the committee probably those dates were set by their administrators who told the committee when they were doing things um so potenti I think if that's your understanding and that's the intent is to somewhat work backwards given information presented by the superintendent I think that is that's great um but I guess I would wonder if the committee chooses to go with that detailed of a calendar if that can be clearly outlined when the budget calendar is is discussed um because because your intent or the current committee's intent may not be made clear to Future committees um and if the process were you know you're not always going to be here Ken and Andy won't always be here and what your right just just a thought right um that calls to mind uh one of the um one of the examples that's in the materials um in which um I don't remember which one it was but uh the committee sets not just a calendar but also budget guidelines um at the same time and that seems like an important guideline that would naturally go with the calendar um Okay can if you don't mind me sharing a a very positive thing I think from Greenfield perspective and I'm I'm not sure how you would work this into the process around setting budget guidelines um maybe Andy's had experience with this but other districts where I have worked or that I'm aware of um the finance board big picture um at times dictates downward to the committee like you need to bring us a budget with x% or you need to bring us level service or level funding they sort of put that guideline out on the front end um and it's been a wonderful I think a wonderful um statement that the school committee and even City Council in Greenfield does not do that you as the committee has has made it quite clear in three years give us the budget that represents our needs um so is that the L I mean Andy you speak to that so I guess Kate my question to you is when you say budget guidelines what sort of what Vision did you have about what that could look like I don't have one I I am not proposing a specific set of guidelines or a specific type of calendar or anything because I don't think it's up to me it's a this is supposed to be a committee thing so I guess didn't know if in your research you had come across any budget guidelines that were things that you wanted to put out there or no I think that would be a couple steps down the road I am strictly at the calendar level at the moment okay all right that's fair I do want it on the record though also a fantastic thing for Greenfield that you've asked for a budget that represents the needs okay um where was I I apologize it's okay um I so I noticed that most of these um calendars get adopted sometime between August and November um the ones that seem to be voted on annually by their committee uh which probably makes more sense as to why they have dates on them because that's a lot closer to when um the items on their calendars are going to happen so there's probably more um information available at that point in the year as to when things will occur um the meat of the budget time frames um of course tends to occur between December and whenever there particular uh school department needs to have a final budget proposal which is quite variable and I would also point out that um these examples cover all different kinds of um governmental setups on the local level so um some of them have a select board some have a town meeting Etc um which we do not so uh but but we all are pretty familiar I think with the general progression during that part of the season um with the development of preliminary budget and posting and a public hearing and a committee vote and all of that um some of these calendars spell out a little bit more clearly when or how um the public may have input during that season uh which I think might also be helpful for people and that is it for the First theme and the other theme um that I noticed is um among the calendars that I thought were the most helpful was alignment between city state Administration and committee actions so that people can see when all these moving parts are moving and how they uh how they align with each other uh so that they can get a a bigger picture understanding of how budget development Works um so for my part that is one thing that I would like to see um in ours I don't know if this information is helpful or irrelevant but Kate when you talked about when most of the Committees were voting on the budget timeline our memo about the fy2 budget schedule was sent from the mayor's office on October 2nd so I think that is generally the timeline where we get our budget timeline from the city right if that's help that makes sense um member child did you have uh any comments ideas suggestions things that um you would like to point out or um mostly just uh from looking at all of the ones you've put together just the things that I think are most valuable um because I I definitely see the superintendent's concerns about the rigid deadlines being microman Agy and you can end up following the letter and not the spirit of the idea but uh so from the packet of materials you put together the last one the Westwood Public Schools the way they've got it highlighted different colors for deliverable versus presentation I I think even if we have just a barebones deliverable presentation calendar that would be very helpful to the public at large because all the information it exists it just isn't in that one centralized spot right yes it's in disperate places and it's it's hard for people I think to quickly get a comprehensive view of how this works um yeah okay now that calendar of course is a little bit too nitty-gritty with here the exact deadlines for what we're looking for but right but it is an element from that one in particular that I really would like us to use even if we just have an informal document in one spot um can you clarify exactly what you want or what you're hoping to see well I'm hoping that we could have one document that we could point the public to to say okay here is where we are in the budget timeline right now and here is when you will be getting your information on it okay like highlighting those presentations in particular because everyone knows the presentations happen but I mean communication is such a big problem in Greenfield there's not one source that everyone will go to to get their news and yeah an add in quarter isn't what it used to be well that's true um that also calls to mind what um Christine had just said about the fact that she has presented information uh innumerable times about um how um the budget process works and what have you but I think the the fact remains that most people don't tune into meetings such as school committee meetings and they're they don't hear that and don't um probably have a lot of time to go watching meetings on playback on YouTube um and things like that so uh I think the the goal is to have some sheet basically yes um document that we can put on the website that people can just look at at a glance um and though on the note of comprehensive I would worry about getting too far in the weeds because we want something that is very easily digestible so that we can just prevent uh Christine and then Karen and then whoever is there a few years from now or whatever from having to field the ex exact same question over and over and over again yeah I was thinking that it should be no more than two pages does that sound like a reasonable ballpark can you remind I'm sorry I had a building situation I had to answer a question about we talking about the budget calendar being two pages yes but I would say we could I I wouldn't want us to go two pages I think if we can't do it in one page then we're including too much information okay um Christine just said catch you up for a second we were talking about um we were talking about what you had said or I was talking about what you had said before about um the fact that you do present information about budget development at committee meeting um but our I think our reality that we always encounter is that most people don't watch school committee meetings or city meetings and don't tune in to watch the recap or what have you and and um I don't for my part I think we as school committee members were elected to do this stuff and I don't really expect people to devote tons of times to doing that um and the the the goal of having a budget calendar would be so that people have something that they can look at in a concise way and see um at a glance uh that we can post on the website so yeah so your general goal if I can just make sure I'm um your general goal at the budget calendar is to provide a quick FAQ for public so that they can look at it and go oh yeah this is about the point in the budget timeline yes an an item that people can look at quickly on their own time when they have time and see when th different important things are happening in the development of the FY next budget um and I think I would like to highlight for people the points at which they can most effectively have input about that um I think we've heard a fair amount of confusion from people about that um and if we had it pointed out on our calendar then they would know when to come in and speak to us or send email or what have you so that they can feel heard are there any other um priorities that um you think should be attended [Music] to um in a budget calendar I don't know if this is for our budget calendar but I think a point that does bear talking about at some point as we get into the next budget cycle maybe is um roles the role of the superintendent budget development the role of the school committee and the role of the city council I think um it's it's very challenging for people who don't deal with budgets daytoday which most lucky people don't have to do that to recognize that or to to understand that the city the ways and means and city council don't have line item decision making for the school budget um they can make recommendations for the committee to consider but that they don't dictate the spending plan of the school committee and I think that's hard you know they can ask obviously we present pretty micro level line item information and they can ask questions about that but just sort of how the how the decision- making flows up and down might be helpful as um we get into next year's budget cycle that sounds like another excellent item for Budget guidelines okay any like the idea of a double-sided page you know one side is the calendar the other side is those guidelines just crib sheet right right I think probably the two things that I get the most um confusion about from members of the public are really about those two things how they can have in put and be heard about things and what and role confusion about uh about school committee so it would be very helpful if there was something very concise in handy that people could look at and understand that better um and that's particularly important when it comes to the budget any other suggestions things that are important to tends to in this okay okay um so my um intention is to come back to this uh with uh potent with a I don't even want to call it a draft I'll call it a uh preliminary draft how about that uh because we're we're hatching something new here in Greenfield a lot many other school committees obviously have such an a document but we have not had one so uh it I think will require a lot of thought and I don't expect that we'll be ready to present um something to the full committee to potentially adopt for a few months because um we'll need to have more discussion about this all right um any other last questions comments anything okay uh with that I will move to adjourn I'll second that okay and I am a yes member Childs yes we are adjourned at 3:54 p.m.

God indivisible withy and justice for all so in terms of roll call we have a full um board assembled today uh everybody's here thanks everybody um for being here on time and getting ready to go uh we're going to begin today with the uh recognition of staff and students so um I have for you a well I'm going to start with a proclamation let me see where we are about teacher and staff appreciation week so um it's kind of long but it's heartfelt so um this is a resolution whereas Brookfield teachers open children's mind to the magic of ideas knowledge and dreams and whereas Brookfield teachers keep American democracy Alive by laying the foundation for good citizenship and whereas Brookfield teachers demonstrate a passion for teaching that inspires enthusiasm for Learning and whereas Brookfield teachers fill many roles as listeners explorers role models motivators and mentors and whereas Brookfield teachers are the key to the quality and success of Brookfield schools and whereas Brookfield teachers continue to influence our children long after their school days are only memories be it resolved that the Brookfield Board of Education supports and endorses May 6th to May 10th 2024 as teacher staff appreciation week and that the board extends its wholehearted appreciation to Brookfield teachers for their outstanding contribution to the children children of our community and urge all members of our community to take time to recognize and acknowledge the impact of teachers on our lives so that is it and I understand that Mrs niggard is here Mrs nard and Mr K are here to accept the well wishes of the board that's wonderful so much thank you thank you thank you thank you great to have you here thank you so much thank [Applause] you sweet and the good news just keeps coming because we also have a proclamation about School nurses day and we understand are you are you Ashley nurer stand here just get get the whole thing for yourself absorb it and then share it with your wonderful colleagues okay so uh I have another Proclamation equally heartfelt whereas through their skill and expertise our Pati School nurses help to foster a healthy nurturing community in which our children can learn and grow and whereas most often School nurses are the first and sometimes the only line of defense against the illnesses and conditions our students face making their contribution to the education and Welfare of the student population invaluable and whereas the nature of their profession calls on their ability to take on roles beyond that of Health provider acting as teacher Confidant mentor and friend to the students of Connecticut and whereas today's society presents students with an overwhelming number of physical social and mental ills and School nurses have become an essential component of effective health programs both in and out of the classroom and whereas the overwhelming dedication School nurses show to their profession and the children they care for stands as a testament to their commitment to the success and wellness of Connecticut's future Generations now therefore be it resolved that the Brookfield Board of Education supports and endorses May 8th to 2024 as School nurses day and that the board extends its wholehearted appreciation to Brookfield nurses for their outstanding contribution to the children of our community and urge all members of the community to take time to recognize and acknowledge the role of these nurses in our lives thank you very much than for being here thank you very much thank you that's really awesome so the board and superintendent would like to recognize the students you may have noticed there are students here who participated in the 17th annual hrr which is the honic resource recovery Authority annual poster contest um Dr BR are you prepared to help out with this absolutely you ready for me to to do that okay thank you Dr yabut so um I would like to invite to the podium to get ready for the presentation our annual and 15th presentation Mrs gramling how lucky are we the superintendent and the board's wonderful secretary thank you everybody it is oh thank you so good evening everyone and welcome to the 17th annual honic resources recovery Authority or the HR as we like to call it uh annual poster contest winter celebration I have practiced that for a week that is a mouthful it is so great to see all of you here tonight my name is Lisa gramling I'm the secretary to uh superintendent burill and I'm also the regional coordinator for this poster contest um I just want to give a little overview on the process uh the hrra gives us a theme that we must follow every year and this year our theme was keep it Loose don't bag or bundle your recyclables um we had almost 90 entries this year and seven Regional winners so you should all very proud of that um some new changes to the contest this year the HR really up the ante um giving both both the designated Town coordinator and the teacher each a $250 prize um and instead of one grand prize winner they offered four this year uh which each received $500 so grades K to2 the grand prize Regional winner won 500 uh grades 3 to5 uh $500 grades 6 to8 and grades 9 to 12 so um we send the templates to the schools and they pass them out to the students and the students have about a month a month and a half to um do their posters and then they're judged on a local level in the building first second and third place for each grade um after that the first place winners come back to our office and then we package everything up and we send it off um to the regional meeting and then they're judged on a regional level so there's really a lot of incentive here um have to say this year the entries that we got were absolutely magnificent um you should all be so proud uh of your work um a huge thank you to the principls and the secretaries and coordinators the teacher honestly there's so much that goes into this and this could not be done uh without you so um we really really appreciate your help so without further Ado we're going to get going with our winners here and we are I'm going to ask Dr pep saski to come help me you remember the order that we went through so let me just grab my sheet here okay so for kindergarten first place and second place Regional winner is Everly hoy for kindergarten second place we have Carter [Music] Harding for kindergarten third place we have ay yang [Applause] I'm going to apologize with the names I'm going to do my absolute best I did practice that for two weeks okay first grade first place and third place Regional winner dwan Babar so um just a point of order the regional winners um you should have received your posters um the HRA does an annual celebration on or around Earth day they had that last week so um those of you that are just getting ribbons only should have received your uh your posters already so thank you so first grade second place we have ailia Mackie that's first grade third place Uma [Applause] Burger second grade first place and third place Regional winner Santiago deio he so cute second grade second place grayan [Applause] Korea second grade third place mohill bsar [Applause] third grade first place uh yayi [Applause] hun third grade second place Ethan herel [Applause] third grade third place Sophia [Applause] [Laughter] Borges fourth grade first place and second place Regional winner Hannah mlan [Applause] fourth grade second place natal zigel Meer fourth grade third place we actually have a tie for third the first is Reagan [Applause] Mano for fourth grade third place Eliza [Applause] Bal fifth grade first place and first place Regional winner Al Mukerji better than I know aren't these P these poster entries are absolutely amazing fifth grade second place Elijah huling and fifth grade third place Owen balish okay Mr Renda you're up yes oh wow look at that so sixth grade first place and first place Regional winner Amber Jang sixth grade second place nikil manoir seventh grade first place and third place Regional winner Zion balal Artic seventh grade second place Stella Drago seventh grade third place yina [Applause] hun and eighth grade first place Elisa so once again um we just want to thank all of you for being here um for every student that um sent in an entry you guys did a fantastic job thank you to all of you um and we will see you next year thank you so much they don't have to a second for the room to clear [Music] out or we could just that little boy Carter is the cutest whoever Carter is the cutest or is his grandson congratulations he's coming good to see you sir she told me stories she told me [Music] stories byebye have a good night everybody really beautiful and Wendy if I could share one thing before we move on to the while we're on the spirit of appreciation and recognition very important today was also principal day so we want to recognize our principles out there yay principal principl principal day happy princip day principal day and as we're putting together the the different recognitions uh Mrs gramling also at the end of this year will be celebrating 25 years with school district so I had to say that right on right on well let's let the uh good news keep on coming and the next item on the agenda is the student representative report so Ava what do you have for us tonight I have a lot of updates tonight actually as we get toward May and June there's all these end of year things so starting off AP exams are coming up over these next two weeks so they start this Monday May 6 and go until May 17th um the counseling department just sent out the schedule with all the days of the different exams some of the exams are on a digital format so students have started to download that program on their computers senior prom is going to be on May 24th it'll be at the Waterview in Monroe students have a scheduled half day half day that day so they have to be in school for the entire half day in order to attend seniors also have some other things going on we have a senior class trip to Holiday Hills that's going to be on June 3rd so those tickets are on sale Mrs geneves is amazing about advertising all of these scholarship opportunities so she's been getting the word out about a lot of those recently for seniors on May 15th of representative from the Connecticut state will be at Brookfield High School to answer all questions about nguk Valley community college and that application process just kind of helping kids through that if they're interested and decision day would normally be today May 1st but a lot of things have been pushed back because FAFSA is being simplified and reorganized so seniors are going to come to school on May 15th and rep all of their um colleges on May 15th instead for athletics I have a bunch of updates last Sunday Carter sarowitz got the National Football Foundation scholar athlete award and on Monday Carter sarowitz along with Philip Ferrara were honored at the aquaturf and received the CIA Unified sports award on Thursday Sunny Williams and Katherine Sosi are going to receive the S swc leadership award at a banquet in Stratford and Jack Morlock and Ahmad Hashi will receive the same will receive a s swc leadership award for Unified sports at the same banquet on Sunday Sasha gelfan and Ava wouth will be honored at the cia's scholar athlete banquet and last Thursday we had the annual College signing day here at the high school for all the student athletes committed to play their Sports in college so I'm just going to read off the students who are committed Mr Baldwin gave me a list of everyone our commits for baseball are Sam consalvo and Nick Peta for basketball Valentina iello and Shane Weber for cheer Alyssa Eaton for lacrosse Carter sarowitz Caroline Korea Brett Palmer and Liam McCurry for soccer Jack Morlock Austin holey Riley McGee Courtney St Abby Crist and Ryan sharp for softball Kaya Zimmerman Katherine Brooks and Izzy barrero for track Olivia Walters and for volleyball Ryan Doo on May 23rd Brookfield athletics department will be sending 25 female scholar athlete students to the women in leadership conference and on May 17th Vanessa Greenstein will be making a presentation at the Connecticut Association of school in chesher on behalf of the CIA State student athletic Advisory board for its culminating presentation focusing on CIA Class Act initiative designed to empower schools and particularly about students taking ownership for issues related to sportsmanship Brookfield is the state leaders and athletic advisory Mr baldman wanted me to mention that um and Mr bla and Mr baldman will be there for that presentation on May 29th Ava wouth will be presenting at the Connecticut Association of schools on behalf of the cisa student Equity Advisory Board which focuses on student initiatives aimed for fostering inclusivity and embracing diversity in con Connecticut schools this year so this year the topics are mental health and social emotional learning equality in coaching facilities and Equipment advancing representation of people of color addressing racial disparities and gender disparities and providing support for students with disabilities Mr Baldwin and mrbo will be at this presentation at the end of May our athletic advisory officers will be going to whiner to make a presentation to eth graders about Class Act and all about what it's like to be a high school athlete kind of just give them some advice as they're about to go up to the high school um and the athletic advisory is also going to be running field days for Candlewood Lake Elementary School in early June finally for some of the clubs that I'm in NHS we have some end of year things coming up we have our banquet which will be towards the end of this month our Mother's Day 5K is going to be on May 12th so we're organizing getting things together for that and like I've mentioned before that's all those proceeds are going to the Connecticut Children's Hospital we're also going to be volunteering at some Brookfield events such as the Brookfield block party some YMCA the healthy kids event and the master year finals event that'll be here at the high school we are also having a blood drive on June 18th at the Congregational Church of Brookfield finally for youth commission we've just been recapping and reviewing our career fair that we held in March just going over the student feedback we've received and maybe planning some changes that will apply for next year's event I know that was a lot but that's everything thank you thank you AA um I I have a question when is the blood drive June 18th yeah okay and I um I'm trying to get back in that habit what what are the dates on that the the I'm sorry the times I apologize um I'm not exactly sure what the times are they just announced it at our meeting today um we've had a couple throughout the year they've been at there's one at St margarites one at the high school I'm pretty sure it's an all day event but they they're working right now on getting people to sign up and just getting the word out great thank you questions for I have one Wendy Eva so I've been waiting for a couple of weeks she just told us she gets two more weeks two more weeks so so no she was going to tell us tonight I know but she just said because of the PSA got to push you can't tell us yeah I just committed to University thank you thank you I'm really excited it's going to be a great congratulations thank you thanks wonder have a good night of course have a great night that is Splendid all right so now we'll move to the next item which is public comment um the Board of Ed welcomes public comment each speaker will have up to three minutes to provide input to the board at the start of each regular meeting a maximum of 20 minutes is allotted for comment on any item included on the agenda for that meeting at the end of the meeting um time is allotted for comment on items within the board's jurisdiction which also includes overflow time although we won't have that this evening um discussion of school Personnel individual students or of individual members of the board is prohibited and the first person up is um Mr Highland actually he had a topic that wasn't on the agenda yeah I'm sorry Mr Highland uh my my bad yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah thanks Mr we've we've been discussing it thanks everyone um so Mrs Korea Irene Korea you're up first please um hi Irene Korea 45 West whisky near Road um on tonight's agenda there are two meeting options for the 2024 25 school year one option is 16 meetings and the other is 12 meetings for the 2019 2020 school year the Boe had 18 meetings on their schedule this District this District needs more oversight and not less the turnaround to tackle problems meet objectives update policies review budgets and react to the issues facing a 3,000 person organization cannot be reduced the board has not updated policies that c recommended almost three years ago how can you update these policies when you meet less often I think the current schedule of 16 meetings is not enough to help fix this district and Get It On Track we still have issues with special educ ation building conditions and stagnant test scores I ask you to scrap the 12 and 16 meeting schedules and go back to the 18 meeting schedule thank you uh thank you very much and um the next person is Andy Korea Andy Korea also 45 westwest Road um so I agree with ir about the Boe meeting schedule there is not enough oversight fewer meetings is left less oversight she mentioned um policies that have not been updated I mean the policies that were not updated for quite some that recently updated and were not for a while were like when we had a board member was focused on policies for like 6 years and they missed the grading policy graduation requirement policy a bullying law for 2 years so this is like really basic stuff um the other thing I want to speak about is the the process for the evaluation of the superintend um I've received the evaluation of the superintendent uh from last year right and when I look at it there's some things in there that just um just are low quality from a process perspective so for example one of the objectives was to build excitement around school start times that's not the sort of thing that you can measure right also well it's great if people like the school T star times it really doesn't really Drive anything to move forward nor is it an appropriate objective at the superintendent or executive level it is more reflective I think of maybe a personal uh preference of somebody who maybe drove that project I don't think that's a useful use of the board's um evaluation policy process there also was no mention um you know through midyear uh of adding an objective to fix the special special education problems there was some mention of you know how hiring went and those positions were were referenced but for something as large that was in the paper quite a bit that drove incremental spending for a study should have been in the evaluation it's also 15% you know of the population and there's federal laws around what you need to do so that should be in there um also in terms of the feedback of some of the board members there was one board member that gave input that the athletic website didn't have player bios and they were focused on or had a comment about how they heard about the cheer team's swc Championship ad nauseum so that was the first time they've ever won the the uh a championship and the year before there was some bullying issues and useum means to the point you want to throw up so when you go and you look at the superintendent's um performance please take it seriously and not focus on personal issues but rather systematically you know how do we manage the district as a whole to make sure that we're getting to outcomes I will send you the information I have from last year and I'll point out the problems I find with it I also sent you an email I intended to have given you more Headway but the meeting agenda comes out so late um You by law you have 24 hours if you know you're going to have what's going to be on the agenda you have it 3 days before I think it would be meaningful for the community to put it out early and then I'll be able to get you an email earlier but if you look through the email I've laid out what I view are concerns with performance that I think to be addressed thank you then this is not on the okay so I think I think that those are u based on what's on our um based on what's on the agenda I believe that those are the only uh pieces of public comment that are pertinent to the agenda the other ones will be um after the meeting so uh let's move now to uh written correspondents um Stephanie what do you have for us um the following people wrote us emails Christina Zimmerman background checks of BPS employees Foya employee substitute subsidiary payroll question Aon Scalera whis ker website Kim gerardi June 19th the federal holiday Matt Grimes complaint under policy 1312 all right thank you um is there any discussion about those okay let's move to the next item which is the approval of board minutes I move that the board approve the minutes listed below as recommended regular meeting on 41024 board retreat on 42724 great the um motion to approve the minutes has been um made and seconded um all in favor I any opposed okay so the um the motion passed es uh unanimously the minutes are approved next we'll move to the superintendent's update all right thank you everybody good evening uh lots of lots of great things going on um wanted to update everybody on the swatting Grant we're working with uh emry burnhard from Connecticut Center for school safety with a few districts and uh building in some training and getting a grant on swatting it would have to do with software as well as 2 to three days of training which not only involve our staffs at the school and at central office but sro's so hopefully we'll receive that Grant and be able to move forward on that either over the summer or in the fall something like that so just keeping you updated on that um I want to thank uh the team uh our special education department whis skiner uh Nicole buckton our dean of students for putting on the parent of University a couple of weeks ago at whis skiner uh top topics covered were managing anxiety peer relations body image organizational skills and strategies special education rights social media and building assets I think we had 35 to 40 parents attend so we're really excited about about that evening um I know um uh there's a lot of pride in what happened over there at whiskin Aire so thank you all for putting the time in for that um I now would like to invite Eric to the podium he is going to share with us some really exciting updates in technology uh that were conducted over spring break specific to kendlewood Lake but also some updates that are going on with technology at both uh at the district level as well as the high school and middle school so Eric please thanks Dr Burl U yeah very excited to be here to give you a quick update on uh what was a very busy spring break and a very busy spring as we uh head into the end of the school year um one is is is not the most exciting to the uh the end user of computers but we did have an ongoing Network issue at CES that was impacting parts of the building um thankfully with the with the break we were able to have a day with no students take everything down and get that back and fixed and we've been reliable uh on that ever since um so uh it's it's a great opportunity for us to work through that kind of stuff um the clees multi- room uh multi-purpose room projector um has not been finished but over spring break it was um part of that involved um moving the screen they lowered the screen they lowered the projector so now um that's another location where we can do presentations and and do all that equipment the interactive floor projectors they're called beam Pros they have been installed in both the multi-purpose room and the gross motor room um we have been uh impatiently waiting for those they're very exciting uh and next steps are us to get trade learn how to use and manage and maintain the system and then and then get the kids to start uh um having some fun um there's a lot of great lessons and activities built into those uh that'll be great for PE classes and Beyond um along with that in that same vein of thought the L interactive gymnasium system the one that we really have been talking about um that has the big wall projection um that was finished over the spring break as well and again we're waiting on some training and um and uh information on on getting that up and running um and we uh look for an opportunity to showcase that uh it's a really really exciting piece of technology uh that we've been talking about for a while um also another big one digital signage there's many TVs and projectors around CES that have been um off for some time um those were worked on the um digital signage devices were installed over spring break um we're just waiting from the vendor who actually emailed me earlier to get access for us to start programming those and within the next week or so um we uh anticipate having digital signage around the building I know uh Dr P and his staff are really looking forward to having that signage around the building um and so are we um in the vein of in the same concept of of digital signage today we just uh were informed that we were awarded a grant of just over $220,000 from the state um to build uh to but digital signage in here at the high school and at whiskin ear um and Our intention with that is to is to match what we were had installed at um at CES and so we're going to start with our main entrances and and upgrade some of the TVs and the signage there and and again we're really excited to have a digital signage platform throughout the whole district and uh you know thanks for the state Grant to helping us move that forward uh new bell and paging systems were installed at whiskin and the high school over spring break the paging and Bell systems uh well The Whisky didn't have a bell system uh didn't need one um but the high school had a aging Bell system and both p uh paging systems were were very old um and so the same vendor that did our phones came in and upgraded those and uh uh Mark and Dean I could say everything everything went uh very seamlessly the vendor did a great job and they're already using the paging system we have training scheduled for next week um and we can learn how to use them uh the Bell System uh which is going to be a more user friendly than what we had at the high school before uh earlier this week the district received 800 new Chromebooks um a lot of them are stacked out there locked away um this was the last round of the emergency connectivity fund Grant the ECF Grant um these are much needed and we look forward to getting them out to mostly clees and and whis Ander um the purpose of them is uh for students to use in and out of school and we look forward to coming up with a plan to to get more devices into more our students hands um you know when they need to use them we recently received final specs in pricing on our new contract for our copers uh we are in year six it was originally a 5year we extended one year because of the opening of CES um and the reason why I bring that up is um just a little background for many of the board members six years ago when we did this we went from a fleet of 320 machines down to 72 we were able to fine-tune the opening of CES helped us learn what we need what we don't need and we dropped that even more and now we're down to 52 machines districtwide um based on our needs and and layout of the schools and uh we are very excited to move forward and and continue working with Canon on that um finally the last one I have for you is uh the townwide radio project for the Board of Ed portion which involves handheld radios um for for the new staff and and integration with the town uh that system was installed uh before and during spring break with the exception of one antenna that still has to be installed at kwood Lake School once that's complete they will deliver all of our um handheld radios um and do a training and we will have a brand new radio system and then soon enough um I don't have a timeline on that now but soon enough the town will be on their new system and it will be one integrated system um throughout the town before spring break the IT department went to the headquarters of the radio provider we got a training and a demo and and we're really excited to to bring this um forward great great for security and safety that's all I have excellent Eric thank you so much Eric does anybody have any questions about technology for Eric while we have them up here I know there was a lot there but I wanted to make sure he got a a lot of thorough information there Eric thank you can we make a proclamation for technology director Appreciation Day May 1st I have one so thanks Eric um continuing on um for the CES parking lot we're going to have an interim plan for the spring uh matter of fact today we actually met with the contractor with the MBC uh School administr ation and uh the police major chief and uh the SRO over at kandlewood Lake the transition to the interim plan will happen um in two Mondays May 13th uh Dr P and the team put together a site map with arrows and it's colorcoded with explanation of where and we'll have a fleet of Patrol officers to help us where parents are going to have a new drop off for the five to last five to six weeks of the year and staff will be transitioning from the temporary parking lot to the north parking lot in a little bit of the South lot while the remainder of the south parking lot uh gets a lot of work started uh before we uh End School over the summer a lot of the sidewalk and concrete work in front of the school is going to be worked on and the South lot will be completed um for those of you who have driven by you'll notice the new driveway at the old Huckleberry cutout for the driveway is essentially complete the curving is in the asphalt you see is is the base coat of asphalt that you can paint and you can drive on on in a temporary fashion um it will get a full uh final coat probably in early August over the summer and a repaint so we're really excited we're getting there there's there's a good six seven weeks of work though over the summer to get the parking lot sidewalks Etc really up to par to the vision that and and the design that we had uh have always planned so look forward to everybody seeing that um kindergarten enrollment uh very quickly uh 113 students are fully registered for kindergarten in the coming year 17 of the students are students um we their birthdays after September 1st and they've gone through the waiver process with the administration and the staff um Food Service we're going to be transitioning to Chartwell so I'd like to turn it over to Casey share a little bit about that sure so um we've been talking about this um over the last several months at the finance committee um that as a result of um moving from the four school buildings down to three we did have to go out to bid again for our food service manager or uh prog vendor and um so that process completed we did have three qualified um um bids that came in um the scoring team was uh myself uh Joan Reynolds our accounting supervisor and Julian kidos who's our purchasing manager with the the board in the town um it was a very intensive uh scoring process we had a whole half day of training through the state that was required um to sit through and listen to live there was no going back and watching a video um and um and then we essentially the three of us met we we sort of reviewed the criteria um there's many different areas it's not just lowest and best um price and cost is the most heavily weighted um factor that we did score the the the proposals on um but just so you have an idea of the comprehensive um packages that were submitted and what we evaluated price and cost was highest um High highest weighted but then there's experience references and service capability Financial conditions stability and business practices accounting and Reporting systems personnel management and training Innovation and promotion of the school Food Service program involvement of students staff and Community menus concepts of food food quality and the use of USDA foods and finally support for Connecticut's Farm toch school program um I think the three of us um Jules Joan and myself we went into this you know we've been very happy with with witson we didn't really expect that we would you know necessarily make a change at this point um there nothing that was glaringly bad about witzens we've been very happy with them um but the the really the second sort of half of the SC the scoring process is really where Chartwell sort of scored higher um in more in more areas and um so surprisingly I think at the end of it and we scored it all very independently and then came back at the end of the day and said let's add up our points and when we we were a little bit surprised um how that came out but we thought it was very important it's a very um it's a very prescriptive process that that has to be followed and it's very specific that we we evaluate these proposals on the content provided in these um packages not on what we personally know to be true about our current um program and so um in doing that we did um award um chart Wells with with the um with the contract the contract right now is at the state it has to be reviewed by the state and check all the boxes um we did um give an a letter of intent to Chartwell so that they could start you know all their process they have a a lot of work to do it would be a July 1 um contract and um so we look forward to bringing that to you for for your approval and I think that contract would be brought for the May 22nd absolutely yeah hope hopefully we don't have it back from the state yet but by then we we certainly should so yeah and and oh I'm sorry no go ahead no please I just have a quick question did they is any part of what's being considered a food waste portion like did they build in any kind of like food waste program where they collect everything's prepackaged is that yeah that wasn't necessar not that's prescriptive in the scoring um and I have all these bid proposals in my office you're welcome to for through them there really is so much information and it it gets you a little excited about what the possibilities could be um so we are looking forward um you know as hard as it was to make a change like I said we're very happy with with witson and they've been great Partners um but but but we're we're excited to to see what's what comes next thank you yep um I want to ask about um I mean I'm sure you had this on your mind the budgetary implications so the Food Service program is um separate and independent from the Board of Education operating budget it's its own fund and it's um essentially uh you can bid it different several different ways with um a for-profit or a uh budget neutral we are budget neutral so um B essentially the vendor has to guarantee a break even um and and we get the the um reimbursements from the from the state for the uh free and reduced meals it really sort of manages itself yeah absolutely in Casey there'll be no new cost to family we don't anticipate no we don't and no everything was bid on the the current existing um cost of lunges yep and I I could share um from other professional experience working with Chartwells they've done a great job in a former District that I was in so you know again like Casey said we're excited for that happy with witson but excited for chart walls as well and the school bux will work the same um yes as of right now yep absolutely okay all right so I wanted just to to talk briefly about it different committee meetings and so forth and maybe um with the full board uh the district uh we are going to be moving as as most of you know at the high school level we go through the New England Association of schools and colleges um accreditation process um it typically a decennial process and then there's interim um uh progress updates and so forth uh that we go through in terms of assessment and uh Dr man and Dean and Dave have been doing some work over the last year and we we want to move to using that framework um through the whole District so not just at the high school but K through 8 and so Dr man could you share a little bit about that and actually Dr man's coming off the heels where she led uh a visit at Middletown High School I feel like I'm I'm still on the heels actually I just came from Middletown High SCH so where I was theair of a visiting committee for AAL visit so um so as you probably know and I will make this very brief because there'll be a lot more information forthcoming but we did want to just let the kind of give the board a heads up as Dr burill stated um our high school is currently accredited by Nas which it is affectionately referred to New England Association of schools and colleges um and the uh it's a standards accreditation right there are five standards there are principles related to standard foundational elements that are requisite parts of each of those um standards um and the process is essentially self-reflection in preparation for a collaborative conference which will happen in 2026 that's when our collaborative conference is as of now sometimes things change um like a pandemic but hopefully we won't have that um so in 2026 we'll have it's almost like a pre-conference a pre uh you know uh reference point and then um from that collaborative conference we will set some priority areas for our our um for what we're hoping to do for our district so about 10 or 12 years back Nas expanded um from just public secondary schools to K through 12 so they do now do accreditations of full districts um and the the benefit of doing a full District accreditation is that it is becomes in line with our portrait of a graduate um which is a prek through 12 uh document or will be a prek through2 document and it helps um with that continuity of um vocabulary of expectations um for our schools right so that everybody's talking the same language and we're all kind of just like we have our standards based curriculum this is essentially a standards-based uh process to hold all of us accountable to ourselves and to our peers with best practices and um expectations so that we can have the best District that we can possibly provide for our students and it is not um it I don't it's not particular we do have a cost to to uh subscribe to Nas the cost is not you know hugely different um it will be an increase in cost for district accreditation because we'll be accrediting three schools um but our next piece of the process is to fill out a an application for accreditation um which I will be working on now that I've gotten through the desal visit that I had to lead and um we will then after we submit that there will be a visit from the commission of which I actually also sit on obviously I won't be the visitor um and they will come and discuss our accreditation application and ask us why um so I probably will be asking a few of you to join us on that um and then it will go to the full commission for essentially acceptance for the whole District to go through the accreditation process so that'll happen over the next six months um that whole process so we'll begin the process now for district accreditation application thank you thank you Anna any questions yeah um great you mentioned a cost what I know mention is not maybe significant but what is it I don't know what the current um cost is to belong to Nas I think it's around $2500 so I we will research and make sure we budget it for we wouldn't have to pay there would be no cost to us next year or okay the year after it would be the year after that when we go through the district accreditation okay so we'll build all of that into the budget budet okay yeah and have that conversation with the board for the conversation okay so this accreditation doesn't happen in the next school year no no no it won't that all we're doing is beginning the process for application to see if we get accepted to have a district accreditation okay I just wanted to point out that I can't believe that you are this Lucid after the gring experience and you shared it that's that's a lot of work well thanks thank you for the compliment can I ask a question certainly so CES doesn't have any sports currently sports teams how does that so this is not a this has nothing to do with Athletics although what Mr Banda is going to be referring to is so Nas is New England Association of schools and colleges it's a really good question and it's actually a good segue eventually when we get to him um they are they have been the um standard accrediting body for public schools and private schools actually and um Independent Schools and colleges um across New England and actually internationally what they the reason that the nas folks came for the athletic audit is they are partnering with Connecticut to actually make a New England um accreditation for or component of accreditation as through Athletics okay so Connecticut currently has a model that they adopted and they are trying to to um expand so that it's it's applicable to all of New England um and actually the entire country uh the country uh National crediting on that I'm sorry that that we were we were really the first to go through this process so this is something that Nas is looking at for sports isn't what we were just talking about see that yeah I just want to make sure we're clear because that's the only time we've talked about it to become a model for New England and ultimately the nation so you know we're really at the Forefront there in terms of the Athletics but for academics and organizational uh support we're talking adding ka yeah the high school has gone so the quick and dirty about me ask accreditation every 10 years up through um is when you go through the big huge self-reflection the whole school goes through it using these standards to reflect on the various aspects of school the the high school has been doing it for a long time um but we and now they've changed the model so that it's not every 10 years it's actually much more often so it's really you do you kind of reflect on these standards on a regular ongoing basis and the process is much more collegial and collaborative rather than just coming in and giving kind of like a summi of assessment you're accredited or you're not which is hard to be not but um because there's a lot of different aspects that go go through um but it rather than going through um just that you know kind of one one and done for 10 years and then people often tend to forget about it it it becomes much more cyclical it's every two or three years you're thinking about it referring to the standards it it's and a lot of the standards I mean one of the main standards is curriculum instruction and assessment um and then there's a big huge portion of student um well-being and safety and then you know facilities and those kinds of things so sure and I'm happy to share with the board the link to the 2023 standards so you can have a look and see what we will be holding ourselves to all right Anna thank you for that my pleasure so so next we're getting near the end here I promise um I wanted to share actually Casey would you mind passing out the the book to everybody so I wanted uh I have a copy of a book for the Board of Ed this is a book uh called the anxious generation that um Dr man and I have already gone to the bef and we're going to be uh writing a bef Grant um for uh uh one of the main pieces is to get a copy of this book uh for every family uh of students here that's what we're going to ask for we'll see if that happens or not but we had a pre-con conversation with the bef thank you yes for H or for Rob um and uh it's really important this book The anxious generation about the great rewiring of of America and of children's Minds it really has a lot to do with it has everything to do with social media and the transition over the last 15 years from a play-based childhood to a smartphone based childhood um and the concerns I think all of us uh intuitively um know that um there's a lot of ills to social media and the it's probably at the root of a lot of the anxiety depression body image and other concerns we know we have with our students um in addition to that I think we instinctively feel it and then of course as Educators as parents we see it and um there are things we can do um if people really take to heart and read through this book uh that that don't cost any money that we could develop as a community as Norms of how we approach social media how we approach smartphones maybe have Collective Community agreement um because peer pressure is the biggest piece with families and kids I'm left out I don't have my smartphone of when kids should get a smartphone when they should start on social media and certainly when their brain is more developed so uh there's a lot to this I remember in my uh gosh almost 20 years ago now when Myspace first came out and other things I remember handling those issues that were going on with families and students more neighborhood issues and fights and stries that were going on that all of a sudden were leading into the school I'm like what the heck is this Myspace stuff and since then it's just continued and we can't keep up with the technology it evolves so fast so there's some some things in here that that Dr uh height talks about um I think everybody will find it absolutely intriguing and everything is backed up with his studies there so I just ask everybody to have an open mind give it a read uh the cabinet the administration we've all read through it I'll be talking with the folks at speaks tomorrow and providing a copy to them um and then uh we'll be writing up a bef Grant and hopefully we can make some Headway on this in addition Dr man and I have been in touch with uh Dr Height's people um thinking if we can get him in here for some parent workshops and so forth uh he's quite expensive I don't know that bef will cover all of that if we're able to pull it off um we even you even invited him in for convocation um but he's a reg he's a regular guy he he said no I can't do it I'm bringing myself to college that that that day so it doesn't work for me so that you know he's there with us you know but he did say it's the kind of thing that he loves to do and he's so excited that we're making this yeah so um he's all over the place you go to YouTube you see Ted Talks everything he's all over the place and it just it's just common sense in a lot of ways but I think everybody needs to just not worry about Solutions right now and just read the book and get a handle on the topic so we're talking the same language and then the final thing I just want to remind everybody last week the oh sorry Stephanie say something really wait till late so I after the BF cuz I'm on the sub committee for that so after the BF presentation I had already seen a video that week about it and so I was like oh my gosh this is there's actually a community group there's a nation group but we have a community in Brookfield called wait until 8th and it's about waiting to give smartphone and social media to kids until after 8th grade is kind of the push for high school but wait till 8th sounds like catchy um so there is a community group there is a movement in Brookfield I've been part of it for I mean I have a little still so I'm at the beginning of that like wondering and I can't imagine having an adolescent and trying to manage this so for me the thing I loved most I'm already halfway through this and the thing I loved most about it is he gives so much sort of info that you graphs and things that you can actually like are tangible are understandable are not high level like he he explains everything and then he's like if you refer to the graph on you know this situation it's real information that again like you said we know we know in theory like something changed but the way that it's changed not only the way that our kids have changed but the way we've changed in our community and the way we parent and how it affects our kids just to like have the phone around them it's so so valuable it's been as somebody who's you know already on the bandwagon it's been like a really interesting sort of I didn't think about that or it's not just about the cell phone it's not just about social media it's about the way we teach our kids to move forward through navigating social relationships with kids that don't have you know I'm the only I've heard my son say I'm the only one in Brookfield who doesn't have and I'm like let's let's actually investigate this and he gives real tangible ways that we can immediately change our family life our community group and then the bigger suggestions for schools and stuff and it's so very passionate about this I think everyone should read it and definitely investigate the way till 8th if that's your thing because it's you then you I mean I have an automatic community of people with 8 to 12 year olds and Beyond who are giving great advice that you can kind of connect with so and there's another notion in here that he talks through which is um the concept of overprotecting in the physical world and under prototec in the virtual world very interesting to to read about that as well and and he's got this very salt of the earth way of explaining and articulating those things we we we we we instinctively kind of yeah there's something going on here and the studies have been done over the last 15 20 years so he refers to those because I I vividly recall early uh earlier on in my career talking with parents talking with colleagues saying what's going to happen to the kids who have all this access and uh especially when the social media push outside of the internet came out and what's going to happen childhood is changing right before our eyes and now the studies are in and the kids have gone through puberty at the end of gen Z are coming through now when we're seeing the anxiety and the depression some of the other things but one of the things I think is really valuable and that he does really well is he doesn't make anyone feel guilty he talks about real ways that we do have the power to reverse even in older kids like simple simple things that can really like it doesn't it's not condescending it doesn't um make you feel bad about choices that you already made it's and he talks about globally how we really it's we're not isolated it's not just us we're not alone that it really is this like bigger Community as well as local so anyway so I think things we can do so anyway I I offer that to you tonight so thank you for that and then the last things thank you Stephanie was just uh last week uh Lisa had put together the end of the year activities that are important for board members to at least know about feel free to visit and you know set up appointments however it works we'd love to see you there so just want to make sure you know that so that was a lot tonight does anybody have any questions thank you so much I just want to verify that the the meeting our next meeting is in the a in the auditorium oh yeah oh you don't have it on there oh but it is yes oh we put it all Lisa add it it's not on my copy yep next meeting will be in the auditorium because we're lucky tonight it's still cool outside it will be very hot at the next meeting so we'll have air conditioning in the auditorium awesome all right anything further okay let's move then to subcommittee reports and let's start with um policy and Communications holla so the policy and Communications committee met before Spring Break um April 9th to be exact uh the day before the board meeting so I did update the board on April 10th and there's been really nothing new since then but you do have have uh two submissions for a first read tonight so we'll get to those a little later great thank you and um Finance Rosa you have the floor so we last met on Tuesday April 9th which was a really long time ago it feels like it was um at that time we went over the March financials um first we went through the check registers so uh we reviewed checks over $1,000 and asked any clarifying questions um but no followup was necessary in any of the items that we saw in that report uh the March financials uh Mrs de summarized that the committee had reviewed those um financials and the projected net budget shortfall is now approximately at the time of this report was 666,000 and it was due to uh primarily three factors um the leave of the assistant principal at B s with pay plus the cost to fill in um an interim um also the a change in the liability insurance for CEST um that's at about a cost of about 20 23,000 um that is net cost after a refund that we received due to the closing of hhds so even though it's like kind of you know it's at this time March um it just does take a while for that to to reconcile properly and then lastly um a change in special education transportation duee to one of the runs being need to split into multiple runs um going to the same location um for student and bus driver safety um and also a par educator being added to another run um and Mr Roland was actually at our um meeting so he was able to provide some really helpful context to that so we were able to understand that um situation a little bit better um just to be clear there are other contributing factors to this year's budget shortfall um where long-term short-term Subs um special education tuition and also electricity as you know is a big one that we were watching um all of those are detailed in the financial report that you have um and a budget savings was recognized due to budget um budgetary freezes and also some um Savings in various accounts like health insurance and leaves and vacancies um okay that was that was the financial report the old business that we went over was uh the 2425 budget which we will talk about later tonight um so I'll leave that discussion for then and the food service RFP which Miss D had already covered um miscellaneous discussion just to note the town's budget referendum is going to be on Tuesday May 21st so please everybody get out and vote um and that was it we had a short executive session um um for the purposes of discussing strategy and negotiations as it relates to a collective bargaining um issue and then that was it yeah so other than budget which we'll talk about later that was it any questions so okay okay so um Joy you have the floor yep so we met on April 10th we received a presentation from Miss FIS and Julie Von on ckla which is a K3 reading program and that's in the agenda later on so I'm not going to kind of go over that they'll go over that later um but we did um vote unanimously to approve that recommendation we also so the majority of the meeting was spent on that but we did kind of get to squeeze in um a new platform that we're going to use at the high school for post and secondary planning Squire um it's a platform in which parents and students will interface with College and Career programs so we're moving away from using na'vi um many schools are moving away from navian it's significantly cheaper um squer doesn't have a middle school component but we really don't um use that so um we're looking forward to those good positive changes and also since we won't be offering a American Sign Language next year um we did approve to pay for three students to who are um enrolled in that asl1 course this year to continue their requirement through an approved online course for asl2 for next year so we didn't approve for those three students to have that course that's about it any questions um not I don't know if it's I don't know if it's a question for you or maybe a question for you guys but um since ASL um you know since that's not going to be running I do remember we had as a board said that we wanted a third world language so is there talks about discussing maybe a different language that we can offer like maybe I know we had surveyed a long time ago like you know is it time for maybe another survey or we take you know some of that data and say like well you know Mandarin was a really popular choice like do we start exploring that like is that anything you guys have thought about yeah so I don't know if Mr Bando wants to talk or not but I can just yeah I can pinch it um we I I've been speaking with misso about that and um it's certainly based on I mean we have to kind of look at the at the reasons that I mean partly ASL the reason it probably has kind of dwindled in interest is because of the difficulty of finding a teacher uh on in-house and then getting kind of building that program so we want to make sure we don't put ourselves in a similar situation with a another course that would be hard or another language that would be hard to find but certainly we are going to continue to explore to see um what would be efficacious for the students and then also the school and the organization but keeping and I we're not closing the door right Tech it's not going to run next year it's just okay technically it's still an an option it's just not being offered next year got it okay okay I think that that's another part kind of another part of that is to research again to see if there we could partner with somebody be creative with how we could you know have a kind of an on-site class yeah because that's one of the reasons that interest has fallen mhm all right thanks everybody let's move move next to the um consent agenda SE I move that the board approve the items on the consent agenda as recommended resignations new hires March financials 2024 second okay so it's been uh moved and seconded that we approve the items on the consent agenda all in favor please say I I I okay uh so that passes unanimously and the consent agenda is approved let's move now to new business um we are going to start with um probably what's going to be a really fun report I hope from Mr belanda about the um Brookfield High School athletic program review good evening Mr blinda all right let make sure we're on all right here we go I know uh Mrs Ferris is wondering which is going to be more fun her presentation mine so she wasn't sure who was next I think hers is going to be much more fun uh and I will just make a point I know we're talking about Athletics I want to let um the committee know that score now has a 6 through eight that they're rolling out in July a program that we talked about for the Naviance transition they do now offer a 6 through eight I just found