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guys are already so busy already okay so um with uh everyone in attendance um we don't really need a roll call we're all here um and so we've got we've got um four folks signed up for public com ment um but some of the um agenda items require a little bit of uh clarification so um I think it's too loud for the it might be too loud oh wait a second okay so um before we before we begin public comment I just wanted to ask a clarifying question and it's to you Mrs C because you signed up um and I didn't get a chance to ask you before the meeting it it says um under agenda item it says public comment does that mean you want to speak to this okay okay thank you so when the dust settles we'll start with Mrs suender she'll wait for the second yeah and I Mrs CER is here yeah she could hurdle drum sets yeah she'd have to So for anybody watching at home we are just waiting a second oh for anybody watching at home for anybody watching at home we are just waiting a second for um the Jazz Band to um clear out the tremendous amount of gear that they have to Lug around um and public comment will start in just a second oh oh yeah oh so Mrs sinder it's up to it's all you uh you sign up to speak about the budget and the board yeah awesome thank you hello my name is Logan sinder 46 of two Road South and I'm here today to talk about the budget and the board I spoke about the budget during public comment a few meetings ago and I appreciate the response I received from Dr Young Blood the board and the administration having a thoughtful budget that passes on the first vote is important to me but after attending and watching Board of Ed meetings recently I am concerned about this board's ability to work together collaborate compromise and produce such a budget I've watched this board unravel attack each other argue yell and conduct yourselves in a far from professional manner the main priorities of the board include the budget student achievement policy and climate Dr man's presentation about achievement should concern you class sizes are over the limit perhaps that's influencing achievement the middle and high schools have 10-year plans to manage to improve the buildings you have many policies to review and yet more of your time is taken up with arguing over the calendar or minutes climate has been a big topic of conversation and the teachers union president spoke here during public comment with more than 50 teachers president in present in support he called out certain behaviors including inappropriate requests by board members for protected emails and asked the board for a strong positive respectful change instead of hearing his message and responding with change you sunk deeper into battle and argued over who should have been in a meeting you missed the point what they asked for was to lead by example and set a positive tone for the district teachers and staff have their channels of communication through Administration and the union for that many teachers to come to a board of ed meeting was a statement to try to get across to you that your behavior has an impact on the entire District your personal and political battles trickle down and impact all of us Community included you may think you are fighting for our schools and our children but really you are just fighting I have been to convocation and seen the camaraderie of our BPS staff I talked to the keynote speaker afterwards and he marveled at the enthusiasm and team spirit he saw it is not the norm in other districts are there things that need to be improved of course but I volunteered to support education in this town for over 10 years and what I see is that people are generally positive and willing to work together on the things that they need that need to be fixed except in this room discussions and votes frequently fall into a DTC versus RTC battle or a personal Grudge C has a great document called so you want to be a school board member in it it says board members should view themselves as team members able to work harmoniously with other members should represent impartially all the people of the district rather than any political social or special interest group it uses words like professionalism respect trust civility strive to reach consensus on difficult issues and work out interpersonal conflicts appropriately at open house Mark Banda encourages parents to be serous not judgmental and that really stuck with me and I ask you to do the same it's a matter of perspective and attitude please reset to create and pass an appropriate budget to improve our student achievement to be role models for this District to do your job as board member I beg of you figure out a way to work together and focus on moving our district forward thank you thank you um Mrs Korea is going to talk about U meeting minutes Irene Korea 45 West whis Road I request that the board do not approve the 1120 2024 meeting minutes without the following edits under complaint 1312 on the vote to End discussion on the complaint the minutes state that the board voted uh 3 to three the vote count has the three board members listed as a and four board members listed as no one board member is listed on both a and no votes on the vote to dismiss the complaint the board voted 3 to three the vote count as three board members voted as a and four board members listed as no one board member is listed as both a and no votes for the last motion a board member asked the board chair to step down the acting chair stated that the motion was to remove the chair the member restated asking the chair sorry asking the board chair to step down the minute should not state that the acting board chair clarified because once the acting board chair asked the question she did not repeat the words stated by the board member for the motion she used her own words for the motion this can be verified on the YouTube video at timestamp 2 hour 0 minutes and 55 seconds remember words are important the minutes in video should be a transcript of what actually occurred also the WMS student Spotlight the seventh grade teacher's name is spelled incorrectly it is not spelled like the candy spelled differently you can look it up on the website thank you thank you Mrs Korea okay so we're going to um move to um Melissa Baines with the uh student with the student report hello um I hope you guys all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break um first in um terms of Athletics I mentioned that we had a powderpuff game last week um against bethl Brookfield um seniors and juniors did in fact win that um in overtime um in the the field goal kicks so that was really exciting um uh in addition to this football won their Thanksgiving game against bethl um and won their first round of States yesterday um against Jonathan Law maintaining their undefeated season um and their next game is this Sunday at 12:30 um athletic advisory is hosting a holiday toy drive and are accepting donations um from all students um and staff and then under classmen from athletic advisory and student government are attending a student leadership conference um this Friday um will they'll attend like seminars um and learn like lessons to Aid them in their future leadership Endeavors when they become seniors um in addition to this field trip student government is also going on another field trip on December 17th to Hartford for a mock legislative session um and it's like a seminar with other Student Government associations um in Connecticut uh class of 2026 student officers are hosting a candy grams fundraiser where students can purchase like a treat bag to be delivered to family and and Friends during the holiday season um then also in partnership with Mr Banda Student Government helped install wallmounted trash cans in the girls math bathrooms um and then something to look forward to which is exciting um for the elementary schoolers um National Honor Society is hosting a winter Workshop um after school where students can participate in different holiday themed kind of stations and activities like crafts and games um so that's really exciting and I'm looking forward to sharing more about that when it happens so thank you any questions for Melissa thanks always good to see you thank you Melissa okay um now for written correspondence uh Miss sakur the following people have emailed the board of EDS since the November 20th meeting Bob Belton voting locations Ellen O Connell General board Behavior concerns Shannon Riley in Praise of seventh grade literacy teacher Irene Korea 11:20 meeting 1312 discussion and review Andy Korea Boe minutes and Boe policy the Bea contract and Brookfield ethics roles Brian McGovern thank you Board of Ed Eve St devant November 20th meeting Jillian Dyer letter of support of the Boe chair great let's move uh now to the board minutes you tonight if you want to if you don't mind that would probably be good I'm just gonna like do this for thank you prise I'm not to no it's okay um I move that the board approve the minutes listed below as recommended regular meeting from 11:20 do we have a second I'll second it's been seconded okay so uh we have a motion on the floor that the board approved the minutes from the 11:20 meeting um it has been seconded is there any discussion of this do we have to CU some uh email came in the comments are made about the minute so is that something that we should discuss I don't think so I think we can vote I mean if everyone read the email if there Ed to be made then make them Wendy I thought you had emailed us that we would be making a revision I don't think so but it is possible that I forget entirey this I don't think so um but at this point we have no amended minutes for the bo the board can make a motion to amend the minutes a board member and then that could be discussed right now to to do the minutes change them um the one thing we can that t I did I messaged um okay so it's on so will you guys um look at your November 20th minutes please which page page page the third page the third page right so is that the only one okay further so Stephanie um are you moving that we amend them um I will move that we amend the minutes Rob's on their to reflect on page three of the minut minutes okay um where Rob fetta was listed twice um are we on the um the last page of the page three the second motion third third motion down so right here where it says the third motion down so we're we're removing um we just need to take his name off of the voting no correct correct so would you would you just clarify that 1812 complaint that anything spoke about no that well hold on point of order like let's let's just I don't know vote on that Amendment first the third one down I thought it was all amended I thought we were changing them all once I we're just taking it was just an ER like it was just an error I got you let see mistakes happen I got you I didn't catch [Music] everything that's the only one that I know of that's me like so we made a motion and seconded for that Amendment yeah yeah are there are there other um amendments to be are there other changes to be made at this time so we could just do them all yeah we could add them want just add them that's fine did you have one well one was the complaint on the bottom Andy career speaking about the 1312 complaint and what would he like that change too uh that he didn't he didn't actually he didn't yeah that was the thing yes okay okay okay okay fine thank you very much and to strike that thing that statement did he speak yes he did he spoke about um uh [Music] climate just don't know if we're ready to to make all the corrections I don't we have all the information correct well he didn't speak about this that's what I know and he don't remember what he spoke about um I'm pretty sure it was the climate um um maybe even the climate survey I think it was that like the the responses for the climate survey um and I mean if you if you're not feeling certain that's important for us to to do I think we could however um vot because it we so let's just summarize the amendment right we're striking Rob fetto from the no on that third motion we are uh amending the um the public comment portion where it says K spoke about 1312 we're going to have that instead say I believe it's climate survey climate survey the shadow is listed twice it's both of them sorry okay so so the second and third motion and the thing about Andy Korea and what he spoke about yes okay those three items there did you get those Lisa just a second um Sarah found something else there's in the first public comment there's an ed that needs to be made and then the second [Music] one can you bring our attention specific I don't believe have I don't believe oh that's it that's it the 1312 was not talked about the first public comment and then the teacher parent thing I don't know what that is just it's just an error it's just a typo right no mistakes I just think we can yeah just take it out do it later okay so we're taking out your parent cuz that was just correct there there okay yeah and the spelling of Mrs Ro's name too yep [Music] awesome but you're right I'm not sure what that second public comment was now um Miss rambling Lisa do you happen to have the records from last week's last meeting's public comment or the the um just the record of public comment in the that would have come from the book The Sign and Sheet the sign and sheet for the yeah can you can you tell us what Mr Korea spoke about in the second comment please it's a second public comment okay he spoke about what the presentation of the climate um the Bing climate policy okay the new the thing that John Dr okay okay so we say climate we identify the topic awesome all right so should we summarize the changes again yes you feel comfortable doing that sure okay um okay so we are amending the first public comment section correct Mrs ree's spelling all right we're we're amending Mrs Reese's uh spelling um the the first part of the the first public comment to remove the 1312 complaint M and in that's where he spoke about climate no no okay and teacher parents going to be okay so we're just striking the 1312 and the teacher and we're also striking the teacher parent yes and then on page three we are removing Rob fetto from the no votes on the second and third motions and are there any changes on that last public Sumit so then that so then we're changing the 1312 complaint in that last public comment section to The [Music] Climate the the other one was my motion mhm believe my words were for the board chair to step down that's I believe that was so to change it says that Joy greenin recommended the board chair step down the chair Fernandez clarified that Joy Greenstein was making a motion to move the chair that if you watch the video that's exactly what was said you made the motion for the chair to St down oh so Rosa clarified that you were asking her to make a motion Rosa clarified that you were asking for a motion to remove the chair you affirmed and then we voted on that okay okay all right so I think that summarizes it then okay um so we have a the motion on the floor about the spelling the changes in both the first and second public comment and then we have changed um Rob's votes to reflect what actually happened they were just right um the motion has been made and seconded all in favor please by saying I I all opposed and Aon did you vote and you're abstaining okay so we have um five yes one no and one abstention all right moving on to the uh superintendent's update okay thank you Wendy good evening everybody um season greetings and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break um what an example of visual and well visual a little bit but really Performing Arts tonight I mean my goodness the kids are incredible and uh it's such an honor to be working with John and Stephen and watching the kids grow and develop over the last 10 years it's uh my 10th board meeting where we've done this and it's just incredible so um absolute joy and pride um did want to share a little bit about um um Athletics I know Melissa talked briefly about it but fall Athletics um after talking about Performing Arts needs a little shout out um from the superintendent uh the girls soccer team won the S swc Championship League Championship boy soccer for the first time second time in the last couple of years won the state championship um multiple athletes in uh Swim getting into the state champions it was five thank you yeah five exactly swim and die five All State um and football winning in the first round uh last night we all the ride home it took the ride home for my feet to warm up after the game but it was great it was it was so much fun and they're playing at 12:30 on Sunday here um and I believe it's against Berlin so very excited about that a lot of great things that yeah a lot of great things going on uh here at the high school I do want to give a a brief shout out it'll get discussed more when Dr man talks about uh the next gen report which is that holistic re report we do it's kind of the second half of the achievement report the high school really has some great results um there's 12 indicators again it's a very holistic more comprehensive view of the school itself and our student performance it's not just reading writing and math scores um and so Mr Blanda his leadership and uh faculty staff students parents everybody should be very proud um not only is Brookfield High School uh achieved at the level of a school of Distinction for high performance and great Improvement um uh the way this the the score uh I don't know exactly what it is Mark but it's in the ' 8s plus 80th percentile somewhere um and and it no no but the score is in the 80s but we are actually in the top 10% of schools on the uh high schools uh in the performance index in the state so we are just thrilled with that uh Dr man and I are looking forward to going to uh the faculty meeting next week and congratulating the staff so really exciting stuff there um that's kind of where I wanted to start in terms of uh the teaching and learning report um the other thing under teaching and learning class siiz subcommittee we've got a lot going on next week really truncated between now and the winter recess so I just want to make sure everybody's on board with dates class size ad hoc committee meets on the 11th which is next Wednesday at 5:00 and then um right after that is the cape subcommittee meeting at 6 pm. so just to let everybody know that I'm going to skip over business and operations and then come back question just to clarify for the class siiz ad hoc committee there are two members right right okay so Mr Vin so far a pause there but we we have a third seat if there's you know interest but right now we're two okay okay I all right very good um under School climate just wanted to let everybody know um talked about in the climate presentation from a couple legislation presentation from two weeks ago but we've been talking about um the fact that we won't have Panorama going forward as our survey tool we're moving to thought exchange that's free it's new uh Ed Advance is supporting us with developing the the survey uh uh through thought Exchange uh there will be three spec we're going to move this to a two times a year uh climate survey so we're looking at the week just so everybody knows uh generally speaking the week of January 13th for that to to go out to everyone and we'll probably hold it open for about a week um there will be a student survey all the way from grades 3 to 12 there's a Elementary a middle and a high school version uh there will be a parent uh thought exchange as well as faculty and staff so just want everybody to know that in terms of community engagement um it's important to know that the brook Brookfield cares has approached uh Dr man and I the asset inventory survey um we are scheduling that for the week of February 10th we do that every couple of years um we'll make sure uh that we give lots of times for parents uh to for the principes to notify parents right after the winter recess to inspect the survey to have the opportunity to opt out things we've talked about in the development of the policy for quite a long time that's the week of February 10th just so everybody knows that upcoming Brookfield Craft Center Mr Lasser um has reached out uh once again which we're really excited about to Anna and me to talk about uh possible after school programming and grant opportunities we had some programs for a couple of years um funding ran out a lot with Transportation was was the big concern there so um we're going to meet this Friday pretty excited about that uh the speaks uh advisory committee will be meeting on uh January 16th at 10:00 a.m.