that out this week so I just it's not related to Athletics at all but I thought I'd share it while I had the mic just to we are looking into yep absolutely all right so thank you uh I got feedback from the superintendent uh to make sure that this is appropriately length uh an appropriate length presentation uh so you won't be up here forever listening to me talk but I will share certainly the highlights um I'll talk about the process really quickly which is something that luckily Dr man has talked a lot about already in terms of how this works I'll go over some uh accommodations that came in the draft report recommendations and then talk about next steps so the process um as Dr man said um we've worked with Cass and CIA uh to come up with this this is something they've done these Athletic program reviews for several years they have a set of standards and shockingly there's five standards just like there are for nask um and so they've been looking and working to see um with nas to see if they can incorporate that process you know this took a lot longer than expected uh CIA took a long time to get back to us uh Dr man was uh very forthcoming and saying let's see if we can facilitate this uh sitting on the commission she knows that neas was also looking to get involved in an athletic re program review so they actually merged um and so what we did prior to that merge uh was we reviewed the standards we did a self-reflection uh of each of the five standards um there was parent surveys there was student surveys there was coach surveys and then a whole uh set of um other standards that we reflected on as to how well we met them uh then we sent those into to CIA they actually sent us draft responses and we're waiting for this on-site visit and that's what really took a long time this facilitated with Dr man um actually the CIA and Nas representative so we had uh George what's George's official title oh he's the um he's the CEO of right CEO of of of of the nas commission so he's pretty high up there in terms of that um from that perspective he came down along with someone who's also uh Regional athletic director in Massachusetts also happen to have the same last name as Baldwin that wasn't too confusing at all sitting in the same room uh and then we also had a local athletic director was there as part of this uh on-site process on March 5th and 6th and then we also had Glenn larini who is the president of cast CIA were also there so we had all these people together that did a two-day um site visit and then they're working on the final draft of the report I'll share that at this point I Have A draft copy of it I can't share that yet but I am going to highlight some things and I imagine the next couple days I talked to uh Mr Edwards the other day he'll be able to share that stuff so commendations there's a lot of them and I'm not going to read to you but you can clearly see and I I underlined some words and I'll just share with some of those things like in the accommodation sections about leadership that shows up multiple times Class Act athletic advisory and our Unified sports program those things came up student voice and Leadership right these are all commendations Rapport was in there communication Equity cooperation the the statement student athletes how important that is to us support caring dedicated um these are all things that were commendations you can see the length of these it's actually two columns it was fun formatting and I'll be able to share this with you so they had a lot of really good things to say over the course of those two days when the visiting committee was here they looked at our self-study report asked questions to confirm or deny whether what we said was actually in existence and then they wrote the report and commendations there was a ton there's also recommendations which is really what we were looking for we're glad to celebrate the positives the things that we're doing well but we also want to continue to build and expand our program to towards continuous Improvement there's a couple recommendations and there's only four that I'm going to share with you that they shared with me so um one was the responsibilities of the athletic director um the large scope of what he has to do in his role as working prek K12 um health and PE and athletic directing so that was the things that they ask you now they don't tell you what you have to fix they make suggestions explore look into evaluate they'll never going to tell us exactly what to do they're going to make suggestions about what you could look at and areas to take a look at so they asked us they thought we should probably look at the responsibilities of the athletic director they also asked us to look at coaching stiens right and what those were uh in terms of you know the value of coaches with the co the time and effort that coaches put into the program versus what they're actually paid uh there's a significant difference between what happens in and around the state and locally so they asked us to take a look at that um they talked about facility management repair and Improvement that whole process making sure that it's not just outside it's also inside we have a unique Dynamic with Park and wreck working outside and then we have some fac facilities inside which are not not parking wreck so it's really about how do we continually improve the places that we have for our student athletes in the community and the last piece easiest way to summarize it is spending protocols to make sure that we're aligned and we make uh our communication in terms of how to spend it you can imagine every single and most of some of the board knows every single sport has its own Student Activity account right and then there's budgeted line Imes there's a lot of money right in different pots and different places and they want to make sure that we follow those right protocols to make sure that we're all in alignment to provide the best possible experience for our athletes so those are the four recommendations essentially they're a little more detailed in the report and you'll be able to see that as soon as I share it at the end I don't have it here but when I do have the final and the next steps really are once I get the report I'll publish it I'll share it with the board I'll share with the superintendent the community so they can all read and see what the report was obviously we want to celebrate our commendations there was a lot there I breezed through it we want to make sure we celebrate those good things cuz there is a lot of really good stuff going on in our Athletic program here and then explore implementation of recommendations again they recommendations they're not requirements for things we need to do but it strongly suggests that we take a look at them pretty closely because this this this uh visiting committee and all the things they saw said these are some things you really should take a long hard look at and see if you can address those things as issues because they came up likely in multiple areas when we write reports and I was on a collaborative conference visit several weeks ago at Bell High School uh and when we write our reports we always have to cite if it's accomodation or recommendation or any statement we're making about a school or a program we have to site multiple sources of evidence right that's that's best practice so we make sure when they do these recommendations they're citing multiple SP sources of evidence it's not one person saying oh by the way you need to fix this there's multiple people having these conversations or they it comes up in a report somewhere else so that's where that is and that's the conclusion of my report had Dr man not said so much about neas already I think it would have been a little bit longer um but they're excited you know it was a pilot program for us um they had Nas had never been a part of this right so this was written by George Edwards typically CIA would send somebody to write the report so it was great to see that collaboration this interstate you know somebody from Massachusetts and Connecticut that the same positions working together and it was a it was a fantastic experience so thank you Mark are there any questions from the board no I just wanted to say um I think that this shows um really reflective leadership you know um and and that you are not dismissing the commendations but like because it takes a lot of energy to sustain those um please tell Mr Baldwin that we uh send our thanks will um and we would like other leaders here to note that that was under eight minutes was excellent very informative I have a Qui question yes um the final report that we're going to be ending is that going to be made available to the public like on the website plan was to have that final final version tonight and have it embedded into the uh PowerPoint so we will make sure as soon as we have it we'll get it out message we post it everywhere so everybody has and so just so you also know if you if you went to the burfield high school website you'll also see our two most recent Nas reports of the last 10 years if you ever wanted to look at those if you have a spare three hours to read you can go through and do that but standards have adjusted a little but there they are the most up and just to reiterate What U Mr Banda mentioned that one of the beauty beautiful things about Nas and even in this process is that it is there are other Educators across New England who come as the people who do these visits so um in this situation you know we had uh Mr larini Dr larini from C from Cass C Mr Baldwin was actually is actually his counterpart he's the MIAA um director so they were able to partner together so we have you know kind of two um peers coming to to look at our programs so it was a really nice opportunity for us to be a part of the Forefront of this and we talked about reciprocating moving forward if they as they move forward with Athletic program reviews if they're interested and having you know principles or athletic directors be a part of that because we always learned so the athletic director that was there from a local school in Connecticut said had had conversations Mr bald and said I'm going to bring that back like that's a really good idea let's try that and so we learn as much just like when I'm to Bell I learned something and I'm sure Dr man's gonna come back with something from Middletown she wants to talk about so Mark thanks so much all right you're wel appreciated okay so we'll move to the um next item of new business um it's uh well Stephanie go ahead I move that the board approve the ckla science of the reading program no sorry board approved the CK klaa science of reading program as recommended by the cape committee second so is there um do do you guys have um questions or discussion about about this which is also embedded in your in your packet it's in the packet we have a brief slide deck for you tonight and uh we're going to beat M Mr band's 8 minutes and by the way you were up here a little bit longer toward the end so I get a little way to go we can name that presentation in six minutes now all right good evening oh sorry I was just gonna introduce um Mrs fias and uh Mrs vau um who are going to give you a kind of truncated presentation that we went through at Cape a couple weeks back um but we're really excited about um this has been a long journey uh couple you know a year and a half long journey since the Mandate came down from the remember this is part of the K3 reading mandate from the state of Connecticut but um they have done a ton of work and shown an amazing um shown amazing leadership and we're really excited to share with you about what the decision has been way folks all right well first of all thank you um Julie and I are actually very excited we were really looking forward to tonight to have the opportunity to present to the board the uh culmination of a lot of efforts from our curriculum review team um to make the recommendation the formal recommendation for the adoption of CK core knowledge language arts um in K3 in alignment with the state mandate um right to read legislation so uh yeah set the timer so um these are the uh folks that were part of the curriculum review team as you can see um we had a um really a representation from all of K12 teachers coaches and administrators um so I'd like to publicly thank them all for their dedication and efforts in this um task that we really enjoyed and uh we're really excited about Al righty so um as uh Dr man stated we the state really already vetted these programs that were offered in their menu of options to select from um so they of work for us which was great but we certainly wanted to also vet the programs as far as what what Brookfield really needed what did our students need and to make it a data informed um decision so um basically in a nutshell we were looking for a program that was not only aligned to the science of reading and aligned to the standards but was going to provide an engaging uh context um in order to be able to have students build background knowledge to apply the skills that they were learning about reading foundational skills into a real you know real world context so that they could really um enhance skills in vocabulary language um comprehension in addition to um all of the other big five of reading foundational skills uh also we were looking for something that was going to be student teacher and familyfriendly um in terms of the navigation um and um CK uh checked all of those boxes for us um this is just a really quick graphic that kind of encompass is the research behind the science of reading and the idea is that there's two strands that need to be functioning equally as well for skill for students to be strategic and skilled reader um the lower strand is all of the word recognition and the upper strand is all of the language comprehension so all of the components that factor into reading uh this program really covers with the skills Strand and the content knowledge strand um so that was a really big part of what we were looking for um in the program so it provides support for all Learners there's a lot of ways to differentiate and support students at all levels of reading development there's an assessment and Remediation guide for each unit that really helps teachers Drive differentiated instruction there's a glossery of vocabulary words provided in 10 languages um to support our multilingual Learners an intervention toolkit that addresses all five areas of reading so uh teachers can really pinpoint um areas that students need to work on and go into this toolkit for resources to help support and differentiate their instruction uh fluency passages and then there's also challenge options and knowledge lessons to really build and extend kids knowledge for those who are ready for more and really make it more engaging um and enriching we were looking at that it's very comprehensive it aligns with our mclass tibles assessment we have the um the Amplified platform which will house C K the Boost reading as well as mclass so it's all on one platform which is really user friendly for um students to with with the student interface but also the teacher side um and there's a really nice PD library that supports uh teachers getting oriented with the program and its different tools so it was very supportive on the back end as well with supporting teachers and how to use um all of the features of this comprehensive Suite that we will have after this implementation all righty so not going to read all of this on the slide basically this slide is speaking to some Reflections from the team in terms of uh what we were looking at when we looked at uh cka and also the opportunity that we had on our visit uh to reading Elementary School where we had an opportunity to see uh their CK um pilot that they were doing in K5 and also the opportunity to debrief with some of the teachers administrators and literacy Specialists afterwards um I also had the opportunity to speak with the uh principal of poke Elementary School in Watertown who uh actually adopted CK in its entirety for all of their K5 um and basically um you know just to kind of summarize all both of those well the the conversation and the um experience that we had at reading Elementary School is um the rigor is is there and the students are able to access grade level curriculum and students meaning all students because of the explicit and systematic instruction um that it really scaffolds so that all students are accessing uh grade level content um also um the big takeaway for us was really that their data from beginning of year to midyear they saw incredible growth um and they really attribute a lot of that to the knowledge domain to the knowledge component in addition obviously to the reading foundational skills but it really provided that context that we so badly need um in terms of the vocabulary piece and the background knowledge um to be able to then use those reading foundational skills um in context so uh we're really very excited about this um probably as excited as as Stephanie was about uh you know the the book yeah so just to speak a little bit about dollars right because certainly we also wanted to be conscious of uh of the dollars um cka uh costs about these are estimations $150,000 uh boost reading which is the um personalized digital um component uh will be given to us for free for the first year um and therefore we you know will not need Lexia um you know for next year um and boost reading actually fits really nicely with the CK core instruction as well as going with the um mclass assessment system so we're excited about that as well um we have been uh participating in the right to read Grant and will receive $885,000 uh toward the expenditure um so a total budgetary impact would be $65,000 and that's already been included um in the budget for the 2024 2025 uh school year so in terms of what that looks like going forward in terms of you know student consumables Etc um the Student Activity books for both the skills and the uh knowledge domains are around $23,000 and that would be an annual expenditure uh boost reading should we decide that it meets our needs and we'd like to continue with it we we be somewhere around $20,000 um so the the $43,000 would be um an annual uh estimated expenditure um that's not in addition to what we're already spending because as you can see here in this year 2023 2024 we certainly have an expense um for uh consumables for our reading foundational skills So currently our open court activity books are $18,000 we are spending about $133,000 on Lexia uh reading so we're currently in our current year we have $31,000 uh as an as our annual consumable so we're looking at about $112,000 of an increment um going to cka but we're we're getting in return is that whole knowledge domain that we don't have right now and one of the other things to just speak very quickly about in terms of the reading elementary school as well as in the Poke Elementary School is they're really seeing an increase in just the use of vocabulary both in oral language as well as in written language so so we're really looking forward to that and come on over and ask because we're going to be ready for you in 2026 um so thank you um any questions any questions time time how we do have some questions sure they have questions okay I do have some questions um first on on budget so the so the Open Court Lexia are those costs going away they are okay so that was one question the other question the right to read Grant that's just for next year right start so so for the 2526 budget will we have to that $150,000 okay that's just no that's the $43,000 so we would have the the activity books and if we wanted the Boost reading so about $43,000 okay this is the initial onetime process start correct and that Grant can't be like split up over a couple years right no it was um it was a grant that actually was from last December through this next December and it was just because of this leg legislation they put the legislation out everyone you know hemmed and hot and then they put that in there right and and we will I mean we we're talking about the K3 adoption right now we would have intentions of rolling out to for that was my next question so we will have to budget that in for those initial um but you know and we'll have to see one we'll get some data back from our K3 um folks but we'll also you know we would be obviously judicious about how we and Ros that was one thing at the joint Board of selecting Board of Finance meeting we talk about the budget we talked about a four or five implementation plan going forward so that they know that that would be the probably the biggest investment going forward that we see right now and it would be the same thing where there would be an initial startup cost and then we would have our smaller incremental regular ongoing costs okay and then um the only other question which um I know I know a little bit about but what were some of like the other options from the state that you know you guys either took a look at or initially just dismissed and maybe why M so there are nine programs and a whole slew of compendiums which is really kind of like a a a a bundle if you will of different tools that you have to use together in that bundle so we uh Julie and I and and Dr man really look we did look at eight of the nine we tried to do all nine but one of them didn't didn't get back to us and we did put forth to the full team three of the of the nine approved programs thank based on what they offered and you know kind of how they matched with what we're doing and yep these are the ones you this is the one you liked yeah the best will four and five have any program changes within their current what the current programs that they use based on the fact that the significant change is coming to K through3 like will there be they'll still be using Lexi and all those tools but will there be like will the instructional coaches or any of the fourth and fifth grade teachers be instrumental in trying to adop some of the right to read changes that we know are effective yeah and we've already begun that I mean we've really been moving toward the science of reading for at least six years now in terms of professional learning and have adjusted our curriculum that way I mean we still will have the same curricular tools so yes we still will be using Teachers College in grades four and five to a certain extent but we've already adjusted to some of those and they still will have the Open Court word analysis um kits so that in terms of the reading foundational skills that still will be taught in the systematic explicit way and part are any of the fourth and fifth grade teachers in the right to read training or in letters training right now uh not at the current time but we're hoping that for next year yes do you think fourth grades already expressed interest in um kind of using the model of the knowledge strand to build context into their current TC units so I've touched Bas with some fourth grade teachers already to try to build some of that that context in into their their units in TC so if they're doing you know the American Revolution how can we expand on that and use some of the model of how it's handled in um CK so they sort of have that the kids are getting that experience building more background knowledge and content through the units that they're currently doing so that's kind of already in the works the teachers are really excited about it so and the way that um Debbie and Julie put together the whole uh you know curriculum review team um by making it very there a lot of uh stakeholders K5 but then also including some of the Middle School folks and even the high school um instructional coaches from across all content areas has been has served to create a lot of excitement about this and they're they'd like to get on the bandwagon too so we're we're coming as fast as we can lots of changes the last couple years thank you ladies that sounds like really awesome planning really great thought leadership thank you very much thanks for the leadership jul much appreciate it do to um to the my Hasty action the motion is on the table and it has been seconded um would you guys like to discuss further ready V yeah okay so um all in favor of approving the CK CK La science of reading program as recommended by the cape subcommittee uh please say I hi hi okay so that's unanimous much very much awes right the um uh reading program has been approved wonderful all right so the next um item is the 2425 uh meeting dates so please find um do you want to discuss first you want me to move a motion make a motion or you want to discuss first disc well we should we should have a motion on should we okay all right discuss all right so I move that the board approve the 2024 2025 Board of Education meeting dates thank you the so the um the motion to appro uh to approve the uh meeting dates has been put on the on the table we've got two versions and we've heard some public comment about these um and so this is a discussion time uh I'll just ask Robert would you like to Kickstart discussion well so we get to choose between we have an option yeah yes yes just make it sure I and Rob just for history this is the first year we've done this I I heard some uh I had some feedback over the the year that perhaps with all the subcommittee meetings and the various special meetings we have throughout the year that perhaps one regular board meeting a month is the way to go like a number of districts in the state um or continue on uh kind of the first and third for the most part um so that's why we just put Lisa and I put this together to put two options out to the board for consideration tonight I like that option because the subcommittee meetings got sorry can you explain why there's only one for September and October is I there's got to be a reason for that um the beginning of the school year usually with Labor Day and and just the wild first week of school and then um October recently we moved to one meeting November most of the time we've done one in my last 10 years nine 10 years here November because the short month with Thanksgiving um and then in February with the long weekend and also budget meetings there's one meeting similarly in April with the the short month that that really was the reason for that summer traditionally has always had one meeting in July and one meeting in August and actually I I'll just kind of add a little bit more context to that a couple of years ago when we um it used to it used to be two meetings every single month um and we shortened it except for December because of budget January because of budget I think March also maybe because we would maybe have to have budget conversations then and certainly in May so I think budget was generally reason why we would we were at the time having like longer conversations and so we knew that two meetings were necessary but um at the time again this was years ago um you know we felt that condensing to one meeting a month we could do since most of the work is done in committee right that makes sense can I say something about this so I kind of look at this when I was thinking about it um I kind of look at it as we're doing the same amount of work are we wanting to do it all in one night and sort of just like like be there we're already together you know we can get through kind of a late night one time a month with all of the subcommittees that were on do we then take a whole another night to you know away from um other commitments you know family things like that and I personally um feel like we kind of build a momentum we have a lot of the agenda but it's we you know we can get through it and so it's not outside sort of our ability to go to one meeting a month because we also do have the ability to put a special meeting on let's say the budget comes around or a specific issue or an approval needs to happen that and we don't have a meeting coming up for a little while I definitely feel like we can you know we're all communicative enough and can just be like hey you know what do you think about putting a special meeting on for this and we've been able to pretty much find dates on the Fly for stuff like that so I feel okay going towards one meeting a month with the knowledge that we could you know put in meeting on here and there read yeah I think that's a good point well I was just going to say um Joey you haven't asked for the floor but you have um years of experience with this um do you have thoughts what are your thoughts um I I agree what you said Stephanie um I think we've done a good job with um maintaining our business within the one um I think though some months were more heavy than others right it's like that student thing right you kind of like lose focus after a while um it's challenging after working all day and things like that so um I do see value in the one a month but I also see value in sometimes at certain months right too so I kind of like the hybrid um actually in my opinion I would rather look to add meetings for the subcommittees like having being on policy for the first time I feel like I need to meet like every week for that like to get you know we don't really get to delve into it enough so that's where I would really want to put my effort in for the subcommittees yeah can I speak PA did you want yes um I I I would have to agree with you on that I think that again what Stephanie said a lot of work is done in the subcommittees and you know people may not see that but we come to this meeting with updates um we ask you to uh take some make some decisions based on some of those committees and I would agree that I don't know if every week but I would agree that um adding uh subcommittee meeting dates and I know policy is super important Cape is super important those happen to be two that I'm on but you know the others of you can weigh in um I would absolutely go with that I think that's a great idea what about making policy meetings not on Board of Ed meetings or giving us more time time like we have like you know some of them are sandwiched right up before the Boe meeting like our bigger meeting so would it I mean again then it's adding a different night but for some committees maybe adding an extra half hour if people can manage that or a different night if we're going to add like a meeting like do two for policy committee for example maybe we do one hour the night of the board of aded meeting but then we add a night where we have an hour and a half so that we can go a little longer without feeling yeah well I think um I think that's up to each of the subcommittees and maybe maybe I know that we've got that on the agenda about this yeah the next item on the agenda is the subcommittee meetings and maybe it would be worth it to um individually meet with our subcommittees and see what works for each of those so maybe yeah so maybe the next item on the agenda doesn't necessarily have maybe it needs to be tabled I'm just putting that out there I I I would I would encourage not tbling these this discussion tonight and making the decisions but subcommittees could always you know set meetings tonight and then you can change meetings and you also could have spe again subcommittees could have special meetings as well don't forget that so as the subcommittees talk and start to look at the calendar uh at a more granular granular level you make decisions I'm going to go to a different um angle I think no one has really talked about public comment and Community involvement and I think getting them here on a regular basis and keeping our our lines open I think a lot happens in a month and just giving Comm um committee reports we don't really get get much interaction that makes for a long long meeting so I think the hybrid is going to be the way to go because it I mean the meeting the meetings are very meaty I love when the you know the kids showed up today things like that I just feel like there's going to be a lot more back and forth if we do them more regularly when you say a lot more back and forth you mean that in a productive capacity hopefully yeah but yes um and I I think that we benefit a lot I mean it's it's hard for some of us many of us because we're new um but the I I can't tell if I learned so much in the December and January meetings because of the phenomenon of being new and going through the first budget or if it was the regularity of the meetings I mean I did feel like we had a meeting almost every night for a couple of weeks yeah it it was it was a lot it was a lot um but I I I wonder that may be inescapable around the budget you know yeah I mean looking at this um where there are a couple of meetings a month if you really count them it's only four months out of the 12 that we have two meetings and I don't I don't think that's insurmountable it's only four out of the 12 months true and is May sorry I didn't have youa is May because of the budget referendum because we need an extra one in there why is there an extra one in May I was curious that it's also a longer month that doesn't have a you know got it there's there just more opportunity in there to to the point people are making absolutely and Sarah I think going back to your point I think it's really important that we do hear from the public specifically regarding the budget I mean everything else is is very important and um we we need feedback um from the people who are living the system um but around the budget it's like that's so time bound but that's what I think makes those months critically important um yeah please go ahead I would say if anything maybe the January 2nd seems kind of silly because we're meeting on 18th that's late in December and then we're going on winter recess um and given people might still be on vacation and whatnot so I was going to say I already know I'm not going to be here for Year enjoy to your point on January 15th we'll go through the budget and then there's still time the next week for example to have a special meeting to prepare and we budget we have to get the budget the budget and get it we certainly have special meeting in January to get ready to get it over to the first you're right coming right on second that first night back I don't know how productive that is only three months with two meetings yeah what's that there's only three months with two meetings and if we do that but then that's that's without special meetings those are like regular meetings um so can I ask you a question yes please um is do you see any this is kind of like our default like the one with the 16 meetings so that's what we did this past year but um do you like do you see any other like meetings like I'm thinking of like October cuz I feel like that's when we get test scores and we talk about enrollment and we get all the reports from like technology and Athletics and it's like a meeting heavy night report heavy is that a month where we maybe put another meeting like break some of that up the building we do a first third there in in October yeah we just followed kind of this year's model but we certainly could with all the different reports we have to you know the enrollment report case study report yeah we do have to wait wait till after October 1 for the enrollment report um the the student achievement report information is coming much more quickly now because um everything is online and so I could certainly you know prepare that for earlier August or um September I so that that is not that historically was in October because it used we didn't get them until late August up until this past two sorry 2023 so now that we get the results back much more quickly I'm happy to work with you on when you like to because I think some of like the August meeting I feel like is going to be light you know we I mean October 2nd is still only 3 weeks into the school year you go October 2nd and 16th that get you to the first and third Wednesdays that might be a month that we want to do two meetings as we look at this the the more hybrid uh chart here we take the second off but then put it back in the October 2nd meeting Maybe what if we is what if we look at December at sort of splitting the difference and doing this the the second week in December not doing December 18th or January 2nd and then coming back a week earlier in January to jump like to kind of bridge that holiday Gap so we can still have like November 20th to December 4th is only two weeks but if we push it one more week I was looking at bridging it to February the same idea I feel like a big gap in January um and actually there's January is five there are five Wednesdays in January the problem is one of them is a holiday but I'm wondering if do we then bump it to like the 8th 22nd and that's what I was saying Sarah I agree with you that I think whether we put it on as a regular meeting we're going to need a special meeting for budget there's no doubt about it because um just the time elapses and there's decisions that need to be made and new news continues to I mean you think of all the news that is evolved the budget since December 6th when I first presented this past year I mean everything so many changes thankfully most were for the positive um a lot happens so maybe if we start with October people comfortable with the two meetings in October doing October 2nd and 16th okay yeah that's the that's the plan I like is is getting rid of January 2nd and instead moving to October second mhm and then were we altering any dates in December January February or I think we were we were thinking about adding something between J uh between January and February 19th so that there remember taking away January 2 and I want to say holl it just says everybody remembers in February that's where there's a joint meeting yeah at least one joint meeting board of Select and board of Finance we're going to have that so there's a second meeting for the board being out for for the night in February in February that always happens in February for sure what if we leave it as is and do a special meeting for this year to kind of see how that plays out and then when we look at next year's we can be like oh like with that in mind this is how we should adjust it I like that I like making that one change for this year and seeing how it goes um knowing that the joint meeting will definitely be in early February and that special meetings are available to us as an option should slash when the need arises yeah but I but I still think that January 2nd is going to be a problem got it we October and keep December as it is so there someone can summarize what we're going to do so Lisa can get those minutes down so Lisa amended would be great um Lisa it's actually we we we talked in a in kind of a circle but it looks like we came up with a pretty clean solution for for next year's dates and that is to add a meeting for October 2nd and then to take off the meeting for January 2nd and I think those are the only two alterations to this list um but we all know that we'll have the joint meeting and U then the possibility to add special um meetings as needed okay I'm sorry do I need to amend the movement sorry I didn't over no I don't think so I I actually would suggest that we do um but I'll just I'll I'll move to amend the motion to add the words including the 16 meeting dates as discussed and that's it second okay I'm just counting to make double triple sure all right so all in favor of approving the um the amendment to the motion about the 16 meeting uh date say I I okay so it passed unanimously and with much gratitude now you do like the the full motion I think oh okay okay so now now we do the the full motion okay so um it's still on the table so you can okay then then we just yes um so all in favor of approving the uh Board of Ed meeting dates for 2024 I passes unanimously if without Elegance thank you very much okay so the next item on the agenda is the subcommittee uh meetings and um Lisa I'm sorry Alisa and Dr bril um brought to my attention a couple things I'd like to discuss but let's get the motion on the floor and there are some things that I can point out to you guys I move that the board approve the subcommittee meeting schedule from July through December 2024 I second great so the uh motion has been made and seconded um to approve the um subcommittee schedule here are the things that we could consider uh right away but then we we've already had some pretty robust talk about how we might um make some changes to the subcommittee meeting schedule so um first I'd like to point out that um August 14th there's a cape committee meeting and there's a board of ed meeting for that same day and so do you want to do you want to move it that's one consideration um or and yeah and often cape has not met in August so you can put it on and then make a decision um all right so then if you look at the facilities meeting in October um it's October 2nd um and that's rash sh uh we just put rash so um we just put right put it on that was did all that work that's why we took off why we a second off of this one yeah so stay on this we'll go back that's that's why we had it all see we think of these things in advance we start talking about them and forget that we already planned for this right right right right there's a reason for these things okay all right so let's see if we can find the next snafu here um if you look at the facilities meeting for the next month on November 6th um that's the evening conferences for grades 9 through 12 and that's that's obviously some several of you guys um November 6th that's a facilities meeting um so for the folks who are on that committee you guys are all parents right and um something to be mindful of you know be G he graduates depends who's on my middle guy I should be all right I should be all right okay okay okay you guys could also choose when you get closer to that date choose to move it and just technically it would be a special meeting then but okay you could do that is this where I tell you I'm I'm not going to be here for a date I already know I'm not going to be here for August 21st for the polic Communications meeting so that one would have to un if you guys are available then you can meet without me MH I mean things come up during the year so we may not know that we are not going to be here so we we'll we I think we'll de we'll deal with those as they come up I don't think it's a problem I just want to point out there's no issues with Finance you know I can just remember which whether it's you know 6 o'cl or 7 o' okay so then um so then are we are we ready to move forward all right um all in favor of approving the subcommittee meeting schedule for July through December um 2024 say I I hi okay so it passes unanimously I think we we yeah we'll cross that bridge when we get so is this the time do we need to to yeah do we need to Circle back okay back for second yeah okay do we need do we need a motion to I move to another we need add agenda item okay so um I can I get somebody to um I will I will do it um I will move that we add another agenda item um under new business under new business um to be discussed right now after item D um to reconsider the 2425 Board of Education meeting dates second great and so um all in favor I considering okay um so the board has voted to or the motion to reconsider um the approval of um meeting dates for next year uh has passed okay so um let's get what if we split the difference and do the week over the dates the 9th and the 23rd yeah we move everything down we one then the next one would be yeah I think one thing we want to be mindful of is when bard of Finance meets and other things like that in terms of getting our reports to them just to be thinking about doesn't mean we can't do that we need to right um about what about October 30th anybody interested in October 30th I don't think there's a conflict on that night in in L of the the fifth Wednesday so you stay with the 16 do 16 30 take the second off that actually would be good I think because then you have three weeks until the November 20th meeting spreads it out a little bit more MH and you only have the one in November so that's yeah you're right up against November though right mhm yeah okay so take off the second and add the 30th add the 30th instead of the second that's all you do okay keep the 20th of no do you feel comfortable with that with like all the stuff you were talking about in terms of recoring and everything yeah yeah okay so the um dates have been reconsidered we've found a solution that seems to work and now um it would appear we need to we need to move to approve these uh revised dates I move to approve the revised Board of Education meeting dates second okay so uh we've moved to rise the uh to approve the um revised dates of adding um oober um 16th yeah October 30 thank you thank you very much um taking off taking off October 2nd all in favor of this change say I okay great it is passed unanimously and now Lisa got it she's got it thanks everyone okay well thank you for that catch uh because we would not have wanted wanted to find ourselves in that space okay so uh Now we move to um item e uh of new business which is approval of policy um 6162 um 51 survey of students I move that the board approve policy 61 62.

e e e good evening I will now call to order the special Board of Education meeting workshop for May 1st 2024 it is now 5:00 pm we are in Open Session and could I please have everybody stand for the flag salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible apologies for the light delay all righty uh we will move on to consent calendar um is there anybody who would like to pull an item from consent uh seeing none do we have a motion I'll move adoption of the consent calendar okay we have a motion by Mr Lando and a second by Miss Robinson um we are down one member so we will do a Voice vote um until or unless our our fifth member gets here this evening um we'll start it off with Mr tennis tennis I Dolby I Lando I Robinson I all right it passes 4 Z unanimously with one absent moving right along the big topic for this evening is our Workshop topic um it's informational alternative education housing and support at risk supporting at risk students uh so I'll go ahead and maybe call up are we with Pedro Mr C all right thank you do we uh have the the clicker all right thank you all right well thank you so much um I think that tonight uh we get the well we have an opportunity to be able to provide you some what I feel is amazing information of what we do to help our atrisk homeless and Foster students in our community I want to especially thank uh Rebecca conin and uh Tom Lando for being our fac facilitators uh for this uh board pres board Workshop also want to personally thank Jamie MC noflin behind me Mr Andrew Maul yeah right and then Chase chaler uh for being here tonight they'll be our speakers and be uh walking us through this workshop and so we have some goals here for you today the main goal is to understand the multi-tiered system of supports mtss you will be hearing this over and over for years to come because this is how we do business in Chico Unified School District we're going to also talk about the targeted supports that we have for uh homeless and Foster youth we'll give you a definition about mcken vento and Foster rights and responsibilities and then the homeless Foster youth Ian program coordinate position is going to be presented by Jamie along with that she's going to also cover what it means to be a targeted case manager and exactly what they do specifically in Chico Unified School District and last we will finish which I which I believe is going to be our home run hitter tonight is going to be Mr Chase chavalier who's going to be talking about our community schools and he's going to be actually giving us some very special news tonight so uh like I said I really look forward to tonight thank you good afternoon and anytime I stand in front of you I want to make sure I express my sincere gratitude for all of your supportive Alterna of Education family and to the members of our District administration um so with the the slide that you see in front of you what I really want to point out is the the last three words in that the bottom sentence there the communication the cohesion and collaboration because what we have going on with our multi-tiered systems of support at every site within their system they really have the needs of their specific site but within those tiered systems it looks very similar on every School site so between excuse me our DLC reps our mtss rep um our elementary EAC and sa all those groups are collaborating weekly and monthly to talk about the needs not only that they're from their sites but collectively as as a district what they're seeing that is working on their sites what they're seeing is not working what could be modified and worked on to where every student that is getting those different tiers of support wherever they wherever they move to in the district whether it's from elementary to secondary or even over to all Ed all those tier systems of support someh mirror each other so when the students move either if it's from one elementary site to another elementary site even the site specific needs might be different but those systems of support are pretty similar and students it'll look somewhat familiar to them and their families and so by the time a student does come over to alternative education we have a very good idea based on all the documentation within Aries or educ climber exactly what that student has been supported with so we can formulate a different plan and individualized plan for these students with the wonderful supports that we have on our campus and that next slide will kind of illustrate exactly what I'm talking about while it does look similar on every site it is altogether different based on those different needs so admin alternative education is really again like I said all the support we receive the categorical funding that that we receive is really focusing on every single student and while I used to think that hey we're at tier three all the way around because we do work with every single student we still have a tiered system of supports with an understanding of where our students are coming from so any questions yes thank you and this just popped into my head um how long do most kids stay with the designation of foster homeless are are we are we tracking how long they are designated um well I could speak for when students come to alternative education if they don't already have that designation uh they're identified very quickly and it from my understanding it pretty much stays with them until graduation and through graduation does that make sense dep add okay yeah Jamie will be able to cover that in a little bit more detail she's going to say more about that yeah because um okay I'll I'll write myself a note so I still remember my second question when it get there thank thank you all right thank you hi my name is Jamie mcclin and I'm the district Foster and homeless liaison and program coordinator thank you very much for having me today it's been a while since I've been to a board meeting so have a good night when I leave and you're still here I wish it's short afterwards thank you to um everybody else who is here I'm going to go over definitions and I'll answer your question question um that you asked Andrew as well so the first definition I'm going to go over is the mckin vinto definition so in our program we try to use words like mckin vento or a level of homelessness and try instead of using the words homeless with our um students and families when we're talking about different supports in place so in order for a student to qualify as mckin vento it's students who are living in a shelter in Chico we have four shelters that house um our families that have children um and we are very fortunate because up and down the state of California um there aren't a lot of cities who have this many supports that house our H families that are homeless with children um and some of them are shortterm and some of them are long-term up to one year and with the addition of the Jesus Center Renewal Center um they've increase the supports for an additional 20 families for us and then the Esplanade house is also increasing their capacity to house families who are homeless with Children and lowincome Families as well who transition out of their program in addition addition to those we have um the Aurora North house who is through the tourist shelter and um it's more of a short-term um capacity for them and we also have the um uh program through um Salvation Army who also helps supports our women who are um struggling with substance abuse and then once they complete their program they get to bring their children into the housing environment all four of those environments I work closely with them and their case managers to make sure that the programs that they're providing and the pro education we provide are seamless um and I'll go over some of the supports that we provide in a later slide in addition to the shelter environments if we have families that live in a motel or hotel in our in our community they also qualify for mckin vento um we do have every once in a while um and we try to get them into a shelter environment we have families that have live in either a vehicle or in a tent um or on the street um and then not so much an abandoned building but every once in a while if we have an abandoned house we'll have kids or a family that'll take take over and then the last uh capacity to build for um our definition for homeless is our students who are doubled up um they they're a little bit lower on the needs because they do have housing that's a little can be a little bit more stable for some of our families and in order to be doubled up and be considered mckin vento it it's not by choice it's the definition says that they're they're doubled up because they a cannot find housing or be afford housing in our area um and so if they do it by choice and they could live independent ly and not be homeless then we don't consider those families mckin vento they're not at the same risk factor another level of support is sometimes we have um and it is very few but families who might live in in accommodations that are not appropriate to live in and that could be if they have um a place that doesn't have electricity running water or workable toilet then those places would also be um and then also in the definition you have to have has to meet also the um emotional social but also physical and psycholog iCal needs of the students to support the education Factor so every once in a while we'll get a family who that doesn't make the needs of the student and we might classify them if they need additional support um you asked about how long um so how long students stay mckin VTO so every year we take an assessment of each individual's family they do data confirmation or they fill out a housing questionnaire um and they give us that information and so if their um living circumstances have not changed then then they're saying that they're still in the same circumstance so then their mcken VTO status will be for the following year we work closely with our targeted case managers to identify those families who gain permanent housing and their re their levels of supports drop at the end of that year so for mckin vento ACT we continue to provide services as long as they maintain mckin vento status for the duration of that school year that they gain permanent housing in our area and up Andross the state of California to get out of a Mento situation can take anywhere from 5 to 10 years um especially post campfire we're seeing that some families are in a mckin vinto um situation for a longer period of time we do have um we got a few grants that we built some more um low-income housings which we exited quite a few families from and then there's another um apartment complex that will be ex they will be building as well that we're hoping um that will exit some more families so the our community does re recognize that housing um is is a crisis situation in our area and they're bringing in funding and support to house more students uh and families that are experiencing a level of homelessness Jamie um do you have any um clients that are with the chat no if they're in a chat program that's not considered mckin vinto because that that is more longterm and um and they there that's an adequate and it's in a fixed situation for them so um mckin Vino is more something that's not not adequate not fixed that means at any moment there tion can change um so whether it's that they lose their housing due to not completing program requirements and they're exited from a program or if they're doubled up and sometimes overcrowding those family situations become volatile and another family has to leave in chat programs it's usually one family per per um house um and they have the the room and place per HUD that doesn't go over into overcrowding um every blue moon we'll get a chat situation where the living conditions aren't conducive it's more with the people that live in the house that's making that way so we work with our targeted case managers and their targeted case managers to help support that family to improve their living conditions in the home would you um say that that the targeted case managers play the largest role in identifying the mckin vento eligible students yeah because you mentioned filling out forms so there are different ways of identification for mcken vinto thank you foring asking that question so one of the ways is the parents can identify their mckin vento status themselves another way is a teacher U maybe the student or the parent let the teacher know of their living situation and then they'll let their targeted case manager know and then they'll complete the proper paperwork and and identification um also we've increased and we'll all go over data in another slide um our identification through training so I train not only our targeted case managers by training our our admin teams our school counselors our transportation department our special educ education coordinators our registers and our office managers on mckin vento and the definition so because of the increase in training and what it means we've been able to better identify our students who meet the criteria um really quick just so that I understand a little bit better yeah there's a lot of information very fast so uh just to break it down um when a um when a a family's situation U moves from uh a student qualified fing for mckin vento to um a more permanent housing situation in the mid middle of the school year did you say were you saying or did I understand right that we provide services still to those students through the end of the school year yeah and that's that's for the law and also um looking at data of students and families who experience chronic homelessness um sometimes they might gain permanent housing but that could be a temporary situation and they're back in in a um house a homeless uh or a mckin situation so we try to carry those supports for the remainder of the school year year so that their Gap in supports don't end and then we reassess the the beginning of next year so if they do lose those housing over the summer we're asking them the same questions the next year just in case and is this it's just students that are enrolled in Chico Unified School District students um no this law is for all schools including Charter Schools but I only oversee the Chico Unified Schools that's what I meant um because the tied to that question was just at what age at what's the lower limit of age that we are aware of students are living unhoused um so I part of my role as the district liaison um they added uh a new law for 0 to five identification and supports and so I go all the way down to zero um newborns and so I work with case managers who help identify those especially if they live in the es house or an aurora house to provide those pre primer um benefits we have a few programs in our community like Help Me Grow Wick um and um other things that do home visits for them because because we're doing home visits for ours as well um so we make sure that they're connected to get those supports and we also make sure that they're connected to preschool once they're um eligible for preschool by age so that way they're in school as soon as possible um so by law they changed it to 0o to five and so I work with our community our targeted case managers to help identify those Z to five who aren't currently in school thank you me again okay um am am I just missing foster kids that's the next one oh okay I'll I'll ask the question for all of them and when I get there okay the next definition um has to do with foster care so the state of California um used the welfare and um institution and child care um laws to identify students who are in foster care so for students in foster care have to have either a voluntary or a courta appointed open um case with child protective services or the Juvenile Justice um Council so in in order for a student to be considered Foster they have an open case they have a social worker or probation officer sometimes there's some misconception about the word Foster especially um cross Linguistics and other cultures and so sometimes they identify same in enrollment um that they're a Foster and then we I have to look them up or check with the county to make sure that they're Foster or if that's just a misunderstanding in language um by the way um that they're reading the word foster care um and Foster Care is a little bit different than mck even vento um in the fact that once their case closes um then at that time we check in families to see if they want services to drop at that time or at the end of the school year so we kind of because some get adopted and they want their case closed they want to they don't want to be checked in with as often and we want to respect that as well um the Foster definition also there's a misconceptions that um foster kids live with uh Foster families Foster kiddos can also be living with their biological uh families um and that's could be um through a um family reunification or Family Maintenance and in our community I work with not only our um child welfare social workers I also work with our agency social workers as well to bridge the gap in communication for school supports and also to make sure that the seamless when it comes to school enrollment or a transfer of schools so that way they're getting their school of origin and um and now like for example today I've had like four social worker phone calls you know so they know by name and they reach out when they need help support when it comes to a school situation or they want clarification to help with supports for their students on their case load me again um what's what's the upper age limit for mckin Vendo Services uh in Chico Unified or in the state I'm only interested in Chico Unified am I not love CH unified is until they graduate high school so there is it's not an age requirement some people think that once they turn 18 they're no longer mcken vento the definition for mcken vento is while they're still at school so sometimes we have um mck mckin vento students who are living independently on their own without um the care of another adult and so they can be classified as mckin vento with those students It's All Case by case as well we'll check in with them but depending on their level of need sometimes we have kids that are independent and don't need a lot of support and sometimes they're not um maybe I'm anticipating your next question there is a new Foster um mentorship program um that we we kind of piloted in our area and so we do have some Foster youth that are the ages 16 to um 19 who are enrolled in our school district that live in what's called Mentor homes these are homes that don't have a foster parent in the home they just have an adult but their parent is their social worker so that adult is not in charge of getting them to school making sure they go to school making sure they have their homework that's a social workers job and so it's just a housing making sure that they're safe and in the in the in the home and so we pilot that program this year and um depending on budget and the governor's uh budget as well will be if that program continues in our area um as well because it was on The Chopping Block so I'm still up okay um one of my pet peeves is what happens to the kiddos that graduate age out how do they get training for employment because they're disconnected from the you know a lot of the things that we have and and they're not yet um solidly on track to get additional training and supports with businesses and communities where do they go how do they become self-supporting well I'll answer both questions a little bit separ SE um for foster youth Foster youth don't age out until the age of 24 so there's extended foster care so depending on what our foster youth decide to do after graduation if they decide to go to college or university I transition them to the person like me at their college or university so I have working relationship with bu College um Chico State sack State and UC Davis because they're in our local area that's where our kids tend to go and we make sure that that communication the golden handshake takes place for those kiddos also in foster foster youth in order to be part of that um transitional housing program and extended foster care they have to either be enrolled in school or have a job so the social worker if they're not choosing the school route their social worker will take on that role to help them with job placement and job skills um social workers also work with helping them build resumés and those kind of things to help them to be gainfully employed and these social workers are employed by so those social workers they have two social workers depending on which program they're on so they might have a county social worker um if they're just in the slip program but if they're in the thp extended Foster program they have a county social worker and they have an agency social worker as well an agency social worker meaning meaning like for example we have Youth and families Foster program we have children's first foster program those are agencies and they employ their own social workers as part of their Foster agency to support those kids and extended care I had um need to get help for a a youngster that had aged out or employment and um reached out to the Department of Rehabilitation at the suggestion of um far Northern yeah if they have a disability that'd be a great resource to reach out to six month waiting list yeah well I can tell you what we're doing in Chico Unified to help with that um as part of our um continuing education program we looked at our numbers I think you guys had a workshop with them um just last last month with Tiffany um we hired a part-time um CTE person to help support our our students who are struggling either in um being a completer in those programs or struggling to find a program that suits them and so she looks at kids in my programs as well so our foster homeless and migrant aded students and we identify which kids are in a CTE program so we know how to support them because we want to increase the completion rate for our Foster and homeless students um but also trying to see what they need to start in a program sometimes they just need a mentor to help guide them and facilitate them so that's one thing we noticed looking at our data to help provide an additional support um and additionally um talking with um Tiffany as well is we saw need especially for students in my program who might not have the parental resources at home to go online at the high schools and see what programs are available that's what I did with my kiddo I went online let's look at Chico high and see what they have to offer let's look at PV and see what they have to offer so I noticed that when I was doing that that maybe students that are in my programs might not have that and so what we're starting is in the eth grade is going out and doing presentations for the students so they can hear about what programs are offered at which school and for the mindfulness of knowing that they might not have that guided support at home so that they maybe they can go home and follow up or follow up with their targeted case manager or their school counselor um also I heard in the works um that also infusing a little bit more of CTE Pathways um maybe like a wheel or something like that so that way kids are at the junior high level can get like a little Feeder of what it might be in a different program to help guide them into B completion so long story short your question was how are we getting them ready for the workforce that's what we have put our brains together to kind of support especially our students who are experiencing a level of homelessness or in our foster care system well keep putting your brains together because my feeling is it's a it's a huge need I mean these These are kids that don't have families to um uh move back in with right and and other areas so being able to support themselves critical yeah um our next slide has to do with our data um so our data going back to the 1819 school year um when we experienced the campfire where numbers were at 7.9 um and then the next year um the 1920 um data and then went went down and then um the 2021 data went up just a little bit and then we have a bump that kind of is steady going up and I just wanted you guys to be aware that we probably had an underlying um amount of students that have been mckin vento Foster that just weren't identified this whole time so it's not like we're increasing in our area I think we're just finally having the opportunity to have those relationships with our families to where they are identifying themselves a little bit more often we have the training in place with our school staff and support services that help them understand what it means to be mcken vento and then we have a person um in my role at the district who can help organize as a program globally to put those process and procedures in place so um the state of California when they when I talked to our state representatives they say for our area we should be in between the uh 5 to 12% and so I've kept that in mind when I first came along in the 2122 um school year of as okay that's a baseline where um the state thinks where we should be so I should be thinking okay as long as we're there I think we're looking good as a program and identifying our students who might meet the uh the mckin vento um requirements to provide services for those students and this is end of the year data too I want to say it's not our census date so if you go on data Quest you might see different numbers so there's two types of data there's census State data and then there's summative data this is the summative end of the year data or right now um because we're doing the board worksh for the 23 24 you look at the bottom line those are huge numbers yeah and the impact on their individual education programs um for that many kiddos you know it just my heart aches for that group we we've got we've got um as much as I can imagine imagine any school district has that has limited funding um but still that's an awful lot of kids needing an awful lot of help and so those are the kids identified so I would say and I'm going to talk about what are targetting Hast managers and what I do in later slides but I would say some some we identify and don't need a tremendous amount of support and then some we identify and need a whole rra team to support them and embrace them so that they're successful so it's VAR levels of support but we but we don't get to determine who's identified and who's not identified the law determines that we just determine the level of support needed and we have a process in place in Chico Unified to to make sure we're meeting those needs if you could pick where you need more support that that we have something to do with um what would what would that be what more support would you wish for um I would say that that through our grant systems that Transportation supports we have a transportation support that's dropping off at the end of this year um our ehcy ARP funds were allowing us to get gift cards um not gift cards sorry store cards I forget the term store cards um for um things like gas or um food or clothing um and that is the only Grant um that we've ever come across that allowed that and it's and it's seasoned and we spent the money already on those types of supports um so I would say moving forward is looking at what are not allowables for us to purchase with the grants and and the funds that we currently have um it's those kind of things um so where families might need additional support um speaking of Transportation I'll talk about this later is we offer three levels of transportation we try to get them right on that school bus or the beine or if those two options are not available then if the person has a vehicle we've been able to offer that for the last couple years and that's increased transportation and attendance for those kids um who are on that gas card program and know when um when I was helping Aurora house and I got to name Aurora house yeah I um it was such a need because we had um when I was working with um the uh Tory shelter having the the families with little kiddos was just not the right environment to have them at the torist shelter so that's what brought us to Aurora house and um the needs yeah unbelievable yeah I'll I'll go over what supports we do in place so I feel like our our needs for the most part under control and Chico Unified but I'll address that in a later side when I talk about those um any other questions on data I do yeah um the the base data percentages um are those in including the 0 to four or five range no okay they're not it's a separate reporting period so yeah I figured it'd be tricky that's why I was like you know just making sure yeah no it doesn't include the only data that reports on those are for our grant I have to report the 0 to five that I help support Outreach and identification for this is only schools that are that are students that are enrolled in Chico UniFi so there might be kids coming up who may be identified once they get into preschool TK or kinderg I assume as much because the percentages um the follow followup question was um have you seen or are there Trends in um like if you break it out by age um you know if there's if there's kind of an even number that we see of students fallowing these categories across ages it's pretty much across the board um we do have dips um in sixth grade and ninth grade and that sometimes is because the school change and we've been working really hard to roll over some of the identification of those kids and I what I do is I I have a spreadsheet and then I figure out what school they go to and then that new TG ucation knows a check in with that family so you think those are false dips so I think they're false dips I think it's pretty um pretty even across across the board we haven't seen like a necessar necessarily seen like a I mean obviously a rise in general but no of any particular bubble or age group no and that's the same thing with our Supportive Housing environments that that are housing some of these um families and providing supports is they're all the way from babies to kids graduating high school it's not it's the they're seeing the same thing St as well thank you okay so the next thing uh I'm going to go over is a couple slides that talk about um the rights and responsibilities um that homeless and Foster students have and um the first thing that they have and these are governed by um the state of California and the federal government for mckin vento and so I kind of just merged them together because they overlap for most cases so students who are mckin vento or homeless have the right to um enroll in school um this is for the we even decide without giving a permanent address or proof of residency so traditionally to enroll in a school you have to give like so those proof of residency a bill statement saying that you live in that boundary for the school um and a birth certificate and immunization record so we work with our school staff and help them to understand that those families may not have that we ask for it if they have it great um most of our families don't have those things because if if they're doubled up with another family maybe the bill is in the other family's name and it's not in their name or or um they don't have services in their name because they're in a supportive environment so we try to remove that barrier and we work with our office managers and registers to understand that as well so that way they're not getting that push back and I always say if they don't have it maybe give them the housing questionnaire to find out if you need it or not um so they have the right to enroll in school enrollment in school means that you have the immediate enrollment right but it doesn't mean immediate same day going to school so we would love that um to happen but as if any of you work in a school system bringing a kid in putting in the teachers classroom with those kids sometimes takes a little bit of time and so we want to respect the system a little bit um however our schools are really good if I have a student or family in crisis especially if they are unhoused then we try to get the immediate enrollment we tell them that this is your temporary placement until we get the permanent teacher in place and we do the best that we can to get those Support Services provided and make sure that they're in a safe environment um the next part is um continue to attend the same school so that's called School of origin um School of origin Orin protects our mckin vento and our foster students School of origin means where did they go to school at the time that they became a foster student or at the time that they became homeless so even if they moved across town and their new Resident school would be a different school they have the right to stay in that same school um where they have their supports in place um that there's been a lot of research and data that supports moving kids from school to school to school just puts their uh education further and further behind so we work really hard with our transportation Department those three levels of supportive Transportation I was talking about earlier um and to make sure that they can stay in that school um of origin if they choose to We Don't Force families to stay uh but they have the right to stay so we give them their options and we let them know you have the right to stay if you want to continue to stay or you can roll in your neighborhood school if that's easier for you and that's the parental um Choice um for our students are mckin vinto this is within Chico um boundaries only but our foster students kind of expand to BU County as long as it's feasible for transportation um with within our school districts um and or the the Foster family that's transporting the students so we have a county level support and then we have our school district supports that support the transportation of foster youth who live outside of Chico occasionally we'll we will have a mckin vento who lives outside of Chico that we will support we try to do that if they're in high school and gr try to graduate with their peers um they do have the right to stay in there but transportation can be an issue and we might not be able to meet that need so if we can meet the need with a gas card or the beine then we try to make that um happen to support that family who wants to stay especially because sometimes they'll move to Orville and then move right back um and then they're going to one school to another um but we for the most part most of our families are locally that are mckin vento um talking about Transportation support so um through uh mckin vento and Foster we have the transportation application specifically for these children so our targeted case managers work with families to support the documentation needed for them to get that Transportation without having to have an additional cost um and um and then they also get to have transportation to the school that the school of origin that they were attending before they were Foster or homeless so we coordinate that and for the most part transportation department is Works magic to make that H happen occasionally we will have a bus so another need that just came up is occasionally we do have bus um routes that get really full in some certain areas is and so Transportation another bus or a bus driver you know if you want to raise money for that that would be great um but I think now that we have more bus drivers and and and things in place that we're hoping that that increases because we had a huge dip during Co trying to navigate all of that um more rights and responsibilities so students from M vento and Foster um get to did I oh enroll in classes while they so if there is a dispute um or anything like that with their um uh immunizations or their documents needed they get to enroll in that class until until a dispute um is resolved we are very fortunate that um our schools with the training they have and and the support personnel and those front offices along with their targeted case managers we haven't had too many hiccups normally it's like the TCM will call me like hey this is happening and I just call like hey just reminder um and then the kids you know enrolled in going to school so um but for the most part we've done a really good job at trying to get families and kids starting schools at the same time um and transferring to schools um in a timely manner our students who um are Foster get to matriculate with their peers and so that's kind of nice that even though they might have a foster placement outside of that neighborhood school if they for example if they were in Chasta for elementary they have the choice to matriculate to Bidwell um with their peers as well even if they're living in a different um residential environment so that's kind of nice to keep that those groups together when they would like it um another part of their rights and responsibilities is to be able to attend classes in the School of Choice um oh I already talked about what we're doing the dispute um but we haven't had any um and then they also get to receive the same special programs and services um that are provided to other kids so there we don't discriminate based off of their mckin vent or Foster status or whether they get to be enrolled in classes or programs um it it's school choice and they they're just like any other kid who's trying to pick classes and and figure things out with their um counselor support Jamie uh the kiddos that that have IEPs who usually becomes designated to be the representative for that child during the IEP for foster kiddo or homeless kiddo or the ones we're dealing with the mcken V yeah yeah so it it depends on who the Ed rights holder is and so if there's a designated rights holder um then it's the Ed rights holder so if it's the biof family then that's who it is in case of mckin vento um we sometimes the the Ed rights holder the biop parents maybe they're incarcerated or Mia and the child is with a caregiver if that caregiver is willing to be the surrogate and take on the rights of Ed rights for IEP purposes we do that every occasionally we'll have a mckin vento student that we don't have a family member that they're living with or an ed right holder um that we can get a hold of and we have a process in place to find a surrogate um for those students through the IEP process do your readed right people uh have to go through the training I know there there is a county training for people that are going to act as educational advisers for these kids and the and the special education side I I'm not sure but in the um the Foster side yes so on the Foster side um so when it comes to IEP for foster it's who their Ed rights holder are so some kids are in Foster placements and their parents are the Ed rights holders so it's the parents um who would be invited to the IEP and be part of that process traditionally a foster parents will accompany as well because this child is living the home and they want to make sure that they're bridging that support between home and school um occasionally just like in mckin vento we'll have a parent or or a guardian who either either Mia or their parents rights have been limited or terminated and the court um appoints who the ad rights holder is or sometimes if they can't find a person they'll reach out to me and we have a list of surrogates for foster kiddos who need an ed rights holder and if if that's the case and we work on that process get it through the court and then that person who is the designated Ed rights holder um I send them um information about ad rights of foster Youth and um who the kiddo that they're going to be um supporting and some contact information and then I also let the school know um and then I send them the proper paperwork once it comes back from the court so they have that as well so on that side um they get a little bit of training and then they get some follow-up support with me and then they have my contact information if they have um any questions or concerns for ways of supporting and we have a pretty solid list that every time I email it out I think you're on it um I always get a response um that day of somebody who can be the Ed rights holder for our kiddos um and addition to those supports um we also have nutrition support so um back in the day when Chico Unified um didn't provide free meals for all students these kidos um re receive nutrition support without um having to provide inome verification because they were already certified as mckin event to our foster um we continue that process because we never know if that um is going to stay or go and so we just keep it and we work closely with nutrition services to identify those students as well uh next so in addition to making sure that our families understand um what their rights and responsibilities are making sure that um the people that work closely with these families understand the rights and responsibilities of their students I have other duties as assigned um so part of it is coordinating educational programs so students parents and staff are aware of their rights and responsibilities I make sure that everybody has the same information and whenever there's a conversation about either school placement I just regurgitate the same information and make sure that parents have enough information to make that informed decisions theirselves with the support of our schools um and then I also provide um mckin vinto Foster trainings like I said to all the people that talked about and coordinating I also coordinate the All-Star parent program um it's a 13-week program that goes over the 40 developmental assets this is the third year we've had that program um in the third year we've graduated anywhere from 13 to 17 families um I I it's my prize baby because not only do we support All Families anybody get to sign up you don't have to be in a mckin vent or a foster situation but I do advertise to those housing environments and those foster agencies so that it's another level of support and our County um social workers they'll if they're working with a family on family planning they'll say hey sign up for this um and then our our case managers at those uh supportive environments they also they post the flyers for their families as well so we do get a fair amount of students who are either in a mckin vento or a foster um situation but we also get everybody else too and so it's kind of a nice blend of parents who come from parents who have um ski a skill deficit to parents who have skills but want to beef up their skills and so the quality of conversations we have while teaching those 40 developmental assets has been very rewarding uh part of my job um in addition I analyze data a lot um to ensure growth in academics behavior and social emotional um and then um working with reporting those to state and federal programs to ensure that we are in compliance and so looking at our data you guys have seen those data points um we do have some data deficits for our M evento and our foster students and I've been working with um counseling teams admin teams and um anybody who will listen um to help develop plans of support in place for those students so that they're more successful in school um not only with attendance so this year through our grant funds we be up attendant support so I analyze data any student who is mck VOR Foster who is below 90% um we work with a Target case manager they have little punch card system reward system um home visits to try to support the the attendance and our attendant has been improving um the the gas card program it's in our contract for attendance and so in order for them to continue to get um that kind of support they have to have an increase in their attendance so that's helped improve attendance as well because they want to continue to get that support and then working with um our TR managers and our counselors on social emotional um we do the Kelvin surveys as well to get that data to see if that's improving but sometimes it's a kiddo on the bus and so I work with transportation and they say hey this kiddo is having a hard time on the bus and then I work with the case managers to get things that they can do on the bus so that they have better um social emotional skills on the bus or in the classroom um and then the next thing is provide leadership and support to the targeted case manager team um I'm going to go over that in in the next slide but um our targeted case manager team when I came on um we had 13 targeted case managers and through our outcut funds we've been able to um double almost that that um support so where some schools where sharing a targeted case manager and they didn't have somebody on site every day um I'm proud to say that now every School site has a targeted case manager all of our targeted case managers are cross crosscultural and crossling lingual so um we also saw a need looking at data as well is um we have a influx of farsy families and this year we hired two farsy um targeted case managers one as a district and one at a school site and but we have both a male female Dynamic um because in culture um that uh in their culture that they speak to the same gender and so we want to be mindful of that uh in their process and so when the hiring process we had the opportunity we we snagged both of them up at that time um we also have aong targeted case manager and aong sub target targeted case manager right now so we got meet those needs of those the families that still speak Mong and then the rest of them speak Spanish um the next part of I also facilitate sport for graduation success of all of our students um so Ed code um says that students who are Foster homeless um Juvenile Justice um migrant Ed and if they're in an e English limited learner program if you have a newcomer program qualify for graduation requirement exemption that means that they qualify first a credits and so making sure that students who are struggling for graduation still have an opportunity to graduate with their peers um so they have to meet certain criteria in order to do that it's not just given it's not just awarded but training with our high school counselors at all of our high school sites so that they know to be aware and then um and then checking in I check grades of all of our 12th graders I start at 11th grade and start keeping that that on track and then I tag the counselors like hey how they're doing can you check in so that way we improve the graduation rate our goal is to improve graduation rates so the students don't need to have a graduation requirement exemption but we know that um students who are in a mck event situation or a foster situation they experience some deficits in education and we want to make sure that those deficits don't hold them back to further their education if they so choose um I'm also um on the continu of care so if you are aware of Contin of care it's it's the group of um agencies who come together for the support of our homeless population I'm the chair of our households with children I co-chair with um Brian berer who is at the Esplanade house and I'm the notetaker so it's a great opportunity for all of us Community agencies who work with households with children to come together and problem solve on on a monthly basis and so we talk about um what are the current resources we have presentations um from other um agencies to help make sure our skills and and we know what's out there to help support our families in um in a homeless or Mento situation um but uh I thrive in that kind of environment and it's my jam to know what's available so I can help the our kids and families and so uh it's been a very rewarding uh process for me to be on that committee and to be the chair so I can definitely make sure that all the not that I want are in it um and then I also secure funding for our programs um so we've been fortunate for um this last three years that we've got um education homeless children and youth funding um that's helped support um our our students needs in our program we applied again we're waiting to hear whether we got that um we got an additional award for ARP that piggybacked on that and that dropped off but we're hoping that that funds continue to house like my position to help support the continue my position and then um continue to find other types of supports for all the materials and stuff needed for our program um we've applied for grants for attendance support because we do work on attendance and Community Schools Grant to help support our students and families that are in those schools as well any questions on that s go ahead no um on the COC yes um role are all of the agencies that used to be connected with COC still involved all like the um battered women and that's all still that was children yeah we have like the cat we have catalysts we have Boys and Girls Club we have Department employment and Social Services we have the housing Navigators we have um some School District people um we have um CH chat sometimes shows up it yes so the various agencies who support families who are experiencing a level of so we have Aurora house representation and we also have ESP house representation and Jesus Center representation that was a that was a powerful group I I uh really support the breadth of what they cover yeah and it's nice that we can share those resources because sometimes you don't know of a new resource until you go to that meeting and you're like oh this is awesome and then we also get to brainstorm things that are needed so when they're writing their grants they can use our information and our data to help support them to get continued funding for programs that support our families and getting help to inter agency with grant writing supports that was another thing that I saw at the table happening very effectively we check in to see if there any any grants on the table that anybody's working on or anybody needs support or just a general awareness so other people can apply as well um a really simple question Jamie when did you when did you join the district please remind me three years ago this is my third year um my mind is exploding right now with how much you do and I'm thinking about just your presentation alone like I'm so in it but also like you just spoke probably an hour and a half's worth of information to us and hopefully not no but really like um there was so much more context that I didn't understand yet and and you've done a great job presenting it and um just this list of of things that you've taken ownership of in the last three years is is phenomenal it's really amazing what you're doing and I'm wondering if there are more of you needed or you know you know if you need an an additional assistant you know there's like I I'm just I do a lot I know you're doing a lot let me tell you the next slide I do have support I do not do this alone um we like I said we have 22 case managers in our district that help support the work that I do um I oversee this program I do those things that were in the last slide but a bulk of the work to support our families rests with our targeted case managers they are the boots on the ground they are that face Toof face with family Ames um they they work with families up until like if it's a crisis situation or something that they can't deal with on their own site then they're reaching out meet for to me for that additional level of support um and so the site supports that I want to brag this is all brag because um I think it took us a while to get all these things across every school um because when I first started when it said site supports it was um determined by site but now these are site supports at all Sites um and so enrollment support transportation referrals resource referrals I want to speak on that because I said I would um every family and or every student who's identified as mckin vento Foster or migren Ed um I say Mig gred we have a small population but they're still under my purview um they get checked on by a targeted case manager on an annual basis they they either meet with the family or they call the family to do a resource referral so the resource referral has a lot of the things that are here um that they check in the families and they check off whether that need has already been met by the targeted case manager of the school site or whether it's still in a need um and so that I oversee all all of that to determine and because I want to close every single ticket that the needs are being met in our community um and so they do that resource referral sometimes needs change throughout the year so they might do an additional resource referral to update me on what the student um's barriers are to education um they also provide parenting support So In addition to helping with the allstar parent program um they come and they teach alongside me we offer that program both English and Spanish Spanish um we provide child care and food for them and it's a very rewarding experience but they also do home visits and do parenting support either in the home environment or at the school and then they also do like I said the attendant support interpretation and work with their Wellness teams and their esit support and also elac so they do a lot at their School site to support our students who have needs also they identify what are the community resources that they need further support with and so the list of those supports are in the middle column and those are the traditional things like these are things that we don't necessarily do at our site we may they might be doing tutoring an after school program there but maybe that that they don't fit in that program or they need additional support referrals so we provide those as well and then we provide those housing counseling and Healthcare and legal referrals as well the last part is where I use a bulk of my grant funds um I use it to support purchasing backpacks school supplies um health and hygiene items um PE uniform and and um I don't purchase I vouchers but we make sure our families get those and those are housed um for the most part at our alted site um we have a a classroom uh over at alted who helps all these resources so targeted case managers can go and pick up what the students need and make sure they get it for their families and we also have a huge clothing resource there as well so that Target case managers or students can go and Shop um for what their needs are so we work really hard um as a team to remove barriers but wait there's more because we can't do it all alone I also have a Social Work intern she's actually here tonight um as part of her class but um so I have a social work interm who's an extension of self she learned very much about our programs the way I communicate the way I talk the laws and stuff that go into it so that they so our Target case managers can not only reach out to me but also our social work intern and I applied to get a couple more next year and then I also have um through Chico State um College corpse fellows who also intern with me so it takes a village to do the work that we do so um it would be nice to have more support but I think I'm managing enough as it is um and so I think I think we're in a good place oh yes finally I'm done any other questions for me Yes actually I do I'm sorry before before you get away can you tell us a little bit about what is the training like for the for uh case managers for TCMS TCM so TCMS get not they get a more indepth um mcken vento training um so they get a lot lot more on kind of the things that I know so um the rules and regulations the laws and supports that go along with that um we also have monthly meetings where we bring in service providers to do presentations so for example at our last presentation we have Anthem come in and do a presentation on on medical um uh supports for our families and he talked about all the different levels of um support to provide that service whe and it's for families who have medical or partnership or even newcomers who don't have it yet and so um so they talked about all those programs all the medical things that they provide and support services including Transportation so that way our targeted case managers are aware what's out in our community so we try to have a monthly presenter from the community we've had Boys and Girls Club come out we've had Catalyst come out we've had Anthem so every month we have somebody come out and in addition um they also get training in selfcare um we do a mindfulness activity at every single meeting because important for them to take care of themselves and myself um and so we know vicarious trauma through working with this uh population can be high and so not only are they learning a new self-care or mindfulness activity I try to teach them something that also can translate to something that they can do at their School site and so whether it's meditation videos or little activities that they can do to or journaling they're learning it and then they can go do it and so we have a a whole folder of those kind of activities um as well and then um I've also provided some some trauma training as well so I uh part of my background is as in trauma um and resilience Focus schools and so taking that information of what I've learned to be a a trauma trainer to provide them that level of trauma training that's needed to be successful as a targeted case manager for the Long Haul and on um excuse me a somewhat related note and this is going to sound pointed I don't mean it to be I am a huge fan of the TCM program I recognize they are vital but what are the metrics we use for this program how do we know if a particular TCM or the program as a whole is actually improving outcomes without taking them away and then putting them back which of course we're not going to do well I would say we started off this presentation of every student every day so that's our model so our TCMS don't just work with our Foster and home they work with all kids um so looking at the data for what they're doing we would look at attendance rate data um we can look at their their scores but really the data I look at to see if we're good as a program is that resource referral at the end of the year if I have all those closed tickets and minimal impr progress tickets I know as a whole we worked hard to remove barriers so that student can be um uh successful in education so in order for a kid to be successful in educ ation you have to have multiple years of no barriers to see an end product in the academic success of students and so when you look at academic success you can't look at Case by case year by year you have to look at longit tutional data and I feel like in my role like we don't have as much data for me to say whether the target case managers because I don't know how far back and not every School site had a full-time Target case manager so I don't say that programy we have enough data to say whether they're effective or not but I can can tell you that every single time that we have those lcap meetings parents are constantly saying we need more targeted case managers we need their help they've supported me with this they've supported me with that and same thing when we had our um Foster and homeless meetings that was the same narrative that the parents were saying so if we look at feedback as data as well um the parents who are using the services that are targeted case managers are providing are very appreciative and sometimes we don't have that cross-cultural and cross language connection at the school site of somebody that looks like them talks like them walks like them and that person is that for them at their School site and so to take something like that that representation to families I think it would be a deficit for our families who are working with these people and again I'm not considering anything about I just it's always good to have data to track whether what we're doing is working and and in a program like this it is hard because we've not always been great about getting longitudinal data that's something we need to remember to keep doing thank you very much yeah you're welcome I have oh wow that's really loud um I had the opportunity um at when we had our subcommittee um and one thing I was really fascinated by and I think it might be worth mentioning to our group in case there were potentially any connections in the community um and sorry if it's a little off topic but uh when you were talking about um providing transportation for all students and making and coming up with some sort of connection with the public transit system in Chico um are there any updates to where you're at with that or is there something is is that something you can share with our group in case there are any potential connections or I would say there's not an update so what I shared there is that I've been working really hard with um beine to try to see if there's a way to all of our students can use beline um for a flat fee just like similar um bu College in Chico State do um at the time um and still the time that they are not willing to take on any more at that capacity but what they did put in place um is the token Transit program and so I can electronically send a pass to a parent or a student like that so if this if they don't have the two to three days it takes to go through the mail um to the district that they that they need those passes they get that immediate pass and so um that was their solution which I was just as happy with you know it would be nice to have any student ride the bus if they need to get to school um but what they are doing is looking at school start and stop signs so I attended their um Community meetings last year John Shepard was in those meetings too and um trying to help with the routing system so that kids can get to school on time um so that is something that we've worked to try to align those as well and making sure routes are U more prevalent where they're close by schools so that way kids aren't having to walk an extended amount of time to get on a bus if they are going to school or get off the bus and go to school so I think that's something we keep in communication with I I I have some great Partners over there that if I have a question or an issue um I can just email them now so we're we're pretty good I feel like in the communication part I would love for them to be able to take us on in that capacity um to where any kid just can get on the bus but we also want to beef up the capacity for public transportation in our community where kids and parents feel that that is an option for them um they did take a suggestion that I brought and of having free ride days and so they have four Free Ride days and so I try to advertise those out to the schools when they they have the Free Ride days so that way kids can try out Transportation if they want to on those Free Ride days um so bein's County and uh as a government agency it seems like it would be nice I guess or appropriate if uh bcoe were to get involved and maybe they it goes that route to maybe bcoe can can figure out funding to actually make it a countywide it wasn't a funding issue I I threw out funding options that I thought were well above usually it is a fing they would take and and um I still got the no from the top interesting and that's from the top of Bel line um okay well I okay but as a community support person if you feel that you I think I think it takes more voices for something like that to change and and I'm the power of one and you know and John has come to those meetings too so um when you and it's very limited who shows goes up to those meetings um to make change and so until more Community people get involved to see that as a need I I don't see it changing too much are those specific bag meetings or is it are we like talking Board of Supervisors no bag meetings yeah yeah I just couldn't remember all those letters yeah okay maybe maybe yeah they have Community meetings throughout the year and and then when they went through their whole um they were doing some regional shifts and stuff like that one thing that they did incorporate um which we haven't used yet but they have a smaller bus and so if there is a route that's not accessible we can use that route system to pick up a kiddo and drop them off at their school we just haven't had a family who is willing willing to put their kiddo on the smaller bus to take them to school but they did offer there's two two or three pockets in Chico that don't have those those read a routes available One's near shast Elementary I remember that and one's back behind um this area over here um so we just would have to arrange that but we would also need the parents to be on board for that too it's a nice alternative if you have somebody too that wants to accompany their kiddo to SCH so we do provide that so it when we do issue be B beline passes if the the child or student um does not feel comfortable riding uh on their own we issue a supervisor pass for a parent to ride with them right that's what I'm saying that's why it's a nice it is a nice thing to offer you know instead of thinking about putting my four-year-old on even a school bus is kind of terrifying thank you you're welcome thanks for bringing that up um first of all thank you all for having me tonight uh it's good to see everyone here again I know it's been a while but uh my name is Chase chabal I am the Community Schools coordinator for Chico Unified that's a little better um I know I look like I might have been a front man in a band but I'm never playing with the mic too much that's m Mr Andrew mul's task um so I know Mr Caldera promised a home run at the end of this but I haven't hit one of those since uh seventh grade t-ball so we're just going to have to run with this one tonight um so we uh Chico Unified last year applied for a community schools planning Grant through the state under the California Community Schools planning program partnership program and we were awarded a 2-year Grant to um of $200,000 to plan out um an implementation phase and and create an implementation plan for implementing the California state um Community Schools partnership program framework at our schools and so um to qualify for the c um the Community Schools Grant you have to have an UND High unduplicated student counts and as we all know those are fancy words for um our foster youth our English language Learners and our students um from free and reduced households so we're really the the state is really targeting highy needs um at all of our schools um but because it's such a competitive program um we had to choose um this is a new initiative there's not a lot of uh models to look upon you might have seen some commercials um on TV advertising things that like are happening in Alam County and LA County where they have massive facilities um open warehouses free buildings to put clinics and things on their campuses we live in a more rural um State even though you know uh the state does not qualify us as we're all under Grant programs which is another interesting point um but we're not going to go there tonight um so what we've done is I've spent the last six or seven months condensing this two-year planning phase um to work with the seven schools that we targeted with the highest unduplicated student counts those are Citrus elementary mcmanis elementary Chapman Elementary and the four alternative Ed programs um Oakdale Fairview Academy for Change and uh the center for Alternative Learning and so um one of the thing the four cornerstones of this program are essentially extended um learning opportunities for students integrated student supports uh community and family engagement and um oh my God I just had a brain fart on that one um anyway so it's it the framework sits within the multi-tier systems of support so we recognize that a whole child needs to be have their needs met in order to be successful at school and that's what this whole program is about um so I just wanted to make sure everyone was a little bit aware of what we were doing um so we did all the planning we worked with all the school administrators we worked with the families um our community agencies we came together in planning meetings steering meetings and came up with a plan for what we wanted to do and then I did the back-end work with Michelle um our grant writer who is amazing and this program would be happening without her um and so the home run that was promised was uh we received um on Friday an email from the state that says we have been awarded preliminary status to receive $6.3 million over 5 years to support Community Schools at our um at our school sites um and again I'm not used to the standing ovations either so stop it um so we have been given that money uh it's going need stamp of approval from the state next Wednesday on the 8th I've been given reassurance from the county there's probably not too many reasons to worry about it but again um we don't want to cash a check before we've given it uh been given it so um we're really excited to be able to do that um and we have a lot of cool things in um in the pipeline for our school sites to really support um Student Success in Chico Unified questions because I know Miss Robinson I think you have a few well I've sat down with Miss Robinson and we talked so I know we do um boy at at this point I think we probably already a asked and answered most everything about how we're going to get this going and I just yeah it's it's G to be great yeah I I'm incredibly excited what does the I mean assuming the stamp of approval next week what does the timeline and launch look like um so we uh we have to close out the planning Grant um because it was a two-year thing it was kind of like a Skyrocket thing so um we have to close out any leftover funds um uh in the planning Grant by the 30th of June we have to fill out an expenditure report to say how we spend our money this year um and then once they've approved everything we've given them on those things uh the cash uh the check clears and it's in our way and we can spend that funds um but in the meantime what we're planning on doing as soon as we do get State approval um is one of the things that our school sites were looking at um predominantly and overwhelmingly supported by the families in the community um we're School social workers at our campuses to support um everything that Jamie and her team does with targeted case manag but we want to just like inject that with some Rocket Fuel um to really get the the support that only a social worker can really navigate um and so we're going to start um interviewing people um and ideally have if this all goes through things like that um um ready to go that's really exciting I made me tear up sorry don't have any more words oh I know it's it's it's astounding all right thank you okay cool thank you thanks for the good news and uh one last thing I hope that tonight you got to see extremely passionate Educators that truly want to do or make a difference in the lives of all our students and they represent Chico Unified School District so thank you board for the passion you guys have also shown to be able to support all of everything that we do so thank you it feels like such an odd place to stop actually as a point of privilege I request a quick five minute oh yeah um we will just do a a brief um we'll make it 10 minute recess um for personal privilege so um we'll bring it back in a 10 minutes and um and then we'll move on with our discussion action calendar uh 4.1.1 oh my gosh uh e e e all righty we're back on thank you for the recess yes um we will move on to uh item so we're moving into discussion action calendar item 4.1 under board uh item one is discussion action review of chica unified cell phone policies thank you Miss dobley if we could pull up the presentation Tyler thank you all right so we're going to be talking about the cellular device policies for us tonight um if I can sorry I got make click um the agenda item was brought to us um uh Mr tennis moved to place an item on a future agenda to discuss possible policy changes regarding to the use of seller devices on school campuses it was seconded by Miss conin and the motion passed 5 and that's what we're here tonight to kind of talk about um the information we can bring to you guys for tonight on cell phones things that we'll be covering is our current board policy right now we do not have an AR um administrative regulation policy polic for our that board policy that's something we can talk about also tonight and what's our site practices and policies when it comes to cell phones all right our current board policy if I could open it up oh boy that's some small font so I'm going to I have it up on my thing okay one thing that I want to bring to us tonight because when we're talking about um cell phones thank you um our board policy what I really want to bring us down to is paragraph the third paragraph down which is actually the Ed code when it comes to cell phones it says mobile communication devises shall be turned off during instructional time however a student shall not be prohibited from possessing or using a mobile communication device under any of the following circumstances um the one that we uh right now is in our board policy under that 48 91.7 in the case of an emergency or response to a perceived threat or of danger when a teacher or administrator grants permission to the student to possess or use a mobile communication device when a licensed physician or surgeon determines that the possession of or use is necessary for the students health and wellbeing sorry and when possession over the use is required for the students IEP so when we're discussing um cell phones we know that the Ed code says that we have to be able to a student has the right to have it and I just want to make sure that you guys know on that number one when it comes to in case of an emergency or response would receive threat of a danger so if we are in some type of lockdown event our student has the right to have PR the Ed code the cell phone all right so we can go back to the presentation that's our po our board policy when it comes to this current practices um for the elementary again these are current practices since we don't have an AR these are practic is when we talk to our Administration but also an AR would be to that board policy would make it more tight right now um cell your devices must be kept in backpack anytime the student is on campus at the elementary level Junior High cell your devices must be turned off and put away from from the first Bell to the last bell students may use devices before and after school high school cell your devices must be turned off and put away during class time students may use devices on campus during n class time passing periods in lunch can you um explain better cellular devices right now it's the cell phones but all one of the things we'll have to talk about is the watches you know um if you have some type of Apple watch or something else that's connected to your phone um also if you're talking headphones and not allowed to have uh their headphones on listening to music or anything like that on campus too um that that's what um right now when it comes to what happens to each student when they um violate one of these things that's right now where we would like to make it tighter in an in a AR moving forward but it's different from school site to School site if we're talking to administrators okay next one um cular device issues on school campus issues talking to people in a appropriate picture taking filming of inappropriate activities such as fights on campus illegal recording of teachers or others social me media usage student distraction from instruction and no by means I just want to be able to say that ed services or myself would say that we don't think that cell phones are a distraction or possibly addictive to a lot of our students or ourselves um so I'm not here to dispute that that they're a distraction on our campuses in our classrooms there could be um why didn't you put that on the list you did the last bullet student dist distraction from instruction do you think this list is comprehensive I mean we could probably be listing more on there we're just being more of a more of a wide range of what we think that uh when we talk to different people what's going on in classrooms um with with the cell phones that's what we come across are the major ones do you think that cheating should be on the list um well that would be also student distraction but yes we like to State Testing we can they can't have them out they can't have their watches out they shouldn't have them out during tests if somebody's going to Google for an answer sure um that's something that the classroom management of a teacher during a test would would be cheating would be one that they can use their cell phones for a good one to ask um I can I can tell you um from my own past experiences as an administrator a kid might take a picture of a test in class send it to their friends who might have that same test later on in the day so we were happen to be very aware that possibly that we were giving multiple different types of tests so kids might be taking a different one from class to class because I know if I've had to deal with that one as an administrator um I kind of feel like pornography should be on the list thinking that was appropriate social media usage um they cannot get to it if they're on our Wi-Fi but if they turn off our Wi-Fi they can get pretty much on anything on their their phone on their internet on the phone if they turn off our Wi-Fi but that could be an issue gu yeah so inappropriate online content could be an issue that is listed up there um something else that's not listed is the um research that's come out over the last five years about the impacts of of of cell phones on students academics mental health and behavior on schools um and how different policies uh demonstrate what may be what's best for kids in terms of cell phone policies um so there is there is a growing body of research behind um cell phone use um or cellular device use and accessibility um in in on school campuses as well I agree potential policy changes consideration enforcement discipline um Defiance uh impact on on teachers and or instructural time knowing that um as we've talked before in a previous U board meeting when it come to discipline member if a student is told to put their phone away that's and they say no that's Defiance which we can no longer suspend on but we can give them um the teacher can obviously use their right to have a students um out of their classroom for two days per Ed code or we can put them in one of our reset rooms Saturday schools detentions and those types of things um managements of phones liabilities we got to be careful when we um are taking phones um this happened in a situation where now we try to have them put in school safes but if a teacher takes a phone and puts it in their desk and it gets stolen out of that desk we are liable for that phone um the school district is since we took it out of the from the possession of the student I've had that happen also as an administrator uh parent Guardian contact in case of an emergency and potential cost or limitation and to monitor if we change current um policy U policy options and approaches taken by District current um Chief unified policy stated earlier no cell phones on campus I said that's going to be very difficult um per the Ed code checking cell phones with teachers again and I'm going to kind of go deeper into that a little bit when we start talking about that sell your devices put in pouches and carried by students and also check in cell phones with teachers of bullet before I would say check in with cell phones with teachers and put in the pouches in the classroom that would be the thing that we would suggest so and know what we mean by that that the pouches would be already in the classroom and then the kid would have the student would have to put them in the pouch on their desk or in in the possession of the classroom versus um giving them to them where they walking in an option when when we're talking about Sal devices putting pouches and carried by students that means when they walk onto campus um let's say we have three G GES that they can get into we'd have three campus supervisors at the gate they'd have to show that they opened at their pouches put the cell phone into the pouch we would close it U magnetize it to close that then the student would keep it on their person all day versus another one as um we check um Santo does it that way when we talk to um Las Vegas when you asked me to talk to Mr Gunderson I talked to him about it when they did it in Vegas every teacher had every classroom had a set of them for the students to put them in the classroom and then when the class was over they were demagnetized student took the phone out and went on to their next classroom Mr marot did you say that uh in kind of skimming over the second bullet no cell phones on campus did you say that might pose some kind of problem for Ed code can you explain that again yeah again the Ed code says if we go back it says on the um in our board policy let me open it up how do we still have that open I guess I confus me that we were looking at the board policy our board policy but if you if you read that third paragraph that board policy is written off a Ed code and so Ed code 480 1.7 and on number one where I'm we all know if we have a the other one saying if it's per the IP or per a doctor um those or an administrator says you can get out because we're going to do something in your with your phone in class those are all reasons but number one or in case of an emergency or in respon resp to a perceived threat of danger a student has the right to have their phone so so is it also part of Ed code that mobile communication devices shall be turned off during instructional time if you look up it says um the governing board recognizes smartphones and other we can have them off and we can tell them even in the pouches or in a backpack or wherever we decide that we want them to put their cell phone we can tell them they have they can have to be off I think what Mr tennis is asking is because that's that paragraph starts with mobile communication devices shall be turned off during instructional time is that part of those one of those two Ed codes that in that paragraph that are cited is that the law that's what Ed code States word for word for word on point seven thank you well that's very if that's true if the law really says mobile communication devices shall be turned off during instructional time then that's something that we should make a big deal out out of as we have this conversation we focus on that following sense that starts with however and that however is what opens it up to those uh line items so a student shall not be prohibited from possessing or using a mobile communication device under any of the following circumstances an emergency emergency is one of them the administration or the our doctor is telling them to correct Andor teacher right Andor I no no I don't think anybody up here wants to wants to keep a child from you know uh using a cell phone that's on their person in the case of an emergency where where it would be helpful for them to do that you know and response to that event but I'm saying that if the state law if we're understanding this says phones should be offering and instructional time I just think that's that that that deserves a really big highlight and underline that's with the actual number a on on that it says a governing body of a school district a county office education or Charter School May adopt a policy to limit or prohibit the use of by its pupils of smartphones while the pupils are at a school site or while the pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of that school district so you can say that the phones have to be off but the egg say that they have to be no no it just says they have to be available for those for those reasons but a board can adopt that policy before we get more into the what other folks are doing or what could be done can we back up to um the first slide that breaks out Elementary uh middle and and high school please yeah um so this is current C USD practices meaning that at each School uh site at those levels this is generally the rules that are are are in place um but do we know to what degree um the rules are being followed or those are being implemented or how it's being implemented or how there's accountability for that no I mean we're not going to be able to let again if we have an AR that says this is what we'll be doing I'm just we're just trying to tell you this is is what our practices are am I telling you I can't tell you you know for sure everyone's doing that it's kind of like this would be my analogy if we have a hat policy where you're not supposed to wear hats do I know that everyone's not wearing a hat in a classroom because some people might allow them to have them on or not I'm just telling you this is what we're saying that we are using as our practices on our sites so I'm confused on what you're asking me are are all of our administrators or all of our teachers following these no I think what I'm asking is just anecdotally what we've been hearing from staff is that this is not this is not what's happening on campuses I I think for elementary like the only way we know how much things are not being followed is if it gets end up if it ends up being entered in Aries or an edge climber as a situation or as a discipline kind of thing like that so it's hard to tell the inverse of that like how much is it being followed we only kind of know how many times it's being a problem labeled in there with it so it's kind of difficult and when I did ask for that data from educ climber unfortunately we said electronic devices which also includes our um our Chone books are we are we splitting that out now yeah yes yes we are and and can you explain that a little bit better what that means for everybody yeah and so what Jay's um talking about is minor discipline entries and Ed of climber um which um follow under the same constraint that I'm about to talk about with um uh rule general rule enforcement around the sites is it depends on somebody putting it in um are people um observing students using cell phones um when they when and where they shouldn't be and not putting it in to document the discipline issue absolutely that happens who's responsible for entering that stuff into G clim uh that would be teachers and so so additionally anecdotally um in talking with uh our math DLC who was the only group that we've met with since our our meeting with uh Miss Doby last week um we do hear anecdotally around campus that um enforcement is is not as consistent as it could be um we've also heard from from teachers that the backing of an administrative regulation could possibly help with that enforcement um meaning that the district comes out with a clearly stated um expectation for um School sites to fall back on as they are um enforcing the rules around cellular devices um for folks who may not be as familiar with policies versus AR can we just kind of recap what it means to have a board policy without an AR yeah a board policy um in this case especially essentially outlines um how the board expects staff to um Implement education codee in most cases um it's generally um fairly broad um and general statement and administrative regulation as to how we carry that out um on our campuses and the board is our task is to pass the board policies and your all's task is to develop an AR typically right exactly so things would be what would be the first offense second offense third offense those types of things if a student um continue to use their cell phone on campus so it would be more Universal like I tell them right now without that AR each School site is kind of trying to figure out what they're going to do with it all right I would like to work with again staff about what would we we've looked at other ARS from other schools districts you know and start from there you know I'm not going to just kind of just make up different things but you know we've had a we first offense bring it you know put it away second offense it could be run it down to the office pick it up after school it's in the school safe third offense parent has to come get it after school so we can have a conversation with the parent I'm not saying that could be the second one whatever we we decide it could be I'm just saying those that's what an an a would do so everyone would know at his level elementary junior and high school what those steps would be if the continue abusal of using of a cell phone on campus staff students and parents parents yeah window know and it seems like just from anecdotal input in the classroom teachers are already pretty overloaded and overwhelmed they're not going to take so much time to collect everybody's cell phone and enter it into educ climber so we really don't know how bad this issue has become besides the feedback we we get from staff essentially um so I mean it would probably be beneficial to to to have a good idea of of what that means um besides edge of climber okay so we started looking at um different things that we could do in the future and one of the things that um Miss Doby had um when we started first talking to um different districts um how they're handling this and uh Miss Doby reached out to and our team reached out and we had a meeting with their called on yanders um this is what most districts that have some type of policy where they're putting them in pouches they're using this device um to put them so I don't know if you've ever been to a concert or anything like that where you've had to do this I've had to do that where we've had to put it into um one of these pouches and then they open it up when you leave so you can't video or that type of thing in an event um so basically um you put the phone in it snaps and it's done um magnetically and holds and the only thing you can undo it is this magnet that they're showing um on here so what we talked to District who have them at students they they roll them out at the end of the school day when they're going out the gates they hit the magnet and it pops the pouch open and the same thing we would need them in our classrooms the magnets every classroom would need a magnet just in case there was some type of emergency so we could um open up the pouches for the students to text their families or whatever um to let them know that they're doing okay um so that would be another cost so I just wanted to make sure this is what we're that we saw on the research what people are using and I kind of want to just kind of go over what those costs would look like if we did that so we we're looking at different types if we did grades 4 through 12 which is about 8 8,700 students we cost for pouch is $25 would be 22 1,000 about 20 222,000 just to buy the pouches and the magnets so that's the startup cost startup cost we would need extra ones we would need Replacements replacement magnets and all the the different things we would need to find out how many magnets we would need around campus if we just did it for middle and high school it would be about 6,900 students and that cost startup cost would be 185,186 um just high schools we saw that would be $120,000 cost startup cost um Middle School only about 79,000 if we are going to buy these pouches individually they're $30 for replacement cost if we went to a per classroom the cost would go up um to as you can see if we started in fourth grade and fifth grade Junior High in high school the cost would go up to about 388,000 dollar startup cost is there like a generic one available from Walmart or something like that we've been looking and scouring there is some John's got a little thing in a box over here I don't know if I'm going to have him show show you how it works um we were able to unfortunately find on Amazon not me personally but John Vincent um a magnet that a student can buy personally for $30 to open up the pouch so but if we have a generic pouch that we can buy I'm sure that we could sew something together maybe a little bit cheaper um but it's not going to work as effectively as what we've seen and I'm just messing with you m but no that this is the cheapest one that we've been able to ask and asking districts around what they're using and this is the one that so far pretty much this group has used um other things in consideration for cost um let's just say we were having them um each student had one at the gates I was just talking to one of our junior high principes today they have three campus supervisors in the morning to watch the cafeteria hallways different parts of the campus they have three gates to go in we would need additional sorry we would need additional staff to monitor this usage so we would probably need for that school an additional three campus supervisors just in the morning for that hour hour and a half to u to monitor them going in the gates um other hidden costs would be pouch Replacements all other things right now when they sell you those these pouches there's no way to scan them there's not no barcode on them to say who they belong to um what pouch you know one was lost or one was found we wouldn't we'd be able to open it up and try to figure out if the phone unless it was turned off but other than that we have no way to monitor the pouches themselves and of course additional magnets so that's kind of where we're at um right now um different ways that we can do we believe um through additional costs would be the pouches or we can tighten up our ARs and support our staff more um when it comes to or develop an AR that was tight to develop um before we move into to a discussion period um there's a a speaker card so a speaker request um but also before I call for our speaker um are there any further questions from the board for staff I do want to say doing talking to District some of the things that they have to still deal with kids putting their their iPhone 8 versus their 11 in that pouch they drop that in the pouches instead of their their actual phone so not knowing which phone that they actually have um or they say they don't own a phone that type of thing so again it would be more if if the kid puts the wrong phone into the pouch and then we catch them using it it goes back to what the AR would be for discipline if they have two phones I've got a question for um Jacqueline Krueger um our financial whiz here at CH UniFi um so round numbers $250,000 you know initial startup for the pouch concept and then and then are you seeing like a yearly cost at a certain level or what what are your thoughts on that so we we would definitely have replacement costs um much like the Chromebooks you know they get damaged they get lost um the other I think the other big piece here is not just the pouches themselves but the staff time um related to checking to make sure they're locked and unlocked so it's more campus supervision time it's more administrative time um to ensure so that would be an ongoing not just a kind of a sunk cost of buying the pouches one and done but you'd have the replacement pouches um just like we have replacement Chromebooks but you'd have ongoing staff time related to monitoring this and then