security task force also meets next week at 10:00 a.m. over at CES and the midyear um kind of first semester teacher attendance update will be coming to you we're looking to get that ready for you in February that would be a followup from the July uh discussion we had uh and then finally under business and operations and the final uh opportunity here for my superintendent report uh we had a um an issue with uh the start of school on Monday with heat at Brookfield High School so I wanted to bring that up um it was very frustrating that that occurred uh facilities Committee just actually met today and talked about it a little bit before this meeting um and I'm going to turn it over to Casey our uh Director of Business and operation who also works directly with facilities uh supervisor and talk a little bit about that for us sure um so uh thank you Dr BR um sorry to end the superintendent update on uh this this cold note um but uh it was a situation uh where our heads custodian arrived at the the building Monday morning after the long weekend um and found uh the building to be at lower than acceptable temperatures um in the the mid to Upper 50s is what the um the classrooms were reading at that time um I was alerted about 7:30 on my I was already on my way in here I did come to BHS first thing so I was here about 7:45 um and I I can report that the hallways were certainly colder than the classrooms that I went in I did not go into every single classroom but I did go in most wings of the building um and the hallways were colder than the classrooms um it was it was not um freezing certainly it was not the most comfortable um and and and it never should have happened I will just say that um so uh as we uh debriefed in the facilities committee meeting um and Mr Caldwell uh reported um it was a manual ual error that that uh had this occur it was not a it was not an issue with the boiler itself there was no mechanical failure of the system um I think we've we've talked about these boilers at the high school in the past and how um you know at certain times of the year when the out outdoor temperatures um fluctuate uh drastically we do turn the the boilers manually on and off um at different times during the day at this point in the season with the temperatures being cold all all day and all night um the boilers should have been on 24 hours a day um at some point before the break the boilers were turned off um and so that's problem number one and and problem number two is the fact that um they the temperatures of the classrooms and the building in general were not verified prior to Monday morning um so two two issues there that I will continue to investigate and look into um on a positive note um with that happening um uh Mr Caldwell did meet with abs who um is a vendor that looks at our the BMS the building management system that the investment that the Board of Ed made um into the heating system and monitoring the controls um and um alarms have been set now in place to ensure that if something like this were to happen again we would be alerted before it becomes the problem that it was Monday morning two such alarms are um and not to get too technical but I do I just want you to understand you know that we're covering all the bases here um two one one alarm if is if the building is calling for heat but the pressure is not building up in the system itself an alarm will sound to Mr Caldwell and his team that there's an issue another another instance is if the hot water tank uh temperature drops below a certain temperature um another alarm will sound and be alerted right to their um you know to their personal devices um to come in and and check and see what's going on so um so those are those are now in place and we will continue to investigate um again how we got here but moving forward um I'm confident that we'll be in a better place so I just have a question um so is it standard practice for that to be turned off not at this time in the year okay um so what exactly does a manual error mean it means somebody turned the boilers off that's what I want to make sure yeah okay um enjoy one of the things that was explained to me uh by Dan um Casey I'm sure you guys talked about it at facilities is with some of the lack of control of the boilers as you've heard for years the um building gets too hot in certain areas so one of the answers is to manually go and turn them off for a while to let the building cool down um so that's all technical pieces We are continuing to work on there and so that that is that's an issue with the system itself but again even as Mr Caldwell reported at the facilities committee meeting at this point in the season it's cold all day and all night the boilers really there's no real need for them to you know to be turned off at all um and so that's why it is a manual error and one of the other human error I should say ER yeah and one of the other practices that Casey and I talked about and Ken and I instituted uh years ago and we follow this with Casey is that there is there is um absolute Authority for Mr Caldwell for himself or to have a a custodian do a walkthrough of a building on a Sunday evening or an extended break he wants some check-ins we will you know obviously we have overtime built into the budget and things like that for a custodian to walk the building to ensure that things aren't cold in the building or that there isn't a burst pipe or something like that when we get these really especially these extreme temperatures so um like I said we were very frustrated with this on Monday morning and um we don't anticipate this happening again is at any point do wouldn't you call like that's it's not appropriate for the kids to be in school cuz it's so cold so or is that never a question so the the we actually uh collaborated with the health department and they went out and when they took the temperature a little later in the morning it was 58 degrees in the cafeteria um so while it wasn't one of these things where they felt at all it wasn't even close to we should evacuate or you know call school early or something like that uh the optimal temperature is the 65 to I think 72 degrees is what you're looking to have the school be at on a consistent basis yeah to follow up on that there were two um calls placed into the town health department and so that does prompt them by law to come out and and look and so they did come and they walked through the building and and measured classroom temperatures hallway temperatures um and um yeah the coolest temperature was 58 degrees at that time about mid morning so um like I said I was here at 745 as students and staff were arriving um and it it it was it was chilly it it's not something to where I was now if I had a preschooler sitting in in in a in the hallway you know for that extended time maybe I I would be concerned um you know as I said as a parent um but um but I will I I can confirm that going through the building it was it was nothing that you know if I had a concern about it I would have you know called Dr BR right away and said this building is way way too cold for anybody to be in here well you called me right away well I didn't call you right away I would have said that but but there was no recommendation for that but again there's no it's it's a problem so and the last thing would you would be safe to say that moving forward that would warrant communication to parents or or no I mean I know communication did go out to the students to staff and students um I mean I I suppose I mean it wasn't it wasn't extreme cold we weren't canceling school or early dismissal so um but if we you can't you can't underc communicate so it it wouldn't hurt you know that kind of thing okay I have a question on a different topic if we're ready to move on um about the um Healthy Start times with the ad hoc subcommittee because it's going to be virtual where can people find the link if they want to tune in we're going to post the meeting agenda on Friday and the zoom link will be in the posting great thanks okay so um excuse me it's a Google meet not a zoom link right all right um so let's go to subcommittee reports let's hear from policy okay the policy Communications committee members when went through each of the 9,000 Series policies that were submitted for a first read at the meeting on October 30th each policy was reviewed a few minor changes were Incorporated based on feedback from board members and you saw those changes highlighted on that chart that I made that Lisa sent out to help make things clear um then the committee made the recommendation for the following bylaws to be put on the consent agenda tonight for a final read and adoption those policies are 9010 9011 912 9030 9100 9114 9115 9130 9160 9200 99230 9251 9311 9312 93 25.1 9327 9360 and 9400 additionally there were a few policies that we pulled out due to either major changes or errors and how they were submitted for the first read so you'll see those on a few of those on the consent agenda for the first read tonight if you guys could give me feedback on those first read policies by December Friday December 13th that'll give me enough time to get everything together for our December 18th policy meeting and then hopefully we can have those submitted in January for a final read and adoption and then we will have completed our first series of updates the 3,000 series excuse me the 3,000 policy series is up next for review and will be the committee's priority at the December policy meeting uh we're going to focus on the shipment and Goodwin legally required and recommended policies at that meeting we received the 5,000 policy book series and we will make that a priority after the 3,000 legally required and recommended updates are complete as always Aaron Joy and I continue to be deeply invested in updating as many legally required and recommended shipment and goodwi policies as possible and as quickly as were able uh Communications as you know from our oh no this is still a policy sorry as you know from our last board meeting Dr Burl informed the committee that there is new legislation and mandates around the school climate and bull bullying policy that will go into effect July 1st 2025 um the committee will work to adopt that policy by March in order to implement any changes that need to be made by July 1st 2025 and as we know this is evolving um and as Dr BR gets more information information he will inform us and we will keep um the board and the public informed and Communications lastly the weekly budget Blast has given the public an opportunity to receive and digest the budget in smaller easier to understand pieces um this is also attribute to the influence that the public has on our um the way we operate and how we look to improve our communication with the community um it's posted in parent Square currently and we talked about Dr brell um maybe expanding that post to the Facebook page the Brookfield Public School Facebook page so that we're able to share that info in as many places as possible to help keep the public informed are there any questions about any of that big props to you guys for your continued good work and that the only the only question I have if um shipping a good does come out with um that I know that they don't currently have that policy but if they do absolutely Oh I thought I heard the the door click I did ask um Pete and Rebecca about that and at this point they they still don't have one so we'll keep an eye I think that's why we don't have to rush you know we we have it early enough and so I figured March gives us more than plenty and if it takes till April and if by then they have one that'll give us a little pause and we can do that no thank you yeah and then one last thing on Communications if I might add uh Stephanie a couple things so um in terms of the the parents Square budget blast or anything else that's on parents square and getting it to Facebook um if you're not a member or logged in or have the app for parent Square putting that link just by itself up there uh becomes problematic so we're working with Eric on how we can interface that the other thing Eric is doing with Communications which kind of links to this just thinking about the weather for tomorrow I have my 4:30 conference call looking forward to that um the the um there will be a parents SAR blast that goes out about if we have to do do a delay or something like that obviously no news is regular schedule um but if there is a delay and Eric is trying to the test tomorrow to set it up if one post will also link to Facebook and also link to the website we're just trying to you know make everybody's life a little easier uh at all times with disseminating this information to the different uh platforms that we have so thank you all awesome let's move to consent agenda thank you Stephan was my talking save your voice um okay I recommend that the board approve the items listed on the consent agenda as recommended resignations bylaws for a final reading where the first reading was on October 30th 2024 and bylaws for a first reading second um are there particular uh pieces of discussion or are we ready to move to a vote great um so all in favor of approving the items on the consent agenda uh please say I I I um any oppos say nay all right so uh motion carries 70 thank you very much everybody let's go into new business then um so the first item is well take it away all right I move that the board discuss and approve its subcommittee structure and other board representation Magnet School bef Education Connection Brookfield cares rbac rbac yes and MBC from January through June 2025 [Music] great any discussion on this just had to yeah we have to actually discuss oh yeah um wa take your name for the um is everyone G to stay oh you're doing I'm not sure I don't know that is I guess keep my name there I don't know it's this it's the very last so it sounds like we are going to have a little discussion okay um so let's go through so we're we're we're good on our um committees up at the top yeah okay so um let's just use this moment to to like confirm um I'm going to stay as AIS rep unless anybody else is burning to do it I mean it's okay um education Advance rep Rob that's you okay um bef is Stephanie Brookfield cares Aaron that's you it's not me cuz they meet when I'm working that's right that's right we had that discussion and then we asked um who could maybe uh take that space in now it's unfilled um 10 o' in the morning know what I don't okay available in the morning I just need to know what day all right I'll check into that and circle back to you I'd be um I'd be okay taking that spot if okay there's no one else available I'll be happy to for you you the email that I have but I can't make it work thanks guys okay so the rbac that's me um NBC is Robert are you good with that sure okay and um sah for the Youth commission all right and then um the interface with the State Rep yes okay Town facil Robert you are popular um the so the Jo another ad hog I do I do actually um and then the town arpa ad hoc is does that committee exist anymore yeah is I have no idea that that was the town arpa funds that came in but with all that ending I don't even know if that's still right I I was on that but that's a different one this is Town facilities as separate underneath right next one that's kind of done but Town facilities at is there a town fac I was on and then you were on is that the capital oh no that's the capital's also down here at the bottom that's the one I'm on now I thought it was too and then I was like no the capital's down here right so got space on class I I could follow up why don't I follow up with Mr Dunn to see if if there's such a committee still in existence and we'll take it from there I'll let Wendy know pass it we're going to be asking about the town facilities ad hoc that's one to ask about right and then um just gone yeah the arpa is gone and then the 10year capital is now's that's that was when we just went and um um are you okay so the B the board of Finance do you what do you want to do about that do you want I I can take over I just yeah I mean I can still go with you to like I would really like that a lot yes what you like okay last one Wendy just on the last one it says it meets through January of 2024 oh yeah you can just take that out awesome also so it's it still exists but just the meets part we can take it yes it just meets kind of yearly um it's it should be meeting like all year but it really doesn't so like it'll meet through budget season yeah in talking with Mr when Casey and I met with Marsha and Mr Dunn on Monday afternoon there was there was some changes in other membership you know not just board representation but other Town Department representation but they're really trying to get that on a more regular schedule for the winter all right so um that's really outstanding thanks everybody we have um cleaned this up a bit and now that we um have it largely set um can we can we vote to approve it and we may have to vote to amend um to add Stephanie's name Wendy yes she's willing to take over the NBC rep wonderful great Aon so you're you're sure that that's a time that works for you yeah it's at night that's fine okay gosh Rob Christmas coming early I might give it back okay so um I got more to offer by the way the gift that keeps on giving so let's just let's just go ahead and pencil Stephanie in for the Brookfield cares and if it works out then we don't have to come back in and amend this again okay all right and then you're also in for the 10year capital plan which will'll meet at some in the future we talked about that last night all right it sounds like we're it sounds like we're good to go okay so we could you could you make your so actually I don't think we need to amend anything because really motion was to Chang we just call it all right so um all in favor of um approving the subcommittee structure and other board representation um for the next six months please say I I I any opposed all right so the motion carries uh 70 great so now let's go to the star of the show the superintendent's budget proposal Dr bril the floor is yours [Music] all right good evening everybody um good to be back on the mic again uh it's that time of year I cannot believe it um mentioning about the