the staff time this not necessarily for you but feel free to yeah um in in a in a more of a um like an AR option which uh where where you're sort of establishing rules that you're going to enforce right you know this is going to be tough stuff for some some people um is that going to take a lot of Staff time have we tried to quantify what that might entail I would think like Miss Dy to said initially um again I believe that we have just like we were shown in our discipline that we have a percentage of our students that do the right thing and then we have a percentage of the dump that will continue to work try to do work arounds or sneak it underneath their table or whatever of the desk but initially if we're going to come down on hard anything on a change of policy will have initial um more work for staff thanks I think um to your point maybe uh the the onus on which St sta will be spending more energy and resources would be shifted from classroom staff to you know more like the site level or our camp supervisors who are there for that type of work anyway so I think that's just something to consider maybe well it's it's still going to generate probably from the classroom teacher right they're going to be the ones that see the cell phone out and certainly you know during passing periods that's going to take every everybody out and enforcing if that's the direction we go that they cannot be out during passing periods but the use that happens during the classroom that onus would still be on the teacher to report that and what's to keep a student from needing to use the restroom just so they can check their phone which happens all the time well our students will even tell you in our student elcat meetings they they they've told us that you know kids are in their in the Stalls you know using phones um again if we give them a a pouch again I think there certain amount of students we we'll purchase um possibly the magnet to take them out of the pouch to go into the rest or a burner phone or another phone you know to be able to use I'm not I'm not saying there's any easy answer here this is about um making sure kids are doing the right thing and if the pouch is another layer that um to put them in on the desk or in their backpack um that we we can do that on the direction of the board Madam president if I can just add from a a staff perspective um like many other things if there's a culture of enforcement with a document or an AR um or even more specified steps that are consistent across the district I think that would strengthen um the culture the willingness of a staff to know that it's going to be supported may take some of the onus off teachers and put that onus on other staff to for the enforcement not the initial acknowledgement but the enforcement I know we talked uh before about that culture and the peer pressure of teachers um knowing that it's going to be supported and we've seen that take place with tardiness and attendance we've seen our attendance rate go up this year so far knock on wood so I think we could see that with the strong AR with very specific steps did you guys uh note that um some countries have banned cell phones in schools of late uh these include um I'm just looking online right now uh Britain France Finland you know some pretty impressive academically countries doing it so we're not alone in our our teachers are not alone I should say you know and we're hearing from them by the way anyone out there who's listening we are hearing from teachers and I haven't had a single teacher write to me saying that that you know they think we should back off this issue and the cell phones in class are fine and we would agree with that so there's a strong case to be made for taking up this this issue you know and uh and I'm I'm thankful that we're bringing it up and and let's keep talking about it and and maybe do something about it and we're going to continue have to work it's not just a cell phone it's it's the the SmartWatches also yeah I think um any energy that we maybe can put into this issue is going to be paid back in dividends when we see improvements to our student engagement and um more buy into to to so you know their the social aspect of being at school um anxiety depression all the things that are cell phones and social media are impacting in our students academic performance will follow suit behaviors will follow suit I think that it it would be an investment um and you know how we get there is going to be important because if we make it so that it's too much of a lift for a specific group of staff and not a more equal lift for everybody enforcement is is going to wne and and we're going to be back at square one um and have put in energy and then not not see the return on that investment does anybody else have questions Madam president can I add one more thing please um going back 16 years to the implementation of athlete committed one of the huge benefits that still exists from that program is the excuse angle kids have the ability to say to their friends when they don't want to participate in something they shouldn't to remind their friends that they're an athlete and if they they have ex they have extended circumstances for example they could you know be removed from games or whatever the excuse is for them not to participate just to have an out and if we had an AR that was consistently enforced and there was a culture of enforcement kids would have that out they would be able to say sorry man don't text me right I know that sounds far-fetched but if we can create that culture it would it definitely benefit the social emotional Wellness of our kids um it carries into the into the professional world too you know I I have two phones I have my personal phone and a work phone and it's nice when I can ignore one because I'm doing the other and um you know having those boundaries and and it's you know that's something that um would be beneficial to teach to our students as well um but and I should say uh just to remember that uh our students until they're in their 20s their pre prefrontal cortex is not developed and having the ability to self-regulate is really not solidified until you're in early adulthood so you know to expect that a student is going to take uh take responsibility every time to not look at their phone if they hear it go off or not check it every 10 minutes to see if somebody liked their post that they put on Tik Tok or whatever um is is kind of outside the the bounds of of their of their brains developmentally too um so just things to keep in mind when we talk about you know self- responsibility and you know having high expectations for students but not giving them the tools that they need um and and to your point Mr Shephard you know demonstrating boundaries um I think is a good tool to teach our students and this this is one of the ways to to do it um so thanks for bringing that up any other questions comments for staff all righty well we do have a speaker um our speaker is Michelle Cooper and on her way up um just a reminder that it's a three minute limit and you will hear a tone at the 30 second Mark and now we have a timer up on the board for you to to visualize your time and uh your time will start whenever you're ready to speak okay well um just like to point out that I use my phone for my notes to like you so they are helpful um you know my primary concern was the safety of our children and them being able to access phones in case of emergency so I'm really happy to hear that um our Ed code supports that um I know that is a fear for a lot of kids I've talked to several teenagers and the first thing you they say when you tell them that you want to take their cell phone away is what do I do in case of emergency and I think that we have to stop and think that our kids live in a world today that we didn't live in as kids where the fear of a of a lockdown of some major disaster at school is real for them so um I'm just happy to hear that we're not going to take away that safety aspect for our kids um I totally agree with what Mr Shephard was saying um I'm an HR professional whenever we have a new policy developed um I love putting it into a handbook or a policy that everyone can fall back on and say you know what this is our policy this is what we abide by the rules apply for everyone and so I just think that um our current policy is adequate and then um adding the AR would be super helpful just to empower our teachers and our staff to be able to enforce these rules that we already have in place um I just I think that we need to teach our kids respon responsibility with their devices um but you know we have to also remember that technology used for students is the way of the future it's not going away I just really think that we should be teaching them responsibility with it and um that the rules are the rules and that we we do enforce what we say we're going to so those were just my thoughts um one last thing I just when we're talking about how this could possibly cost us up to upwards of $400,000 and we're looking at that dollar amount and then we're saying but we can't afford to fix our schools or um fund certain programs in our schools I think that's a little lopsided so those are just my thoughts thank you um just given that we have a little bit of time is there anybody else who would like to address the board on this well good evening thank you for giving me the opportunity I didn't prepare a speech and sometimes it's better that way uh I'm here to support uh Miss conin and Mr tennis with this policy um I understand emergency happens and I understand there kids with medical needs but I just don't understand how we were able to handle it in the past I mean we didn't have cell phones in the past so I think what we need to do is equip Schools teachers instructors and everybody who is um uh in relation who is at school with the kids with the tools they need to react in case of an emergency give them the tools prepare prepare them uh instruct them on how to help a kid when this kid is in in a stress in distress right we all know cell phones are great for many good things but they're also really bad and especially at school and with me having five kids they are more of a distraction so I am glad you brought that to the to the board and and I hope we all can work as a community to find a a solution for this because I think it's more of a of a distraction than than anything else and spending $400 on on cell phones just like Michelle say when we don't even have money to improve our schools and to improve our reading English and math programs or for reading tutors then I think that's a little bit too crazy for me but that's that's my my opinion thank you okay um seeing no additional requests to speak um how do we want to move forward board mam Madam president I I um I've been silent but it isn't because I don't agree with everything that's been said and with all of the um input we've gotten from staff at the school sites the problem is finding a way to change long-standing behaviors because you know our kids have had access to cell phones for um what 10 years at least way more than that has it been more than that oh my God I don't want to age myself but I had a cell phone as a sophomore in high school and that was 20 something years ago now 22 years ago well it's been a while I think that there there's been some good things said from administration too that one of the um one of the issues providing support to our staff who want to um make a change in their classroom by saying beginning of the period Bell Rings okay put those phones off and in your backpack for some staff that works and I'm not going to sit in Judgment of why it doesn't work for others but I I do know that my kiddos that had had Bidwell wouldn't have dreamed of not putting their cell phone in their backpack turned off during class it just you did what the teacher asked or you know you were you were going to get growled at and there were a a couple of staff that I know my Kudos did not want to get growled at and I also think that if we provide a structure for staff to be more effective and communicate with our parents to have them back the teachers with you know messages that you know hey don't forget to put your phone in your backpack when you get into class the teacher uh parents they understand you know we all live with the distraction of the cell phones um sitting at a table with a a family that has two or three kids with them not a word word is spoken between the kid and the parent because there's a cell phone at the table and that just that hurts my heart I don't have an answer other than try and provide some additional input and guidance and um working with staff on how to you know how to provide a a structure that kids will adhere to without screaming you can't take my cell phone away I dare you and and that I know that happens too because we've heard from staff that have had to endure that so I don't have an answer I just have a support for having our our kids as you said learn to be more responsible with the use of a cell phone that interferes with their education but before we have discussion we we would need a motion on the floor so I was waiting for Mr Robinson to say her piece but before we actually discuss yeah I I don't have a suggestion for whether or not to to motion to to bring it back up or that I'm going to leave that to a different board member um just to get the ball rolling for discussion I would uh like to motion that we direct staff to uh create some options for an AR uh regarding cell phone use to bring back to us I would have request I mean it's not it's nothing formal about it but uh I would like to uh find out just how onerous our you restriction could be you know can you prohibit them from campus or or does the Ed code make it clear that a child is allowed to come onto campus with a a cell phone turned off can you answer that right now Madam superintendent I believe we would have a hard time Banning them completely because of the safety aspect um but I do believe that there's plenty of latitude once they are on campus that they have to remain off and out of sight and then available okay well I look forward to seeing those those tough ones all right I'm gon a second Mr lal's motion and do you have a a sense of time frame anyone here think how quickly we can we can possibly move on this because I would like to move quickly personally well that um I would refer that back back to staff in terms of how quickly you guys think you can get some some possibilities up for us I believe not to overwork my my staff's looking at me right now but I believe we can have it ready for that probably that first board meeting in June okay um June 12th is that what is June 12 okay so we gonna have something in place to start the school year I was going to comment on that it seems like with such a a drastic change for many students it would make sense to if we were to make changes is to do it with the New Year kind of a new Fresh Start seems like it would be hard to roll out something earlier than that and at the same time I'm not sure this needs to be part of the motion just as kind of an idea like to throw out there um because the idea of this as a cultural solution is I mean the right one right like we can't really we're not going to find the Y pouches are a neat gag but they're they're a technological solution for a cultural problem um but the other piece of that is are we directly instructing our students this what we do we teach kids are we teaching them about when and where cell phone use is appropriate and when and how it's dangerous um are we looking at our technology and media literacy curriculums especially in Middle Schools um to directly address that with with students you're looking at me so I'll I'll respond to it I know other people can as well I will say I will say that like many other uh rules policies procedures that students re you know they hear um for example both High all all three high schools um first week of school go into every one of the ninth grade or uh recently enrolled classes and make sure that kids hear all the rules they hear the expectations again enforcement is still a whole different ball game right so they hear them they sign off they sign off on paperwork um but you know there's a difference between hearing and learning and I just my own anecdotal gut feeling is we could triple that amount of opportunity for learning I think that could definitely be more reinforced I'll tell you and there's a very similar pathway um between the tardy policy that was um established by Chico high school and Pleasant Valley High School about nine years ago and the um training and information that needed to take place took place in August and kids were trained by September we still had people who were tardy we still have people who are tardy but um there is a major emphasis on that issue and there was consistent enforcement and then on a similar tort of looking at how we address things like cell phone use and computer use when we're training students in the PB PBIS stuff yep yeah I got one more um quandry should we potentially take the Yonder pouch off the table for consideration I don't know that needs part of the motion I it's up to you I mean I don't think I mean it's pretty patently a bad idea frankly I I'm sorry can you speak a little it's pretty patently a bad idea so if we want to make that formal part of the motion I suppose but I mean I I I would be worried that it might absorb come come conversation maybe in the community that doesn't need to be there I I mean I given the costs I'm not prepared to support the idea of the Y pouch seems like we can at least consider or attempt other options before going that on that path I mean agreed they pouches don't I mean you Google Yonder pouch hack and you'll get infinite returns and I'm sure at least one of them works lot of YouTube videos out there yes so I don't know if we need to make that part of the motion so much as it seems like there's pretty clear Direction up here that we're we'd like to look at the AR and how we can make that cultural and educational shift rather than I mean especially given the Yonder pouches if you had an emergency it they'd become a nightmare in terms of like how do you unlock and who gets theirs unlocked and it just again the overhead in terms of cognitive load for teachers is seems prohibitive I really like the idea also of just instilling um some of the value with kids in them understanding the rationale behind this and sort of owning it rather than here's another way we're going to micromanage but having them embrace the the the purpose and the reasoning behind it I don't um I wanted to just State for the record that I um disagree with about 7 75% of the board policy um so I'm actually not happy with the board policy the way it's written either um so I would request a board policy update and AR to go with it I don't know how we work that into the current motion or if I need to make a second motion um but I mean we're in discussion anyway so we can talk about it do you have specifics I mean we we could certainly this motion I can uh I don't have my Chromebook on me but if we could pull pull back up I'll just start from the beginning and I'll tell you what I want a red line the governing board recognizes that the use of smartphones and other mobile communication devices on campus may be beneficial to student learning and well-being I don't agree with that um but could be disruptive of the instructional program in some circumstances I believe that it is disruptive of the educational program from the start of the Bell to the finish of the bell I strongly believe that cell phone access for students on campus are disruptive to their mental health and well-being and their focus on their academics and um School culture and that their access to phones during lunchtime or passing period or in the bathroom is is taking away from their opportunities to learn and to um develop their their their sense of self um so I disagree with that part of the Syms too uh the board permits limited use of mobile communication devices on campus in accordance with the law and the following policy the the part that I agree with is following the law I think that's the 25% of the policy that I agree with students may use cell phon SmartWatches pagers or other mobile communication devices on campus during non-instructional time as long as the devices utiliz in accordance with law and any rules that individual School sites May impose I think we need a district-wide policy I think we need to have a policy that's uniform across all school campuses um which would set the expectation for an AR um I don't need I don't think I need to read that rest I forget what's below scroll down a little bit please yeah that yeah can't infringe on other people's personal rights Etc I agree with that okay yeah the rest is kind of follow suit with what the original part so I'm not going to read the rest out anyway just my perspective and kind of where I stand on the issue is maybe extreme to some people um but I I would support um cell phones off and in backpacks um from the beginning of the school day to the end of the school day for all students TK through 12 and I think that is going to need to be stated in the board policy in order for it then to be reflected in the AR so you mean you make an excellent point um you know board policy is the what and then the ARs are the how we do it so we will need to make some changes and we can make those recommend for changes to the board policy and bring those back but that power lies strictly with the board I said my my piece in the briefest amount possible I concur with your point of view on that Madam president okay just so I can be clear what uh staff is going to do uh prior to the June 12th board meeting is that we will go back and um make some revisions that we would bring back to the board for approval to the board policy and then align the administrative regulations to that board policy with the uh underlying intent being that there will be no uh no cell phone use on campus period from the start of the school day to the end of the school day unless of course it falls into those areas that are Exempted by EG code so if I were to State a second motion that would be what I would say but the motion on the table is just to um create an AR for the current board policy so I I put it to the original motion or if we want to amend or if I need to make a second motion that's significantly different how about you just make a substitute motion okay that's that would be a substitute motion then I second Madam president yes um so for clarification for um uh anybody who isn't following the rapid fire um so the the motion on the the second motion so a substitute motion on the table um is to direct staff to develop an updated District wide board policy and administrator regulation setting clear expectations for no cell phone use from the beginning to the end of the school day um during lunch any time including lunch um or sorry cellular devices on campuses yet during regular school hours and also to get to get input from staff students and families please on on that because we can always make adjustments you know to some of those nuances um and that was seconded and you still agree uh by by member conen whoops I would like to have um an option of letting them use the phones during lunch time I feel like we could either we could either try to change it now um I I disagree um so I'm not going to amend my motion um or we could discuss it when it does come back for approval in June uh especially getting input from staff and students and families um any further discussion board any further discussion okay so we're going to um vote on The Substitute motion if it passes then we won't go to the first motion which was Mr Lando's if it does not pass then we'll go to Mr L's motion um I'll start since it was my motion Doby I Lando ey Robinson I tennis ey Conan I it passes unanimously thank you board uh we will bring it back uh at the June meeting I think whichever June meeting makes the most sense I think as long as it's done in June um would be good um maybe the first June meeting would be better if we do need revisions but you guys I know need time to to kind of exercise all of that so we'll bring it back for the June 12th and then if there needs to be some revisions from the board that'll give us the time to that okay thank you all right moving right along I'm we're on uh item 4.1.2 discussion action for resolution number 16422 board compensation for missed meeting so uh we do have egg code that allows for monthly compensation for board members uh but board members do have to be present at all of the meetings in order to receive the full stien um it also allows for the board to uh approve an absence so bringing this forward we did have Mr tennis due to a family situation had to miss the April 17th board meeting so this uh gives the board the opportunity to pass a resolution to excuse that absence Madam pres oops how do I keep doing that approval of resolution 1642-1651 I'll second uh point of clarification does Mr tennis need to recuse himself from this vote you know I honestly don't know the answer to that but I would guess yes I'm going to choose to recuse regardless thank thank you just want to be proper uh we'll start with Miss conen conen I Dolby I Lando I Robinson I okay thank you thank you okay uh 4.1.3 discussion action for the July board meeting so uh for the last two years the board has um asked to not hold a board meeting in July to give both board and staff the month off so that there would be no more board meetings in July so just bringing this forward to the board for consideration do you want to continue that um two-year trend of not having a July board meeting or if the board so chooses we can have a July board meeting I think it's a wonderful um family tradition and we should keep doing it I did um confirm too that uh if it it seemed like we were okay with what we can get done in June and get back in in August and and hit the ground running so it didn't sound like it was going to impede our ability to maintain yeah our July meeting is usually an organizational meeting where we determine uh board workshops and when those will occur and who the board Liaisons are so uh we could schedule that for our June meeting or if the board pre prefers to do so in August June would be preferable to give more planning time so I think um if we do pass this then we just need to re remember that in June that we'll be bringing those Workshop ideas and Le on ideas and Etc forward um in June I think last year I hadn't even really thought about it was got here and I was a little panicked and then we we did it halfway and then finished in August and um there was some hiccups and so just I'm saying it out loud just mostly for my benefit to remember that in in June we'll have those conversations um any further comments uh all righty well the last vote wasn't unanimous so we're going to do a Voice vote again um sorry do we have a motion first do we have a motion already okay um I move approval to cancel the uh July meeting second all right the motion was by Dolby the second was by tennis um Doby I hold up oh sorry discussion sorry real quick I vote no against this every year I'll do it again this year um I know everybody wants a break from prepping for board meetings but also you know um we all get paid to be here we could get a lot of planning done um I think we can probably work our fancy vacations in around one more meeting okay before we vote then um you know there is a a heavy lift of a thing that I would love for our district to go in the direction of of having a strategic plan and this would be that that would be the time to really kind of start to iron that out but since we're already towards the end of the school year I don't think that's the route we're going this year um I don't think that we get compensation at least stiens wise the board um our the stiens don't get provided when we skip the July meeting so we don't get a compensation in July so I mean there's like $2,000 savings um but fair enough Fair Point um if if we did have something on deck that demonstrated that we needed that meeting then we would definitely be having the meeting but we don't have anything on Deck because it hasn't been brought forward so maybe that's something for the board to consider okay are you are you still doing input uh sure um I have a concern because of what we're going to probably be dealing with as far as the state budget and and so I'm going to follow Tom on the uh not voting I mean I don't I don't want to eliminate our July meeting this year jacine do you have input on that so the May revision of the governor's um proposal comes out on around May 15th sorry Matt um so we'll use that information to put forth um the kind of estimated budget for next year and that'll come forward at both the June 12th and June 26th um meeting the state legislature then goes into a recess for for a period of time and I don't know the exact time but I can get back to you so trailer Bill language typically related to the state budget doesn't even come out until August so in July there's not any new information because they're on recess that I'd be able to present to the board um that may be that may impact the budget that was already approved so really you don't get your final budget until right before school starts correct with trailer bro language that changes it in August and September yes you know another option and I'll add this in there is that we um ask the board and staff to make sure that we leave that that date clear in case there is a need to meet but um and I'll be bringing this up soon um we if if an emergency comes up or there's a situation that is pressing we always have the ability to call a special board meeting um and there may be a need to do that so not having the July board meting scheduled does not prevent us from meeting if there is a need to meet I'll support that concept are we ready to vote are we ready to vote okay Doby I Lon Robinson I tennis I conen I okay it passes 4 to one um item five is board member request to agendize an item there are no requests at this time so with that we will move move to closed session um and then we will adjourn after closed session is over

and the regular meetings to 7:00 p.m. here says the work session and regular meetings beginning at 7:00 in the evening um we can tweet that if you want yeah I I I think we want to kind of stay the same uh route um like Dr Pano uh did last year to to do the work session and the regular meeting in the cve evening is there something that's pressing we can discuss it and yeah and that's the reason we left it generic like that Jo because it's it's fluid it can go either way but we can we can put six and seven okay right one night correct right CU like someone like you and I Carl we're we're out two three nights a week with our yeah two three nights a month time so again page three so the the bottom of page four is uh is essentially our vendors who are State contracted and if you go to the middle of page five we just spoke about pan uh they are new as you can see where you see ESC NJ that's a County Cooperative essentially they've already done the bidding process for custodial supply products so we don't have to go out to bid you know we can spend above the bid threshold and not have to go out the bid they've already done that work they've already been awarded them and atra so atra will also be added to this also and then below that you see CDW uh sport care KR uh Adel tips um all of that is TurnKey from the previous year bottom of P page five Dr me again we are team physician same price in page six uh second from the top Willcox again will be our certified public accountant our fiscal auditor and the third from the top is uh cable vision uh each year we use eate as you know is our Telecom consultant and they go out to bid periodically sometimes it's 24 months 36 months or 60 months for a Wan and internet wide area network in our internet this year for 2425 we were up for bid um cable vision ended up winning the bid historically over the last three years we were paying 9477 per month we are now paying 6951 per month for uh wide area network and uh internet uh provider it's nice savings 2700 a month you know nearly 30,000 a year uh the bid process works brings competition uh then down the we have adalex which we've used for years as our Telecom vendor second from the bottom is our ahara consultant environmental logic two times a year they come in and do our ahara inspections um page seven on the top land Associates our architect and Engineering Services uh right below that is UF s if we used for years for our security and alarm systems and then we have a few entries in regard to uh with our HVAC for our filter maintenance at our trailers at number three School number five school and um the board of education office and also our Annex at three school that's our Express air gentleman named Rich lions with Mr Katana was kind enough to re recommend a few years back these worked out very well for us and we've also added buildings C and D in our trailers uh it was ala uh the warranty ran out with Al expired alna was the original contractor who did the installation of our trailers three School trailers in 2019 and went all the way through 60 months that has expired so uh Rich lions from Express will be taking over the preventive maintenance filter changes for building SE and D at school number three and that's page seven next page is any Professional Services we list the course the hourly course that's land Associates the page after that is uh page uh eight um and in the middle of the uh document about four down from the top sport care well you had field Turf since I've pretty much I've been here they were about $10,000 a year to do our quarterly maintenance for our Athletic Field um they weren't being as responsive and we thought we had they had some holes in the process so we kind of did some uh due diligence and we found a a more local uh contractor called sport care who was about $2,000 less per year and has has done some very good work for us so uh we think that's a win-win and and they're local uh right below that is Brown and Brown who does our our benefit consultant they're rate hasn't changed for many years $2,500 a month right below that is school 5 as you know $1,250 a month our trailers at uh five school and right below that is Xerox uh we have a 60-month lease and that was down about $1,000 a month year-over-year and plus they gave us three months and this is the uh third from the bottom of page eight they also gave us a tradein wrote us about a $29,000 check for the trading of the units of the uh the original units that they swapped out so with the new leases they kind of do what they call a a swap for newer units for older units and they gave us uh a trade in on top of that also which is equivalent to like three months of lease cost so not only the lease cost less we got 20 some OD thousand in trading too so it's really it's really been a win-win uh in regard to that and right on the bottom is uh a page eight is Zonar they do all our GPS tracking for our buses and we've been using them for many years it's worked out very well page nine we're still working on trying to find a vendor we used to have Z I'm working with Mr poro the ad in regard to finding a new vendor for our maintenance and management plan for our districtwide defibrillators uh we have three potential but right now we have nothing locked down we lock that down down we will communicate that up to the board right now it is a work in uh progress all the way to the bottom we have vanderbeck which we've been using for many years now they do much of our boiler maintenance um a lot of our inspections uh they each June they open they clean they inspect then chub comes in who the insurance they do an inspection and if there's any remediation vanderbeck takes care of the REM remediation then closes Clos it it up this usually happens uh hi VI this usually happens in uh late June and early July great company vanderbeck uh when we had that if you call I forgot that big storm we had in September of 2021 Ida and we had the water and really damaged our boiler they were they were there every step of the way with us to get us back up and running at number six School great business partner next page is uh again a contractor with uh Professional Services their costs you go to page 10 um are very much at the top harima they're uh essentially they provide maintenance at our high school number six school and number three school really all our equipment food service equipment coolers freezers ice machines all that good stuff and if you go down kind of to the middle of the page is we have uh Allied fire and and the safety they uh inspect and certify all our portable fire extinguishers with both buses and in the school they've been with us for about four or five years do a real nice job in regard to that and then we have right at the bottom is coin they procure all our energy bids again uh many times PSG kilowatts and therms are significantly harder than with the competitions out there they help us procure energy bids so we have you know contracts other than PS and to get the most optimal pricing for therms and kilowatts and we we the bill comes from psng but the suppliers are not psng so it's a one bill process works out very well for us page 11 uh second and third from the top uh is our interstate and Tom's uh service repair centers that essentially do all the maintenance on our buses they do great a great job Toms is the smaller buses interstate is the big 54 passenger bus they turn them around as quickly as possible they keep our Fleet rolling excellent business partners are really look out for us in the middle we have goo toown who we've been working with for many years with the two-way radios for both buses and the school districts we have about 60 to 62 total radios out in the district right now from uh goo toown throughout all the schools and then on the bottom is we've been working with them for many years and Teddy I think you brought them in was critical Response Group to do the uh the Digital Floor mapping I remember that gentleman who came in he was a marine if I record went through was really really impressive so we've stayed with with them uh there's an annual maintenance fee that they keep all our digital floor plans up the speed cppd oversees that with our principles uh next page again is more Professional Services cost and then we have page 12 page 12 we're just second from the top speaking of fogy and Hara we have Vic here to talk a little about ethics and presenting ethics today from fogy and Hara and Vic I see you went up $10 an hour for uh the uh uh the partner so me me and you are G to have dialogue ago but honestly I think to be fair I think it was eight or nine years ago uh so more than fair um but I had to point that out there uh third from the top um if you see inside Investments third from the third from the top that's essentially our trailers at three school that lease for the first 5 years we're paying $39,600 per month we are now into the sixth year in 2425 it goes down to $25,000 per month okay it's $114,000 you know per month about $17,000 savings per year real money so good news there on that and uh second from the bottom is we've got a new uh floor maintenance contractor called J&J floors we're still waiting on the final proposal we had endurance flooring Joe as you know we had a little bit of Hiccup with them I think you were there with zero and we moved on from them but I think J&J did some work at six school they did they did such nice job did because I think we the dialogue you had with cero and endurance we thought it was best to move off from them which we did uh page uh page 13 on the top we use Joshua tours essentially for our overflow our Glenn and his team cannot cover every atic trip or every field trip or every special needs route so we use uh Joshua tours they've worked out very well for us um below that is Jewish Family Services who we've worked with for many years and the next few are essentially new contractors as you know action data services we engage them in regard to our payroll and accounting services to assist uh Joanne and our business office with quarterly IRS reports and Etc uh we had you know some HIIT cups with the transition but think things have really smoothed out over the last few months uh Care Plus right below that the direct counseling services for middle school students and high school students 504 plans and IEPs uh Charlene Pinto from our child study team heads up that they've worked out very well she Raves about Care Plus and then um this one I believe Dr Pano is near and dear to you Renaissance Learning uh K to 12 standards based assessment creation administr it's really everything from Soup To Nuts providing instant scoring formative feedback and interactive reporting total courses over uh three years is $700,000 year one in 2425 is $393,000 um and then right below that uh we have Savas we have a new math series course Envision mathematics um and we've engaged in that everything is pretty much digital now not a lot of you can speak to that right Dr panelo not a lot of uh hard hard cover uh Envision is the best math program I've seen for the elementary yeah yeah they R margar is uh they're they're very jazzed about that and the next page is just Renaissance their cost that you've seen via resolution uh previously they've already started the on boarding process um and then the the page 14 is essentially is a a legal bullet that we put in in regard to uh renewing contracts uh the page after that is again uh we talked about Mr Lombardo being appointed and then the final page is why uh Vic is here is the ethics acknowledgement and there's a form in your packet that I would like you if you can please sign that form and keep the page the one page are underneath return that signed form to me and then Vic will um do the presentation on ethics but I'll need that one page on the top of that handout you keep the bottom page I'll need that signed and given back got here any questions on the uh only thing L I know as just so the board's aware we have some uh you know some fees to be determined Etc I I believe Lou as always that'll be a when we did for instance for Frank berardo uh you know to be determined his um right his salary uh it'll be on another resolution so the board could review it Etc okay yes I just wanted to clarify that yeah okay hey I have that noted J yeah regard there a couple of couple of them yeah but as always I know Lou you we well like I said there's a couple that U you know you can chase and Chase and Chase and uh and ends up being TBD I actually started this project Good Friday and I'm still chasing a couple of still chasing a couple of vendors for paperwork final agreements the thing is now it's not just about final agreements you got to have the political affidavit you got to have the Russia form you have the Certificate of Insurance you know so there's a lot of other forms than just the agreement so sometimes it's a bit overwhelming to uh vendors and contractors but um it's a Chase Fest but that's you know I guess that's why I'm here right make sure we get everything buttoned up before the uh the Bell Rings uh July 1st um any other questions about the reorganization I think it's pretty thorough I think we captured all the major uh Capt just go back to the page three with the dates and the times of the short meeting now that we're down basic one a month right we're sticking with that we said are we going to be doing it the second or the third or you going to just leave a to like I would like to have an idea is it going to be more the second wednes no I think it's always going to be that that third the third yeah okay yeah I mean we have to edit it helps us with the bill list yeah okay yeah I'll start 6 p.m.

till 8:00 p.m. please note that vote by e that passes on to our business for the night article one here toown reports we have two reports tonight first is a report from the school committee and chair laor tosy good evening everybody I'm Lori tosy chair of the school committee sitting here with my colleagues and our superintendent and our assistant superintendent here to share with you just a few things about our budget this year um the details of the budget can be found on our website this is just a a condensed version just so you get the gist but please if you want more information do do reach out to me or go on to the website and search for whatever details you uh want more information about who's who's moving the slides thank you um these were a set of guidelines the the process um just briefly early in the school year the administrators superintendent Adams and his entire team principles and um other administrators get together and they have certain guidelines by which they go about making a budget or budget proposals this goes on for several months until they find that they have something that they want to present to the school committee we meet with all the members for uh a retreat where we have an opportunity to ask them forther questions and have a better understanding of what's being proposed sometimes we make changes there and then um maybe a month or two after that the school committee votes on the budget so what's presented tonight is the budget that the school committee has voted on um these we always use our mission and our vision and our core values to guide all of our budget decisions we have a new strategic plan um in the Ashland Public Schools which we've worked on for quite some time and again those are all the drivers of our budget decisions next please thank you um the budget request the proposed fy2 was $41 million 859 543 that represents a 4.1% increase and on the next slide you'll see the budget changes from the prior year we also we always have changes based on um salary increases and that's usually one of the biggest if not the biggest item in our budget changes um of note and again I'm not going to read everything because you can have an opportunity to get more information and I don't want to take your time tonight but um we are losing some Esser fund grants some funding that came in during the covid years that um helped us with our budgeting um some of that's gone now and we have also um started some new programs uh particularly the 18 to 22y Old special education programs and you can and we've had an increase in technology is another example um and increase in student services so that those are just some of the things that have had the most um major impact on our budget student enrollment that is always something that we look at very carefully um superintendent Adams works with uh an agency that evaluates uh budget projections and of course enrollment goes into all different kinds of things how much money we get from the state how much space we have in our buildings how much staff we need and so pretty cons consistently we have had increases in enrollment um an expected increase for next year um and then we also project down the line to have an idea of where our budget's headed um next slide please uh we show this at every town meeting and we have this discussion at every budget Workshop that we have and the reason why we share this it shows Ashland at the bottom of a list of per pupil spending uh we've been at the bottom of that list the entire time that I've been a school Committee Member which is now more than a decade and we've probably been there before that as well the good news about that is that um we are not at the bottom of any of these lists when it comes to Performance and quality of life here in uh the ashin school district and a lot of those metrics we are uh nowhere near the bottom um so it shows that we're efficient with the amount of money that we do get on the other hand um we don't get as much money as many other towns and there are a lot of other things that we need and that we could be doing if we had the uh additional amount of money and per pupil spending that other communities have next slide please next slide just shows our revolving accounts and um an example would be um the school bus revolving account money comes in from people who are paying for school bus transportation and money goes out to spend on the costs that we need to hire the buses and the drivers and so forth and we've had to take from our revolving accounts we started with a balance of 6.3 million a little bit more than that and we are offsetting the budget at down to 4,771 161 again um dipping into revolving accounts to make up for the loss of the Esser funds creation of the new special education program and and one of the reasons why we we show you that is that budgeting in that way a year after year after year is is is not a sustainable thing at some point the revolving account balances are drained and we need to figure out where the money will come to cover our programs um we do always want to share with you the anticipated needs Beyond 2025 um and the list that we share again year after year is not a bells and whistles like wouldn't it be nice if we had all these great new programs it's real needs that we we have right now but that our budget could not accommodate so just as an example um another physical education teacher replacing the turf replacing a boiler um and and the list has a lot of other items that are along those lines and um we show you that just to show that what we would be doing if we could have additional funding and also you know the point is that if we had additional funding we would be meeting these needs that are immediate and still not really in a position to um have additional for instance electives at the high school and certain other things that have always been on our wish list so we just want the community to be aware of all that so again as I said um thank you for coming to town meeting I am available to answer your question questions Mr Adams as well anybody on the school committee you can feel free to reach out to and thank you for your time and attention thanks Lori Now with an update on projects going on around town we have Town manager Michael Herbert or not patience Adam patience so good evening everybody uh welcome to town meeting um just uh really as I do every annual town meeting I want to give a brief update on some of the infrastructure projects that are happening around town and were previously authorized by town meeting and um I'm pleased to say that this year we've been able to accomplish a lot uh close out a bunch of things um and make some significant progress towards others first um is all of you know or many of you probably know um we successfully opened the Mendes School in August of 2023 um this has been a cination of years of work um I want to especially thank um uh Paul Kendall uh who was chair of the school building committee and the school building committee um as a whole for really shepherding this process project and um again getting it getting it opened on time are downtown projects so many of you have seen you know the brick inlays the new sidewalks the lamps um and the new street lights signage uh Landscaping so we call that phase one uh and phase one is now complete uh you'll see some contractors doing a little touch-up work um we saw them do that last week and a little bit next week so our next phase is actually basically making all the underground connections to the buildings um and getting that energized and set in a place where we can actually remove the wires from the uh poles and subsequently move remove the poles and at that point the project will be finished in June of last year we successfully opened our public safety building uh just like the Mendes school this is the result of years of um of work planning work and construction uh I I would like to thank uh assistant Town manager Jen ball and the rest of the public safety building committee for uh doing such a great job on this project um it's clear to see as you're going down probably saw it as you were coming to uh uh coming here tonight to to vote participate in town meeting it's a magnificent building and one that we're really proud of and um our public safety personnel certainly deserve this next uh just the Valentine barn on 133 West Union Street so that's essentially Route 13 5 um getting close to the community center so last year we embarked on a $1 million renovation uh and restoration of that Barn um that has that was completed in December of 2023 um as the weather gets a little bit warmer we'll be doing some more painting um we got to put some Granite steps in there but um hopefully we can get that open and let the public see it soon it is just a magnificent restoration of um an old 1700s Barn that timber frame Barn that you know some of these pieces of wood you just wouldn't be able to to get anymore so that's been great um next the regional YMCA uh Center so that is planned to be next to the doen donuts on Memorial Drive on land that was donated to the YMCA uh they have made significant progress too over the last year uh so first in terms of fundraising uh we or the YMCA was successful in securing a $2.5 million uh donation from math Works uh to basically Kickstart the fundraising and then we were also fortunate to learn that uh Congressman McGovern as well as Senators Warren and Mary were able to secure $5 million for the project through the federal earmark process um so I know the YMCA has been putting together the leaders ship cabinet um looking at doing more fundraising and earlier this week the board the YMCA board approved uh funding to continue and basically finalize engineering and doing some environmental work as well so happy to see that moving forward and then uh Pawn Street I think uh well that's still going as you can all tell um so where we are right now in the process is the old telephone poles um the utilities and eversource are removing those wires and then once that is done the old telephone poles will be removed and that will allow us to move forward with the uh basically completing that intersection with Algonquin uh there's some storm water work that needs to be done U which is uh pretty substantial and then also a final pave so um I know I appreciate everybody's patience um I've been stuck in that traffic before it's not it's not pleasant but hopefully we'll get this wrapped up earlier or Mast will get this wrapped up earlier or later this year or early next year so and that is it thank you thank you Mike article two fiscal year 2025 budget sponsored by the town manager and finance director to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate from available funds and or transfer from available funds in the treasury such sums of money as are necessary to defay charges and expenses of the Town including debt and interest for the ensuing fiscal year or pass on your Vote or take any your action relative there to start us off on the budget we'll first hear from town manager Michael Herbert again um so I have to apologize in advance this is not look as good as uh Lor's presentation uh looks that sharp but uh hopefully it'll provide some I think much-needed context uh for this year's budget which is really been kind of challenging um so first off we we were faced even after you took out um the request the additional request for funding from our department heads we were faced with a pretty substantial budget deficit and we were able to get that down to around 1.2 million and we did that through a variety of ways but it took us some time additionally as we were going through the budget we received some information from the federal government which uh gave us pause in the way that we are using our arpa funds our American Rescue plan act funds and so we had to spend about two or three weeks uh really just trying to come up with an alternative plan on how we were going to handle that to make sure that we didn't lose the millions of dollars that was coming to us through the federal government um so if you look at this uh if you look at the total general fund number um that is going up uh 5,142 n50 or 6.75% so it is going it looks like it is going up a lot but if you go up a couple of lines up you'll see capital projects of $2.6 million almost $2.7 million so those are the arpa projects um that we are including this year so that makes up a little more than half of the overall increase and that is so that piece is actually an anomaly um if you look at our our regular budget if you will um that's going up about half that so about $2.5 million and uh an increase on the percentage basis of about 3.35 um if you look through obviously if you look through the different um subtotals here the ones that you vote on you'll see a wide variety of um of changes some go up some go down um that is basically because we're you know removing things that you know we don't necessarily need for the company coming year adding things that uh are needed uh but then we also are using revolving funds substantially this year just like the schools are to basically balance our budget and so some of those some departments have those revolving funds and some don't so that's why you're seeing uh such a shift so if you include the Enterprise funds um the total is going up $5.3 million or 5.98% but again that's artificially inflated because of that Capital project number so just to talk a little bit about the okay uh to the budget deficit um so again it was pretty substantial this year U it's something we've experienced deficits in previous years and we've utilized a number of methods to address that but this year again it was $1.2 million and there are several reasons for that but the primary reason is that this town has relied on large developments ever since the 1980s to essentially subsidize the tax base what we call New Growth revenue and over the last five or six years we have really adopted what we call like a low or no growth strategy to um which impacts that new growth figure and when I say low or no growth strategy what does that mean well primarily it's been with property purchases so we've uh purchased the Colo property uh which was 35 Acres um which could have uh fit several um SE single family homes uh at least 35 but it could have housed a couple of multif family developments which uh can go into the hundreds of units uh same thing with the rail Transit District property which was a little over a 100 acres which we purchased um we purchased Tri Street um which is on the 126 side of town um that was almost 10 acres which which was scheduled to be developed um and then uh we all know that we uh we purchased the Valentine property as uh I showed you earlier uh and that was to basically stop 120 unit development from happening so we're really at a Crossroads uh as a community um when you have a budgetary situation like we do or what we call a structural deficit there's only two ways you fix those fairly common sense right you either have to reduce expenses or you raise revenue and so we as a community need to make a determination you know how we're going to approach uh approach this deficit over the coming year um this just shows the graph showing our new growth ever for the last 10 years you will see this cycle um repeat throughout the decades again since the 1980s where the economic cycle nothing gets built um and so we have relatively low growth numbers then you get an economic boom where you see a lot of building that new growth figure came up to $1.3 million um and then like we're still in an economic building boom period but again you're seeing you're not seeing um The increased New Growth numbers because again we adopted that slow or no growth policy um some of the additions to the fy2 budget uh include the restoration of two police officers that were reduced from last year's budget um to at the tune of $150,000 um we're including $50,000 in our it budget for permitting software which uh we think the public will find a lot more convenient than our current system um we have $50,000 in the DPW specifically Cemetery parks and trees to handle Landscaping of some of these uh prop properties that we have bought or that we have taken on responsibility and then we've added $50,000 into our facilities Department to help maintain um our buildings and that's especially important with the new buildings that we've brought on um I explained already a little bit about arpa projects um and you know these are the arpa projects that were that were funded the Valentine project uh the land acquisition sidewalks turfield replacement and small building small business assistance actually I kind of skipped over just going over this uh this graph which is really really important um so the major budgetary reductions if you look at the bottom half for fy2 um to help make up this deficit or one-time fund uh usage as well so we redirected some of those arpa funds from the Valentine project to the budget deficit and that's about $810,000 um again this is what we call one time Revenue um usage of the overlay Surplus account um at 350,000 and I think the balance is 400,000 left in there um uh the additional shift to the revolving funds total 288,000 and then we're taking money out of the special education stabilization fund uh for 250,000 so one of the things that we really try to um what we really try to do here is to use your taxpayer dollars efficiently um and similar to the schools using their per people expenditure metric um we use expenditures per capita as an objective metric uh to look at government spending in efficiency and it's you probably cannot see all the towns or the names of the towns at the bottom but um if you will see here we're actually third from the bottom in terms of efficiency uh so it's about 4 $ 4,474 per capita now this also includes Enterprise funds uh as well so not just the general fund and then we hope that spending translates to um a moderate uh average single family tax bill uh so even with a substantial increase this past year Ashland is still you know on the lower half of average tax bills when you compare us to the rest of the region so um understandably uh $8,900 is is significant in substantial if you're living on $24,000 a year in Social Security income but if you look at it compared to the rest of the communities um we're average we're in the bottom half of the average so um and that is it all right thank you Mike as is our custom will now here from Scott wety chair of the finance committee thank you Adam uh my name is Scott wety I'm the chair of the finance committee with me today is John Moore Vice chair of the finance committee and other members including Ed Hart Jen Cooney and Chantel cam um and as Adam mentioned we do have one vacancy on the committee so if uh you find yourselves wanting to join us up here twice a year at Spring and fall town meeting please fop a talent Bank form and uh perhaps we'll see at a future meeting so a little bit about the committee we are a volunteer committee um we are not elected we are appointed by the town moderator to three-year terms that expire um at different times and our primary responsibility um are two things number one we are the authorizing body for expenditures from the reserve fund that is something that will be voted on later today as part of the town budget and those are designated funds within the budget set aside for Extraordinary expenditures um which I would say historically have been used to finance deficits deficits in the snow and ice operations um throughout um at the end of the year we also consider all articles within the town warrant both fall and spring and make recommendations on those that will have a financial effect on the town um in order to do that um we conduct public meetings periodically uh where we meet with Town officials to understand the financial implications of each of the Articles to the town finances today and the T Town finances into the future when it comes to the annual budget we meet with department heads to understand their detailed budget requests uh and our goal is to understand what they view as necessary to effectively run their departments okay what they present to town management and to the finance Comm committee doesn't always make it into the budget um quite frankly there are just not enough revenues to meet those requests as Michael mentioned so to balance the budget decisions are made by Town management um as to what is most necessary in the current budget so when it comes to the town finances overall um I think our view is in the our view is a town is in excellent Financial Health we continue to maintain an uninsured AAA Bond rating and that quite frankly is due to prudent financial management uh of the town over decades um I've been on the committee now for um almost 10 years or about 10 years or so um back to the beginning we established some Financial policies as far as managing um deficits and surpluses and how we share them with the schools and the town and I will say that's been working wonderfully over the last decade um and that shows in our bond rating and some of the reserves that we have for things like sped stabilization opep stabiliz stabilization and the overall stabilization fund of the town I mentioned that you know we're interested in you know passing this budget and and hearing what the town has to say about this budget but we're also as keenly interested in you know what we need to do in order for the town to succeed in the future I think Michael did a nice job of summarizing some of the challenges we have into the future um and you know that is something as a committee that we're going to be keenly focused on in the coming year and the years Beyond thank you Adam all right thank you Scott voting on the budget is a two-step process first we will review and vote on the Appropriations for each of the various accounts after action has been taken on all the accounts we will vote on the overall budget motion I will start by reading the names of a series of accounts if you have a question or comment on a particular item yell out hold after voting on all unchallenged items we'll go back and discuss any that were held Town manager Central purchasing telecommunications Town Council data processing town clerk elections town meeting board of registrars Human Resources all those in favor of the unchallenged items please raise your cards thank you and opposed P all they all pass Town accountant assessor's office Treasurer all those in favor of the unchallenged items please raise your cards thank you and opposed they pass Conservation Commission open space committee planning board inspectional Services Department all those in favor of the unchallenged item please raise your cards thank you and opposed Police Department fire department all those in favor of the unchallenged items please raise your cards thank you and opposed Health Department Council on Aging Recreation veteran services prevention and Human Services Public Library all those in favor of the unchallenged items please raise your cards thank you and opposed public buildings and property maintenance DPW Administration Highway snow and ice removal Highway Street lighting Highway combined fuel cemeteries parks and trees all those in favor of unchallenged items please raise your cards thank you and opposed school department ke Tech Vocational School all those in favor of the unchallenged items please raise your cards thank you and opposed debt total debt okay well we'll stay here because it's the only one we're going to talk about right now so mrone do you have a question on De why do they make that so high yeah very high um Julie nardone 86 Elliot Street um so I was reading the um mindes School building committee M minutes which are very thorough and it mentioned in December 23 and January 24 that it seemed like the school uh mindes project was going to be getting if I have this right an extra 5.5 million or 5.5 million would be um something that would be considered um so what I want to know is since it's in here um how is that going to affect the portion the portion of the overall Bond that the taxpayers pay versus what the msba pays if I have that right Mr Herbert that's a good question if your mic are on you could answer I was about to say we are now okay there we go um those are good questions Julie um and you're absolutely correct the uh the town in the school district ended up getting an additional $5 million5 .3 million I believe um in additional School building assistance funding thanks to the signifant the important work of Senate President spilka and representative Lewis um so we still have an amount to borrow like you mentioned and so that $5 million will be utilized to offset what we have to borrow so it'll translate into a direct savings to the taxpayer that does the $5 million does not mean we're going to increase spending on the whole project by five million so like the think it's 17 that might be left so it's you subtract it yeah I think I think it's going to be significantly less Brit Britany than been 17 million um the Project's still ongoing and so there's still some work doing but I think it was like seven eight million okay stilling yeah and just one more question um that I ask whenever I get up here is the co-payment for the of 750,000 for the public safety building in here again this year yes it's reflected yes okay thank you anything further all those in favor of the debt budget please raise your cards thank you and opposed a quick note before we get to the capital projects line the capital projects listed in the handbook are anticipated to be funded under the account of appropriation the appropriation we about to make is not for the individual items listed but rather for the account in total as such the individual items listed are not subject to Amendment capital projects hearing no holds all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed employee retire ironment workers compensation unemployment compensation group health insurance other insurance salary contingency reserve fund all those in favor of the unchallenged Ence please raise your cards thank you and opposed water Enterprise fund sewer Enterprise fund trash collection field management cable access storm water all those in favor of the unchallenged items please raise your cards thank you and opposed we have now approved the individual items of the budget now we need to approve the overall funding mechanism for that I'll entertain a motion for the general fund that the following amounts be transferred from the respective accounts EMS revolving $200,000 sale of cemetery lots 3 $30,000 dog licenses $25,000 Recreation revolving $2,976 and the balance be raised in appropriated 76,2 218 for the water Enterprise fund the 3,373 555 be raised to water rates for the Sue Enterprise fund that's $ 6,446 155 be raised through the sewer rates for the rubbish collection Enterprise fund that 1,864 688 be raised through the solid waste rates for the fields management Enterprise fund that $13,988 be raised through fees for field usage for the cable access Enterprise fund that $500,000 be raised through cable franchise fees for the stormwater Enterprise fund that $393,000 761 be raised to the storm water rates and for The Economic Development Special Revenue fund the 3 $ 6,710 be appropriated from available meal tax funds do I have to motion all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed and we unanimously have a budget for fy2 article three transfer to opep trust sponsored by the town manager Finance director to see if the town will transfer $350,000 from the opep contribution account to the opep trust trust or pass any or pass any Vote or take any action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator so OPB is a fancy way of saying retiree health insurance um so it is a liability that we have to carry on our books and so we are in the process of funding that liability and weuse use two methods uh first is that we take a portion of our free cash each fall and put that towards the OPB trust fund which is dedicated uh to that liability but then second um we take so each new employee that we bring on um we fund basically their annual liability cost um and we do that through the budget uh through a portion of the health insurance budget so this is transferring that amount to the oped trust to allow discussion I'll entertain a motion the town transferred the sum of $350,000 from opab contribution account 01915 d5170 n to the opep trust account 88100 -49 710 do I have such a motion discussion see none we'll move on to a vote this would require a simple majority all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article four transfer from special education stabilization to general fund stabilization fund to general fund sponsored by the town manager and finance director to see if the town will transfer $250,000 from the special education stabilization fund to the general fund or pass any your voter taking action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator um so as mentioned before in the budget presentation um we are utilizing $250,000 uh from the special education stabilization fund for the general fund budget and this money is used to fund outof District special education costs thank you Mr Herbert allow discussion I'll enter hand a motion that the town transfer the sum of $250,000 from the special education stabilization fund to the general fund discussion see now will move on to a vote and for th for those folks who have been do attending town meeting for a while um when I tell you we only need a simple majority for this you're going to ask me why so I'll just tell you now back in the day it required a two-thirds majority to put money into a stabilization fund fund and to take money out of a stabilization fund a while back our friends on Beacon Hill said yeah that's too complicated and made it a simple majority to put money in and 2/3 to take it out then is decided that wasn't complicated enough so now you only need a simple majority to take money out of a special purpose stabilization fund which is what the sped fund is so now it will require majority don't laugh at me Jackie you the one who voted for it all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously annual five uh our annual consent article for General items sponsored by the select board to see if the town will vote the following consent articles which I will not read in their entirety grant program authorization Road contracts contracts in excess of three years lease purchase agreements revolving funds Grant easements please note that this article also makes a change to the community center rental revolving fund by renaming it the town building rental fund and all allowing for inclusion in the revolving fund of fees from any Town property that collects rental or use fees the finance committee recommends the town approv Article 5 as set forth in the warrant amend the general bylaw section 26-5 da and set the maximum amount that may be spent on revolving funds in subsection five of Article 5 given the routine nature of the items contained within consent articles they are normally voted without discussion as such I will ask for a motion and then move directly to a vote I'll entertain a motion the town approve Article 5 as set forth in the warrant and amend General bylaw section 26-5 da and further that the town set the maximum amount that may be spent on revolving funds in subsection five of Article 5 as follows senior program revolving $25,000 Town building rental $75,000 town of hollist and Animal Control revolving $114,000 Library materials replacement $5,000 hazardous waste revolving $10,000 sidewalk construction fund $50,000 guidance revolving fund $50,000 food inspection programs $20,000 electrical inspections and gas inspection revolving fund $150,000 tobacco Pro program revolving $10,000 ambulance revolving $900,000 Recreation revolving $500,000 vaccination clinic revolving $30,000 do I have such a motion uh this will require a two-thirds majority to the approval due to the inclusion of easements all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article six the second of our consent articles the annual consent article for Community preservation act items sponsored by the community preservation committee to see the town will vote the following items Community preservation funds fy2 annual Appropriations from FY 25 estimated revenues to Community Committee administrative expenses $553 70 from FY 25 estimated revenues to Historic resources Reserve to community housing reserve and to open space Reserve $15,200 three each and from FY 25 estimated revenues to undesignated budgeted Reserve $736,000 Oak Street Bond payment to appropriate $140,600 High School athletic fields Bond payment to appropriate $3,475 warm Woods Bond payment to appropriate $151,200 from the following FY 25 CPA Reserve accounts historic Spa resources Reserve $48,500 open space Reserve $ 4,838 undesignated budgeted Reserve $622 please please note that due to scribner's errors error the warrant erroneously refers to FY 2014 CPA Reserve accounts and the amounts were not updated from last year the amounts I read are the correct amounts and are lower than last year Valentine estate to appropriate $ 46,2 186 from the following CPA Reserve accounts open space Reserve $661 undesignated budgeted Reserve $3 39,6 72 pass any Vote or taking any action relative there too the community preservation committee recommends the town so vote the finance committee recommends the town approve the CPC consent article as set forth in article 6 as with Article Five due to the routine and recurring nature of this article I will ask for a motion and then move directly to a vote I'll hand I have to enter thank you but I have to ask for the motion first I move the town approve the CPC consent article a set forth in article six do I have such a motion all in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously may I help you next one's Community presentation committee uh I'm the chair of the community presentation committee so I didn't know yeah okay just I can't even see from here before we move to article 7 so you're jumping the gun a little bit you didn't know I had this section sorry before we move to article 7 I want to First address article 14 the MBTA Community zoning article this topic has been controversial in many other communities and I'm sure there are varying opinions in Ashland no doubt some of you here this evening came to express your views on this article and out of respect for you I want to read this now rather than waiting until later at its meeting on April 25th the planning board voted to keep their public hearing on this matter open to provide more time to actively work on the bylaw changes and at this time has no recommendation to give town meeting Mass General Law requires that all zoning articles must have a planning hear public sorry a public hearing which closes and a recommendation by the planning board in order to be considered by town meeting since that hasn't happened town meeting can't consider the article and no action will be taken on it Trisha Kendall chair of the planning board is here to provide a brief explanation of the planning board's action and where the matter goes from here please note that Trisha will be unable to answer any questions and we'll move directly to article 7 at the conclusion of her comments Patricia thank you Mr moderator Patricia Kendall 6 Rebena Road and I am current chair of the planning board in September select board member Joe manani and I along with the town planner and assistant Town planner began work to create a bylaw that satisfied the state's MBTA communities regulation in a way that respected the town of Ashland six weeks ago we had a plan that we felt good about though there was some risk to two two unbuilt projects both of which contain 25% affordable units four weeks ago the town received notice that a 40b application was submitted to the state for 10 to 60 Main Street in downtown Ashland a second 40b application has now been submitted for a site near the high school we had not wanted to use and did not use these sites in our proposed bylaw however because of the changed circumstances we are no longer confident that we are providing an m MBTA communities bylaw that is best for Ashland for the state the deadline to pass MBTA Community zoning is December 31st though we worked hard to offer this bylaw at Spring Town Meeting the working group strongly feels it should wait until fall so that we can see how the 40b process and other factors that induce risk into our plan will play out over the next six months our working group remains determined to offer Ashlin residents the best possible plan on which to votee thus the bylaw will be presented at fall toown meeting the working group will work the working group will diligently continue its efforts until that time when we have additional forums we strongly encourage you to attend we need to hear your voices if you have questions or comments before that time please contact the planning department and your input will reach the working group thank you thank you Trisha article seven appropriate funds for preserving the library interior painting sponsored by the community preservation committee to see if the town will vote to appropriate $40,000 in community preservation act funds fund improvements to paint the interior of the library to preserve the historic Library $4,000 from the undesignated reserve said funds will to be available until December 31st 2026 at which time any unexpended funds will be return to their funding sources or pass any Vote or take any action other action relative there too Community preservation committee recommends the town so vote the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr lad now I feel like I'm following an elephant in the room after the NBTA thing but that's okay um article 7 uh related to article 6 as you can see from our CPA funds uh in a moment of opportunity uh we are having greater revenues than our expenses and we're paying off our bonds over the next few years so CPA funds are actually growing in reserve counts and present a great opportunity for the town uh giving us CH to do projects like the library um it's a CPA funded project from several years ago but the interior first floor main space on the ceiling uh need some paint restoration to match what's there um and a great opportunity to continue the work we're doing at the library but I did just want to comment on the previous article that CPC is paying off our debts uh funds are growing and giving us opportunity to do great projects like this so thank you Mr lad I'll just do a a public shout out that uh maybe next year we could have a report like that under article one we used to what I think town meeting found that useful I'll find some pretty pictures we put in scoreboards today over at the middle schools and I think I did the round the town trip today doing the uh TR Brook Trail Riverwalk projects Town Hall they're all great CPC projects that are going on and uh concluding so than that's great but I was referring to actually the balances in the account that's good too yeah to allow discussion on entertain a motion that the town votes to appropriate $40,000 in community preservation act funds to improvements and to paint the interior of the library to preserve the historic Library $40,000 from the undesignated reserve said funds to be available until December 31 2026 at which time any unexpended funds will be returned to their funding sources do I have such a motion discussion seeing none we'll move on to a vote this will require a simple majority all those in favor of the motional article 7 please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article 8 authoriz the select board to accept gift of land sponsored by the town manager to see if the town will accept the gift of real property from the hopkington land trust or take any action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town so vote M Greaves thank you thank you Mr moderator this uh is a donation of land that we have to accept the hopkington land trust is an organization that we're actually working with to hold our CR for the Valentine property and as we were speaking with them they have a couple of really small Parcels here in Ashland that they would like to donate to the town so in this article we're just looking for your approval to allow the select board to accept that donation as a gift of property thank you Miss Greaves to allow discussion entertain a motion that the town accept a gift of real property for the hopkington land trust shown as town of ashon assessors map 18 lot 0142 to be for conservation purposes and to be under the care and custody and care custody control of the select board and the property shown is town of Ash assessors map 18 L 0067 and map 18 L 0074 and map 18 l010 for General Municipal purposes all the foregoing properties to be under the care capting control the select board and to further authorize the select board to execute any documents to effectuate this transaction to have to motion discussion uh Curtis Hoffman 58 hildale road do you have any sense of what purpose you might use these Parcels for at this time usage of the parcels my understand oh miss grief sorry I didn't see you before that's okay my understand we are currently just looking at them for open space they're very small Parcels they're not connected in any way so it's just open space thank you seeing no further discussion we'll move to a vote this will require a simple majority all those in favor of the motion on article8 please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article nine reauthorize the fire truck and middle school locker project borrowing sponsored by the town manager and finance director to see at the town will vote to amend the motion taken under article four of the May 4th 2022 annual town meeting to increase the appropriation for the fire tower truck project and the girls and boys middle school locker room project to determine whether this appropriation shall be raised by borrowing or otherwise or to take any other action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town amend the vote taken under Article 4 of the May 4th 22 annual town meeting to increase the borrowing amount of projects by $264,900 27 that the total appropriation for the capital project be 1,964 n227 cents Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator um so as this says this is basically um amending a vote that was taken a couple taken a couple of years ago uh in order to purchase uh a tower truck and then also renovate the girls and boys locker rooms at the middle school um so a couple of years ago when we first did this we basically crafted language uh that we thought would basically address all the issues that we needed to unfortunately when it passed and we got to bond Council which is essentially the legal team that um you know blesses uh our bonds before we we put them out there we found that uh there was a difference in interpretation than what we had so um so unfortunately we're back here uh a couple of years later and uh we need to increase this appropriation by 264,000 thank you Mr Herbert to all discussion I'll enter hand a motion to town amend the vote taken under article four of the May 4th 2022 annual town meeting to increase the borrowing amount of the projects by $264,900 $7 that the total appropriation for the following capital projects be 1, 9649 127 as follows girls and boys locker rooms Middle School $200,000 Firetower truck $1,764 n227 and that to meet this appropriation the treasur is authorized with the approval of the select board to borrow a total amount of $1,700,000 under and personal to General Law chapter 44 section 71 or any other enabl Authority and issue bonds or notes of the Town therefore and to reallocate $264,900 27 cents of excess Bond proceeds previously borrowed from the projects described in the warrant which amounts are no longer needed to pay costs of the projects for which they were initially borrowed council do I need to read those projects excellent do I have a motion discussion seeing none will move to a vote all those in favor of the motion on article 9 please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes but not unanimously sorry that I declare a 2/3 requires 23 majority I declare two-thirds majority on that article 10 reauthor public safety building Bond sponsored by the town manager to see if the town will reauthorize the borrow and approve for the construction of the public safety building to include the land acquisition related to the public safety building or pass any Vote or take any action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator um so this actually references or is in regards to property that surrounds the public safety building um that is owned by the faford corporation um it's a property that the town has interest in for a number of different reasons so first of all it would help us provide some additional parking for the public safety building additionally it's been uh identified as a parcel that is critical and important to the uh creation and construction of the upper Charles Trail um and then additionally um it could be used with a lot of site work uh to expand the cemetery if and when U we needed to do that so so I just want to clarify and make sure everybody understands this is not increasing the authorization uh authorization amount at all this is just repurposing the bonds that have already been uh borrowed to include using it for land acquisition thank you Mr Herbert to allow discussion and a motion the town reauthorized the borrow and approve the construction of the public safety building in Article 1 of the January 24th 2021 special town meeting an article 9 at the special November 28th 2018 town meeting and reauthorized an article two at the December 21st 20221 special town meeting to include land acquisition related to the public safety building do a motion discussion because this relates to baru and this will require two-third majority all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article 11 authorized a Wastewater Capital was water treatment Capital project sponsored by the town manager Finance director and director of Public Works C the town will vote to appropriate transfer or otherwise provide $4 million for the engineering design construction and all costs incidental and related thet in order to replace the existing 20 plus year old ozone system at the water treatment PL plant located at 229 house Street or take any action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator um so as this says this is actually to uh authorization to borrow $4 million to replace uh the ozone filtration system that is in our water treatment facility U which is now believe it or not over 20 years old uh so equipment obviously wears down and eventually needs to be uh replaced so this is an expensive uh component but it's a really really important component um as the ozone system is really kind of our Frontline treatment system and filtration system for our water that we distribute out to the community um it uh filters out different contaminants and really it it does a great job of filtering out things that really change the Aesthetics of the water like manganese and and other uh other minerals um so it's what provides uh clean drinking water for the community so again we project these costs to be $4 million um we do anticipate that the town of hackington because they utilize some of our water and also share in the costs of our uh operations and actually the construction of the water treatment plant uh they will be uh appropriating $1 million to help pay for this so ultimately we hope the town will only be on the hook for $3 million but we do need to ask for the full authorization thank you Mr Herbert to allow discussion entertain a motion if the town appropriate $4 million for the engineering design construction and all costs incidental and relative related there to in order to replace the existing 20 plus year old ozone system at the water treatment plant located at 229 house Street and authorize the town Treasurer with the approval of the select board to borrow set a under under and personal to General Law chapter 44 section 71 or any other enabling Authority and to issue bonds or notes of the Town therefore do I have a motion is there any discussion seeing that none we'll move on to vote this involves borrowing and will therefore take a two-thirds majority all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article 12 update bylaw demolition delay for historically or architecturally architecturally significant buildings sponsored by the historical commission see if the town will vote to amend section 125 of the general bylaws demolition delay bylaw for historically or architecturally significant buildings as indicated in your warrant book or takeing other action relative there too the finance committee defers its recommendation to town meeting Miss gri yes John griid wsha Road I'm member of the historical commission um we're looking for your support for an update to the demo de demo delay bylaw the purpose of the demo delay bylaw is to encourage owners to seek out persons who might be willing to purchase preserve rehabilitate or restore rather than demolish ashlin's historically significant buildings also to allow time to explore economic opportunities which may allow for preservation of the threatened properties is not to prevent demolition next slide please oh sorry currently an owner anticipating a sale of their property with a possibility of demolishing a 70 plus year old building can go through the process if the building is determined to be historically significant they can wait out the delay and not have to to come before the the historical commission again next slide please there are two changes we're requesting the next slide please first if the property is sold the new owner must go through the process for current determination second if three years go by with no approved plan the owner will need to go through the process again basically we've added a sunset Clause the hope is that you can support the changes to encourage owners of historically significant properties to seek out opport options that will preserve Asin historical buildings for future Generations thank you thank you alloud discussion and hand a motion the town amend section 125-530 oh sorry thank you for pointing it out I'm ler jar to High Street we live and operate Burnham's restaurant with all the talk about buildings at previous meetings there's no mention of the people that live and maintain the buildings my husband has lived 90% of his 71 years in our building through good times and bad during his childhood there were two families of Taris with lots of kids living here we raised two children of our own here there was also a lot of turmoil in the tragic death of a child it will be extremely difficult for him to see this building gone compared to someone who once said I drive by every day and would hate to see that building gone but it's time to go we're both in our 70s and there are health issues he works more than 60 hours a week running a stressful business in maintaining an old building and a 2 acre property my work is greater than 50 hours a week the major lesson I learned from a very difficult time in my parents lives was that you must get out of your big old house while you're still physically able to do so so we are counted on the sale of our property to retire and downsize you already have imposed a 12 month away but that's not enough for you yes it would be nice to preserve some of the historical features but we fear you will push for a full restoration that very expensive cost for a developer would have to come out of our sale price we hear all the time that we have a very desirable property but that does not mean valuable to the seller our fear is that your increased restrictions and others like the increased cost of new construction proposed with the specialized Str stretch code will drive developers away to other larger properties without historical buildings a situation is very similar to the old fire station Mr Herbert said the value of that combined property was about $1.5 million but any offer to purchase will be nowhere near that because of the cost of renovation there was a lot of optimism for that potential but you were not able to find an interested buyer the RFP process brought interested business owners to tour the property one said the building is too small needs a lot of work the return on investment isn't there another said the cost would be an excess of $2 million to renovate not feasible for any business owner we realize there are people in Ashland that would be happy if nothing is ever built here our dilemma when we are no longer able to keep the restaurant going we probably won't be able to afford to live in this building on top of all this our insurance company notified us recently that our fire and liability insurance will not be renewed not from lack of payments our insurance agent said lots of carriers have decided not to ensure older buildings the new Cod I'm I'm to ask you to finish up please expensive one 10 more seconds to all of the residents who own a nice home in Ash you could likely sell it in a month or two maybe even get more than the asking price if you needed to retire or if you suddenly needed to pay the cost of a long-term care facility yet you would like to prevent us from having that same opportunity we are outraged that a member of your commission accused us of gaming the system this is no game sir we are fighting for the ability to support ourselves for the final chapter of Our Lives thank you that was my beautiful wife excuse me sir it's I'm going to go to the other side of the auditorium oh I'm sorry but then please step out and we'll call you back if we need you ma'am h Nicole for Elliot Circle uh this change to the bylaw doesn't keep you from selling your property it only keeps you from waiting out a delay bylaw and then letting the uh the person that purchased it buy it with the delay bylaw in place the person who buys it can go through the delay bylaw process like you can and they can also see please don't direct your comments to anyone in particular other than me sorry like okay so the the person buying a property in Ashland will be able to go through a delay bylaw process regardless and so it does not it does not indicate that they would not be able to sell their property thank you sir uh Dan jari uh Burnham's Pub host two High Street Ashland I live at uh couple of years ago I decided it's time to retire I had 45 years in running the building but through all the ups and downs of running the business and I approached the historical commission but the reason I did is because I talked to several people in the highest and best use of the property would be to develop it it is a good location for something that's not my business I've been run on the uh the pub for a long time uh but the next owner would probably want to develop something so I took the initiative to go to the historical society and put in an application for Demolition and I told them at that point in time I have no plan right now I'm just putting you on notice that there are probably going to be changes at that address and I feel it's best to get it out on the on the uh on the table so that everyone can react now I haven't done anything further other than further look for uh uh opinions on the best way to approach uh either selling or or or getting in business some way shape or form or making a deal with the developers often times these these options are these real estate options are based on what they can and can't build and often times you can't come up with the final price until they go through the process of going through the permitting process and uh it's it's a moving Target I don't know I'm trying all of my Equity is in the building so I'm trying to extract everything I can out of it because it's the only thing I got to to to live on as a retirement now I think this this bylaw by expanding it is only going to interfere with it and make it higher as my wife just said my insurance company is not going to renew my insurance and the reason given is because it's an old building and all the new by I mean all the new uh laws requiring uh or payoffs for insurance are very expensive for an old building because it's hard to assess exactly what values offer an old building it's just a very difficult position to be in I hope is used to be 9mon delay now it's a 12-month delay I hope this is defeated I would appreciate the uh support from the town's people thank you thank you uh Jim neelsen uh 35 Ramblewood Drive uh I am currently the chair of the historical commission the purpose of this amendment is not to go back and revisit prior properties that have already come before the commission uh is our understanding that those properties will be grandfathered and not affected by this amendment the purpose of this amendment is in the future to go ahead and have people come up with a plan before the demolition process takes hold and it's it's a way to increase uh Coop participation between the town and the owner before the property is demolished if the property is deemed significant not every property in National that's over years old will be deemed significant or historically or architecturally uh um something that needs to be preserved um there are many properties that have gone before us already this one um there's a bunch in that area they won't be before this and they won't be affected by this amendment um they're effectively it's like the mill buildings for example we have no control over that that's already been before us and it's already gone so it's not going to affect um currently anybody that's already gone through the demolition delay I can't stress that enough this is going forward um this is a way too to try to work to preserve some of the properties not to prevent anybody from selling their property or any of that uh we're not trying to take away anybody's livelihood or or anybody's retirement I just want to make that clear thank you Town Council I was going to can we get an opinion on the the veracity of that statement so Lisa me Town Council Mr moderator I would just like to clear this is a general bylaw so there is no grandfathering under the general bylaw um however the there's no change to the length of time of the of the delay it's still 12 months no matter what so um this changes the fact that if the building is turned over the new owner must file for a delay um and then um after three years the the delay that had been approved if it's not used goes away those are the only two changes Miss nardon would someone please lower that microphone so Julie's not breaking her neck yeah thank you right before we leave thank you Paul thanks Paul um historic preservation which is what this is trying to do actually is economic development and I think part of the reason we struggle with our downtown unlike Ren um revitalization unlike some other places is because we've lost a lot of our historic buildings and it's all driven by Believe It or Not people coming down they want to learn about the history of the place and see these buildings they can be a lower rent for artists to come in and I think if we continue down this path we're just going to have apartment buildings is everywhere in this town and that's it if that's what you want I don't know thank you Mr Kendall Paul Kendall six reben AER Road I do understand the intent of this uh and I don't uh disagree with the intent of it my my concern is that you it doesn't take into account the typical process for someone like that homeowner that a developer is not going to purchase the property a lot of times before it is permitted so they will go through the permitting process and get it permitted and the sale is pending that but then that will reset the demolition bylaw when and so I think this needs to be amended to account for what the Practical process is for these types of developments because they're essentially going to get get a second bite an apple that you've already uh really evaluated and there's no change because the intent was to get a project permit and then uh sell that permitted project and property to that developer that's where a lot of times the value is is a permitted project on a property uh that's what the developers are going to want so I'm I'm a little concerned is that that that's you know I understand the intented it I don't think it's I don't think it's going to operate in the way that uh it's intended and quite frankly I also uh in somewhat relation to this I think more time being spent on developing an objective rubric and and way to evaluate these properties because what I've heard from over and over again is uh not a not a clear understanding and and kind of I don't want to call it arbitrary because it's not I don't want to demean what people are doing and their opinions but that it's somewhat arbitrary how something is deemed to be historically s or architecturally significant and things like that so I'd like to see more time spent on that this as it is I understand the intent of it I don't think it's going to work the way or I think it's going be negatively impacting for that typical process for uh how you get a development done so thank you me I believe you've already had a turn to the microphone yeah I don't get a second you don't okay uh Joan your presentation doesn't count as a time of the microphone this moderator is a possible to put a substitute Motion in uh if you present it to me in writing I'll be happy to consider it is it Joan is it going to be significant because if it is I'm happy to table this and and move on to after Article 13 to give you a chance take a motion of author to table article 12 until after Article 13 Action 13 is completed all those in favor thank you opposed okay that passes but not unanimously article 12 is tabled until the conclusion of Article 13 Joan um I would encourage you to visit Town Council up front while you're writing so you can make sure any changes youve made fit within the framework of the bylaw Article 13 update bylaw accept specialized stretch code sponsored by the sustainability committee see the town will vote to amend section 98.7 sounds like a radio station sorry of the general BW the town of ashin bylaws entitled stretch energy code or take any other any action other relative there to note that due to scrier error the warrant was printed with an incorrect effective date if you look at section B it says September 1st 2023 it should say January 1st 2025 and that'll be corrected by the forthcoming motion the finance committee defers his recommendation to town meeeting Ash thank you Adam um can go to the next SL okay so we we've actually talked about this in a previous town meeting but I just want to um highlight again that what we're discussing right now is the specialized code uh the town already operates under the stretch code so the state of Massachusetts has three separate codes and we we really are only focusing on the specialized codes last time we had this discussion there was a lot of confusion about attributes of the stretch code that that were discussed and and those don't apply right now for this article at all it's only the specialized codes if you don't mind moving to the next slide um so what this specialized code does it's one applies only to new constructions so it does not apply for any Renovations of any kind it's purely new construction and it has really three three requirements it says one all new buildings must be either already fully electric or should be pre-wired to be electric so that when you're building it while the walls are down you're able to put some wiring in and it's much cheaper uh number two it says that buildings that are planning to use either natural gas coal or any other kind of fossil fuel must include on-site solar but then they provide exemptions where solar is not feasible for example if the lot is a shaded lot uh you don't have to put the solar in and then there are specific requirements for large buildings where if you're a new single family home that's greater than 4,000 square ft that should be all electric or should be certified as a net zero building or if it's a multif family home greater than 12,000 ft that would include commercial property for example those should be certified as as as passive houses um so the real purpose behind the specialized code is to really make it simpler to switch towards electrification um we've done a lot of work in town we've adopted a a goal for achieving that Zero by 2040 and buildings constitute the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Ashland uh but we continue to build buildings that are still reliant on fossil f fuels and those buildings are going to last for 50 or 60 years 70 years um and so effectively we're continuing to just dig the hole deeper and so what we are early asking is to adopt a code that has been reviewed has been adopted by a number of other towns in in in the state of Massachusetts and um really start making the shift now so that we have some hope of achieving the goal that we set for ourselves if you don't mind going to the next slide um again I'll just reiterate these points um one the code only applies to new construction it has nothing to do with remodeling your existing buildings do not get impacted by the code at all two uh there was a lot of conversation last time about construction costs uh in the last two to three years a lot of data has been collected that suggests that the um the the additional cost of building you know to this stretch code or to the specialized Cod is about 1 to 4% I have had conversations in the last uh few months as we've been talking to a number of stakeholders about um you know what they're really seeing some of them are suggesting 5 to 10 but regardless there are a number of um very significant incentives that also come into play and most importantly while the cost may be a little bit higher there's significant payoff because you're really only paying for electricity at that stage um the code is not a band on fossil fuel uh that's something that we've heard a lot of times there are still paths that you can adopt fossil fuels it just requires higher efficiency and then again this solar exemption has uh uh there is an exemption for shed Lots uh ashin has actually been quite good about leveraging our Green community status getting state grants uh there is now a new program called the climate leader that does require adoption of the specialized code um and so it's C certainly our hope that that you will vote to do so next slide uh again not going to drain this slide but as as of now there are about 36 communities some of them right uh around us as well that are seriously looking at this Hopkins got their their Town board coming up as well um and so we have spent time in the last year working with the building inspector we brought in thee to hold multiple sessions those have been posted publicly uh we've had uh uh we we've uh presented to the ABA um we've had we've had pretty good good participation from Builders from Architects just explaining what what the code includes and and and to answer questions again those materials are now available to us as training materials as well uh and we do have access to additional training if it's needed uh which is one of the reasons why the the the code only starts applying in Jan so it gives us time to transition over um and then the final slide so again it's basically a necessary step to to fight the climate crisis that we have we've made a commitment uh We've made a paper commitment at this stage uh but but we've got actually start taking action towards achieving those goals um it makes new buildings Future Ready by avoiding f future retrofits um reduces the overall operating cost of those buildings it does allow both electric and fossil fuel uh though with fossil fuel you do have to meet a higher efficiency standard and then qualifies the the town for uh additional grants thank you thank you Ash to allow discussion I'll ENT hand a motion to the town amend section 98.7 of the general bylaws as outlined in Article 13 with the change in the effective date to January 1st 2025 do have to a motion discussion Mr Hoffman a question if this is adopted will it apply to 40b projects can I um no yeah good thing you didn't say any words o Sony 49 all for this for the new constructions all for because when developers come in they're going to see that we're going to be updating what they want to put in and it's new consruction electricity I'm not going to stay up here for the three minutes I guarantee it I'm saying go forward sustainability make this town go forward as a net zero climate leader and understand that Jen Z behind us will thank us for it Glen Travis 35 Franklin Road um I have a lot to say about this particular subject Way Beyond three minutes but I will keep it to two and a half here we go uh I'm the principal of an architectural design company GMT Home Designs I've lived in Ashlin at 35 Franklin Road since 2003 and my design office is located on Pleasant Street near downtown Ashlin we design both homes and Light commercial spaces as both a designer and an Ashlin resident I want to Advocate that as a design company we vote for the opin code for new construction I have personally done a tremendous amount of research on this topic since January 20123 to come to this conclusion since this directly affects the industry that I am passionate about and deeply involved in I have relationships with many Architects and designers as well as many Builders and we've had some robust discussions on this very topic this will make Ashlin more sustainable and let us keep our official Green community status here's what it means opting into these stretch goals will require all new homes and commercial buildings to meet higher standards of Energy Efficiency you'll hear a lot about what's called hers rating hers stands for home energy rating system and it's a scale of 1 to 100 where lower is better lower hers rating means the house is more efficient the stretch code requires new homes built today to be about 55% more efficient than a house built in 2006 which honestly is not that long ago the optin hers rating goes down to 45 and 42 respectively now it's at 55 and 52 depending on the design path to get there an independent study showed that meeting this code adds about 1 to 4% to the initial cost of building a new new home I understand that that's not nothing and could be a bit more but it's a small percentage for a new house and you start saving on your energy bills right from day one the long-term gains in my opinion far outweigh The Upfront costs this code isn't perfect we need the state to provide a bit more clarity to coste effective requirements for additions and renovations to older homes which this is not about that's a separate issue in where there is confusion a year ago that's not what we're talking about here tonight it's specifically for new construction the benefits for all of us here really outweigh the concerns in my personal and professional opinion so I encourage everyone tonight to lift up that orange card 10 seconds to spare well done um I'm going to make this tall again that's hi my name is Martha Coleman I'm a resident of 44 Alden Street um I moved to Ashland last June with my partner Ryan he's over there he works at the library um and um since being here I've had the pleasure to be involved in a lot of community organizations in including the newly formed energized Ashland uh group and I've learned a lot about uh what you guys are up to around town locally when it comes to sharing information with your neighbors about how we can move towards climate resilience um I am a a member of the aformentioned Generation Z and um as somebody who doesn't plan to have kids much before the 2030s I think that doing this move now and ensuring that we do our utmost to reduce uh the impact that we're having on uh increase fossil fuels in the atmosphere increased climate crisis is really really critical um we know that that as as Ash mentioned that buildings are one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases in Ashland um and because of the commitments we've made to to to reduce to Net Zero by 2040 it really feels like this is not an issue of if we do this but when we do this and I'm just standing up here to say like let's do this now let's do this today let's not wait any longer um to secure that future um for our town and and for future Generations thank you thank you did I see someone up there no Trisha Trisha Kendall 6 re Bena Road I want to point out that I'm talking as a resident and not as a member of the planning board first I did want to make one clarification and someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think it's not an automatic no for a 40b project for a 40b project um the the project would have to ask for a waiver from the town bylaws which they can do with everything else um but I don't think it's an automatic L but I just wanted to make that clear anyway so so it's a win the lottery option so we have to win the lottery to get to get the okay now I'll just continue with Trisha Kendall resident um in the fall I spoke against adopting this bylaw not because I'm am against sustainability but because I am an architect at that time the updated stretch code was brand new and everyone in the building industry was struggling to understand stand and implement it it felt very unwise to me to jump on board with an additional energy code that was not fully understood 6 months later the stretch code is still difficult for our industry but this is the specialized code in sustainability it is said that the greenest building is the one that is already built any new home or office building requires land Building Materials energy and other resources that could have been saved by not building that building if if however a new home or other building is to be built the specialized Cod will work to strongly discourage the use of fossil fuels in them new buildings will be asked to help compensate for the resources they are using by being all electric buildings Net Zero buildings or by using solar panels in high school almost 40 years ago I first heard the phrase think Global act logal and it has been a part of my thoughts ever since Ashlin will not change the course of the world through ad option of this bylaw but we can do our fair share I will be voting yes thank you thank you um I'm Chuck Lids 150 Oregon road I serve as the vice chair of the sustainability committee and I want to just give a very very big picture on this there's a lot of complicated regulations it's I've spent tons of time um looking at that with this comes down to is if you think that climate change is a major issue and a major problem we're facing then this is as complicated as it is the best step we can possibly take and I hope everyone will vote for it thank you seeing no further discussion we'll move to a vote on Article 13 this will require a simple majority we'll start with a show of cards all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed Article 13 passes at this point I'll take a motion to bring article 12 back from the table do I have a motion all those in favor bringing article 12 back up please raise your cards thank you and opposed so okay back to article 12 I have a substitute MO motion The Substitute motion U if you just follow along in your your warrant book it'll probably be clearer the underlining section B that starts if the building or premises changes ownership the new owner must resubmit dot dot dot the subs motion is that if the building or premises changes ownership without an approval plan the new owner must dot dot dot so it's the insertion of the forw without an approval plan after ownership on the first line of section B is that clear to everyone with the motion Mr moderator um I it's my writing you can't read it's approved past tense a p r o d not without an what I say approval yeah yeah it's your writing of course it is thank you for the clarification without an approved okay uh without an approved plan is that clear to everyone what the mo substitute motion is sure let me read the entire revised section B it would Now read if the building or premises changes ownership without an approved plan the new owner must resubmit a request for a demolition permit and the demo delay process will be repeated per chapter 125 okay now that everyone is clear what the motion is do I have a second for that substitute motion okay there's a second for the motion we'll now open discussion on this motion the way this will work is there will be discussion or not of the substitute motion once the discussion is finished or doesn't happen we'll take a vote on The Substitute motion if the substitute motion passes we'll go back to discussion of the article as we normally would have if the substitute motion fails we'll go back to discussion of the article as it currently reads did you have a comment Joe I just want to want to make a comment that um Mr Kendall brought up a good point and I think that it was never the historical commission's intent to have someone already have an approved plan and have to come back if it was sold sir rangarajan Krishna morti 59 blue J Lane so in order for this somebody to be able to sell their house they're going to wait wait a year get an approved plan then put the house on the market is that what we saying I I'm not saying anything the the article says that if the building or premises changes ownership without an approved plan I imagine approved plan could happen the day after they put the building on the market Council I think the intention is is that if you have a buyer you can come in with the buyer get the plan approved and then move forward or you can have a plan approved ahead of time and so long as the plan stays the same you don't have to wait again but in any case it's going to be a 12 month demo delay correct unless the commission lifts the delay because they've approved your plan okay thank you okay any further discussion on the substitute motion this moderator I just like to clarify that it's not automatic that it's that someone has to go through a 12 month delay they come before the historical commission as Council just said if there's an approved plan and and the commission waves the 12 months that there would no be no 12 month delay okay final comment on the substitute motion I I have a question sure Mr can you move closer so I can hear in the microphone thank you my name is Alexis Christopher I live at 435 Captain Ames I just have a question how do you know that you are historically or ar architecturally in the this category that's a good question who would like to answer that question Miss on Friday yes um what happens is if your house is 70 years old or more or the building is 70 years old or more and you want to apply for demo demol demolition permit then you have to come before the historical commission to determine if it's historically significant that means it could have the building itself could be historically significant if be could be historical um things that happened in that building um or they can decide that it's either um in too much disrepair to be restored or um they can also help you to find people to help you restore it so I think the answer to the question is there are no objective guidelines it will depend upon the building itself yes it just starts with the 70 years yes there are in fact you you've actually been up before not for this you're right not for the substitute motion I apologize y okay there are yes okay there are in fact guidelines which all historical commissions use based upon the national histar preservation act of 1966 at the federal level there are four criteria some of them is gfred mentioned that is it is associated with a particular historic event event with a historic person an architectural style that is unique or the work of a master or likely to yield significant scientific evidence and those are the four criteria which all historic commissions use thank you okay seeing no further discussion we will now take a vote on The Substitute motion all those in favor of the substitute motion please raise your cards thank you and opposed substitute po motion passes The Substitute motion is now the main motion for article 12 is there any further discussion on article 12 seeing no further further discussion on article 12 we'll move to a vote with the substitute motion being the vote motion all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed article 12 passes there be no further business I'll entertain a motion to dissolve second all in favor I'll oppos thank you

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51 survey of students for a first reading as recommended by the policy Communications subcommittee second okay so it's been moved and seconded uh to approve of this policy about the survey of students policy 6162 51 um is there [Applause] discussion um may I speak oh yes I'm sorry please the floor is yours R so the only comment that I have um that I already shared with Hela um was that I I was not in favor of any changes to Lang to the language in the original um policy um this just seems like a pointed effort to barricade certain uh one very particular study um and I'm just I'm not in favor of it so um I'm there won't be any there's no changes to the original policy that I would be comfortable with I have the floor uh yes please H the floor is yours so I will just maybe clarify some of the discussion that took place um around this policy uh this it was not really about the research purpose it was mostly one there were two concerns one being the age um of students having to submit to this policy and we added the language that would involve students under eth not would not involve students under the eth grade because if you take a look at some of these um items I think it would be awkward and very difficult for some of these kids to to respond to these that's one the other one really involves instructional material um and that is not prohib hibiting uh surveying uh for educational purposes but it does say that parents have to be made aware of it so think of it this way in a classroom setting where students are being asked uh things regarding their political affiliation or religious uh affiliation or whatever the case may be religious practices uh for breaking them up for a lesson for instructional purposes um that might also get a little bit awkward and maybe parental permission would be or parental awareness might be in you know might be appropriate in those instances that's it but otherwise there really hasn't been anything that was changed just those two concerns that were addressed it's not and in in an educational setting it's really not for research purposes anyway it's really it was really for more instructional purposes and I think it sort of goes along um the same thinking as uh R-rated movies that are shown in the classroom I mean right now uh teachers get parental permission for that and so it's not denying it it's just saying that there has to be awareness that's all and holla this is a first read so um when would the committee want feedback from the board uh the next mon yes before next and this this will be brought up for second read um at the it won't be at the next meeting because we we wait 30 days so it'll be at the June meeting for second read or final read so everybody knows um actually would you like the floor I I just wanted to share one of the things I shared with holla after the meeting that didn't occur to me that I don't know if it needs to be language built in or if it's assumed but one of the things I wanted to make sure of that I didn't think until after we discussed was making sure it didn't affect teachers ability to give questionnaires at the beginning of the school year let's say asking like what's your nickname or I don't I don't think that like we kind of talked through that and I we kind of came to the conclusion we don't think that but I just yeah if I may respond to that it was it specifically says in the language that the elements listed in a through H so that would I mean you know yeah to get to know you kind of questionnaires really wouldn't fall under this not yeah I hope it wouldn't fuel any kind of yeah so I have I have kind of a different um opinion on this and I I see what you were talking about I understand the points that you're making um but I see um that is instructional and not survey a survey is from from my perspective is something that comes from an educational like think tank or or um other organization that's trying to aggregate gather and aggregate data about um the actual lives that students have so that they can be met where they are and it's difficult even for the adults who who are around them and live with them and interact with them every day sometimes to know the truth because um kids have lives that well we're not sure how fully we we see them and so that's that's why I think that that full access like I I don't even agree to the the language about the um the age because I trust and I don't when in saying that I don't mean to imply that you do not trust or that anybody putting forth this policy does not trust but that's just where I'm coming from I trust the professional decision-making of the um uh guidance counselors or the um principles or whoever whoever the facilitators and um people who are going to work with this data I I I trust their judgment on this and so that's that's why I don't support other the changes to this language I think that these can be awkward topics especially for kids who are you know um pre-teens early teens I I don't even know I mean I'm kind of imagining all over the place what kinds of questions could be asked um but I think that if the Educators wonder what the realities are they should be able to use tools that gather that information and I'd just like to point out I I believe that there's an opt out um option for parents um but anyway so I I'm I'm not inclined to support the change to the policy can I just ask you to clarify um what purpose would you see need a teacher needing to find out their students political affiliation which is item a um so I don't just as an example just to clarify what you said sure yeah um I I don't see these kinds of surveys being drawn up by teachers I see them coming from like the um yeah from Brookfield cares off the top of my head or from the US Department of um education or from um I don't know would ETS be one educational testing Ser I mean probably not but like they they want to know are we are we closing the gaps of achievement um by racial group or or a socioeconomic group and and so surveys are one of the tools that um organizations use to gather that data and these are my understanding is these are always Anonymous um and I don't think I don't think that I think that we're talking about two different things you know what I mean yes but not what we are we're we're talking about the same policy because this talks about all instructional materials it's not just talking about surveys like Brookfield cares or other entities it's the instructional materials that teachers are using in the classroom so so I think it's naive to say we need to trust the professionals there's plenty of professionals plenty of adults that don't make a choices there needs to be guidelines in place appropriate guidelines a through H being inappropriate to ask children these items because you're claiming that we should trust that professionals are using this data that they're collecting to gain the information that they want I just want to point out also that um the original policy did include the language about instructional material the only thing we added was involving a throughh just to clarify that that that these would be the topics covered but the language already included all instructional material regardless of format uh including teachers manuals films tapes or other supplementary material shall be available upon request for inspection etc etc so that was already in the policy so that doesn't change it was there um the only thing we added was if they would specifically involve these so we're almost we're almost making the policy a little bit more liberal because if they don't involve a through H then it would be okay and I think one of our intention uncomfortable one of our intentions also was in that Clarity Hollow that you describe is to make sure we weren't confusing folks that think when there is and being very rud M when I say this a survey on what the mascot in the school is going to be that we have to have parent permission to do that you know it's not that kind of stuff it was involving a through AG to your point H thank you for clarifying Rosa can you repeat what you said and just I need I may need some clarity yeah no I think that um this policy which we've been talking about now for over a year um is a very pointed effort to not allow the Brookfield care survey to be deployed in our schools I think that's that's very clear to me um and I think that attempts to keep inserting language to block it is clear to me and I don't think policies should be written that way so I mean we're talking about this language about uh or who is in a grade lower than eighth grade so to me that makes it nearly impossible for Brookfield cares to deploy their surveys to seventh and eighth graders as they usually have so we don't get that information from that survey and maybe that's okay maybe that's I do think that that's exactly what the the motivation was but as Wendy said I've heard from Mr Renda I've heard from Brookfield cares the reports of that survey and the usefulness of it in students those ages and I think that that information should still be surveyable again parents have always had the opt out and so when this first came to review it was oh but they didn't have enough time to survey the study okay fine add language to the policy that gives them plenty of time then that wasn't good enough because ultimately what it is is that that survey doesn't you I don't I don't think I think the motivation is to block that survey and so I don't I don't agree with language that does that I'm sorry you feel that way but that was not the intent of the Comm and you're welcome to sit on that um the fact that we've been going at this for over a year um most of our discussion was not even in reference to the Brookfield care survey um this doesn't just talk this isn't a policy for Brookfield cares it's a policy to deal with all surveys instructional materials what's going on in the classroom so um it's unfortunate that you have that mindset because that's not the positive intent that we had I wasn't here a year and a half ago when this all started but I would have to say yes that was not the intents of the policy and um you know for an 11-year-old or a 12-year-old to be asked about their sex Behavior attitudes I think that's a little uncomfortable um I and I don't know if all of the kids at that age would even be mature enough to answer a question like that uh I do think it's extremely important for kids who are you know reaching adolescence and I think the schools absolutely need to have information in the community about what's going on um I guess I could be swayed but I'm I'm really I'm I think I would be uncomfortable asking those questions to kids of a certain age that's all that was that was the intent but like I but but it is a first read so anybody who has any comments or would like to give Fe feedback you've got a month to do it and this is this is what we're proposing and this is this is about making the the particular survey or materials available to the parent not not doing the survey or using the materials about making them available so parents are aware and then there's then there's opt out options and different things like that that are discussed here so just so everybody is aware that that part of the discussion as well which is in the policy would it is it reasonable or would it make sense to have maybe like the social worker the guidance counselor Mr Renda somebody who's like at the middle school level weigh in because we're making a policy for I mean I don't know I thought it's like to Joy's Point like the Val or to Rosa's point the value of and and Wendy's point the value of that information versus Joy's Point like and holl our point that why would you ever ask below eighth grade that information like I we haven't been here long enough to know the history but also I mean I would have no OB to that people who are experts in that age I would have no objection to that but I'm just saying that this was the intent of the policy that's it and um any comments are welcome and we'd love to have those comments in a month that's it yeah you've given me a lot to think about so I want to spend some more time um on this but but for the moment um we have a motion um on the table and it's been seconded uh to approve um policy 6162 .51 um for a first reading um all in favor of approving I for first reading I'll go with I to so um any oppos say nay n okay so uh it passes um the board has approved um policy 616 2.51 for first reading okay so now we're going to move to uh the next item approval of bylaw 9324 meeting purpose I move that the board approved bylaw 9 324 meeting purpose for a first reading as recommended by the policy communication subcommittee second great so we have a motion on the on the floor and it's been seconded um Ed can we open discussion um actually yes um I would actually like to move to strike the words said station and insert the words on a regularly scheduled oh sorry strike the words on a regularly scheduled rotation B said station and insert the words at the board's discretion and further move to strike the words at any time by anyone it's sort of in that last paragraph there um I'd like to ask you your thinking on the by anyone at any time is that it sure yeah um so the way it looks to me in this policy is that because it says it needs to be available by anyone at any time that we are that we shall post them immediately because they have to be available by anyone at any time and I think that some of the conversations that I had um especially regarding the digital content that in you know of recently that we were talking about um needing that flexibility of maybe not posting immediately or maybe restricting who has access to it like maybe only people that are in Brookfield um you know having to be like on maybe like a list that gets sent out the meeting minutes either you know I'm not suggesting any of that I'm just saying having that flexibility within the policy to me is important this to me restricts and makes it something that we shall do on sort of like an immediate basis I I was just going to say one of the things so we had focused so much on the meeting about adding online streaming streaming service we sort of at least in I missed the scheduled Rotation by said station because it doesn't match up with so it was unintentional I think on our part that that doesn't that language doesn't match up so that was going to be what I had said as well as my language was maybe at the discretion presented on a regularly scheduled rotation or on a regularly scheduled basis at the discretion of the board of bed or the board of bed chair and the superintendent to kind of make sure that we build in language where if there's an emergency there is some actually point of order sorry um the motion that I made was that seconded yes it was oh okay okay so then did you want are you just to clarify are you amending that motion or can you read yours again sorry I wrote down um where did I put it you're just striking it out um striking the words on a regularly scheduled Rotation by said station right and inserting the words at the board's discretion the board's discretion okay and then further moved to strike the words by anyone at any time that was the full motion okay so it reads and be presented at the board's discretion yeah yeah at the board's discretion the's discretion and all all of this um this for people who are watching at home and have no idea what we're talking about um this was a learning curve for those of us who are new uh this came about as a result of the um the March 20th was it March March 8th um uh meeting um which was not immediately posted to the YouTube channel and was put up the meeting was yeah the yeah but it was it was posted a few later um from circumstances that no one could have predicted but it it helped us