pride in seeing the kids um perform tonight just cannot believe this is the 10th budget we've been through we've been doing this uh together and I know this board um uh their very first meeting last year you might recall uh they were hit with a 6.2% increase and so I think there was more shell shock and not a lot of questions at that point uh given arpa uh roll in and things like that we're not in a position like that for this year I think you know that uh just as a reminder for everybody uh um in the public the board received the Wednesday before Thanksgiving uh a high level budget summary of exactly what we've got going on um with notes that kind of explain the big investments in the status quo budget which is our big piece from the the timeline um in addition to that um I'm the uh budget binders you have in front of you the board of selectman board of Finance uh the town Treasurer and town finance um uh manager all received those as well this afternoon so that's that's out there um and then the final piece on this is uh yesterday I sent an email to you with a slight just a little update on that highlevel piece which is reflected in the actual presentation and in your your binders today um I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all of you uh specifically the finance committee uh for the the early support in this and and in advance thank you for the work you're going to do this month and in January meeting on many of the off weeks uh for special meetings to make sure things happen also thanking department heads um uh various teacher leaders um uh especially our principals Casey uh Dr man Eric uh Bill uh Lisa for putting the binders together Joan all the people that that really take the time to put this together it is a uh there's there's a lot of work that goes into it and I'll start to explain that as we go um like any good presentation I'm going to start with kind of our big frame of what we stand for and why we're here and the value um that we put into finances to make make sure we have the the support for our students uh and our staff uh to have uh an optimal outstanding education system here uh as evidenced by some of the the work you saw the students today the the Athletics that's been going on this fall talking about Mr Blanda and his team at the high school and some of the great things they've been doing um and uh obviously the collaboration with the community and and the grant work and just everything that goes on and then I'll tell you what I'm going to tell you I'll tell you in detail and then I'll tell you again right at the end that's how we're going to have a little sandwich here it's about 20 slides it'll probably take me about 20 20 5 minutes to go through the presentation so to start with everything the board has an approved strategic plan uh we are in year two of that strategic plan and we are working diligently to align all of our efforts with the Strategic plan the mission of the school system is to inspire Challenge and prepare all of our students to live meaningful and productive lives and of course making sure our kids are prepared for success in life uh work and in learning and then our portrait of The Graduate kind of frames that out as we start to really think about the learning experiences in the curriculum what are those big Pieces by the time the students leave 13 years with us that we want them to have we want them to be able to demonstrate that the critical and creative thinkers communicator and collaborators caring citizens and change makers all right most of you would be very familiar with this document we call this the one pager this is the Strategic plan 20 25 page document distilled into one page to kind of simplify everything that we do so it's digestible and uh easier to understand so the first thing is kind of visionary statement that we want to have a worldclass school system that cultivates growth and learning and then of course that mission of preparing students for living those meaningful and productive lives and then those Brookfield Seas of collaborators and communicators and critical and creative thinkers social change makers and of course caring citizens the top part of this document never changes but each year in the kind of pink area there are big chunks that we work on in adjust each year for the actual action steps and work work dynamics that we want to make sure we accomplish so um and those four pieces are are straightforward two of them are the portrait of The Graduate and working on that and I've highlighted some key things I'm just going to touch on there's a more to it but for the point of the presentation we're making sure that we're working on developing the domains for the p and those are newly established and those descriptors of those C's that I talked about the other piece is the pro portrait of The Graduate look fors um that we identified and we're making sure we explore those and we have an actual portrait of The Graduate team um K through 12 that is is working on this in regard to instructional practice and how we incorporate the portra of The Graduate some highlights there are making sure we have professional learning for all of our District staff we are making sure and this was a big emphasis at the beginning of the school year and presenting to the board is getting everybody on board with a new teacher evaluation and administrator evaluation support and growth plan in the purpose-driven work we talked about with Boston College coming in and really helping us with a lot of that and then the um aligned standard based curriculum that we're always fine-tuning and working on and adjusting to the changes and standards and then making sure the most rigorous and research based best practices in uh in instruction and assessment as a matter of fact I actually had a a joyful walk through with Mark this morning and we went into a couple of classrooms and really saw some learning Target work that was really best practice topof the line uh and then finally in that area um making sure uh Community connections and we we really want to make sure we're emphasizing that and doing more and more of that with our students supporting uh portra of The Graduate work we also we can't forget we live in a digital world so supporting not only the technology infrastructure but the digital tools for Learning and Investments that we make in digital tools we assess each year the usage the effectiveness Etc and so sometimes we'll change digital tools we'll discard we we'll invest in something new whatever it might be so you see a little bit of that in the budget and then of course undergoing everything is a spirit of continuous Improvement and that's really a lot of back office work that goes on and kind of um for lack of a better term kind of that roll up the sleeves a little bit of grunt work here um we just talked about policy and that that's the last one that's highlighted there um toward can you see can you see talk about shipment and goodwind policies it's down toward the bottom the policy work that goes into things merging the Board of Ed and town technology department Eric has the double leadership now that was a big move this year in terms of continuous Improvement and looking at how we could uh have efficiencies in the community focusing on the Student Activity fund those of you on the finance uh committee know about the work Casey has done especially with the high school and Student Activities and working with Mr Baldwin so a lot of great work going on there and then of course parent Square in the website so just a lot of incredible work aligned and in the actions as you think of the things we've done this year aligned exactly with the actions for the Strategic plan but you have to focus you know I often say if you try to be everything to all people you're nothing to everyone you have to focus we prioritize a lot lot of initiatives this year continuing on that and capacity building in the areas that we're focusing on focusing strategically for next year working on the portrait of The Graduate and getting that into the portrait of The Graduate re really integrated into our curriculum continuing that work is a big Focus area not only this year going into next year work we're doing in achievement as we always talk about Reading Writing math science social study standards but specifically really focusing on math we all saw the presentation early on public comment mentioned it earlier really got to work on math what are we going to do in this budget to work on math we're going to provide or I'm recommending we provide a math interventionist at the elementary school and that we work on adjusting the SK schedule and Dr P and his team are already doing that to make more time for math instruction being as creative as we can with that also at the high school investing not only to create smaller class sizes in uh specifically in the math department but integrating that with science and a piece that we need to do with both science and math and trying to make uh not only class sizes smaller but offer uh courses more responsive to student requests so you'll see that and then finally the focus area so it's Port of The Graduate work achievement specifically really focus on math work and then the third piece is the implementation of climate legislation and school climate working on that and we talked a lot two weeks ago about a climate compliance teacher leader to really help the district work on that and be responsive to those needs trying to have an optimal environment for our students but making sure we can comply with this very new uh very um uh overarching law that's come in all right I'm going to take a little step back going to budget process where I started to talk about that it's really important to share all of us put a tremendous amount of effort into our budget and it takes a lot of time to put all of this together uh it's a team effort it's a board effort it's a board of selectman and board of Finance effort over the course of the year and obviously hearing from our citizens and the thing that they're interested in and our staff so in October literally this year it happened on October 1 uh Mrs di puts out the memo that explains everything about the various spreadsheets and so forth that we have to put forward to get our our teams ready with uh budget development we get in input from the departments at the school level uh we get input from staff um and we start to develop the budgets the principles bring those budgets forward um and we discuss it at central office and we look at what are our priorities what are the things we're focused on and and how are we going to make our resources match that in November and this year it happened to be October 31st um the assumptions and priorities document that I shared with the board was presented and that really starts to lay out not only the the key assumptions we all need to be focused on but what are those priorities going to be and we start to have early discussion on that and I noted to the board in my email last Wednesday that a couple of things that I was putting in as prioritize while important Concepts as we continue to fine-tune and prioritize they didn't make this final recommendation for you or this recommendation at this time Casey and I then really work hard to put the budget together there's a lot of work that goes into it and then the status quo budget is presented to you as it was last week tonight we the superintendent puts the recommendation forward and then what's going to happen over the next two months the board begins to submit questions the Board of Ed the finance committee continues to fine-tune inspect work on it divide the budget up really get into the nitty-gritty of the budget ask a lot of questions and really inspect the budget the um board will facilitate before the regular meeting on the 18th a budget Roundtable for the public uh to not only have public comment like they do at a regular board but actually interact with the board and have conversation and administration comes as well January um there will be a budget hearing shortly after the winter break uh I think it's might be the 15th but I don't know someone could check the the date on that and then the the board continues deliberations with the admin team through the month of January um finance committee continues its inspection there's a lot of work there we make any adjustments during January is when we start to really make adjustments you know John this looks a little M can you go back can you bring we're interested in this do you have some data on that how's this program really working there's a lot of those good questions and we come back with that material and the principles jump in and really uh uh respond and help us um so we get that feedback and then by the end of January the board has to adopt the budget we need to give ourselves some time because the charter it's January 31st we have to submit it um uh whatever weekday it falls on I have to bring it over to the and present it literally to the first selectman and so that has to happen that way which means if the board has any changes mid late January that they're looking for that I need to come back with and have actually adopted by the board we need a little bit of lead time to then the next day or two actually do the calculations and put a coherent budget together so there's a lot there then in February we uh We've uh probably the last seven or eight years had a a wonderful joint board meeting with Board of finance and board of Selectmen where all in the Board of Ed all three boards get together and really go through um the board's adopted budget at that point a lot of give and take there and then the board of finance and board of select the board of selectman recommends forward to the board of Finance Board of Finance takes over from there and then we're back and forth as we need to all the way to uh usually the second Tuesday in May when we finally have a budget Town budget in Board of Ed budget out there for referendum so it's a it's a drawn out process here in town eight months of the year is spent on developing the budget for the next [Music] year before I get into the details of the budget recommendation it's important to make this note about recent positions eliminated there's a notion out there that the the school system uh or the town government is always adding positions I can tell you on the board side that isn't necessarily the case but I could understand people on thinking of it that way because with the ARP eser funds there was the rolling plan over the three years there was a lot going on and a lot that puts and takes so in 23 24 which was last year can't forget we had the consolidate part of the consolidation plan was to eliminate uh for going to the elementary school as eliminated administrator and we actually eliminated the CES principal position now to be intellectually honest we have to remind everybody that as part of the consolidation plan we introduced a teacher leader position which was the dean of students at the middle school because the assistant one of the assistant principal positions was brought down from the Middle School to the elementary school so so that was there but specifically in this year's budget uh we eliminated a grade five counseling position um we eliminated the technology integration coach we eliminated a secretary we didn't feel after the consolidation that we we want to see how things kind of played out we didn't need four secretaries at the the large Elementary School three would suffice and so that's what we have now especially with having the security monitors in place that helps with the the visitor entry and so forth a half a nurse uh as we continue to consolidate and prioritize needs and actually A8 HR coordinator was was uh eliminated when we Consolidated HR last year um and went from 2.

and listening tours with human resources Dr man and I uh going around to the different buildings we're going to try to start those this month before uh winter recess and get at least one or two two of those uh uh opportunities in to meet with staff and then the the the final good news under engagement that I really excited about I'm going to turn it over to Anna um is we found out last night that three grants were approved by the bef and um they are substantive I'll just leave it at that and let you talk about a little bit about it there so um thank you very much so we um I have the amazing Fortune of being able to partner with the bef um it's such an it really is a unique uh and wonderful um organization that Brookfield is blessed with um so the there have been we've actually had I you know I serve as a um a non- voting member of the bef committee um along with Stephanie as a member of the Boe a representative of the Boe and this year we've had a Hu a Resurgence in interest from our faculty so it's really exciting to see um and it's been a really nice partnership we've been working really um closely with the teachers you know they come with ideas um the members of the uh the executive board have been going to each school um they went today to WMS last month they were at BHS and earlier in the fall they were at clees teachers are coming and asking for feedback and getting you know kind of working on their on workshopping their ideas so um with that with that kind of work and focus um last week last night they had three grants that they reviewed all from WMS one was for a wellness room to enhance uh social learning and school climate um which was approved another one was for video daily announcements um so that they can start doing daily announcements um digitally for the entire school and that was also approved and the third which is actually the single largest grant that bef has ever awarded by almost double um was a something called a midi um digital music lab and so it's to totally kind of retrofit one of the uh rooms in the music hallway um so that kids can begin to uh create their own unique music um via uh digital um and so total those three grants um is over $74,000 from the bef so it's pretty amazing and um and it's been a a really nice and beautiful collaboration not only between the bef and the school um and each of the each of the teachers but also because the teachers have to come and and kind of it's it's a little one of the teachers one of the groups came and said it feels a little bit like being on Shark Tank you you pitch your pitch your idea to the group um but we but yeah we're we we're nice sharks we try to be nice sharks we're School teachers anyway um and so uh but it's also been a really nice opportunity for the district to get kind of an alignment and uh make sure that there's there's good collaboration between for example with the digital music lab Eric hungin and um Dan Caldwell because there's going to be some technology uh aspects and some kind of you know retrofitting of the of the room so it's just been a really great opportunity so we can't thank the bef enough it's awesome thank you very much for your support thank you Anna appreciate that summary great job on just a second before you start while we're still on the topic of the bef um it's really important to recognize that those funds come from community members is that correct so to the community members who have contributed thank you very much and if somebody were feeling in the Christmas spirit and wanted to extend another donation to The bef what's the best way to do that uh Logan uh you can um basically contact the bef email or Logan to Linder directly um we take cash donations as well as uh there's lots of fundraising efforts that we're that we organize all year they organize all year round so and you can always check out the website as well and the website thank you opport donation awesome thank you all right thanks for that for just to clarify BF is the Brookfield Education Foundation thank you for that that's great um so on top of that good news and the high school great news of of uh achievement and accomplishment um I do want to remind everybody kind of going back to nextg uh report card that presentation will be at our next board meeting on the 18th um so now switching to business and operations that that portion of my report um ESS substitute service they will be here to give a presentation as well on the 18th so those will be the two big items for that agenda uh Healthy Start times ad hoc committee um we just actually sent it out to the uh members we have a December 9th meeting it'll be virtual at 6 p.m.