see that that policy 9324 is out of date the language reflects the system that existed um gosh what was it Mr Belin you're in the audience it was what like eight years ago longer than that years ago okay so so a really long time ago when when the the board was relying on a public access station and so this really is an opportunity to update um this policy and and I I like the the phrasing in the first sentence of via an online streaming service because now we we think of YouTube as being for forever but who knows who knows so I think that this language gives us the flexibility and um also I think for people who are concerned we have folks in the community who are concerned about um uh transparency of board activities and and so it it might seem at first blush that taking out the language by anyone at any time could reduce Public Access but if you look at the way that sentence would would roll without that language there it's actually um it's actually uh very very open it says recorded meetings are available to view on the Brookfield District website which is the current practice um they they they reside there um for for anybody so um let me let me read out the the version that I have and then we can all be on the same page and then this would be the motion on which we would be the language on which we would be voting well first you have to vote online you're only voting to accept first read tonight you don't have to vote on policy okay so do we not have the same you have to just we have the same language um oh okay so you wrote down what I wrote um the yeah yeah yeah sorry go ahead okay so this is this would be the language um all meetings will be recorded for broadcast via an online streaming streaming service and be presented at the board of Ed's discretion or the board's discretion regation the board's discretion not regularly scheduled rotation because they would just be we don't have like a rotation cross it all out the board discretion period um exactly yeah can I just let me let me just finish this recorded meetings are available to view on the Brookfield District website Etc Hala you'd like the floor it sounds awkward to me at at and be presented at the board's discretion I would say all meetings will be recorded for broadcast via an online streaming service and will be available and recorded meetings will be available to view on the Brookfield District's website period um and be presented at the board's discussion I I'm not really it doesn't really make sense to me you're you're right it it sounds like we could just put this into one sentence so it would read all meetings will be recorded for broadcast via an online streaming service and will be available to VI to view view on the Brookfield district and the recorded meetings are available to on thei District okay so I'll make an amended motion then okay so then I'll move to amend uh my motion so that the language reads in its entirety all meetings will be recorded for broadcast via an online streaming service and will be available to view on the Brookfield District website a second okay so we vote on the amended motion yes all right um all in favor of um the language of the amended motion say I I I I okay any opposed so the um motion as amended passes and um leis we have the language for you it's been scribbled but it's here then again policy committee the next time we meet can make sure it's comfortable and then if we don't talk about this again until the June meeting for second read to see if we're going to actually adopt the okay great all right and so we come to uh the final item of I think it's the final item of new business um and that is a consideration of a complaint under 1312 and for this I'm going to um relinquish the chair to the vice chair Rose Fernandez okay um just so uh the Public's aware and just so that we all get on uh the same page um the board alone has discretion over whether or not we consider complaints made against us as a board collectively uh or as individual members um and we also have complete discretion um when not superseded by law as to how we deal with those complaints um so um I'd like to ask every everyone here tonight um if considering the address um if we want to address the refiled complaint um against Wendy Point by Point um and so um rather than open it up to for discussion like I did uh the last time I'd like to ask each one of you individually to weigh in on that so Hala do you want to start us off would you like to go through the complaint Point by point I would um and I'm going to um ask the board to bear with me on this and I apologize ahead of time because we've been talking about time and being brief but I think it's really important to talk about this and to um kind of air our particular positions in voting the way that we did so if everybody remembers and it's in the minutes um at our last meeting April 10th we had originally voted four uh four people voted to dismiss the complaint and three people have abstained one of them being W Wendy youngl she abstained from that vote um and the the what what was presented by Rosa at the time was that policy 1312 does not apply um I'd like to talk about that for a minute before we're going into the particulars of the complaint itself uh in Mr grimes's language policy 1312 is Broad and sweeping those are his words um I think there may be room for the board or the policy uh committee to consider being specific or adding language in that policy to address members of the board but having said that this is an awkward policy to apply to um a board member a complaint against the board member there is no question having said that that the public has the right to complain about a board member and Mr Grimes used the appropriate channels in um sending in a written correspondence that is how we receive complaints that is how the board reads and considers them and in accordance with policy 131 which Rosa Fernandez just read it is at the board's discretion whether or not they will um take action on that claim or how to handle it okay so that's the first uh that's the first item there so again to reiterate the public absolutely has the right to complain they can complain through written correspondence the board has the dis discretion to handle them as they will now this policy 1312 is a procedural policy regarding regarding how complaints are submitted and what channels they go through it specifically indicates that a complaintant first goes to a building administrator if they are not satisfied with that response it they can write a letter to the superintendent if it is about the superintendent then they would write a letter to the chairman of the board of education um as it goes up the the the channels um in this case as you can all see it would be very awkward to write a a letter to the a chairman of the board when the complaint is about the chairman of the board so it's it's kind of an awkward policy however he has the right to complain okay so we go through that now let's talk about the comp the particulars of the complaint itself they are twofold the first is about suspension of the live streaming of the March 20th meeting and Mr Grimes um specifically states that bylaw 9314 was violated and I quote um bylaw 934 14 states that policies bylaws and regulations shall be subject to suspension for a specified purpose and limited time by majority vote of all members of the Board of Education he he his claim is that this policy or this bylaw was violated because a vote was not taken the issue here is that there is no policy or a written policy or bylaw to violate the closest one that comes to this is the policy that we looked at today which is 9324 which we just amended however even the way it St it stated um the way it was before we amended it is that all meetings will be recorded for broadcast and that they are available to view okay we've we've just discuss that language the meeting was in fact recorded and it was it is available to view therefore I don't feel that any policy there was violated um I don't want to overlook any portion of Mr grimes's complaint so I am going to say that he specifically said or implied that that he understands there is no policy but he says that it can be reasonably interpreted because the practice has been going on for years that it can be reasonably interpreted as falling um subject to the suspension bylaw while um Mr Grimes has sat in our seats not too long ago he has self-identified as a recovering board member so I think he understands that we are presented with challenging issues um very often and that we operate with the written policies and bylaws and if it is not written I think it's very dangerous to interpret and um and decide that a practice becomes a policy okay so the second portion of the complaint deals with um public comment and uh he believes that the it is a violation of um the bylaw which states that uh 91 well I'm sorry 9325 that the chairman will not respond to public comment except to clarify issues I remember the March 20th meeting quite well um but because I didn't want to trust anything to memory I went back and viewed the public comment portion and it is my opinion that everything that um Dr Young Blood said in that public comment section was in fact for clarification purposes so I also feel in my opinion that this policy was not violated so taking into account having noted uh Mr grimes's uh concerns and having reflected on these policies which I do not believe are violated I would continue to vote that this complaint not be active acted on thank you um actually be just before you start I just wanted to make it very clear that Wendy's not going to be participating in this portion of the discussion but I'd like to have her still here at the table to answer any questions so of course make as many comments as you want but if you have any questions um for Wendy she's here for that purposes only um so Rob that's fine I'll be very quick and brief as well because I think Hala outlined everything and I agree with pretty much everything that she said I don't want to sit didn't repeat and beat a dead horse but uh just that we do recognize the complaints we do hear them and that we we are here to address them and as a board so that and I I think it was very well Set uh the way H said so I don't really have too much more I like the way we handled it last time to be with the way we took care of it just a little bit of language that we had to work on so I guess my take is separate from the policies um as I went back after the last meeting and I realized I didn't say anything and I was trying to reflect on where this all came from um and some of the misinformation I personally separate from complaints or policies I personally reached out to um when and said I didn't feel it was okay for her to make a decision without all of us we had it back and forth um so I never questioned why she made the decision in terms of what to let the safety concerns of the live streaming I only said to her where my only contention was I don't want her to make a decision without all of us I wanted us to be United for front I wanted us to discuss it I thought that we could all benefit from having a conversation and and then there's now there's policies and complaints I don't I don't think it needed to get to this point I just wanted my my original concern before the meeting happened was we all we should all be making a decision together not have Wendy make the decision for us so I mean there's a policy about and I don't want to go into all of this what the chairman is allowed to do and everything like that but my whole thing I don't want to move forward thinking that our discussions and our opinions aren't going to be part of decisions that are made okay Joy yeah so um I would agree that um I think it's an important practice that for important decisions such as that um and it's not about the actual decision it's um we need to not make have one person make a unal unilateral decision for the board um for that specific policy it's very clear um on that's how I read it and that's what I do feel that policy was violated um I too gave my feelings on you know it could very simply have been a special meeting before our meeting to have a discussion about it um to be forthcoming about any information that um Wendy got from the police department um I think that the roles and duties of the chairman are very clear and one of them is not having the power to unilaterally make decisions such as that um so I think it's an important discussion to have and it's important for moving forward um as a a joint effort and unified Force together as a board and not one person person asserting their power over the rest of the board okay um I will just add some of my own um comments from um I I think my my opinion on 1312 is clear um with regards to policy 9314 I didn't feel there was any violation 9110 no violations um I do think with uh policy 9325 um uh Wendy was in my opinion acting with the best of intentions to protect the impartiality of the board which is her responsibility um by interrupting comments that attempted to identify School Personnel quote by reference which tends to identify an individual so that's important it's not just about mentioning names but if you are mentioning positions that maybe only one or two people occupy that is a reference that tends to identify people which would be a violation of the policy and I think Wendy was trying her best to um maintain the impartiality of the board um in that respect I don't think she violated the policy but rather upheld it um when it it sounds like there's a lot of um sort of comments about the decision to live stream the meeting record it post it um again I think the situation that we found ourselves in was new um we had advice from police and I think that Wendy acted again with every good in ention to protect students staff and board members from future violent and very graphic threats of actual murder so I think to start talking about you know this is so important that we need to have a special meeting before the meeting is making a mountain out of a mole hill when in reality what needed to be done needed to be done swiftly and that's my that's my take on on the policies I don't feel that there was any violation and I think that in at every turn Wendy acted with the best of intentions so would you like to add anything I just have one thing to add one of the things I highlighted when going through 9110 which is duties of the chair in 9110a number three it says the chair will confer with the superintendent on crucial matters which may occur between board meetings so to me that it was a definitely a crucial matter she didn't make it alone the decision to not live stream was made in conference with the superintendent and the recommendation of the chief of police so I don't think her intention was to make a decision to have un unilateral control over the board I I don't I don't fault that decision being made in that situation um and I do think under this particular policy statement that situ in in my opinion that I highlighted it and and pointed it out because I do think that was a crucial matter in between board meetings um in terms of all the other policies I holla said everything uh that needs to be said I don't think there is um weight to any of his complaints in terms of not that we don't want to hear complaints but under the policies that he specifically stated for his specific reasons um I think it can be dismissed the way we handled it last time also want to say one go ahead um to me I I don't I think crucial is a very strong word um I don't think that was a crucial decision that needed to be made um it wasn't a state of an emergency um yes it was very unfortunate very negative um but it's not to say that people weren't recording it on their phones or that information wouldn't have gotten out anyway um to me that wasn't an emergency situation that is something that we could have dealt with together as a board um well informed about the same information and then made made an informative decision together as a board um also PA I just want to verify clarify what you said so if if somebody makes a complaint the expectation is they yet to make that complaint through written correspondence is that I think that I mean that's how we have received complaints I mean they any member of the public has the right to complain and they can do it through written correspondence and uh we handle it as such it's not that Mr Grimes does not have the right to make the complaint of course he does he of course anybody has the right to complain against a board member or anything else um it's just that he decided to cite a policy you you don't have to you don't have to site a policy to make a complaint that's that's that's the whole point and I just want want to add and this is just on a personal note I actually thank Wendy for um for taking making this DEC I mean it was a terrible time and yes we can argue we can discuss whether or not it actually provides any safety um but if a police chief and we can we can we can say that people can stream it sure they can we know that do we know that it's going to keep us safe no we will never know but if there is one little iota of a CH that this has enhanced the safety of our children or of any member of our community or our school Community our board then thank you for for making that decision I just have if you had it to do with ver again would you do it differently um perhaps I I'll think about that and I'll chat with you about it okay um does anybody have any other comments or questions that they want to add at this time so um just one more thing sorry um you know I'm not looking to rehash what happened in the past I'm always looking want to look forward and I just hope that moving forward um that we stand United as a board and discuss things as as a board and if there's information that's so crucial and so important it needs to be shared with all the board members and we need to collaborate collaboratively work together and decide courses of action I don't think it should be unilaterally left in the hands of one person okay so hopefully everyone's gathered enough information and everybody has spoken their piece uh regarding the complained violations brought forward by Mr Grimes is there a motion for any action regarding this complaint I would move to dismiss the complaint and take no action pursuant to the citizen complaint under policy 1312 do I have a second thank you Hela um I do want to clarify here that we should all be prepared to actually vote on this if you feel like you have no conflict of interest and you're still feeling like abstaining then please by all means now is the time to get any information that you feel that you need to vote so that being said is there any further discussion on this is everybody prepared to vote Yes okay so all in favor of dismissing this complaint please signify by saying I I I all those opposed I please signify by saying Nay n okay so that the motion to dismiss passes uh 42 and one oh I'm sorry abstentions I okay so 4 two one abstention all right um Wendy the chair uh chair is back over to you okay um so uh I now GNA we're going to do uh same version um we're going to um discuss the complaint against um Rosa uh she will made on sorry sorry um thank you very much Kathy uh we're going to discuss um the citizen complaint um made April um 11th I believe um from Mr Grimes um against the actions of Rosa when she assumed the chair um in our last meeting I thought I could do it for memory but I have to go to my um text okay so um just a second all right so first um I'd like to know if the board uh wants to engage in discussion of this as we just established um it is completely within the purview of the board to decide whether or not to um take up a complaint and if so to do it um the discretion is wholly ours so um first I'd like to I'd like to hear from you whether you'd like to take up the complaint of we started on Holo side last time so can we start with you this time uh I feel the same I don't think that we should consider it and I would choose to dismiss the complaint and move on um I don't have the language in front of me I think the the nature of the complaint was that um that um Miss Fernandez displayed behavior that was um biased and unfair I believe that's or unfair and biased I believe those are the two uh key terms um I mean depends on what part you yeah yeah you have the language of on this matter in terms of our statements uh yes thank you thank you very much so um having a pres Prejudice or bias um in terms of you said in terms of her statements okay in terms of her statements thank you very much um so I'm sorry Stephanie just to recap you said I I mean I I have nothing to say at this time um come back to me cuz all right I I have um I I don't believe that's what she did and okay I don't have any reason to think we should consider it or move forward with the discussion okay um but I don't discount my other board members needing to do that certainly um Joy do you have um thoughts or discussions well I was just going to say in the complaint it says they want they are requesting how a citizen should file a complaint about a board of education member and H that would be the right um I I can't speak to if she had pres pres Prejudice or bias on a matter so it's nothing that I would want to continue okay um thank you uh Sarah the floor is yours um yeah I I mean it's not the last meeting the policy was the one that we were questioning so now we're saying we can just maybe we just have to make sure that it's clear that if anyone wants to complain they don't have to mention a policy because that used to be that tended to be the hangup last time so I guess we just have to make sure that our communication is clear going forward but as far as this is concerned I think um we have to move on Robert I agree I I didn't think any Prejudice or anything was displayed and I'm I'm okay with moving on as well thank you H I'm just going to read one other part of Mr grimes's uh complaint and that is um quote I am not as concerned in this complaint as I am with the complaint filed previously and with respect to this complaint I request the following um a formal acknowledgement that uh 1312 does apply or alternatively um how the public might have the right to complain and I think we've already addressed those issues so I would also uh be in favor of dismissing this claim this a complaint sorry okay and I I would say just for the record that my thoughts Echo uh what Robert expressed um okay so then um is there a is there any further discussion or shall we put a motion um I'll move to dismiss this complaint and take no action okay so can we have it all together I move to dismiss complaint and take no action I second okay just so we're all clear right all in favor of the motion to dismiss and take no action I I okay um any opposed please signify by saying nay and any extensions so the motion passes um the board has agreed to um dismiss the complaint and take no action all right so now we are moving to Old business um the we're going to uh discuss or continue our discussion about the uh adopted budget as needed Mrs diad have you something for us um sure um nothing nothing too too specific other than there are still you know some um what we call puts and takes um in different um you know budget areas as Eric mentioned earlier we um we are finalizing our new lease with Canon for our copier um Fleet of copy machines um that will see um an increase in that line um uh there's ALS but then there's you know on the other side um changes in Staffing with uh retirements resignations and how that might impact um as you know we did have a reduction of the technology in integrator position and so who that who that actual individual in the bargain unit may be still can change between now and um you know the end of this whole proc process so there's a lot of um there's a lot of moving parts and we we are tracking it and um we'll have more to uh a final you know um list of changes for you to vote on um in the coming weeks yeah and and at the last meeting we presented that list to everybody which is really a very meaty list a healthy list that really we don't anticipate a lot of change there that's a substantive list um but any adjustments we certainly will bring forward um and as a reminder our next board meeting is May 22nd uh we will assuming uh hoping uh that the vote is out there and favorable and the budget passes on May 21st when we have the referendum the board we will have on the agenda a motion to adopt the changes to the budget to fit within the reduction of the $700 plus th000 reduction from the January adopted budget that the board report all right um are there questions the budget any discussion okay um actually just one sorry um so so we don't actually I'm trying to remember but I guess like haven't done this enough um we don't actually need to vote to make those reductions until after the referendum we we could vote now if someone wanted to put that on the table but it's we don't know what's going to happen on May 21st so why do it you know have to do it twice you know the next day we can make that decision and what happens there is that really triggers for us a movement forward with lot you know job certain job postings perhaps and other things to move forward U with our our teacher contracts and uh unaffiliated uh decisions we still need to make and so forth as a board and we could do all those decisions on May 22nd um and give our finance department time to make the adjustments before July 1 again assuming the budget is favorable and passes yeah cuz the bottom line budget number you know what that is right so so really it's now just where is that going to be spent very specifically and um you know almost the more time we have to fine-tune that then the the less variances there will be you know once the the year starts so but do you think it's useful though to reiterate where those where you know we're thinking of making those cuts because you know there's not going to be another meeting before the referendum the um Board of Ed meeting before the referendum so um is it worthwhile to go through what those cuts were so that people can make an informed decision about you know what they're voting on or I mean if you I'm just saying if you wanted to I didn't go through it in my financial report because I figured we'd be spending time doing it now but if you wanted to they are in the minutes of to say of that report um and I would encourage anyone from the public to take a look at that document and see where some of these cuts are being made um we went over that in detail at the last meeting can find it from last meeting we could pull it up on the screen and go through it again we also did put it in three main points so it is out there it may have been out there in a letter I sent to parents as well to post it on Facebook walk through sort of the the big the main areas to yeah I I don't think it would hurt to do again I don't think there's you know I think this is like something that is important for you want the top as you can see on the website very first um Link at the top of the budget the historical budet awesome so Casey question absolutely so um the way this the way we've uh sort of bucketed these reductions um are um from from order of operational which is um you know not that we have no control over this but we really literally had no control over the health Insurance uh rate that came in um that was the largest reduction to the um operating budget in the amount of uh just over $300,000 we initially when we developed the budget back in December the estimates from um the state PL partnership plan was uh an an increase of 7% um the final numbers came in at an increase of 2% which was was um you know it significant savings it we I also did update the Census Data from December to um I think or early March so it is the most accurate information we had at that point in time another adjustment in our electricity we did lock in at a um rate of 988 kilowatt hours for um the next 3 years so that brings us through I believe 2027 um December of 2027 when we budgeted it was 11 cents per kilow hour so that was um a good savings workers comp compensation um a slight reduction there um so those are the real the the operational Cuts that's just under $400,000 of the $728,000 uh reduction that we needed there were some changes in special education um and this again is at the point in time where where the budget is developed um this is the the total expected cost uh for our um special education tuition and transportation and then the net impact on our excess cost grant that we receive and programming um we did side uh because we do have a lot of other investments in this uh this Budget moving forward enrollment um or rolling in um ARP eser funding and and arper grants and things like that um we did decide to scale back the enrollment study and instead of doing the comprehensive uh $15,000 um enrollment study uh just a an update to the the birth rate study um by uh Peter praa um which will will give us good information but it's just it's just scaled down and then some other changes in programming um and really just fine-tuning based on student usage and um what is used in the district things like Lexia um ST Math mclass intervention formative those are all different programming um things that we have we have removed because either they aren't utilized enough or there's some overlap overlap in some other um protocols and and assessment tools that we have we made a reduction to um library books across all three schools um and again this was all done working collaboratively with uh building principles um so there was no surprise to any of these reductions um moving along to the more harder um the harder uh changes we had to make in reductions um were related to Personnel um we did decide to reduce the technology integrator position um which is a 1.0 FTE position as I said before it it doesn't mean that that individual that's in that role um will be the the individual that's uh leaving the the district um it's it's all done through the collective bargaining agreement um and so the last person in that has the certification um will be uh you know that comparable to this will be um the person that would need to leave and with retirements and resignations coming up again we don't know how that's going to um play out in the end of the day um we did have a retirement in the secretary's un um bargaining unit and we have decided um um now that we've had a year under our Bel at CES there may be able we may be able to shift um a secretary um in that area to to cover a need elsewhere we're not going to replace the um retirement uh that we that has that has occurred we also have a point5 um nurse uh position which is actually um Services uh students um at um Christian Life Academy which is our this is one of your first learning things in the budget process is that we are we are required by State Statute to to um provide those services to um private schools in in in the town of Brookfield and so we are thinking um with the reduction of fifth grade moving from WMS to um clees we we lost a lot of students there we kept the Staffing um the same both in our with our secretaries and our nurses and we're thinking we may be able to utilize um uh some some of those you know our current existing employees to cover the needs over there it's not a full-time need over at CLA CLA so um we believe we can do that then there's some so the total Cuts were $783,000 offsets to that were in operational increases for liability insurance which Rosa had spoken about um adding CES to our policy did increase um our liability insurance some salary some you know small fine-tuning to some salary adjustments and then some programming increases while we are eliminating the tech integrator position um we do still have a lot of uh goals in our strategic plan um around technology and integrating that into our curriculum and so we did um add about 50 add $115,000 to the budget um for professional development um for staff at all three schools um as Joy mentioned before we did add um American sign language so that the that there's three students in year one of that program we want to make sure that they can see that through um and so the total increases uh were 55,57 and that gets us um you know within a few dollars of of where we we need to be thank you you're welcome thank you and and for people who are still watching um they have just gotten a reminder of the the difficult cuts um and hopefully this budget will pass so that the cuts stop here Y and I just wanted to add that it's it's really important to to talk about timing because I think in the community there probably will be messages floating around out there that you know considering you know the nearly $800,000 that we had to you know cut from the budget that this money was somehow magically found it was so easy and there wasn't you know but when the budget's presented and adopted in I mean it's presented in December but it's adopted in January and really mid January um it's incredibly early and so those estimates and the budget isn't entirely an estimate um those estimates are extremely conservative and those numbers are expected to change um obviously in some ways in a very great way and other ways not so great um but those conversations have been had with the board of Selectmen and the board of Finance throughout their process of determining what is appropriate level of a cut for us and how they it helped them reach their decision um so the money is never magically found it's a part of an ongoing conversation so I just wanted to make sure that that was kind of very clear add to that the estimates are strong estimates I mean the we talked to our health insurance uh adviser to get the estimate in you know November for what we present in December so nobody's picking these out of thin air or really uh uh it's math at the end of the day that's all this is is math and we make our estimates based off of that and the advice we get uh from our different uh advisers and partners thank you thanks everybody so that concludes old business and now we'll move to public comment and now Mr Highland you've been so patient you're up sir we get there eventually yes sir so you were here for the first reading of the guidelines on public comment um three minutes per person please state your name and your address um thank you very much uh my name's Tom Highland I live on Freddy's Lane in Brookfield been living here for about two years uh raised my kids in bethl so we started out over there they're full grown adults now and just in a public form in an educational setting I wanted to speak to what's going on on college campuses right now I think it's shameful what's going on the anti-Semitism that's obvious sorry that can't happen here my father's generation was World War II my father-in-law World War II three of my uncles my youngest uncle died in the war that cannot stand in this country there is no place for Jew hatred or hatred of anybody based on their ethnic background or on their religion it just can't fly and people need to speak up about this and not just sit there watch the news and let it roll over them I'm not a public speaker I've never stood up in a forum like this before and had anything to say to anyone I see a lot of good people in this room great kids great parents he said the Pledge of Allegiance which is awesome I appreciate that but there is just no place for this in our society so what I'm thinking and I could be off base and I would love to know what you guys think separately or together has di Dei gone sideways on college campuses where inclusivity is not inclusive where diversity does not include diversity of thought I'm not in favor of shutting anybody down period have a First Amendment right now this country to speak your mind and you have a need to do it to be a good American to not stand against anti-muslim hatred anti-jewish hatred anti- anybody it should not flaw in this country and that's what caused World War II was the crap the Nazis were doing in Germany with the Jew hatred which set everything off that led with Japan and all of that stuff stuff that went on that was such a terrible thing that we never want to end up there so I've kind of said my piece and I also want to say one other small piece on this and I'm all done I know you're all tired I have concerns with Equity going sideways Equity means equal outcomes that is Marxist theory okay just so you guys are aware of that I know a lot of people will confuse equality with Equity they are not the same thing America stands for a quality of opportunity not equal outcomes which is round pegs into square holes and square holes or Square PS into rounds thank you for thank you very much I appreciate you hanging in late at night and hearing you out thank you thank you Mr Korea is it on uh anti Korea 45 West W Road um just a couple of points of what I've observed for the um some of the discussion here um so it's a violation of the code of ethics to sit at the table while you um while you have to recuse yourself from something that you're that you you have a conflict in so tonight we had two violations of the code ethics there's a reason for for rules you know sometimes the rules here we see we have rules changed policies changed to avoid a situation that happened in the past um so you know the respondents of those complaints could easily come up here and answer questions on the mic but what you don't do is decide what you want to do at the time you follow the rules personally I think it makes sense to have not broadcasted meeting right um if there was credible evidence you know I would think you would probably have two or three people that wanted to broadcast it by four four or five that that would say no it's not there's been a ton of discussion the easiest thing would have been don't broadcast the first few minutes and then add to the agenda a vote should we turn the video on it's really simple most of these issues are super simple if you're not like in a caucus deciding you know chess games about the silliest little things you know just like managing people right if you're violating law and you are not providing services to children for special education what you do is you don't shut parents off after 3 minutes you figure out what's going on and then you go fix it a lot of these issues could be solved if people just figured out the information looked at the actual condition built a plan plan and executed a little point of clarification is uh you know MC Rams was on the board of education 20 years ago so not just a few years um the meeting videos are not on the district website there's a link to the YouTube link there is still references to channel 194 right um the policies that policy that you went over that is so outdated you know there's a ton of them that's the work you're supposed to be doing right the the proposal to have 12 meetings verus 16 meetings is very important because that reduced the number of regular meetings which you have public comment by 25% right that public comment so so if you added special meetings you're structurally taking away public comment because special meetings don't have public comment unless you put it on the agenda and you only put it on the agenda related to those specific topics so there has been a lot of um operational things around reducing public comment what there hasn't been a lot of operational focus on is fixing the problems that parents come to speak to you about if you just do your jobs as opposed to move the chest pieces around to save face things will go a lot better I would like to not come here every other week right I'd like to come here a couple times a year and say what a great job you're doing because if you were just like I come and tell you in detail what you're doing wrong I would do the exact opposite for what you're doing right now thank you thank you and um the fin public comment is Mrs scol sorry guys I know you're tired I am too um Aon Scalera 5 Jackson drive I'm here this evening to clear the air about a few things I was disappointed but not shocked that the board retreat on Saturday some members were actually complaining that the same parents keep showing up with the sole purpose of getting rid of the superintendent and then questioning why the few parents continue to show up as the board did what they what we already wanted them to do was get rid of the old special director for starters I've not stood up here and asked to do anything with the super superintendent but stated over and over that the firsthand struggles that my child and family have experience and sadly continue to experience is tied to the lack of oversight monitoring and Leadership to ensure that every child in Brookfield is is afforded an exceptional education but even more a free and appropriate education I've shown up for quite some time to voice my concerns with special education and I will continue to do so until my child has an appropriate program where data and progress is collected and growth is seen I will also make it very clear that this is not an arena that a parent would choose to stand up and voice continued problems and failures within the special education department yet every other Avenue to date has been a dead end road so I guess I have a a standing date for the foreseeable future to wait for 3 minutes praying someone does something to make a difference for not only my child but every identified student who is receiving a far Le far less than what they were legally entitled to this isn't about more money it's about oversight Contin continued meaningful targeted training and most of all immediate accountability for all service providers I ask each of you while anyone that that puts themselves out here and is willing to stand up and speak to put yourself in their shoes and would you be happy if it was your child or your family that was affected by whatever they choose to speak about my child to date has no required testing nothing's driving instruction we have no data we have no trials by the people providing the instruction or Services he doesn't have an OT which is required for his disability and and yet the supervisor in charge is nowhere to be found I can't get any answers so that's why I'm here so maybe the administration should consider bringing in special education coaches I mean that's the model we're moving to maybe we need coaches instead of Supervisors maybe coaches can help Drive instruction and show these teachers how to progress monitor how to give our kids what they need so they can make they can make grow thank you Mrs Scalera just um one note on that um for clarity I I I think it needs to be said that that we the board hears the frustration um it's it's consistent and and um easy to track but by law we have no role the board has no role in the special processes um you you can talk about uh your your child um any any person can talk about their child but uh but by law uh we cannot respond other than providing resources um that the administration requests so um anyway that's that's that's the point for this evening okay so um now we're moving to the three main points um Stephanie what did you gather and then we'll give you some input uh so I think a budget update with a reminder to vote on May 21st the BHS um Athletics report and the CK science of reading program I was thinking since the up since the sports update is not official yet maybe like the technology update is more important because it's not final yet yeah people want to know about that yeah the technology update technology update instead of what Joy instead of the athletic update final just a draft and we'll we'll post it anyway can we put get it what about putting um public comment on just addressing the fact that we're listening and just mentioning that toing sent because that also came up when we were adjusting the calendar for the for the dates of our meetings could you go a little bit more into into depth like the what what the point is like that it's valued or it could be it could be a summary it could be a high level but just some sort of acknowledgement I just feel like that might be the time that maybe instead of Technology update I don't know um we have the ca I definitely think is and then budget update with a reminder to vote since it's our last meeting I mean just a thought going out there I'm okay um I want um I I just want to say for the record because we' brought this up a couple of times um there's continued uh cons consistent effort to address the concerns that are um shared through email um to the board and um so I think because often those are paralleled you know the public comment and the um Communications we've been receiving there um but I don't know that that'll make the three points this time because I think these are three very high priority items I would agree I think like the the the point of three main points is if you don't want to watch watch 3 hours 4 hours of a video and the minutes don't tell you enough what are the big three takeaways what is what's the main business that we conducted at this meeting so in keeping with that spirit I think the three points that you know we discussed was most appropriate Robert got anything okay um upcoming events the only ones I had Ava already listed which was prom and graduation okay so for people watching at home um this concludes the public portion of the meeting um uh we are going to hopefully be moving into um executive session um I do have one minor change for you guys so could we get a a motion I move that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing the superintendent's goals evaluation unaffiliated salaries and contracts and um shoot shoot shoot all right that's okay no no no because I screwed up I screw up am the I I'm going to move to amend the motion to add the words to add the words and attorney client privileged information which didn't make this um I'll second okay thank you thank you um all in favor of amending the motion to add the words and attorney client privileged information okay so that passes so then the um motion as amended um I'll just move that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing the superintendent's goals and evaluation Affiliated salaries and contracts and attorney FL privileged information it's already on the table so you're good no second need all right um so uh then can we move into executive session with all in favor favly thank you all right folks go to the accompl he [Music]

right yeah yeah we'll do six and seven on third I'll get I'll get with the I'll get with Peggy on page three thank you of course thank you so anything else I make a mo that was that was uh Lieutenant teraki gave me the first right who was the second Mr nadw yes okay I like to take a vote if I may uh Mrs Abu yes Mr capan yes okay Mr fr uh Mr Garcia just he just uh texted me okay Mr NW yes Dr pontano yes Mr rainc Court yes Mr Russo yes Mr tabaka yes and Mr yanzi yes okay great thank you so much um like I said appreciate everyone's support I mean all these agreements and contrac and vendors it really comes from the support of the board you know allowing us to to engage in Professional Services and keeping our buildings up to speed engaging in and implementing new curricula and new math series that we just spoke about so I think it's all good stuff I think we're all going in the right direction and hopefully we'll have a successful uh 2425 so thank you again for all your support really appreciate it l I'm going to make a motion that we we we close and then I just want to go into close session really quick just to go over a few things with the board if that's okay sure sure of course Frank you want to uh

our screen our video off while he's presenting is that okay you'll still be on our camera will just be off while he's giving his presentation because it's from this laptop yeah that's fine is that okay he could share it to this he's going to share it to this meeting right so I would be able yeah you'll be able to see it he he just he just said that he's going to turn the video off while he's presenting it's fine think know this place is looking very Swank God P yeah looking Sharp of the United States of America and to the stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all uh Mr shahada please call a roll Miss bassford present Mr brunak here Mr kova yeah Mr Mahia Mr Santiago here Mr siano here M Suarez here vice president Danny here president Paris here we have a Corum thank you uh one public service announcement at approximately 9:00 we will be breaking for executive session we have some uh legal matters that we need to address uh and the uh parties uh have an appointment with us at that time um so without further Ado we'll get things started uh the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an everchanging world the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has C caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV and the local press on the district's website and mail to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 do we have our student representative here this evening I don't think you can hear you can't hear me I don't know no I think he's out in the hall I think he's no she's not here she's not here this evening okay so we will we will move on to uh recognition and of the uh the cathlon team the CHS academic the cathlon team has qualified for the national finals for the fourth time in Five Seasons led by a talent by talented captains Amir Mustafa aan panchal and na ROK the team won the super quiz at the state finals for the first time ever coming from four points down entering the last round to win in overtime Alexander Jack mowitz was the highest scorer on the team and Brian weglinski and Amir Mustafa were co-mvps [Applause] W academic the cathlon is the Premier academic competition in the United States schools from all over the country participate Clifton High School is competing virtually this year and hopes to make Nationals again next year so congratulations to the academic the cathlon team and we will call you up one by one for your certificates [Applause] you okay so we there's a team's rather large of course so we are going to call everyone up one by one uh but then once we have everybody up here and congratulate and we'll do aot that uh our assist the superintendent of curriculum uh kenita cevich will present you Rand [Applause] Amar Omar [Applause] Aliana AR [Applause] Olivia aala [Applause] Ander jaimovich [Applause] ji Jal [Applause] Desai Kimberly [Applause] phis and ernestina [Applause] Fiero [Applause] lyyn moo am Mustafa go you go [Music] [Applause] a r [Applause] my kids so you're okay like that just when everybody uh I think you're okay let's see Mr Paris you're just why don't you just move over a little bit right there okay two one do a backup thank you congratulations [Applause] next recogniz okay so our freshman student of the month is Kamia Shmi Kamia yes let's [Applause] yes Kamia is our exceptional freshman student of the month she finds joy in exploring history embracing diverse cultures and traditions Kamia attributes her academic drive to her influential Roc teacher Mr Navaro and draws inspiration from her hardworking mother's example balancing her studies with participation in Roc and the Premed Club she credits her success to proactive time management and goal setting looking ahead Kamia plans to seize opportunities like the MSU program at Clifton High and embodying uh proving determination and ambition congratulations [Applause] Kamia okay going to do family family phone first one more congratulations [Applause] thank you president Paris uh for certificate of achievement this recognition is certified to Philip loury on behalf of the Clifton Board of Education and administration for sophomore student of the month our sop sophomore student of the month of May in is Phillip alborzi he's passionate about video production and cast class where he excels in editing and live streaming events Philip's Mentor Mr mccy guides him in mastering camera techniques Philip is also inspired by Taylor Swift's journey and admires her success outside class Philip volunteers at the Clifton Boys and Girls Club and assists Chef Nikki at Junior Chef classes his success comes from seeking help when needed and pursuing honors English 3 next year he plans to join Clifton High School's MSU program to pursue his dream of studying film at MSU please clap for Philip elor [Applause] yep gotcha all right [Applause] congratulations thank you president Paris I have the pleasure of reading the junior uh student of the month from grade 11 George Rivas who I know personally so this is a a very big honor for me I remember the day he was born George Rivas is our Junior student of the month George passion lies in studio art as he aspires to pursue art as a career George draws inspiration from his teacher Mr stepneski as he has been very influential to him and has helped him grow as a student he's deeply influenced by the hard work of his family who drives him to excel academically juggling marching ban trim and ARA Society George has mastered time management skills despite challenges like maintaining grades alongside extracurriculars he remains determined looking ahead George plans to attend college in New York where he will major in graphic design is George here probably not he's probably out he's out of band so this is to George yeah he's he's at a band function so congratulations George well be [Applause] go thank you Mr President grade 12 student student of the month Briana Gonzalez introducing Briana Gonzalez our student senior of the month whose love for math has been a lifelong passion she excels in the subject finding joy in its complexity since childhood among her mentors is Miss Ibraham stands out as the most influential Briana deeply values Miss ibrahim's unwavering support kindness and dedication to her students briana's ultim ultimate inspiration is her mother who selflessness and unwavering support have shaped briana's character and aspirations outside the classroom Brianna's leadership shines as the former captain of the varsity cheer team and a member of the dance Ensemble she sets her sights on attending rampo college to pursue nursing with dreams of becoming a NICU nurse or a pediatrician congratulations Banna [Applause] s that's right never be too prepared congratulations congratulations thank you president Paris um I will be presenting for Elizabeth Nick Elizabeth Nick also known as Liz is the transportation supervisor for the district Liz oversees the safe and efficient operation of transportation services for our students Liz understands both the needs and concerns of both students and parents regarding transportation and assure students feel safe and comfortable with traveling in buses with this past Summer's server outages she worked endless hours to ensure the school year ran as smoothly as possible and the department was up to par Liz creates a positive and safe work environment for all bus drivers and AIDS Liz's ability to motivate and lead her team is remarkable let's give it up for Li uh for Liz thank [Applause] you beautiful does anybody have [Music] [Applause] congratulations employe of the month I have that one it was my pleasure to announce the elementary distinguished employee of the month Joel [Applause] Rosetti Joel Rosetti is the principal in school N9 Joelle has constantly demonstrated outstanding commitment and professionalism in her role she goes above and beyond to ensure a smooth operation daily and the well-being of her students Joelle is present involved hardworking caring and passionate Joel is committed to making all School nine members feel welcom and cared for staff trust in her to support their Journey as Educators and respect her guidance and encouragement she makes it a point to get to know each and every student and form strong relationships with the staff and families Joelle worked with the custodial staff this past summer to get the building ready to open at the beginning of the school year she painted scrubbed vacuumed and moved furniture without anyone asking her to do so Joelle is always available to help whatever the situation is and constantly puts the well-being of her students and staff Above All Else Joelle embodies the value of school n and serves as an inspiration to our community school Community her love for her school shines in everything she does congratulations Joelle [Applause] well please I didn't realize yeah they can all come up nine will shine n will shine sh sh [Applause] congratulations mcy thank you it's an honor to be recognized um I want to thank my team though it's a true team effort that's and I wouldn't be the leader I am today if it wasn't all [Applause] that middle scho it is my honor to talk about the Middle School distinguished employee of the month one of my former teachers Salvatore enal Jr give it up give it up salvator naldi is a special education teacher in woodro Wilson Middle School s understands and empathizes with the struggle and challenges faced by students with special needs he helps build trust and Rapport to enhance students learning s is flexible in his teaching methods and approaches to adapt to student requirements and provide personalized support s is always finding creative ways to engage students in learning he collaborates with other Educators Specialists parents and support staff to meet all his students needs s maintains a positive and optimistic attitude and is consistently celebrating students small and big successes South Foster is a supportive classroom making students feel valued and empowered his dedication expertise and commitment to Student Success make him an invaluable asset at our school community and I can vouge for all of that so come on up big round of [Applause] applause yeah bring wait a minute are you sure you got the do you want me to take a picture with that why didn't you go up and I'll take a picture with your phone seriously you have nowhere to stick yourself okay all right I can that's everybody okay great yeah two one [Applause] congratulations thank you everybody [Applause] high school high school I got thank you president Paris our High School distinguished employee of the month is atio venturelli Mr venturelli is a school counselor at the high school he exemplifies dedication compassion and excellence in his role with a keen understanding of the diverse needs of our students atio goes above and beyond to provide invaluable support and guidance whether assisting students with academic planning offering emotional support during challenging times or facilitating College and Career Readiness workshops he demonstrates a genuine commitment to the well-being and success of each student he helps students feel heard valued and empowered to reach their full potential to plays a multifaceted role in supporting the academic social emotional and career development of students contributing to their overall success and well-being both during high school and Beyond before we give a big round of applause to till I just want to say venturelli rang a bell and I said so I reach out to my sons and do you know this venturelli guy and they both had amazing things to say but my son Matthew says yeah he's awesome why and I said well I'm going to do this award tonight and he said he definitely deserves deserves it so till was my son Matthew's high school counselor and I just want to personally thank you for your dedication compassion and Excellence to your role give so you want your team with you nobody's there I Mr Santiago whoa good catch did you plan this for did you plan this for his birthday nice happy [Applause] birthday 29 never looked so good you're a good I love you too okay last one three two one congratulations [Applause] it's Anon and to high school want to introduce my team kler Sarah Rado jod Springer greay mod one of the finest teams my sister in faith Jackie Fest serno and I have to do a shout out to the pon high school I'm honored and privileged to work there and I have to tell you a special shout out to my supervisor Jennifer Burman she's the finest person I've ever worked for her dedication so thank you for this [Applause] great uh ladies and gentlemen I have the honor of presenting last month's Middle School um uh Employee of the Month uh unfortunately he couldn't be with us last month so we're making it up today uh Jeff labriola our teacher at Christopher Columbus Middle School Jeff is in his 23rd year in education and still possesses all the attributes that have made him an indispensable part of our staff as well as a dynamic educator who has evolved in a manner that continually evaluate elevates his connection with the to students Jeff came up with the general concept of taking over his Advanced art Home Room students to the high school so they can meet the art teachers there and experience a day in the life of CHS visual art student it was a phenomenal success Jeff is competent inquisitive creative and a dynamic and effective educator these attributes are at the Forefront of his interactions with his students and colleagues any work delegated to Jeffrey is always completed organized and punctual Jeff understands and tolerates differences and points of view with fellow staff members he is curious and willing to ask questions in order to become a better teacher he has been instrumental in leading and training our staff on the pbsis program to improve the overall climate of the school he serves as facilitator of the art department but more importantly he is viewed as a master educator who offers his help to whomever desires it Jeff demonstrates that he is a resourceful and great Problem Solver when he has a problem to present he always comes prepared with possible solutions to discuss with the group please join me in congratulating Mr Jeff labriola [Applause] thank you thank you thank watch your step I I'll take it yeah do you want to do yeah sure all right there's a step there and it's not really visible yeah everybody's uh okay three two one Jack looking at losing and we'll do one more yeah absolutely three two one how's that for timing my battery's going dead on this that's why I have this congratulations [Applause] conratulations president Paris the entire Board of Education of course Dr Rober Mr it's been a wonderful 23 years there Christopher Columbus when I say 23 years sometimes can't believe that number almost a quarter of a century in a building that's almost 100 years old it's it's a lot in the second grade I drew a picture it's some my costume that said when I grew up I want to be an art teacher and show kids to make our projects so dream do come true if you know follow your passions and you have the right to work from the beginning I've been fortunate to work with wonderful administrators I would like to thank Mrs gab Mr berini and Mrs Tori um I wear many hats at Columbus uh and their support and encouragement never ceases to amaze me Mrs Gabe is always willing to embrace my Visions as an idea as a teacher Club advisor and the champ a chair so I really thank her for being you together we've accomplished great things for kids and for the of CCS for years I'd also like to thank my super here exactly what a supervisor should be someone who's there to be a support advocate for his Department he really rocks of course my family I'm so blessed by my daughter Grace my son jack my dad my mom and my sister both retired clipon Educators um thank you for always supporting my career and lastly my students current including Comm commissioner Mia thank you who was not here but thank you for for everything um every day make me a better educator and for that I'm most [Applause] grateful thank you oh goodbye it was good it's great to see you byee are you ready we're ready ready okay next on our agenda we will have a presentation from our uh Vice uh assistant superintendent of business uh Mr shahada not doing the committe no shut that off it's kind of creepy I'm just going to go right over it all right good evening Commissioners thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the 2425 budget this budget isn't just for next year this budget is one we believe will put us on solid footing for years to come over the past few weeks we have provided you all with a lot of information some was simple some was complex while we would love for you all to vote Yes and just let me sit down my goal was to make sure you were all informed and had a solid understanding of this budget here is the district at a glance we have 24 facilities and there in the process of acquiring two more we have 1,700 employees almost 12,000 students and of those 3500 are transported on a daily basis with 57 Vans and buses in circulation over a th000 student athletes and 160 clubs and activities here is the budget schedule we follow this year the preliminary budget was approved on March 8th it was advertised in the Bergen record on April 23rd and the last day to hold a public hearing is Monday is Tuesday May 7th this is the district's total budget for the 2425 Year all in we are at $293 million roughly $260 million will come from the local tax levy and state aid in addition to the revenue we get from the state we also receive money from the federal government for specific programs this totals an estimated $25 million a $20 million decrease from last year and here is how the revenue for 2425 will be spent as you can see our largest expenditure is salary and benefits equating to roughly 76% of our budget leaving us 24% to run the day-to-day operations of the district which ranges from maintenance to the implementation of curricular initiatives and these are the positions that were newly budgeted for the 2425 Year all of these positions are necessary to further help our students growth it's important to note that this list is is not set in stone we anticipate a continued rise in enrollment for the special education and multilanguage learner population and it's highly probable that some if not all of these positions will adapt to support these Evol uh these evolving needs excuse me in the past two years alone we have seen an increase of 130% between special education and multilanguage Learners now it's no secret that Charter School numbers have drastically increased year-over-year here you will see a 5-year look back in the past 5 years we have seen on average a 21.9% increase in tuition and roughly a 12% increase in enrollment now in collaboration with the facilities committee these are the capital reserve projects for the 2425 year just to clarify these projects are not impacted by the local tax and Levy increase currently we have two debts we're repaying the referendum and CB this year will be the last year of the cabb payment and this money will go back to the taxpayers in the 25 26 year with the proposed 4% increased and based on the average assessed Home in Clifton this would equate to roughly $17 per month or just over $200 per year this 4% also encompasses 2% of Bank cap money that if we do not utilize this year will be gone forever and it is extremely extremely important to remember the 4% increase for the taxpayers is only based on our piece of the pie it's crucial to highlight that while we are advocating for a 4% increase this only translates to a 0.9% uptick in our portion of the pi and as of now we stand at 47.6% but this number will decrease once the county and City finalize their budgets and in closing in my capacity as the assistant superintendent of business it has truly been an honor and privilege to work with each and every one of you on this budget hearing everybody's perspective and Gathering input has made this budget successful and in turn we will see the ripple effect of this collaboration in the classroom thank [Music] you we will open up the meeting for public recognition at this point uh this portion of the meeting is open to the residents and not residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their names addresses and subject matter comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when to Pro roate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments is there anyone present who would like to speak please approach the podium just questions thank you Elias ragdale um first I know you put that there are three assistant principles being proposed um so first just where would those be placed if that's decided already um two the capital projects that you presented are those also dependent on your proposed increase um and then three I'm sure you all aware but uh the city itself hasn't even finalized its budget yet and it looks like we're going to have a big tax increase there so of course and I'm sure you guys are all aware of this just please um you know I've come to this board I think it was one or two years ago advocating that we um increase taxes but I mean four has to be other ways um it's a lot on the taxpayer but I mean I think those are two big questions um and will citizens be able to get like an itemized view of where money's going now or based on this increase where where is where is money going more than it was before um like Athletics uh I know we we saw the employment and salaries but just a more uh detailed view of where money's going where it's going now thank you thank you elas anyone else would like to speak Mr good evening my name is Nicole zety I'm the school nurse at school 11 good evening Dr Robert tosy Administration Board of Education Commissioners members of the Clifton Community I understand uh that you're going to be reading the school Nurses Day Proclamation L later on from the National Association of School nurses and I thank you for that but I'm here just to speak a little bit more about the School nurses in our community and what we do um School nurses week school nurse app or I should say A Nurse Appreciation Week always coincides with teacher appreciation week which is next week and school nurse Day always falls on the Wednesday of this week this school year happens The Nurses Day happens to be on Wednesday May 8th so very often when people hear you're a school nurse the very common reply is oh you're a school nurse well that's an easy job so what you basically just give out ice packs and Band-Aids all day right well we know this is not true and I'm here just to take a few minutes to let everybody know what it is that we really do however first I would like to quickly take you all on a little trip down memory lane to let you know how I became the school nurse standing here before you today during kindergarten back in 1977 I was in Mrs morehead's class and we had to do that standard project what I would like to be when I grow up so on back to school night everybody's project was on display and it was hello my name is fill in the blank and when I grow up I'd like to be a blank so of course there were a lot of police officers and firemen and naturally lots of teachers then there was mine hello my name is Nicole and when I grow up I'd like to be a princess but not just a princess you did it my picture had the biggest most sparkly diamond filled Tiara and the biggest most sparkly pink gown that would make Linda the Good Witch of the W North from Oz jealous so fast forward a couple years and now I'm in e8th grade Christopher Columbus Middle School Miss Thomas's English class same project but it's a little bit more formal we have to do a presentation and a demonstration of what we wanted to be when we grow up so knowing that my dreams of becoming a princess were crushed even though I had Pro perfected my Royal wave right I said I wanted to be a nurse but not just any nurse I wanted to be a charge nurse a nurse in charge so I stood in front of the room I educated my classmates on the career of nursing what they do and all the exciting opportunities that come along with it for my demonstration I decided to take the blood pressures of some classmates wrapping their arms in slings putting bandages around their head I have to say I was very good at it and I got a well-deserved a a little bit further down the line I'm a junior at Clifton High School and I am now a member of the First Health occupation students of America I left school at I think it was 12:00 I went to St Mary's Hospital uh which was P General at the time I was a nursing assistant in the labor and delivery and levels one and two nursery and postpartum how exciting I was it was for me on back to school night that year during my senior year when I got to tell everybody the doctor didn't make it in time and myself and another nurse delivered a baby so here I am today I am a nurse of nearly 28 years if you could believe it 18 of them are in a school setting I have worked as a registered nurse a staff nurse working my way up to a center nursing supervisor in uh one of the largest Family Planning clinics in Burton County and now I'm a certified school nurse I have the honor and privilege to be working with the most amazing group of women of School nurses many who do so much but most of often of what they do is not known so here in a few minutes or a few seconds has to say is a little bit about what we do we are members of your iron arrest and 504 teams we are case managers we are Educators we are counselors we are mentors one of my proudest moments was last week during superhero week when a girl ripped open her sweatshirt and said look nurse Nicole I'm a nurse I'm you we have resources for all of our students to give them free exams free winter coats eyeglasses access to food we have been granted the magical powers of getting any knots and shoelaces undone un making all zippers work getting gum out of hair anything we could do it we fix eyeglasses we have the privilege of working during the historical front lines of the co vaccination clinic Dr Rober toi I hope you always remember who was that amazing nurse who gave you your vaccination we provide treatments for diabetes tube feedings catheterizations first aid and yes we do hand out lots of Band-Aids and I packs we document everything we do and we do it with a smile so in closing I would just like to one in recognition of teacher appreciation work week next week thank all the teachers that I have had that not only led me to hear but I would also like to thank the teachers that worked so hard in our town for all of our students today but lastly I offer up a challenge for everyone here I offer for the administration the Commissioners members of the community anyone that's watching the teachers parents and students on Wednesday May 8th please thank your school nurse give her a phone call send her an email stop by her office door say thank you thank you for all you do and we appreciate you thank you very much for your time [Applause] thank you Nicole um anyone else would anyone else like to speak hi Donna papait um I wanted to come and invite you and the community who's watching on Saturday May 11th at 2m we're going to have our uh ribbon cutting for our food pantry our first one is opening up on City Hall property outside uh the um Senor Center uh the little free Pantry program is set up as a community-based food source people drop off food that they have and people who in need of food come and pick it up it is not meant to sustain you like St Peter's Haven or the food Brigade where they're giving out bags of food but it will help you get through the end of the month we have so many people signed up for these pantries to help us out and of course we want to thank them and also the board who generously has offered um I was just speaking to someone from the boys club and and we might be in contact with you very shortly about putting in more pantries um our second Pantry by the way on City Hall property will be for pet food and uh we also have one going up in Jubilee Park um the second second announcement is on the 20th of May which is a Monday evening at 6:30 6:30 to about 8 8:30 we're finishing up at the main library um we will be Helping Seniors and the disabled fill out their blue books for their tax free okay uh they've raised the limits so that you could make approximately 150,000 this year and if you didn't apply last year because the limit was like at 85 this they raised last year's liit to 150 for this year because it's a two-year average so even if you didn't and went couldn't get in last year you could probably get in this year so that would help offset I hope any tax increase here and also the one across the street so for anyone who's a senior or if you are disabled only one of you needs to be a senior if you are living with someone and they are married that only one has to be over 65 only one of you has to be disabled if you are disabled it doesn't matter on how old you are okay so please come to the library we will help you fill out the forms and help you save some money um I sent Dr Rober toosy some info which he told me he had already seen on The Yoda packets which I hope he shares with you these are the ones you use if you go to a concert and and uh you put your phone in them so you can't secretly tape the concert they use them in some theaters so you cannot secretly tape the performance and then put it on YouTube okay excellent idea I can tell you how excited I am about this I think cell phones was one of the main reasons I left teaching so anything to get them to put away the phones is is absolutely wonderful this they get to keep the phone so that gets rid of the whole anxiety of the phone they can still hold on to their phone it's just not usable until they leave the building and uh finally I I just want to say I know we're in the 30-day trial period for Kelly um both my husband uh and my daughter are Subs in the system right now okay and um I really encourage you to really rethink this whole Kelly project because from our point of view this has been a disaster we have spent well over $20 and Buu bucks trying to get ourselves certified as Subs where Kelly again there is just an every time we we think we're done they throw us another email there's another hurdle there's another problem and I don't think for this to switch over should have cost us one cent and yet it has and today we found out we need to do more and it's going to cost us hundreds of dollars this isn't fair and this isn't right and this is not what you were told at the meeting thank you thank you anyone else like to speak of course well good evening my name is Lor lomman I'm the president of the one of the best locals in the area Clifton Education Association so in our journey together through life we inevitably encounter situations where tensions arise and conflicts emerge it is during these challenging times that we must remember the power of understanding open communication and cooperation instead of jumping to conclusions and assigning blame let us pause and reflect on the importance of seeking facts before making judgments by taking the time to gather information and understand the full context of a situation we can ensure that our responses are fair and just empathy plays a crucial role in result olving conflicts and fostering harmonious relationships when we put ourselves in the shoes of others and strive to understand their perspectives and feelings we create a foundation of mutual respect and Trust empathy allows us to see beyond our own biases and pre and preconceptions opening the door to meaningful dialogue and Reconciliation at the same time let us let us Embrace empathy as a guiding principle in our interactions recognizing that is through understanding each other's experiences that we can find a common ground ultimately the path to resolution lies in working together to find Solutions rather than focusing or assigning blame by pulling our Collective wisdom and resources we can overcome obstacles and Achieve positive outcomes that benefit everybody involved let us approach challenges with a spirit of cooperation and my favorite word collaboration knowing that together we are capable of overcoming any adversity as we embark on this journey of understanding open communication and cooperation we may build a future filled with compassion empathy and mutual respect through this collaboration the Education Association and the Clifton public schools have a wonderful opportunity to rec recognize and celebrate the remarkable individuals who make up the backbone of our school district the dedicated staff as we commemorate teacher staff appreciation week it's important to reflect on the invaluable contributions of every member staff students Administration Board of Ed Commissioners board attorney so it's important that we understand how passionate we are and we reflect on the invaluable uh ideas that we bring together through the young minds of our hardworking administrative staff ensuring the smooth operation of our schools their tireless effort deserve an utmost appreciation and gratitude this week is not merely a formality but a heartfelt expression of gratitude for the unwavering commitment and dedication demonstrated by our School District staff beyond their daily duties it is their passion resilience and compassion that enrich the lives of our students and create a nurturing learning environment by taking the time to celebrate this day and this week we reaffirm the importance of recognizing the invaluable efforts of our staff and nurturing culture of appreciation and support within our school Community let us come together to honor and express our sincere appreciation for the exceptional individuals who devote themselves to the betterment of our students lives every day Dr Robert toy would you like to end this well since you mentioned collaboration Mr Lama I would like to remind everyone that this Saturday night the cea and the administration have collaborated on a family event for all of our employees our board members everybody works in Clifton and your families to come to the turtle bag Zoo from 6:00 to 10: at night um admission is free we have the the zoo to ourselves I told my children we go visit my family and um it's going to be a great night just for Clifton and there will be uh some food trucks and other things there where you can purchase food but admission to the zoo is is free yep so hope to see everybody there thank you thank you is there anyone else who'd like to speak here in person first motion close motion by commissioner brunak second second by commissioner Mahia um we'll go to is there anyone Mr Rose in the virtual no Mr Kenova and no one else okay thank you very much motion to close virtual second motion by commissioner brunak second by commissioner Mahia so virtual is going to stay up with Mr Kenova on screen but I won't admit anyone if they should enter into the room certainly okay all right next on our agenda is the adoption of the 2024 2025 budget is there a motion to adopt the budget discussion well first you have to make the motion then seconded then motion motion by commissioner bassford second by uh commissioner Danny discussion Mr BR thank you Mr President based on my thorough analysis of the budget and the district needs it is clear we are unable to proceed with a 0% increase this is unsustainable for the foreseeable future based on our state and federal aid in its current form unless something significant occurs such as a large increase in state aid federal aid or a large decrease in enrollment I've been very fortunate to have been able to get a tour of some of our schools and many of them were legit busting out the seams such as having some rooms being converted to classrooms and other rooms being converted to multi-use Rooms it's not practical but we have done all we can when I was sworn into office last year there were just under uh there were just around 10,5 00 students and this year there are over 600 additional enrollments there is no indication that this trend will reverse as a result I am agreeable to an incremental tax in increase in the tax levy to secure Pope the former Pope Paul 6 high school on Valley Road and while a determination hasn't been reached as to what type of school that property would be used as yet we desperately need the room any further increase than this I am unable to support and as a result I'm a hard no on this 4% increase I'm asking Administration my colleagues on this board and the public to be please be patient as we continue to build this District thank you thank you commissioner Brak anyone else commissioner siano um almost what you said but a little differently right a little differently um I fully acknowledged in the necess necessity of an increase um I've looked over the budget many times did a meticulous review of it I've been on the phone with many of my colleagues here uh modest rise is justifiable given our urgent need for additional infrastructure to accommodate our growing student population you can't get around that it's also crucial to recognize that while taxes are on the rise wages in the private sector are L largely stagnant uh this poses a significant strain on the financial well-being of the community our mandate as elected officials is to prioritize the needs of our students staff and The Wider Community this commitment compels us to advocate for a more balanced approach that considers the fiscal responsibilities we owe our taxpayers I wish to highlight the importance of sustainability in our financial planning a modest increase should not be viewed as a temporary fix but as part of a long-term strategy to address our funding needs without resorting to sustainable tax hikes in the future I urge the board to adopt a more measured and Community conscious approach capping the tax increase at a maximum of 2% thank you commissioner s anyone else other comments I think commissioner Kenova yes um you can hear me right yes okay so I I believe um the that investing in school is investing in the future right the kids are the future and either you agree with that fact the education educating a society is a positive thing where children are given the opportunity to benefit both both really themselves and the public right they're going out there and opening businesses and they're just uh you know contributing to society and and um I think if we want the students to have access to 2024 style teaching and teaching and learning tools and fall within the average of other how other schools are spending for this to happen um especially given that there are schools like pcti where their per pupil cost for their students is in in the the great 20,000 25,000 or whatever that that number was um so me personally and and and this happened last I think it was two years ago when I was still on the board where initially I was going to go for a 0% because it sounded right it sounded like we're getting more money from the state um it doesn't make sense to then go to the taxpayers to ask for more money but then you realize that all you're doing is kicking the can down the road and keeping status quo when status quo which I don't know if anybody really paid attention to what Mr shahada said is that we're at the 70th percentile spend which means that 70% of the districts spend more per people than we do uh we were also at that I think the bottom like two like one of the bottom two for administrative um so to me that's that's not average that's not status quo that's behind the behind the ball we need to be median or in front of it and that fact alone and knowing what our class ratios are we know that there's sometimes 25 kids in a class 27 kids in a class right we know these things are happening so aside from just Pope Paul itself I think those numbers speak volumes and if we were Apple that'd be like putting zero dollars into research and develop where you Qui quickly fall behind and I think in a school the same thing would happen so I I believe that we should get ahead of it all and we should start now especially with you know the average and the county average for increases right that's that's a higher number than what our our 2% increase is um so how would you even sustain something like that and if you're not giving people what they deserve wouldn't they just go to other districts where they are giving it since that is the average so I think I think we need to be careful about we're talking about here um I think we invest in the kids and it may be one of those situations where yeah you have to tighten things up now and invest now but you're going to see that pay in the long run Way Forward um I know the concern is tax taxes for seniors but there is a tax freeze in Clifton where they can apply for it and if they granted it let's say their taxes were $10,000 when they were granted and now they're 15 I believe it works that they would initially pay the 15 and get back the five it works something along those lines don't don't quote me specifically but but um there's a tax freeze for seniors and then other people who are concerned about lower income and people who are renting renters don't pay tax they pay rents so unless the rents go up because of the tax I mean that could be one area but other than that it really wouldn't affect them much either um and if you're paying for a school out of pocket if you're going to private school we know what the costs are there and they're way higher than what a tax would be per year especially if you have multiple children and when you when you're really talking about the health of a city you're talking about the school system anyone who's looking for a house who's young is telling you I'm looking in XYZ towns because their school systems are great and I think we should be one of those towns and we can be um you you see our students and you see the Caliber Caliber of of of education and learning you see our our staff and administration when they come up here and they're great and I think that if we put the money behind them that we're going to win in the end so me personally I'm 100% on board with the administration's uh budget here at 4% and I would I would encourage my my fellow uh board members to to also think about these words thank you thank you commissioner Kenova any anyone else commissioner Bast um for my fellow colleagues uh the questions 1 to 12 were mine um I have I gonna ask you again IED if you could just explain to everyone very simply 2% and then what the bank cap means because a lot of people were confused with that I kept on getting that from a lot of uh the people in the community thank you absolutely so the the bank cap let's just start there it's money that we did not use within the last three years so we didn't go to 2% into the 2122 school year so this money is held in the Bank quote unquote and we can recoup it within 3 years so that amount is $2,685 1085 the current 2% is what we are legally allowed to go up to every year without a public vote is $2,848 cents so I asked you if we do go use the bank cap what is the really actual percentage for the increase 3.88 five thank you and to educate a student in Clifton is now I said uh you said 19,4 88 that's uh that's what we pay for our students here in Clifton if this budget were to pass um that would be the cost that our 2425 perable cost okay um uh is um have there been um are there any are there I don't how to phrase this for the three assistant principles are is there a projected schools that were thinking about or there's no definite on that yet that's all going to be worked into got yeah Mrs bassard a budget like anything is is a plan that can change so while we have a good idea of of where they're most needed there's a very good chance that could change between now and then so I'm I'm I'm reluctant to really even say to you because I I don't want you to say to me well you said that school so and so is getting an assistant principal I'm reluctant to do that other than to say I do believe it's necessary um but having said that since a budget is a plan that plan may change and there are things we said last year that we ended up using money for different things so um I would just reiterate and this is important Amed mentioned it Mr Kenova mentioned it when we talk about um Administration all right nobody wants to you want money spent on kids Administration are the people who are not directly typically directly working with kids right Clifton's administ there's a measure called the administrative cap and we are in a when we're measured we're in a group of of 80 of 95 other districts and we of those 95 districts we are number 80 in terms of administrative cap meeting hopefully you're following me 95 districts we're number eight 0 79 districts have a higher administrative cap than us they spend more on Administration than we do the point is we really should have more administrators than we do I don't want more Central administrators this board has helped me I have the help that I need depending on the day remember when I started at a full head of hair but our schools our principes our people that are on the front lines they're dealing with issues that we haven't seen ever and they're be it's becoming increasingly more difficult and having an extra person does help tremendously that so I'll get off my soap box I have one other question um for you I'm sorry and then I'll Le myself to the floor these figures that you're giving us are based on a projection of what you do we all drive around this city and we're seeing the overdevelopment in how housing apartment buildings we don't know what that down the block is going to yield us with with student population growth if say we get a thousand kids out of you know more kids because we're going to it's coming you know you see es and flows in population right will this will that help us give the staff that we need in case we have like you know the magic wand sprinkles and we have 600 more kids next year 700 more kids it definitely will not hurt um we do have a comprehensive plan in place for when these new buildings are erected um to see if you know what the city is saying where no students are going to move into these developments actually do and we're going to have to just kind of wait and see how that unfolds but we do believe this budget allows us the flexibility of assisting all of the influx of students that we are receiving whether they're the multi language Learners or students living in these developments so I feel confident that we will we will be just fine thank you anyone else like to make a comment commissioner Suarez good evening everyone thank you everyone for your input um I deeply respect everyone uh their thoughts and ideas and concerns um I just would like to share my ideas and I and why I am in support of the 4% and when I look at the budgeted positions districtwide um you know we know that a large determinant factor for children's success in schools is the student to teacher ratio um and as commissioner bunak has pointed out we are busting at the seams and our students really deserve having um more Administration and and teachers within within their schools um and space to learn uh so they can get the attention that they deserve so every single position here and I understand Dr Rober toi we can allocate specifically because um as schools go you you have to rearrange depending on needs as as years go on and and there are needs that are unforeseen at this point this is all based on prediction for what we know now um and so I really respect uh the positions alone like the positions alone and understanding that um we really have an increase of student population specifically with special education and multilingual Learners um it really makes sense for the increase in order to meet the needs of our students and as commissioner kova mentioned um it really is looking forward and it's really planning ahead of time I'm very much an if than thinker if we just if we believe that our students deserve and to maintain a good strong teacher to student ratio um then this is something that we have to do for future it's not just for next year but it's for years to come uh if anyone's a chess player you have to play a few moves ahead you can't just see the move right in front of you and I think this is an excellent plan to see not only for the 25 26 year but also the years to come uh for students to get what they need and so that's my perspective and why I support it thank you commissioner Suarez anyone else like to make comment okay I would like to make a comment um just to kind of put things in perspective uh pardon me if I'm redundant um but in Pay County there are 14 k to2 school districts out of those 14 districts Clifton has the lowest per pupil cost the state average uh this the last per pupil cost we have this is not the one budgeted for the next realm I'm sure everyone's will go up as well but the last number was 18871 for Clifton the state average is $2,485 per student um so Clifton 70% of all New Jersey school districts spend more money educating their students than Clifton does Clifton's tax rate and it always sounds like a lot of money how much of my property taxes go to schools and the last number we had from last year is 47.6% if you look at your tax bill you'll you'll see it the average school tax portion throughout the state of New Jersey is 53% of the local tax uh levies so again Clifton is a district that is very conservative on its spending our history of tax changes over the last seven years starting in 2018 we had a 96% increase in 2019 we had a 88% increase in 2020 we had zero in 20121 we had zero in 2022 we had zero now granted those were pandemic times there was an influx of federal money that helped us get through and attain those zeros in 2023 it was a 2% increase and last year and and what was being proposed uh for the next school year is 4% the state allows Boards of Ed to increase the tax rate without going to the taxpayers for approval for 2% that 2% if you don't utilize it can be banked for a period of time three years I believe if I'm correct um after that period if you haven't used what the state said you can and likely should be using um you will lose it um our seven-year average of tax increases is 1.12% on school taxes so we've gotten very accustomed to some very low increases in our school tax rate here in Clifton but eventually the chickens come home to roost uh one of those chickens includes the fact that our pandemic money is expiring and I believe Mr shahada mentioned it was to the tune of $20 million of programs that that sunset this year and I believe most of those programs we We are continuing m c levich yes we've absorbed many of the ones that were the most effective but there are some that will be eliminated so we have out of our pocket for the betterment of our students because they do need catchup around the country students are behind and it is a major issue to catch students on up on the learning losses from the pandemic and that is a burden on our district that we are absorbing in this budget but it's a benefit for our it's for our it's for our students um per state law we're giving $17 million of our budget to private and charter schools for supplies and services or instruction I believe that's an increase over last year and a number that increases chars went up 3 million annually went up 3 million year-over-year so another burden on our budget um Mr sh mentioned earlier think was 76% of our budget goes to contracted staff compensation medical cost increases these are contractual obligations the district has it it exceeds those numbers in our contracts exceed 2% a year so even if we do not increase our uh our tax levies our costs are going are going to go up greater than that amount um inflation just general cost of goods in 2021 the national inflation rate was 4.7% in 2022 it was 8% in 2023 it was 4.1% so the cost of goods and services certainly isn't going to go down and also exceeds the 2% we're allowed to increase the state allow allows districts without going to a public referendum to increase that 2% because they expect the district to take those funds and in fact in their formula a part of their formula includes uh the local let me get the right term maybe Mr sh a local fair share so they calculate how much based upon a districts I think social economic status is one and and Val Real Estate Value think another um they calculate how much they believe the individual District should be contributing towards a students's education the state aid formula then makes up the remainder of that if you don't take that portion then you are not uh you are not securing the the local funds that the state is saying you should be providing this amount towards your students education in your District um so here we are we need additional room we've been talking about it for years we're running out of room I think the tune was 30 classrooms or so or 20 something class just looking at preschool alone yes and there's more just for for special end and ESL but given those increases so we've all pretty much I think we're all pretty much agreement that we need more space and we're lucky that we have a building in town that is already outfitted for class rooms that we can rent if we had to go out find a location raise $150 million or more to build a school which would take years to do um I I doubt that that would happen right so this 2% that we are taking out of using in our next year's budget towards this rental this is essential for the district and this cost will continue uh beyond the additional 2% I mean in my mind a school building isn't much without the staff to teach and if we have 20 to 30 more classrooms available and we're just using our existing staff we're really not going to be meeting the needs increased needs that we have that were mentioned of over 100% increase in enrollment of special education students as well as uh English language Learners um in this two extra 2% come some positions that are very critical to our special needs and E students um in fact that's 12 of the positions are are classroom instruction dedicated to those students um so to me it makes sense the two go hand inand if we don't utilize this additional 2% we can't come back to you the taxpayer uh we well we can't get it ourselves without coming back to the taxpayer and getting voted on it and getting getting voted on a referendum for it we lose this money going forward and if you take the amount of money we've lost by not going to our 2% by maintaining our average of 1.12% annual increase over the last seven years um we've already put ourselves to the tune of almost $16 million behind what the state says you guys should be able to supply towards your own local school budget so for that reason um I will support the 4% uh as proposed by Administration and unless there's any other comment yes commissioner Mahia so I just want to bring something up that you mentioned real quick um the previous um tax increases that we did one of them was 0.9 another was 08 for three years in a row it was 0% 0% 0% then 2% then last year we voted on that 4% I believe it's important for the public to know and to realize that I know many of you might disagree on this but the previous Boards of Ed education and the state set us up for failure if you think otherwise then you are living in a completely different world with that said many of the same people who voted for that 0% are still on this board and I think it's important for you guys to realize that they set us up for failure they are part of the reason why we are not where we're supposed to be instead of paying up now we're playing catch up I believe it's important for you guys realize that important cuz now what now we're all realizing we need that 4% we need it desperately how many more students about 600 more students are expected to come in next year we need that school we need it there's no way in saying that we don't need the extra 2% we need that 4% and I believe it's shameful that the previous Boards of Education knew this was going to happen they knew it you can't sit here and say oh we didn't know we didn't know you knew it you knew we were going to lose out on money each and every year that's what happens when you vote 0% 0% 0% for 3 years straight you guys knew that we were going to have to play catchup and now many of you are probably sitting you know at home or on the stage thinking well hey too bad so sad that's in the past let's fix it well it's not true it's not true it's not too bad so sad you guys should have thought about this you guys should have had a 5-year plan on how you were going to fix this you guys should have thought hey maybe we should propose another referendum to actually build another school now we are here trying to play catchup you know what all the people at home are thinking another 4% wow what are they thinking they just gave us 4% last year now another 4% this year it is insane it is absolutely insane and the people who sat on this dayis who voted 0% for those three years should be ashamed of themselves because you knew this was going to happen don't sit there and think I didn't know I didn't know because you knew you knew and now we're here and now we have to go to a 4% it doesn't come without consequences everything you do matters thank you and that's all I have to say okay thank you commissioner Mahia um hindsight is 2020 I don't blame any of the previous boards or board members for their decisions in the past they made the best decisions based upon the situation at the time and it was I'm sure with the very best of intentions for this School District um anyway I guess I'm one of those ones to blame Mr Canova Miss Lucy and Mr Paris who we all sat on the board at that point I can tell you this week I sent an email to Danny and Alan Paris president Paris commending the business administrator our assistant superintendent and board secretary Amed shahida on his work on this budget and the 13 years that I have sat in multiple seats on this day multiple seats we went through a pandemic together we had a lot of issues this together this is the first time in my experience that I've been given detailed information and access to detailed information and the ability and the chance to ask these kind of questions my 12 questions I I was on the fence you know I've been going back and forth two weeks with you almost every other day questions questions going back and forth because I I am the steward of the taxpayer dollars every one of us sitting on this dayas was the Stu of the stewards of the tax we have a fiduciary obligation to the district I look at it as the Holy Trinity the students the staff and the taxpayers every one of us here are going to be affected by the decision that we make here tonight I'm not ashamed of what I've done in the past I'm happy I don't have social media from my past that's a different story those things could go down in history but you can't Point your finger at somebody because three fingers point back at yourself and I'm not pointing my finger we did the best we could my like I never understood this about my parents we didn't have a lot we had a little but we made the best we could with that it was until I became a parent that I decided because I used to get very angry at my parents and I realized the one thing my mother and my father did the best they could with what they had raising me and we didn't have a lot so I'm not going to point the blame and I think I I'm I'm not ashamed I sat on the Board elections have consequences we all know that whatever happens happens in the future but we did the best what we could so I'd like to thank you Amed and if you don't don't mind me calling you by your first name for the comprehensive the professionalism the dedication no you went Above and Beyond on this one because I the emails were going back and forth with you telling us everything this week every single one of you had a chance to ask questions and we did and we got answers that never happened to me we used to come to the board meeting this is what we were told this is what we're doing because we don't need it we have enough and we will make do with what we have that's what we were told and Allan's nodding his head cuz he knows I'm right about this and so Lucy you as well and I don't know I can't see you notd and Joe uh but that's what we did and we did the best we could with what we had it's time that we need to ask for a little more maybe next year it'll be zero right we don't know what the state's going to give us but I'm not ashamed I'm very proud of my 13 years sitting here in this chair I think we've done excellent work I think we have more work to do I think this board has more work to do and I look forward to moving ahead I am supporting the 4% I am going to get ripped tomorrow I don't care but you know what I know what's needed and I see what's needed and thank you so much for all the information Danny thank you for letting me speak to him and thank you Allan for letting me get my answers answered I appreciate it all of you thank you thank you commissioner bastard are we ready to vote anybody else want to say nice things about me excuse me anybody else want to say nice things about me Mr no I don't think so Mr shahada please call the RO maybe next year maybe Miss bassford I was going to pass because I I I'm always first and I don't think it's fair but yes Mr Bak no Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano no Miss Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries um is our guest here yet oh is our guest here yet Mr sh uh Vic will be here by 9ine okay so we will continue next uh is adoption of the minutes um if there's no uh objection I will bundle the minutes from April 11th to April 25th uh looking for a motion to approve both motion second okay I didn't hear oh motion by commissioner Santiago second by commissioner Mahia discussion roll call please Mr Shad M bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes Miss Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries okay we'll move on to board committee uh reports and we'll start with uh commissioner uh Suarez and policy please thank you president Paris the Clifton Board of Education policy committee met on April 15th at 2024 uh those present were myself commissioner Santiago commissioner Kenova and uh president Alan Paris Administration who attended were Mr Mark Garo Mrs Janina kusich Janina one day we really going to get it Mr am sh and Miss Maggie Miller the meeting started at 5:30 and meeting in time was at 7:23 items in discussion recess policy recess is found within policy 2422 on Comprehensive Health and physical education in accordance with njsa 18a 35431 the board of of Education shall provide a daily recess period of at least 20 minutes for students in grades kindergarten through 5 a recess period is not required on a school day in which the day is substantially shortened due to a delayed opening or early dismissal the recess period shall be outdoors if feasible a student shall not be denied recess for any reason except as a consequence of a violation of the school district's code of student conduct including a VI excuse me including a harassment intimidation or bullying investigation pursuing pursuant to njsa uh 18a 3713 students may not be denied recess for more than twice per week for a violation of the code of student conduct or Hib investigation and these students shall be provided restorative justice activities during recess period in addition to the 20-minute daily recess period students receive 150 minutes weekly of physical educ phet 60 Minutes taught as two 30 minute PE periods with the PE teacher and 90 minutes of PE movement Incorporated in the classroom transition time between subjects and grade K through 5 frequently allow for a brain break in Go Noodle class yoga or other opportunities for movement with increases in Center time and developmentally appropriate play in primary grade students have increasing opportunities for independent Choice activities using recess as a consequence is limited in 11 of 14 Schools only the principal can use denial of recess as a con consequence in three Schools teachers may do so but in consultation with the principle when denial of resets is used as a consequence it is used as part of a restorative intervention and in most cases with parental input looking at the loss of privilege category and consequences in the code of conduct the consequences the consequence is used sparingly incidents of loss of privilege to date this school year range between four and 62 instances recorded in our student management system when looking at our total number of students in each school and total number of possible recess periods the data demonstrates how infrequently this consequence is used the district will continue to look at creative ways to potentially increase the amount of available recess free play an independent Choice time for students to meet their Developmental and creative needs the committee wants to survey other districts to see how much time they allocate to recess and Council reiterated the impact this can have on contractual commitments we also discussed Athletics policy 6630 athletic fund on behalf of Dr Roberto Mr shahada shared insights garnered from recent booster committee meeting highlighting a proposal to allocate a portion of admissions from each respective sport to the booster club the Strategic allocation is envisioned as a proactive measure to bolster the Financial Health of our booster clubs while simultaneously lessening their dependence on traditional fundraising Endeavors by earmarking a percentage of admissions revenue for the booster club we aim to provide a steady and reliable source of funding that can support various initiatives ranging from equipment purchases to facility improvements this approach not only streamlines the financial management process but also Fosters a stronger sense of community engagement and support for our athletic programs furthermore by reducing the the burden of fundraising our coaches and athletes can devote more time and energy to their respective Sports enhancing overall performance and promoting a positive and enriching experience for all involved this collaborative effort underscores our commitment to fostering a thriving and sustainable Athletic program that benefits both our student athletes and the broader School Community the committee was in support of the idea whether it's given to each team or spread amongst them all equally and will work amongst themselves and the attorney to craft a policy that encompasses this change the committee does not want to charge students the committee wants to restructure how the concession stands are ran and bringing it back in house committee wants to see if P pomptonian would be willing to run the concession stand third naming of school facilities and properties the committee was provided with a copy of policy sourced from another district for examination legal council recommended adopting this policy for or a similar one furthermore it was advised that naming a facility should be reserved for individuals who are no longer affiliated with the district either through retirement or posst humously committee was in agreement with the policy and will add it to the agenda for the first reading on the May 2nd meeting with a few edits which will be provided by Council fourth athletic cleats on use of facility form Mr shahada apprised the board that metal cleats are not utilized in high school or middle school sports for reference moreover he informed the committee that this information could be seamlessly incorporated into the form however he prefaced this by indicating that the field will not be rented out in the immediate future due to minor punch list items awaiting resolution which are currently on back order fifth item woodro Wilson Middle School field concerns Mr shahada updated bore regarding the usage of the field the past few weeks Dr Roberto and Mr shahada identified the individual who was using the field without a permit the individual was sent communication to cease use of the field a meeting will be held in the future with the IND individual and administration sixth district policies committee unanimously agreed to accept the recommendation of the administration and have policies placed on the agenda for first reading I managing for equity and education policy guides and the policies that were listed are 1140 educational Equity policies affirmative action 1523 comprehensive Equity plan 1530 equal employment opportunity complaint procedure 1550 Equal Employment anti-discrimination Practices 22 2260 equity in school and classroom practices 2411 guidance counseling 3211 code of ethics 5570 Sports ship 55 excuse me 5750 Equitable and educational opportunity 5841 secret societies 5842 equal access of student organizations 7610 vandalism 9323 notification of juvenal offender case disposition General policy guide updates policy 2423 bilingual education 24 31.4 prevention and treatment of sports related con concussions and hen injuries and policies that were abolished 50 755 equity and educational programs and services thank you all thank you commissioner Suarez uh Mr Shah like to make a comment yeah if you don't mind uh just going off of 2e uh I did email the board the following day after the meeting uh Mr Rosenberg from pomton is more than happy to assist the booster clubs in this uh in collaboration to get food at a cheaper price uh he will be at the next booster club meeting when we have that so he can speak with the parents and kind of get a gauge of what they're actually looking to sell I couldn't answer that question so he will be there um I asked um Danny I I have to bring this to you Allan that before the next booster club meeting if the booster club committee can meet prior to meeting with the parents so this way we can all get on the same page about where how we're going to address this and then let them in to the meeting and then we can discuss it with the rest of the board when we come to some kind of conclusion thank you I will set a meeting prior to that one 30 minutes in advance on a Lin just remind me any other questions yeah I oh sorry Richie go I just want to say um thank you to Mr shahad for the such detailed on the minutes you know I'm reading through it I'm like wow yeah it's really good thank you uh with the um policy that U um with the policy that we get from Strauss Esme um going forward maybe uh if we know that we have a big um policy that people are questioning let's get the word let's get the policies from Schoolboard and compare because maybe it it is a better policy and the word the verbiage and the content may be better so that's what until we make the switch thank you commissioner bassford I think it's a great idea because um it really helps to understand um what we're digesting and and what we're trying to understand for ourselves someone has some who's new who really wants I really want to understand so I appreciate that recommendation just one for clarification Mr Ross reached out on on the committee's behalf to NJ SBA and we are looking at a 71 start he's just trying to just work out the logistics thank you yay anyone else okay we move to uh facilities uh commissioner Brin Shack please thank you Mr President those present uh meeting occurred on April 16th 2024 those present were myself Mr Kenova Mr siano President Paris uh Mr shahada Mr Maldonado Mr Marion Mr oito and Mr Watkins items of discussion epic gave an overview of what has taken place thus far in the referendum and what has taking place through the rest of the year Package 2 and 2A AR complete and will be closed out in the coming weeks working on a on punch list items getting to close out documents plaques for the referendum Administration saw input from the committee regarding preferred method of displaying the plaques for clarification ation the plaques accompanying newly constructed structures intended to acknowledge the board members who approved the project and those who were instrumental in initiating the project concept during their tenure the committee decided to go with the board that passed the referendum and the board that passed the bid packages capital projects working on drawings for school 11 parking lot expansion the layout will leave optimal grass School 12 wheelchair lift drawing is near completion upgrading waterpr proofing stadium bleachers coating of the bleachers would include repair would include repair all loose or damaged concrete replacing of old Expansion Joints then add waterproof coating over the seating area and steps this cost is approximately $1.8 million roughly b& updates at woodro Wilson Middle School behind the school we are replacing 10 LG of galvanized fence behind the school by vendor Fox fence painting beautification project at school number four currently eight classrooms were painted the media center the nurse's office as well all have a Fresh coat of paint pothole repairs are started at at the schools CA a woodro and the high school we have an estimate from uh vender Crossroad Paving that will be a little over $290,000 to start repairing the m most damaged asphalt around the school building repointing and sealing of the bricks around the school D due to water infiltration was completed at school number three in front of the facial of the building also School 15 in the rear of the building by the playground area and finally at Christopher Columbus above the cafeteria area and the classrooms above quotes just arrived to get gutter guards quotes will be reviewed and a recommendation will be made naming of the CH track after thorough discussion the committee resolved to defer the decision to regarding the naming of the stadium track to the policy committee recognizing the need for a cohesive policy framework to guide such significant changes the policy committee is currently in the process of formul formulating guidelines encompassing name changes this approach ensures a s systematic and transparent process aligned with organizational principles finally Stadium track open on the weekends at the previous meeting the potential of opening the stadium for committee use on the weekends was brought up for discussion following extensive deliberation the committee reached the unanimous decision that scheduling would be un feasible to the numerous events already scheduled at the track this decision reflects the consideration of existing commitments and logistical constraints District liability maintenance costs and there are other areas that are available that will not be a cost to the district does anyone have any questions uh I have a question yes um so on the plaques for referendum um what what was the rationale on um the decision it's based on histor what historically what what's been done in the past on these projects so for instance on the East Wing at the high school when that was dedicated when they dedicated you could see that plaque to this day when we had the retreat uh commissioner Santiago you could see all Commissioners at the time when they approved that that project are on there as well now that was something new as as part of that that was part of something that I've never heard of before the people who are approving the purchase orders I've never heard of anything but I'm okay with I was okay with whatever the the committee was okay with I was fine with yeah go ahead um we have a separate item on the agenda um for these recognition plaques for approval so at that time if you like we can have discussion on this little more detailed okay and um or we could pull it too we could bring it back to committee pull it but I I think we could probably uh have some discussion and maybe give some guidance and and finish it off okay since it has its own item okay yep commissioner Mahia did you have a question um yes I did have a question of two questions the first is going to be the naming of the CHS track are we talking about the track track track like physical track um I have a a an idea very similar um I know other you know universities other schools other Public Schools do this as well they in honor of you know a coach or a tremendous you know alumni or a generous sponsor um they usually name the track team or the football team uh for example up in I think it's Stanford they have um Wade and some someone else's name football team of Stanford University so you know if have you know the track be such a logistical complication for us uh maybe even naming the track team dedicated to that specific individual um I believe you know that would that would be an even better um form of honoring that person um whoever it may be um especially you know if they're a coach or alumni I would prefer to have them as their team cuz it's always going to be their team especially if it's like I said an alumar coach um the second thing is going to be the stadium track on the weekends I know we previously discussed this before um and I know we mentioned it would be great for the community to have the chance to use our track but then again you know where what we can do with the security issues you know what if someone Springs an ankle on the turf um I believe Rutherford has something very similar where they have the community use their stadiums um and it's basically um you can use the stadiums yes but if someone has a permit and is on the field or is using the track then you guys you know sorry to say you guys have to get out um and make room for the people who requested and paid for those permits to be there uh maybe if we can instead of you know completely eliminating it and getting it off the table maybe we can look into what ruford uses on their terms I still think it's a great idea but then again like we keep mentioning um the liability that comes on us if someone you know Springs their ankle um someone breaks you know into our weight room into our Fieldhouse what are we going to do and who's going to pay for that um part of it is maybe adopting security cameras already inside of the stadium U maybe outside facing you know you know coming in and out of the Fieldhouse or the weight or the weight room seeing um if any destruction um is made between those hours those time periods um and like I said I think it'd be a great idea to adopt something similar that they have uh another great example is going to be some of the schools up in Morris County they also do have um open tracks for their Community to be using um so that's just another idea that I'm bringing maybe we could look into that instead of completely getting it off the table because I would like to see it happen you know maybe if it's not this year next year maybe in 5 years um if we could figure out how to um get to security get all the money in line it'd be great thank you Mr Paris if I can on the stadium track so just we we know it but just and we're saying it but just to reiterate it again we use it for events non-school events there's liability there's maintenance there's back-to-back events that are from other organizations and so that's that's my reason reasoning for being in support of opening that as I mentioned before thanks anyone else yes so I was just saying you know this is one of the things that I I was uh in support of and what I'm saying is that we already I've said it already we use it for multiple events some of them back to back there's an event that's non-school and there's people there and they walk they jog they do whatever so whatever the liability is whatever the cost Etc Maybe I don't know if some of the cost is shared by the people running the event but the liability Etc all that still exists in these events that are held there are private events quite frankly thanks okay no yes he actually walking to the door okay should we should we should we do the entire executive session at this one we're having two yeah I think I think we do all okay okay I I don't know I'm not sure because there there is a lot do we want to try to get through the agenda how long is he GNA be he's he's here now so we do need to at least break for him okay um if if you are comfortable with being here an hour and coming out we could probably do it all let's do it all okay as as mentioned earlier um we need to go to Executive session um we do have uh someone here that's uh scheduled that's that's here for uh the meeting time right now um we're going to try to do everything on our agenda for executive session in this time period the estimation is about approximately one hour um it will be discussion on uh litigation and and uh student matters and action will be taken when we return uh motion to I have one other thing a legal matter I'd like to bring up in the back room it's just quick I I think Mr kova is on the same page with me on this one absolutely thank you uh motion motion MC second second by commissioner Mia let's do it e e e e e e thetion what's his name out no he said he needs 10 seconds he said something like that all right motion to reconvene from executive session motion second um I missed them all all in favor it's Mark and Rich Mark and rich thank you um so we might as well vote on this thing since since it's fresh we're going to we'll finish up the executive uh content so uh looking for a motion under uh executive session Part D items two through nine motion motion to Second Mr Mahia second by commissioner brunc roll call Mr shahad Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova no he's not on Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago he's on vacation yes Mr siano yes Miss Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries okay we're going to go back to where we left off which is uh committee reports uh commissioner brunak will you do Finance please he's the finance guy yeah uh Finance minutes present were myself commissioner Santiago commissioner Mahia president Paris Mr Jenaro from the administration Mr shahada and Mr Uchi budget overview of the committee convened with the administration to conduct a comprehensive review of the anticipated final budget presentation the upcoming budget meticulously curated by the assistant superintendent of business uh Mr shahada is slated for unveiling at the forthcoming May 2nd general meeting deliberations encompassed an exhaustive analysis of projected revenues expenditure allocations and strategic Financial init initiatives poised to fortify the organization's fiscal resilience various aspects of the budgetary framework including potential adjustments and optimization strategies were meticulously scrutinized to ensure alignment with overarching organizational objectives and fiscal Prudence The collab ative exchange between committee members and administration underscored a collective commitment to transparency accountability and stewardship of Financial Resources furthermore the meeting served as a platform to address pertinent inquiries and solicit valuable insights from diverse perspectives fostering a holistic approach to budgetary decisionmaking as a culmination of rigorous deliberations approaches the committee remains steadfast in its dedication presenting a comprehensive and judicious budget proposal that reflects the organization steadfast commitments to Excellence and sustainability facility rates discussion ensued regarding facility rates Administration informed the committee this is under the regulations and is determined by the superintendent and his design Administration plans to review all the rates this summer and share it with the board does anyone have any questions okay seeing none we'll move on uh commissioner siano please Municipal Alliance the municipal Alliance committee met on April 22nd in attendance was myself Mr Kenova Miss Dany president Paris Administration was Mark Jenaro and from the city we had Mr volano and Miss Peno started at 608 ended at 655 first thing we discussed was school safety we were following up on signs and Crossway markings asking for a timeline city manager opened the discussion by elaborating on recent developments and ongoing projects within the city inhouse painting operations a significant shift has occurred in the city's approach to painting operations with a move towards conducting these tasks inhouse utilizing water-based paint this transition reflects a strategic decision aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and cost Effectiveness furthermore this city manager emphasized the critical role of weather conditions particularly warm temperatures in ensuring the proper curing of the paint for optimal longevity he also highlighted the Ines of crosswalk maintenance which are examined annually streets undergoing construction are prioritized for maintenance although action is deferred until the completion of construction to prevent potential damage Revenue approval for signage recognizing the importance of effective signage in promoting Public Safety and enhancing traffic management city manager appealed to the council for additional Revenue to facilitate the procurement and installation of signage across the city these signs serve as vital communication tools conveying essential information to Residents and visitors alike and their strategic placement is integral to the city's overall infrastructure and urban planning efforts bump outs Implement uh implementation a proposal was put forth to allocate Surplus Revenue towards the implementation of bump outs as an alternative to traditional speed bumps this Innovative approach not only prioritizes safety but also offers advantages in terms of conserving City Vehicles moreover addressing congestion issues around CA be was underscored as a key priority with plans for heightened enforcement against illegal parking in the area this multiface strategy aims to optimize traffic flow and enhance overall Road Safety within the community then we also followed up on road construction around schools being that numerous parents are reaching out and would like to know when they they would need to plan alternative routes how do we get this list or who can we how can we be kept in a loop resident no notification in response to inquiries regarding notification protocols the city manager clarified that the engineering department Bears the responsibility of notifying residents including local schools of any upcoming projects or developments that may impact them however Mr shahada expressed a preference for personalized notification underscoring the importance of proactive communication in acknowledging this request the city manager assured him of prioritized updates to ensure timely and transparent disci dissemination of information Maine Memorial Park Green Acres Grant during discussions surrounding funding allocation questions arose regarding the utilization of Green Acres funding for the Improvement of walkways within the city in addressing these queries the city manager emphasized the urgent need to address existing walkway infrastructure rure particularly in terms of enhancing Drainage Systems to mitigate flooding risks recognizing safety as Paramount the city's commitment to prioritizing projects based on critical need was reiterated with a focus on safeguarding the well-being of residents and visitors alike also spoke about keeping us updated on events acknowledging the accessibility of meeting materials online the committee collectively agreed to optimize communication channels by having the city manager directly transmit the appr approved meeting calendar to Mr shahada for subsequent distribution to the entire board this streamlined approach aims to Foster greater efficiency and ensure that all stakeholders remain informed and engaged in the decision-making process uh students parking on permit only streets in light of ongoing issues regarding resolution the committee committed to conducting a thorough investigation to achieve a peaceful and mutually beneficial outcome deliberation centered on exploring various perspectives and potential Solutions with a shared commitment to fostering dialogue and collaboration amongst all parties involved emphasizing the importance of open communication and respectful discourse the committee reiterated its dedication to facilitating constructive problemsolving efforts then we talked about shared services pothole repair initiative recognizing the community's concerns regarding pothole maintenance the committee explored opportunities for collaborative action with the city Mr shahada volunteered to spearhead efforts by compiling a comprehensive list of affected areas and buildings with the intention of forwarding this information to the city manager for further coordination and implementation this proactive approach reflects a collective commitment to addressing infrastructure challenges and enhancing their overall quality of life within the community new business was brought up which was youth week activities inquiries regarding the status of planned youth week activities were raised by the superintendent uh City manager confirmed the best of his knowledge that youth week activities remain scheduled to proceed as planned pending any unforeseen circumstances this affirmation underscores the city's ongoing commitment to fostering youth engagement and promoting Community involvement through meaningful events and initiatives the next meeting schedule is the committee concluded the meeting by tentative tentatively scheduling the next session for early August with further details to be confirmed closer to the date and during ample time for Preparation and coordination this decision reflects a commitment to maintaining regular communication and progress on key initiatives moving forward with the agenda items addressed and action items summarized the meeting was adjourned with attendees thanked for their participation and contributions towards advancing the city's Collective goals and priorities these notes were diligently taken by Mr Shahar any questions I do I'm sorry commiss Bor yes you week um are they going to have the board members are the board members going to be invited to the youth week celebration that we had in the past and then they stopped during covid so if somebody could reach out to find out if we're getting invites I know we pay our own way but we usually get invited and sit at the table Yeah Mrs bassford well the whole thing might be up in the air but so if it's confirmed I will absolutely confirm that because the board should be invited I know Mr Jenaro had been working with um with Miss Oliver so we'll follow up and and make sure here U Mr sio in terms of our one Clifton you know whole logo and everything um is it possible for you to set up an arrangement with them where we could possibly um you know when we talk about the taxes going up and down we use percentages they use points and all this and a lot of people around the community are always saying well what's the difference and some of them get confused with their present on with their point system and all this is it possible to probably work something out where we could say we all agree to use percentages or we all agree to use points you know it's funny so that's a question for them but this was brought up at one of their meetings and I don't remember how it ended that they wanted to switch percentages but for some reason they use points because it's a better system for them I don't remember the outcome of that meeting because we weren't involved in it but that's something we could definitely ask but I don't see them changing their point system based on that I don't know if anybody remembers that discussion in their meeting I don't remember exactly what was said but it was hey we got to stick to points thank you yes I forgot um I got I called you I got a a complaint about school three today and yesterday um with public service or something that they were they were doing road work and the kids couldn't get into the school so um if we can go back to when we used to do it when we had road construction around schools they waited till June July and August August so it wouldn't disrupt the entrance and the and the uh arrival and dismissal of our school children and the parents like some of the elementaries they have a hard time getting it anyway so so Mr valano definitely stated they try to do that or try to do stuff after hours but it's really in the hands of these companies and these companies are the ones that are supposed to be reaching out to us to tell us but they're dropping the ball so he is getting on top of it but you know it's up to the company what we can say just to add to this team is uh we reached out to CPD this morning as we had talked about that collaboration between us and City uh even the CPD was not made aware of that uh project until 8:30 this morning but nonetheless Mr volano did reach out and they agreed to stop uh the construction during arrival and dismissal times for the time being before a better plan is put into place any other questions okay uh education and special education Dr Danny the the committee met on April 16 2024 the meeting began at 6:30 p.m.