FTS and that department down to two we're actually operating quite efficiently and it's going quite well in HR right now all right so here's the budget and this is a familiar document for the the board this is the document you've you received last Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I'm just going to walk through this and again I'm going to tell you this high level and then I'll get into details of five particular budget goals so so in terms of the status quo budget that's business as usual to maintain Services going forward um and keep all the same programs that we have we're looking at a a 3.44% increase over last year so that starts with really looking at salaries salaries accounts of that 3.44% increase salaries account for almost $800,000 or one a. half% for the the increases to the collectively bargained contracts that we have we're holding a line and we work with finance committee on this this a little different than we've done in years past is a negotiation salary line we don't have a par educator contract we're going I should say we have one we're going into negotiations for next year so rather than list all you know 60 plus par Educators and a particular number increased by their name we're putting a kind of a bucket of um uh funding in there uh and then see where that negotiation goes and then the the money there would be allocated for that and that also accounts for the 20 or so unaffiliated uh staff that we have in the district unaffiliated means they're not in any of the six unions then you're going to see this and I'll talk about this in more detail uh one of the things um the team and I have been working on and we actually worked with the instructional coaches on this um we are going to eliminate the instructional coach model um from um Brookfield Public Schools that's my recommendation going forward and um that currently we have six instructional coaches so we're going to eliminate those positions and not have that anymore not that we don't believe in the model um but given um tightening of resources tightening our belt uh the survey uh that staff has taken where they're really actually focusing more on needing the coaches to help them with curriculum development and curriculum implementation uh not so much on the coaching in terms of how they utilize the coaches um it's something that we find um needs to be done so we're going to eliminate the um six uh instructional coach positions and also just by natural EB and flow of enrollment in class sizes and so forth at the elementary school one Elementary section at the uh at CS however um we're going to replace those those seven eliminated positions with seven created positions um so this is a status quo again there's no new position created here and that is four curriculum Specialists um two at CES and two at WMS I'll explain it a little bit later in the presentation what that's going to look like and with the curriculum specialist going back to kind of an older model that we've had here and the faculty has really been interested in that particular area of having that teacher leader support um so six coaching positions goes down to four curriculum specialist positions we also are going to add that math interventionist I mentioned at the elementary school the climate compliance teacher will create that given the new legislation and the science math teacher in response to student um requests and helping to address some of the class size issues special education tuition and transportation has a 6% estimate on that and so that's going up $480,000 given the the students we have right now um and mostly that is for um students who are outplaced and taking a look at those contracts and so forth and then health insurance we're doing something a little different this year but pretty much we know that's a big increase along with salaries um is $344,000 that's EST that's an estimate of 4.7% increasing in premiums now we don't have anything that says it's a 4.7% uh estimate um coming from our um healthy aison however working with uh Marsha and Steve um and looking at the fiveyear history and Casey of course the fiveyear history um the average is 4.7% and if you recall last year we built in a 10% increase which was just an incredible amount of money it turned out we got lucky in the budget process and it was ended up being only a 2% increase so you know you spend all this time sharpening the pencil and concerned about maybe I'm going we're going to chip away at some programs and then that kind of back office operational piece wasn't even that expensive so we're going with this average um and then Marsha and Steve are working going to start to work I think next week with the board of Finance to put a health insurance contingency in place should it be higher um certainly if it's lower then we just lower our budget by that number so status quo um is a 3.44% increase as I said getting to the next piece where we start to get to kind of the investment section typically um in this summary slide that I share with you each year um you all recall that we have um an A continuing increase in Portuguese bilingual students um speaking by the Portuguese as their first language to that end last year planning for this year to keep cost down we put into the budget a 05 or a half uh Portuguese bilingual teacher into the budget we knew it was going to be tough even if it was a full-time position because it's a major shortage area here in the state so lo and behold we posted we went through the entire process process Katherine Oro did a great job working on this we had someone ready to go um but they were offered a full-time position in in a neighboring District so they took that position we could not find anybody um that was viable and qualified um but working with the state and I Shar this with you I think at the beginning of the year the um we are we are in uh in alignment with the state the the folks are giving us good advice there we have a full-time par dedicated to these bilingual children at Portuguese bilinguals at the uh elementary school and they under the aices of our multilingual teachers so they're we're we're fully in alignment with the law we're okay there um but I don't I I would argue that we're not getting an Optimum education for our kids we want more so we want to make sure that we not only fulfill the state mandate but we do a great job educating the kids so we're asking for in this in this particular line I'm asking for an additional half teacher which would put us to a full-time bilingual teacher and that population continues to increase we're still at around 20 um but we can anticipate that uh students speaking different languages will continue to increase here in in District um and then the last piece is is pra about $100,000 only um in specific student-driven Investments um we knew going in from last year into this year knowing what was going to happen for for uh 2526 that we implemented uh K3 uh cka the science of uh reading mandate that came down the approved uh reading program that we needed to implement um we're actually getting great feedback from staff on this so that's number one great having said that um grade four and five implementation for next year is our plan so the elementary school has its one program and you could see um that ccla and the the instruction applies and the requisite PD is about a $155,000 investment uh to get everybody up and running in fourth and fifth grade and then boost reading is the um digital tool that is uh accompanies um CK uh CK so we want to make sure we have that as well that replaces the old Lexia program that people might remember so that's an investment of $99,000 we're having incredible interest in French again there's a Resurgence at the high school uh Mr Blen recommended that we um uh add a point to FTE to increase um one of our French teachers by just enough to have uh some more availability for teaching French uh at the high school and then two um really nice uh things again these are all student interest here um we have interest in 30 kids this year interested in Ski Club the ski team um we have a volunteer coach that did it last year for us we have a volunteer coach again this year he happens to be in the room over here um um I don't think we have to twist his arm too much to be a volunteer coach at this point but um we really if you're going to have a a sport and you're going to have it consistently and daily for kids um you you really need to have form formally uh funded coaches so this is for a a head coach and assistant coach um and The Morning News we talked about with the Grant from the bef one of the requirements of bef grants is that you sustain the programs and we really want to get uh daily supervision for kids and script writing and and