are you counting us down or are we live we are live now awesome okay good afternoon um welcome to the work study session I'm gonna have Britney do roll for us and then we will um move into the presentation all right roll call Linda Bose Ry banan I am present colot Chapman Lynn Davis present Michael Gordon here Suk kif present Katie cinko present and Earl Terry but we do have all right I'm not seeing him um all right I'm going to turn the presentation over to um you Albert andless oh there's Colette welcome Colette Colette just joined us um unless Annette wanted to start by saying something no go ahead and turn it over to Albert okay so first of all thank you everyone for for joining us this afternoon um first before we get into some of the actual slides I wanted to go ahead and uh take a moment to kind of go over how we got where we are at and why we are here I know some of our board members um have been added since we kind of started this process so first I want to go all the way back to October of 2022 so almost two years ago we had a board work study session as a result of our strategic plan part of our strategic plan pillar 4 which was for Effective Resource Management we knew that we had two major resource management items underneath the facilities and operations side those two are the fleet and our two campuses uh in order to address the two campuses we had to take a look at the current reality of um what the facilities were their age their condition uh and generally their utilization um so we had all of that information we had a very long I think it was like two hour long uh work study session um on our Uh current reality um if you want to go back to the October uh um work study session you're more welcome to to do that um but it went over everything from uh enrollment Trends uh the facility and infrastructure overview with regards to our operating expenses um our current capital requests our building renewal requests uh and then also space utilization it also went over timelines and next steps this led us to what also the auditor general had in the auditor en's findings the auditor general also notated as the one finding that needed to be addressed was regarding our Capital planning uh specifically for our buildings within that finding it was uh determined that we would resolve that by creating a master facility plan even before all of that when superintendent wman started uh and she promoted me to the director of operations um she came to me and said have you seen the Texas school for theea master facility plan and I told her I had not and she shared it with me and she asked me to go ahead and create something similar to that um covid hit we didn't get the chance to be able to do it as quickly as we wanted to but now we are at the point that we will be uh having a completed Master facility plan uh pending the May 9th board meeting meeting by June 30th um part of this is with regards to our current reality for our facilities is that they're not getting any younger uh the average age now of the Tucson campus is 50 years of age and as we went over in the last work study session was that building should have either a major renovation or new construction and demolishing building roughly between 40 and 50 years so as we can see our Tucson campus is Antiquated and we're going to need to make some critical decisions um as part of that the Phoenix campus is about 47 years of age at this point so they're also in a critical juncture our operating costs uh are continuing to rise for facilities um meanwhile our enrollment is staying roughly stable to what we were seeing in October of um with that we also had another challenge that needed to be addressed which was our current facilities were not designed or in really with the mindset of what would work for those who are deaf or blind we didn't really have deaf design guidelines we didn't have blind design guidelines so when we would do constructions or renovation there was no criteria or specifications that we could give to an architect and say we need you to follow this when you're designing it none of that was present so that was also an aspect that we needed to accomplish with that we um looked into hiring an architectural and engineering firm that architectural engineering firm is Lea architecture they are the state contracted Architecture Firm uh they work with many third-party individuals um such as an engineering firm in order to do uh specific calculations of each facility and then they also work with a third-party Landscaping architecture called dig Studios um dig Studios is um a great operational um teamwork that what they've come together in some of these conceptual plans uh for us to review today uh they've done a beautiful job incorporating our newly developed blind and deaf design guidelines so Kelsey I'm gonna have you pull up the Phoenix campus overview plan thank you so what you're seeing here is a pdf version of the presentation boards that were given or shown at the open houses uh that occurred at both the Phoenix and Tucson campus this is a lot of information I know on the screen some of the uh lettering may be blurry I apologize about that up front uh trying to do this through Zoom can be difficult uh what I would recommend uh to everyone here today and anyone that is watching virtually is to either go on to asb's webbsite or go to um the board docs and you'll be able to actually download the PDFs um of everything we're going to talk about today there is a lot of information um but I'm going to go high level one through 15 so there's 15 phases of the Phoenix campus as identified with Lea architecture this was not done in isolation it wasn't just Lea architecture and I got in a room and decided everything we had a lot of stakeholders uh from Individual buildings as well as campus and agency level to help us determine what programmatic needs needed to be housed at each campus as well as what could be expanding what could be contracting or what will be changing so the first thing you're seeing number one in the bottom right hand corner is a brand new birth to five Center we're asking to go ahead and demolish the MN tctc building and put that building there that building will also have uh the capability to have a kindergarten in it uh it could have uh a multiply disabled um room it it has a lot more flexibility it also in the front end has the ability to to house a lot more family learning with the birth to three section and all of that was determined as programmatic needs with our team in birth to five um you'll also see that there's some uh images of vehicles that would be redesigning the pickup and drop off area as of right now our students walk all the way from number 11 at the top of your screen all the way down to number one uh with the smallest legs um and the biggest hearts so they try to make it all the way down uh but you can imagine there's plenty of times that things have to stop uh or there's distractions and this slows down the beginning of the morning we hope to change that programmatic problem into a solution with a new construction moving forward very quickly we have a new parking lot uh and being able to redesign that parking lot to maximize efficiency going up to number three that is our new def program that's currently the S building that used to be the uh science building uh many years ago on pdsd we'd renovate that to be our uh new de Program Center uh number four would go from our prevocational and changing that into our CTE building um then number five currently if you've ever been on the Phoenix campus you know that our track is not a track it dead ends into the parking lot so this is quite the cost but it is something that we'd be looking at doing is moving that track further north and stretching it a little bit to get a four lane 300 meter track that is not AIA compliant unfortunately if we had an AIA compliant track i' have to demo uh Building 13 10 14 11 6 and one it it takes up the whole Space so having an AIA compliant track isn't feasible on these grounds um and something that we currently don't have and we overcome that by partnering with other districts when needed um number six East Building we'd renovate that be able to uh create some additional Flex classrooms and offices number seven is the Northwest building that would be to renovate the Northwest to be more flexible expanding and Contracting rooms when I say that that means that they would have a um a high quality partitioning wall that if we needed to expand it in order to get more flexibility uh we can if we need to contract it we can do that as well um moving forward L building's already been partially renovated but we would renovate the other side of number eight uh for the it offices number nine very basic renovation uh for transportation 10 renovate the west building same thing for classrooms that are currently already in existence 11 is the Food Service renovation uh that would be also including some Flex offices um changing kind of the flow and design of how cafeteria would work in there with some partitions that could be uh extended and contracted as well as expanded outdoor dining um number 12 the maintenance building would be renovated for maintenance and warehouse number 13 spack renovation just a nice refresh for that building 14 North building renovation uh same thing being able to most importantly put in a sensory and life skills classroom and some Flex offices there we have received in the open houses some additional recommendations that are not shown here we will be incorporating everything that is physically feasible within that into these plans um but this gives a high level view of all of those we're going to go through the next slides Kelsey if you want to move to the next one very quickly this is more detail and some uh elevations to kind of show what that birth to five Center would look like as you can tell a lot more welcoming a lot more bright clean uh o Open Spaces um utilizing some of the design guidelines which would be for Vi and defa as really bright colorful entrances so that way you know where you're at the bottom leftand photo shows like uh being able to uh navigate and wave finding inside of the building would be much different with tactile movement around the building as well as high visual components so that way you could say it's the pink building with the with the red entrance those kinds of aspects to help with uh um wave finding and navigating throughout that building um next slide please Kelsey uh once again going into more detail we can see here building three four five six seven and eight on the overarching plan this gives into more details of where each individual item would be within those classrooms or the the track um I know I'm moving pretty quickly through this there's just so much we would we'd be here all night if we went uh into extreme detail on each one but mostly whenever you look at say the de programs building building three that would was um designed in coordination with and in in in partnership with um our our director of De programs um Jennifer Scaro as well as frommer her staff uh number four the CTE building um our new CTE director um was involved in that the track and fill the athletic director so we would pull the individual main stakeholder work through high level what was needed in that building and be able to um fit it into programmatically what would work for that building um next slide please um same idea here you're seeing 10 11 12 13 and 14 um and you're able to see some elevations especially over on the right hand side of what we'd like to be able to do with a lot more outdoor space that's shaded that allows for more communal communication that's more round that we don't block line of sight whenever you're within a particular area so some of those dep design guidelines to ensure that ASL communication wouldn't be interfered with but also creating an environment that feels more welcoming in each individual Zone um we've heat mapped you don't see it here but we've heat mapped you know where the pathways would be and how much foot traffic we would expect um as a point uh you're seeing 18 slides here this is 18 pages of information by the time we have the full Master facility plan done we're already well over 200 pages so there's a lot more information um that will be delivered to the board when this is completed we just wanted to give the 60,000 foot view um next slide please uh Phoenix overall you we saw the buildings this is the Landscaping view of what we're talking about so we can see that we're going to have quite a bit of a difference with regards to high school Courtyards staff patios seating in gathering areas outdoor classrooms um in outside of East Building uh the garden that's already there and Hands-On aspect uh playground and track p uh track path uh as well as other shaded Courtyard areas that we'd want to maximize um the outdoor component there I would like to note on the track and field for the people who are interested in the sports there's also a new discus throwing area uh long jump a high jump and then we would be pricing out new lighting as we know trying to do anything on that field during the middle of the summer during the day is not possible in Phoenix so we'd want to be able to expand our usability to be able to do that at night just a a Tempo check am I moving too [Music] fast and I don't know if Su a little too fast for me am I too fast yeah little little little too fast you can slow down just a bit that would be great okay thank you I'll I'll slow down just a little bit um we'll go to the next slide so this is also additional um elevations this isn't a guarantee of exactly what it would look like these are conceptual drawings of the outdoor space uh particularly what you're looking at here is what we would like to to change and I for those who have been on the Phoenix campus you know what the cafeteria currently looks like facing the field this is what we would like to change that field and that welcoming environment going from uh kind of barren dirt to something much more welcoming um and but still holding true to those deaf and VI um design guidelines uh so all of that's listed in the the verbiage that's hard to read on here once again please download the full packet you'll be able to read that uh let's go ahead and move on to the next slide actually Kelsey I think I had on my aspect the ROM cost on this one that we were going to do for for this so my apologies so before we move forward this is the Phoenix campus um perspective as we can see there's not very many major changes to the design of the Phoenix campus uh as there are for the Tucson campus uh Phoenix campus for the most part the form and function of it work very well um it just needs a really great facelift and I think what's being proposed does that uh so when we look look at the cost though and because that's going to be the thing how much is this going to cost so we've had that our uh the engineering firm uh looked at all 15 phases of this project and came back and give us what's called a ROM cost ROM that R is for rough order magnitude ROM and so that gives us a a a way of saying a guess um but it's an educated guess um and they came back with 15 phases over 10 to 12 years to complete this Total Building cost will be 35.2 million so every that that's renovating everything we saw on that first page the Landscaping would be added to it thank you Kelsey the Landscaping would be an additional 1.7 million so we're looking at right just below $40 million when you consider some additional uh changes in environment that could happen um most of the projects will take between four to 16 months the longest project is the first project which would be the new birth to five Center which would take 16 months so one of the reasons that it's so costly is because Renovations can't be done all at the same time as we have to have flexibility to move students out of a building renovate that building over six to nine months move them back the following school year that causes us to have to do projects over that long period of time and the inflation of the building materials and the labor becomes a a drawback um so this is the Phoenix campus as a whole I know we're only about 20 minutes in but I figured it'd be a good point to see if there's any questions about Phoenix before we move on to Tucson and as a reminder please turn on your screen and raise your hand I'm not seeing any questions so Kelsey let's go ahead and move on to the tuon overview option one tuon making the form and the function meet is a little more challenging um the Tucson campus when we had the work study session in October of 2022 we went over that there are approximately 346,000 square feet of building space over 30 different buildings and structures that was designed and intended to educate right around 400 students and in 1980s through the 1990s asdb had approximately um or had approximately students um I'm getting a text message from something for transportation I'm wondering if it's an emergency I'm going to just respond back real quick my apologies it's the time when we're bringing kids home so there's a possibility there was a car accident my apologies um so I'll wait to get a text back sorry um so there was um approximately 350 students on site and from 1990 to today we're now at about 150 students this means that we are underutilizing our Space by about half or a little more um when the auditor general looked at this that was part of their finding that we were expending funds on underutilized buildings and that that's what they wanted us to correct so they wanted us to consolidate when we looked at our current reality uh there was the question of well how do we more students and that's whenever we looked at the ESS information from ad and we found that we service whether in our itinerant programs or on the campuses approximately 80 to 85% of all students whose primary disability is blind or deaf those that are not serviced by us are serviced in their home District that have the resources to care for those students so when we look at who our customer is there wasn't anyone else to try and attract to the school um and we weren't seeing any major changes legally or medically that would indicate to us that we were going to have a vast increase in student population we also notated that it was unlikely that we were going to decline anymore it had appeared that the change had happened um so with that it was how do we best utilize our space and how do we make the form meet the function Tucson campus unlike Phoenix has been built over many decades the 1930s the 1950s the 1970s the 2000s all of this has been built over many decades and with many different design criteria and uh in many unique formats that we typically would not see in today's construction standards so this makes it a unique challenge so we at first thought of this as our first option we can consolidate down into approximately 180,000 square feet how did we come to that number there is the Arizona administrative code AAC that points out a standard or a minimum that we should maintain for square footage per student for Education space we also know we have other needs um besides that and so there is more space needed than just what the AAC says but we add that in as we went along for programmatic needs so with that kind of going over high level view the first option we thought let's go ahead and renovate the yua and Soro dormatory and we would create that into our new business services it and even some of our Region 3 staff house there two Puma dormatory would become the central residential building that would house all students that are residential as a point in 2007 we had approximately 90 students in the residential component as of today we have under 30 Apache dormatory conversion we would convert that into our library our student store Cafe specials programs as well as some flexible education space number four the okao dorm we would renovate that to be our AP Center as well as our blind programs office number five would be renovating part of the driveway for the mechanic shop number six is an elementary building conversion to house kindergarten through 12th grade um you'll see here on number seven we have proposed an identical birth to five center for the Tucson campus in option one this birth to five Center would as earlier notated could also have kindergarten in it which means that the elementary school building number six would probably be first grade through 12th grade number eight would be a new bus lot as many of us know uh the speedway bus loading zone is not an ideal bus loading zone uh being right on the main roadway uh so this would get us into the north side of the campus and allow us to have a safer unloading and loading zone number nine the Kina building would be demolished making way for a larger play area the ability to put in additional shade structures and if funding allowed a splash bad number 10 would be maintenance and transportation renovation so this would combine maintenance and transportation into a single building Food Service would be just merely renovated as its current standard number 12 is the admin and admin Annex Renovations changing that up a little bit to add in some more office space as needed 13 would be to renovate CTE otpt and the student House Center building these would be reconfigured to add additional programmatic needs that we have throughout the campus and centralize them into that building number 14 we'd have to build a new fence line to demise the property and then number 15 is renovation of the athletic complex and Kelsey if you want to move forward to the next slide so this is some examples of what we were proposing for the residential component as well as our business services it area it's also what we would propose for the new AP Center next slide please this is the breakout of the elementary building so how were we able to determine that we could fit first grade through 12th grade um we did it two ways number one square footage we can take the square footage and the standard and apply that into the building but as we know that only gets us so far um because you can't have a first grader in the same classroom as a fifth grader so we listed out every sing single one of our teachers how many students they currently have and applied them into each individual classroom as well as some of the revisions needed inside some of these other spaces and we were able to fit every teacher and every student into that building a little later into the discussion we'll be looking at stakeholder engagement but I'm going to give you a little information now which is it's possible but our teachers and our instructional AIDS did feel uncomfortable with first grade through 12th grade all being in one building um it's not unheard of we have other deaf schools around the country that do exist all in one building there are ways on this building to be able to uh delineate separate entrances depending on grade level so you could have Elementary come in from the North High School come from the South Middle School come from the center this would allow you to be able to kind of control flow we're also looking at being able to separate based off of doorways and hallways so make sure students don't intermingle too far beyond their grade level um moving on uh to um number 13 down there which is essentially the CTE program that had quite the change of reducing the size of the student house center uh once again that was built for a much larger population uh and then centralizing a lot of our related Services into that building next slide please this is an overview of what the Landscaping would look like it is quite extensive uh and includes items such as um sorry just got a report um Phoenix SUV accident no injuries on board so we had another accident so uh you heard it here first um so with regards to the Phoenix Landscaping there is quite the extensive amount of landscaping improvements on that build or on the campus and this includes things such as faculty patios different sensory Gardens and play areas flexible Lawns and Gathering areas same garden and kitchen areas we have a lot of drainage and bios swell that we have to manage on the campus Because of its current layout so we' have that um additional playgrounds and uh outdoor art classrooms that would be available um to our students uh up at the very North you'll see a small pathway leading to two yellow triangles we actually own the park that's north of it we lease that out to the City of Tucson so this would hope bridge that connection so students would be able to use that Park more uh and an intent to do that uh next slide [Music] please some additional uh elevations so kind of very similar aspects with regards to outdoor areas deaf and uh blind design guidelines being Incorporated with lines of sight tactile wayfinding as well as different variations of elevations to help support students where they need to be uh next slide please see here additional this one was showing a perspective of the splash pad um the image below that shows a revised playground some of the things that we have notated with regards to accessibility is playgrounds that are shaded playgrounds that have what we call rubberized pore and play surfacing uh which gives greater accessibility for students in wheelchairs and Walkers to be able to access playgrounds uh as well as additional seating area for students in the shade so that way students have the ability to be either right in the game of the play or feel more comfortable a little bit uh off to the side uh um next image after that is the idea of outdoor art classroom uh there would be obviously interior art classroom available in Apache but this gives u a dual working space for Education uh so a lot of uh improvements to the overall Landscaping uh to better utilize our land uh for Education not just indoors but Outdoors as well um so before I move on to option two I want to give the ROM cost for that so this is over 16 different phases 10 to 12 years to complete and total including inflationary adjustments would cost $42 million on the buildings with 2.7 million needed for landscaping it's a pretty massive ask um and I want you to kind of keep that number mind of 4.7 or 4.2 plus 2.7 so 4.47 million for keeping our current buildings as is um now on this overall plan you can also see here there's the uh area shaded off to the left left it says parcel for sale obviously I want to make a a very clear note that does not mean that we have already determined nor sold that property that merely means that it could be an option there are other options that asdb could employ such as a land transfer to another state agency or a land and property lease to another state agency or private party so it does not necessarily mean that it has to go away but it would be fenced off and separated so that way asdb would meet the auditor General's findings and recommendation regarding utilization I think we can go on to option two now so when we looked at this uh The Architects and engineers and we started to really look at the engineering of the current buildings as I said some of these buildings are a lot older and so the need uh or the requirement to bring them up to standard is a lot higher than than originally anticipated a lot of walls that we thought would not be loadbearing after further evaluation by an engineering firm term found certain load certain walls were loadbearing and our renovation plans for cheap and easy went right out the window um so this led us to we need to explore a secondary option and I know uh board member Gordon you would ask why not just build new um well we're showing you that option um and uh I'm not even going to try and hide it this is my preference uh I think option two is a lot more feasible um and we'll go through it fairly quickly but it has all the same programmatic components and square footage as option one just laid out differently for option two so it's square footage is approximately the same roughly 180,000 square feet give or take I think option two is 170,000 square feet and it's smaller mostly because of the cafeteria space um that wouldn't necessarily need to be as large in option two so we're looking at essentially the same um amount of square feet just laid out and built to to today's current standards we would keep the gym and as we saw in both option one and two it doesn't show the burger Performing Art Center but we would maintain the burger Performing Art Center in either plan uh we know that that's u a requirement of our agency has been told by many individuals um so option two um I think do we have another slide um this is the Landscaping component um the Landscaping is considerably smaller um of a need but it's still there we would still move our parking lot up uh you could see we would demo Sora and yucka dormatory um and be able to expand that out um and so the landscaping though becomes much more internal uh so rather than everything being on the outside of the buildings we then create these interior Courtyards and those interior Courtyards would be playgrounds for elementary Gathering spaces for middle and high school uh separate outdoor Gathering space for the residential component um um and so we would be able to have that same birth the five programmatic Center laid out a little different but it would still be within this new construction uh next slide please these are some renderings of visuals of what it could look like um kind of keeping to the history of asdb we can see kind of that red Spanish tile entrances uh kind of the Navajo white component to honor the history um but without sacrificing ing any of our future with regards to programmatic education on the campus and um Kelsey if I could have you go back one slide I want to make another note thank you as you can see on the North End towards those two triangles there's still a substantial amount of land above north of that parking lot as well as off to the right of the L shape just on the North side or the top of the track so there's still flexibility if for some reason we had a change in demographics that we needed to have more students or have more education space we have the land to do it but this new construction would meet the need as far as we can see for our students today and perceivably the next 20 to 30 years go ahead and go to the next slide again Kelsey uh and the next one please so kind of going to those interior Courtyards and what things would look like lots of Windows to be able to go see in and out for ASL communication we would obviously work on shading to be able to deal with the summertime aspect um lots of circular spaces for individuals to communicate in ASL um but still also working with the blind design guidelines that have been developed that would be a component uh of this with regards to wayf finding and navigation um go ahead and go to the next slide please um this is another perspective of it as you can see kind of front and back uh we can see how it would look um as a uh new construction and separating it off really kind of squares everything up makes wayf finding uh and navigation for our VI uh students and staff a lot better um and really it gives us a huge benefit of kind of making the Form and Function truly a line uh for the Tucson campus um and so that leads us uh into what I had said to superintendent rikman which is uh with new construction um we have to honor our history we cannot forget our history we cannot forget our intent but we have to honor that without sacrificing our future um next slide please or is that the last one that might be the last one that is the last one that is the last one okay so um ROM cost and timeline for option two as I said option one was 10 years to years option two once funding is delivered is two to three years in construction with zero impact to daily operation today so option one to renovate a building I have to move everyone out do the renovation over six to 16 months move everyone back in it becomes very disruptive um and challenging um option two there's none of that we can fence off that section begin new construction and it would be completed in two to three years once funding is delivered the cost to build that new building plus renovating the gym the rough order magnitude is 38.2 million meaning it is $4 million cheaper to build new Landscaping option one was 2,700,000 this one option two because of the smaller component is 2,200,000 so about a half a million dollars cheaper to go ahead and do the landscaping for new construction this option also other than the gym has like I said the zero downtime component um it also gives more buildings and more land if the board ever chose to sell transfer or lease that space so before I do want to talk about stakeholder engagement first and then I'll open it up for some additional questions but I do want to note that we have had a lot of stakeholder engagement we presented all of this information at the openhouse in Tucson and at the openhouse in Phoenix that openhouse allowed for individuals to provide comments suggestions and recommendations in both English and ASL over to the architecture and engineering firm some of the recommendations or actually all of the recommendations and suggestions haven't been made on those forms yet just because of time we we need another couple weeks to do all of that but we are looking at adding as many of those recommendations and changes as possible we also had a separate town hall meeting just for the education staff in Tucson reason we had a separate one for Tucson is because the open house was during spring break and many of them were not in town we also had as a nice benefit of being able to show the presentation boards to our students at the Tucson campus and we did that because we wanted their feedback as well which one did they prefer I'm going to give you the overview of what was kind of delivered option one was much more preferable by the alumni that attended the open house they felt it preserve the history and feel of the campus and what they remembered whenever they came here they felt option two definitely destroyed that feeling during the open house at Phoenix we got a little bit different of a response which was when do we start um and I would like to say we start today but unfortunately we have to wait until we have funding and board approval for the conceptual designs at the Town Halls the students originally went through and looked at all the options of one and two and at first it was we like option one and then when they learned the timeline that it's going to take years to complete that it was quite the dramatic change the students immediately went no we we really would like to see this in our lifetime while we go here I I would like to graduate from the new high school um and we saw that that information of the amount of time required to complete those renovations made the change in their perspective the teaching and itiner or the teaching staff and our instructional aids for the most part I would say felt option two was the better option for them for the exact same reasons as notated here which is the disruption to their education of having to move out of their classroom and move back and the time the amount of time that it may take five to seven years before their building even gets touched so and even prior to that engagement sorry to move backwards and I apologize about that we also had surveys and additional ways of getting information for these conceptual designs and we've tried to honor as much of those surveys as we can so I have two other items that we'll be going over which is funding opportunities and next steps but before doing that I kind of wanted to open it up to some questions thoughts feelings um Mr Gordon I know that you were thinking about the new new construction and I'm curious to see what your thoughts are uh um well first of all I was wondering is there an option two for [Music] Phoenix there could be um but that would be that would be in order to have no disruption to education we would have to find new land I don't have a space that I could build a new building of that size to make that work um but it is definitely something that could be explored um the one thing that does detract from making an option two for Phoenix uh as attractive as Tucson is the fact that the middle school high school building is a fairly new building and we're going to get another 25 to 30 years out of that building before it's Antiquated okay so we we could research that it would be a change of scope to the Architecture Firm and some something we would have to explore probably next fiscal year just because of the contract but it is something we could explore I mean 10 10 to 12 year construction projects I know that's not uncommon for Tucson but in general I mean that's you know kids are going to be in their mid 20s by the time uh that project is to fruition kids that hav even come into school yet so you know it's it's a uh that's a daunting schedule by any terms um particularly when you can do it more cheaply much more quickly now Albert let me ask you though is is the uh asdb headquarter so to speak uh would that remain in Tucson um I think the way that we have it now is it is split it is the administration building is in Tucson but we also have the Phoenix Day School for the Deaf uh L building and that's where Anette and Shaina and even Orin right now are primarily housed out of okay so I would I would argue currently our administrative Center for our three Top members of the agency reside in the L building of Phoenix yeah I think it's more of a semantic that it says Administration it could just be office building A change in no no I I I understand that and I guess that would make that makes sense particularly with Phoenix the popul and the I know historically and that's always an issue at hand is to keep the keep the historical aspects in mind um but it would it does make a certain level of sense having the admin working out of Phoenix um so I was wondering just as the design of uh or maybe that's just the perspective that although it's always been considered in Tucson that that's not really necessarily the case even now and and going forward wouldn't wouldn't have to be maintained so to speak um I mean there's uh I it's an it's interesting all the way around because these are two big renovation or construction projects personally I don't think they're really that expensive uh considering you know now 20 30 what 35 or uh 42 million over 12 years oh that's that's two Phoenix 35 over 12 years you know that and that can that includes inflation so you know that's uh considering what you're getting I mean I you know you hear buildings going up for uh 100 million and they're modest so um price-wise it's not it's not outrageous I think the timelines are outrageous because how I mean how do you do that is that campus going to be under construction for 12 years literally sorry I yeah yeah that's you know that's hard to contend with you know and if I may also add one of the other concerns about doing um that kind of construction is is that uh how do I put this the state as we saw this year now has a funding situation where the Arizona Department of administration General services division had a hundred I think it was a hundred million dollar worth of projects over a few fiscal years just get halted and so you may find yourself right Midway through option one of tuon and never seeing the Finish Line yeah um and I truly believe there are ways as you mentioned the history to honor the history with new construction yeah um and involve key stakeholders who understand the history uh to participate in what that looks like yeah yeah absolutely and you see that being done that to to preserve um the memories and and the experiences and and you you take that into account you know that's part of the design is to you know people that can render that uh accurately to to incorporate uh U things of the past or things to to be able to represent that period um anyway um uh I don't know Albert you know come I coming from New York a lot of construction always timelines that generally are expedited and trying to get things done um I've been surprised in Arizona you know Grant Road widening it's been going on for 25 years they're trying to get to step three of five soon so you know th those are peculiar types of things I mean the big dig in Boston that's that's a different thing so uh that doesn't I guess that doesn't support what I'm saying um I'm I'm really and I I want to thank everybody for indulging me here just because I'm really thinking out loud um I mean out of the two two options for Tucson certainly it seems prudent in my viewpoint to to go to option two me I to me I don't think that's even a really too much of a discussion but that's again that's just my perspective um you know one of the things though as you mentioned and I I appreciate your your Insight to this and your honesty and I especially appreciate your transparency because I feel you really do say things as they are um the the census student census is uh always in my viewpoint a a big issue particularly in Tucson when we're talking a you know a major renovation with uh you know with a a blind census of under 30 total I think you know with I think that's what we saw today between the the few in residential and the few day students and the de population that is also has decreased now you do talk about it being maintained over uh over the past couple several decades and going forward uh with a prediction but you know that that's always a question in my mind is before I would have I'd be able to make a decision is is it prudent to continue as is in Tucson I know that's a big question too but that's I see those numbers and for all practical purposes there really isn't much of a blind school left so you know is that part discussed really or or how do we how do we deal with some of with with that perspective so to speak but from what I see of the renderings and the the planning uh with that aside I certainly support what you guys are doing I mean what you've done I should say not what you guys are doing what you've done and what the plans are and to to uh to to be a to be a part of that decision you know that that's certainly needs to be done let's put it that way it can't we can't be ignored um you know we moved into two new buildings at Savvy over I'll be quick over the last two years we saved a lot of money by purchasing buildings instead of leasing uh office suites and and uh it's been it's been good in that way but one thing we didn't really calculate to the extent is the renov ations that and uh and they're just Relentless you know one thing after another every day you you're you're getting prices high prices to replace something something's broken you got an emergency you're calling in plumbers you got your air conditioning it's just that piece is really is endless and uh I'm sure in a institution that's over a hundred years old in some places uh that's that's even more so in your case so something needs to be done and that's that's our charge here is to try to determine what okay I've thought out loud long enough No I um I see superintendent rikman has popped on I'll say one thing and I'll turn it over to her which is you know that I think you hit the nail on the head which is what it was in 1980 is not what it is today and so what the intent of this redesign of the buildings is to make our current Form and Function align right um and we're charged to provide services in major metropolitan areas but it doesn't need to necessarily be done with 346,000 square feet um and as you noted and it's you know the the problem with any older Antiquated building as an example um we started to have Bud constraints and Facilities um a couple months ago and so now we're okay well we're we're running over on that line item how do we find the money to do this right because those costs continue to grow and grow um whereas and our funding is um determined by student not by square foot right so if we have a massive amount of buildings and square footage and a few students we're never going to have the funding to truly cover that that cost whereas if we have a smaller space we may be in a better alignment um and that that's what I'll say and I'll turn it over to and these emergencies have to have to be addressed immediately so when your budget's over you don't have any any flexibility or latitude you know you're you're that money is being spent and then you got to find where you're covering it uh or where you're covering where you took it from after so superintendent rman I just wanted to add that we are looking at our enrollment numbers and as you heard earlier today Mike we are again re-evaluating and looking at those the numbers of students that we have especially um our two campuses because the number of students we have directly impacts our Revenue to support the staff such as teachers and our professional staff and our facilities the cost for maintenance so so this master facility plan really is you know taking this situation and trying to predict what it's going to look like in five years or 10 years and what we're going to need so I think it is important for us to remember if we've taken that into consideration however your point of Renovations over a long timeline uh is definitely valid and so we might want to reconsider what we are going to be doing here on the Phoenix campus and what that looks like uh potentially we could do more Ren Renovations simultaneously um that's something we'll have to figure out how that might look and come to an agreement and my next uh item on my agenda here is funding opportunities but I wanted to open it up if there's any other questions before I go into funding opportunities hi Britney hi so I just want to make sure that I'm understanding this or I don't know I guess make a comment um I too would be very much in support of explore if there's an opportunity to explore a shorter time frame for our Phoenix campus um and seeing what that plan would look like instead of spending 10 years doing this um and is that something that we can I guess I wasn't clear on that point when you were originally asked that like is that something that we have to wait till next year to find out or is that something that we can go to the firm and ask I can go the the first step is because it's a change of scope we weren't looking at doing that I would have to go back to Lea architecture ask them for a price uh that does change the cost Factor though because we don't own the land um and campus well we own the Phoenix campus okay but to we'd have to look at either a how would we build new on this campus Allin one or you know what that would look like so that may be something that we may have to wait until um July to do but I would have to confirm with them before we we go that direction they they may that they're listening right now I know Lea architecture is is joining in so I know uh Lance and Sean are diligently making notes and probably already starting to think about it um but that's something I would have to get back to the board of what that timeline and scope would be what determined the 10 to 12 years scope just the amount of construction that moving around like all those parts that's what they presented was approximately 10 years correct because in order to renovate West building and East Building to try and get the temporary how um classrooms you know you bring in those temporary classrooms you set them up on the field or in a parking lot which nobody likes and you're educating them in there for six to eight months and then you're bringing them back in and you only have so much space on that campus to bring in those temporary educational classrooms and then you have to and of course those are probably the least conducive learning environment right um I don't know if anyone here experienced that I did as a child um you know it's probably not the best for the teachers but that's something that I can see Lynn is nodding um I've taught in a few so so you know exactly what I'm talking about um that's one of those things where I wouldn't be able to get enough square footage of those on the campus to renovate in a shorter period could we look at Expediting that yes we could talk to The Architects and Engineers so all projects have three they they call it the triple constraint process or the triple constraint aspect you have cost you have scope you have time and you you all three of those are interconnected so if you want it done quicker we can do it quicker but then that has a negative impact on cost so if you want to have it or you're reducing scope so you're not doing the full renovation you're just doing a partial so if you want to keep the scope the same and do it faster then our costs are going to go up exponentially because now I'm approving nighttime work uh so all the overtime the uh uh premium costs on contracts for material pre-ordering material all of those costs begin to increase so if we wanted it in a in a quicker timeline it would greatly increase our cost why what why is the cost then reduced to have an ex a different timeline for the twoos on campus so because the new construction I don't have to vacate any buildings that are currently in use because we have enough space because we have enough space I have a whole football field the only two buildings that are affected in new construction is the Soro and yaka dormatory which right now is my office oh yep Kelsea has it up there up there we kind of that north side there uh where the we have a dorm up there in preschool we have soron yua right there I have my region three team in there itinerant team we could find them a lease a fiveyear lease off campus while we did this construction before we brought them back and so that's not disrupting any education it's a lower cost for that and then yeah you can see the kind of the shaped building that's almost like a top hat right there it's number one um so that soron yucka building we would have to demolish that to make way but you can see we have all that vacant space there so that that's why we can do it in a shorter timeline and avoid the inflationary cost of doing a longer phase project okay this is just like probably a random question that's probably due to my own ignorance but like if for some reason we're able to come up with a more expedited plan for Phoenix and redo the entire campus do other schools like have space that we could lease from is that like even a thing or it's an option um and it's it's not a not an ignorant question at all uh there are schools that have that um and we could be in lease space uh to to do that that obviously has a cost um location costs the lease costs and if we wanted to say move the Phoenix campus or the majority of it into a lease somewhere else um we would have some tenant Improvement costs just to occupy that space so a lot of times what you would see maybe not another school but say a vacant strip mall yeah okay and you would do a TI to make it good enough for now to be inside that space while you did the full renovation so you could expedite it but then that changes the cost in the phase plan so these are things that uh you're right on the money of that can be done to expedite that to try and get it to say a a fiveyear or a two-year plan and there may be offsets of if we do that because we're avoiding the inflationary costs over the 10year period it may actually be cheaper it is definitely more complex though okay I appreciate youing my questions no perfect any other questions before funding opportunities okay I'm G to move forward so funding opportunities very quickly um we have done a lot of research to see where we can get funding um and some of it was more disappointing than I would say positive uh which is somewhat problematic um we can't go out for bonds um major sponsored fundraising activities something we cannot do um with regards to um decision packages just because of the timeline we cannot do certain decision packages um we can continue to go through adoa Capital Improvement plan with that said they look for What's called the Delta on any project the better the Delta the more likely they can get the project funded from the appro through the legislature um so for example going to option two on the Phoenix campus what they would look at is they would say okay it's $4 million cheaper plus you're avoiding all the renovation and maintenance on all of those older Antiquated buildings and they would add that to the overall Delta and so really it could be looked at with option two as a 40 plus million doll cost savings by building a new building so this is that same thing going back to timeline and time is important um so I think when we look at Option One and Two the likelihood of them being funded this year or shall I say next fiscal year or the fiscal year after are pretty low um just because of the current reality of the state but as with everything this two shall pass and we now have a plan or we will that we want to accomplish and so that puts us in a better position when we go to adoa and ask for this funding it also allows superintendent rikman and Maria Murphy to go to the legislature and begin to ask for special funding see how that can work and see what we can work through there so there are funding opportunities for this um and considering option two is a high initial dollar value of one lump sum it still may be looked at more positively so next steps um you're uh one week from today in the board meeting you're gonna have um two discussion and action items um I have written up a a summary um um of what it is that we're going to be asking of you and it is going to be in your board documents essentially what we are asking is that uh for the first discussion and action item is that you either approve or modify or suggest um items on the conceptual designs and provide uh the agency me and superintendent rikman uh a direction on the Phoenix campus um so for example it could be we approve it as is or we want you to continue this process but look at Expediting the timeline to under say four years um and so that way we can begin to work that direction um the second discussion and action item uh I am asking for direction on either one option one one or option two which would direct us to either option one consolidation and that 10-year timeline or option two which is building a new kindergarten pre preschool through 12th grade building uh as whole um and once we have that direction from the board um then I will be able to go to the architectural firm provide them the information of what it is we need to change and we will begin to make that modifications those modifications based off of that uh to be done by June 30th if the direction is a substantial change from what is written here that could affect the scope which would push the final delivery of the master facility plan out and as noted we have to have this completed for our auditor general finding so um I'm sure if we have good explanation and they will have a copy of this work study session they would understand why uh and work with us but that is something that uh is to be considered um and at this point we are finished up at 5:23 but I will open it up if there's any more questions or comments this is UK I don't have a question I just want to say how much I appreciate you doing this so that we all kind of have a similar understanding of what was going on and it was nice to be able to see the Tucson campus um plans as well so I appreciate all the work you've done on this of course and I'd like to thank Lea architecture they have done a phenomenal job um and really taken a lot of information from other places especially for the blind and deaf design guidelines we were able to use a lot from the Texas school for the deaf for our design guidelines and we have a lot of internal staff you know who better to ask than the deaf educator and deaf individuals in the room right or blind individuals teaching those are the best people to ask and we have those in hand so no point in going anywhere than what we have already in house so um Mr Gordon um quick question Albert hopefully um if the relocation of the students is really one of the major impacts on the timelines and the Tucson campus um conceivably has more space and could accommodate that uh the relocation of students would what would be what what's the delay of option one that it would take so long if we in the same way that option two could be handled in a couple years with a rebuild requiring that the students be relocated couldn't they be relocated for option one and the consolidation occurring simultaneous on a simultaneous effort with the students being collocated somewhere else it is a possibility um you understand what I'm saying yeah yeah essentially if we were to you know get a whole bunch of those portable education facilities put them in that same area or find a place to do a TI and move the students there and do all of option one quickly is that an option I believe it it is um I will say wouldn't that happen excuse me wouldn't that happen on option two that they would still have to be relocated to to area no no okay so option two the big benefit is is that where the students are is where they're where they are okay because there is nothing existing the only building we would have to shut down that's an education building um for renovation would be the gym okay and so you know versus and Kelsey has it up right here versus if we go with option one you know to for me to renovate Elementary I got to move all of the elementary country kids out move them back in and even if I were to do say in a phased approach quicker of four or five of those buildings I still have to move them there and disrupt that education process um and the teachers so which could require additional tenant Improvement in other areas so no that that that's that's okay that answered my question I thought even with option two even though was going to be expedited with a new building uh with new construction that there would still be uh relocation but if that's not the case those are two different options completely okay correct I think option two really kind of preserves students where they are right now without any major problems okay so maybe one of the is issues at hand with option two uh and it sounds like you address that is having one building with 12 grades the the benefit of the new construction though is that you're able to delineate the spes better and and I know it's hard to see there but if you go to the actual document you'll see that like specials in the and Kelsey if you want to pull it up real quick of the new construction down in the bottom leand corner all the special classrooms are there uh or like electives and high school and middle school are on opposing sides of that L and so middle school and high school doesn't interact and just north of high school is CTE so that way you really separate middle and high school versus on the the far north side you have preschool and elementary school so you really even though it's one building per se right you really have delineated the spaces properly for the need of the education rather than say option one where you're kind of making the elementary school building work for K through 12 thank you y if there are no other questions I can turn it back over to Su and superintend one more it's Berney um just if I heard correctly most of it seems like students and teachers and people that will be um daily using these buildings and this is you know their job or their education they seem more in favor of like a rebuilt as opposed to a remodel is that is that correct I would say I'm G to preface it before I say the answer there if you don't mind right totally the education staff I feel overwhelmingly feel that this is a very hard decision and they know it is they they they they're not ecstatic about either option for Tucson right especially a lot of the staff who have been here for quite some time who remember 1995 or you know and and having 300 students on campus and what that looked like um but when receiving the information regarding the two options option two was preferable I wouldn't say they're happy about it but they definitely felt more preferable towards that versus option one being disrupted in their classroom not knowing exactly where they would be teaching for a year or six months having to deal with the student emotional aspect of constantly relocating especially our students who are multiply disabled um and and managing that um and that those emotions so it it's not I would say hurah raah um but it's definitely if we had to pick one we'd take option two um and of course there are others who felt no we want option one yeah um but I felt going through all of the exercises and stakeholder engagement option two was the more preferable option because of those items okay I appreciate that I I guess I wasn't looking to see who as like enthusiastic support but I understand that there will be an entire grieving process no matter what gets chosen in very many ways um I think that though as it stands at asdb especially Tucson has done a really good job in retaining the history of the campus and the rich history that asdb does have so I feel like even if we chose option to a complete rebuild that we would be able to preserve the history and the culture that asdb does have and has always had it's just you know it's it's 2024 now and things look a lot different especially with the technology comparatively to 30 years ago covid showed us a lot of things and you know how education can be changed and redefined and you know we got to make decisions that meet the needs of everybody especially our students and very importantly our teachers that raise up these children in our next Generation so thank you for that I I agree and and I would like to add this isn't the first time asbs had to do this right asdb did it in 19 uh 20 when we moved from the University of Arizona to this campus we did it in the 1950s when we tore down the buildings from 1930s to build the 1950s buildings we did it again in the 1990s when we tore down the 1950s and70s buildings to build new buildings and so so th this is this is something that we've done before and each time we've held on to pieces of history that were truly important such as the superintendent uh residence and the museum that's there and all of the great history that gets preserved there that is kept in any option no matter what happens that building is there that history is there no matter what you know come everything burning down that history is there yeah I had met with Albert a few weeks ago and we had gone over this and and Albert you had said that we're reminded them we're preserving Burger but I'm glad you we are preserving the museum the ghosts are all still there yep all all the stories everything that's in there um and you know I think that um we can take components of that when we do any design because once again this is 60,000 foot then whenever we get into we're going to do this plan or this building then we get into that 30,000 and 10,000 foot View and then we start getting into the very fine details where we're working with you know our stakeholders and going you know what furniture what fixtures what equipment do you need how do you need it where where does it need to be there's many more stakeholder engagements that gets into the nitty-gritty detail this just sets us on the path of this is where we're going any other questions Anette did you want to add anything no I think Albert was uh very clear in his explanation I don't think I need to have a motion for adjournment for um the work study I think we can just go ahead and adjourn the meeting at 5:35 today and again I appreciate all your time and and involvement in this and just wanted to make sure we were all kind of on the same page so we will expect the action item at next week's board meetings for discussion and action awesome thank you and have a good night

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] so we are now speaking with Patrick Lynch the wish recipient Patrick were you surprised yeah like how excited are you about trip to Disney On A 1 to 10 scale I got to say 13 I wanted to go down to Florida my dad and SE long it just makes me really happy to see him happy uh he went through a year of a lot of hard work and just B feeling bad and having bad days to to come out shine he's a warrior he's coming back stronger than he was even and he's clear now he's 100% cancer free basic if you could describe it in one word the fact that you're granting a wish to someone in your school what does that mean for you one word inspirational yeah it's our mission I think and this the community that it brings to everyone here we are the largest Club Ashen high school so we've had such a large like Community Reach and it brings a bunch of our students and families all across ashin all together how many members in your Club [Music] you