uh video announcements ready to go for the mornings to uh to move that along so as you'll look at the like I said it's about $100,000 in kind of new spending Investments um uh at the bottom there but the rest really is aligned with State mandates Andor the status quo budget we're looking at a 3.6 uh 4% recommended budget increase at this point in the year going forward um to to move us forward but stay focused on those core those three core areas that I talked about earlier uh Casey put together a little chart here for us when we look at expenditures by category and the increases it's important to know that of the total expenditures um of $2,147 th000 64% of it is attributable to salaries and benefits We Are a Human Resources business I say this every year but it's important to to let everybody know that the non-discretionary that we talk about um salaries benefits Transportation utilities special education tuition and transportation is practically 95% of the budget so it's really important for people to understand how that all fits together all right so our budget goals first one is really maintaining class size uh within guidelines we've always tried to do that as best we can with the the Staffing that we have um but where we can achieve efficiencies when enrollment changes uh we work on that the second goal is to to provide the the best curriculum we can they say the curriculum is the DNA of the school district we need to make sure that that's there and again with that transition I talked about earlier going to the curriculum specialist model will really put a focus on that particular area of teaching and learning um maintaining and enhancing programs while CH uh being responsive to changing organiz organizational needs you'll see a couple of pieces there what have has to do with coaching and then providing the technology not only the infrastructure but the digital tools to continue to advance learning for our kids and then making sure we have the resource in place to meet all state and federal mandates that are uh that we have to follow all right so goal number one the maintaining class size um again as I said the focus is going from 51 regular classroom sections at the elementary school down to 50 um and there'll be a couple of changes in grade levels again it's very early I'm not going to get into the weeds and details on that here at a board meeting in December uh that's for Dr P to work out but you'll see that the way we have it set up uh you'll see in a chart that I have a little later all of our class sizes K through 8 are within the class size range you'll see no red on that chart so that's really exciting um we're going to maintain eight sections in kindergarten although we'll have 16 in a class they'll be low class sizes which is great remember we have Paras supporting in kindergarten as well um the other thing we're going to do is really take a look at first grade um because with the new legislation some of the younger students whose birthdays um happened a um after September 1 parents either decided or the kids weren't ready after their screenings and they've been held out a year from kindergarten they might come and jump right into first grade after spending a year in private kindergarten so we're going to see where that goes and we're going to keep an eye on that we start kindergarten registration in February and that's always an area we keep an eye on and of course if we find we're having a a spike in a particular area I'll come to you we'll go to the town and see what we need to do and we've always had support to make sure we have you know the proper amount of teachers for our kids um then the math physics teacher that I was talking a math science teacher which is really a math physics teacher I was talking about earlier uh responsive to course selection and class size issues and then the point to World Language um for uh the increasing interest in French so those are our kind of our class siiz pieces there's a lot here I'm just going to highlight some pieces but these are the key initiatives in the curriculum area making sure we have a standards-based uh and rigorous uh curriculum uh really focused on the portrait of The Graduate the NGS standards the social study standards um making sure that uh we are developing assured uh instructional approach just like I was talking about going around the high school and walk through with Mark uh today the grade four and five roll out of ccla as I talked about uh the illustrative math piece and making sure that we finish up the implementation next year in the lower grade so we're we're fully K8 with illustrative math and the requisite PD um the other piece is that the U teacher and administrative support and growth plan we have to make sure we're following that with Fidelity but also making sure that that's is actually working for our teachers and our administrators and they're actually reflecting and growing in that support and that purpose work and Boston College actually wrote to me today to make sure that there um you know our partnership will continue next year so that's that's a a great opportunity for all of us um uh bill was just here uh last month uh or two weeks ago whatever it was uh talking about the special education strategic plan and the work there and that's all in alignment with uh Dr corvo uh from CRA and the the recommendations going forward and then at BHS uh looking at career preparation reaching out to the community alignment with Port of The Graduate a lot of great extension there goal three enhancing programs while remaining responsive to changing needs changing organization leads and the like like I said earlier we're going to eliminate the instructional coach model replace that with and that's six FTE replace that with a curriculum specialist model and that model is going to look like the following it is going to be four FTE is my recommendation going forward it will have a stem FTE at the middle school and a Humanities FTE at the middle school and so a Humanities would be an English social studies curriculum specialist at the middle school and a math a stem would be science math uh uh expert at uh the Middle School to help uh the teachers to write the curriculum articulate the curriculum model the curriculum answer any of the questions the teachers have and that's a that's those are full-time positions and the same thing at the elementary school this will also create parody with the high school which as you know we have uh two administrators one focused on St which is science math and technology and then the humanities and uh uh English language arts so that's the model there the other adjustment we're making is the math interventionist that I talked about um CS already has one math interventionist but it's important to to to know with six grades one math interventionist has a tough time getting around for the needs of the kids so adding the second math interventionist we kind of have an upper and a lower uh interventionist to really focus and one focus more on some of the primary work one on the upper work um the middle school right now has an interventionist for the three grades that they have so just creating some parity and alignment and Equity at the schools the fourth goal is technology I'm going to hit those bottom uh pieces first um making sure that uh the communication user experience is strong uh in continuing the transition and the rollover of the website uh the parent Square work we talked about that earlier so I won't beat that one um the it's time for the device replacement and so the whis skiner and uh High School laptops for the fact faulty need to be replaced so Eric's got that in the budget it's hard to believe because we've been working on this for so long to get digital dis digital display boards and smartboards in all of the classrooms in the district but now it's time to start looking at the life cycle replacement and starting at the high school so we have to do that uh Eric's really getting the team together on uh developing a a plan for technology for the district going forward A Five-Year Plan um and then of course investing in our digital tools um like boost and some of the other things I talked about kind of going back to the top of this slide one of the things that's important for people to know um with um our bring your own device uh initiative uh it's been very good for us um but we also have Chromebooks for the students and students could invest in those we're building a phase in plan about 80% of the kids who can participate in the whiskin and the uh the high school um have uh invest into the buy into the the Chromebooks and uh they use them and they do well with them kids still could bring in their own device even if they have a Chromebook but about 20% of the kids elect to just their own device what's problematic about that is kind of on two levels one with all the different standardized things that we have to go through it's much more efficient to have everybody on a Chromebook I see Sarah nodding her head she's dealing with that kind of stuff the other piece there is in you know the anxious generation and the work to make sure we don't have fragmented attention and kids are focused and get them uh away from social media during instructional time those kids were bringing in their own devices it's very easy for them to use those devices to be distracted and we don't want to see that so with the Chromebooks we could actually Eric could do the work to block that and have more more pieces in uh place so that's that's something we're working on and then in goal five making sure we're meeting federal and state law we talked about the climate leg uh the the the uh climate compliance teacher um so I won't go over that again you're versed in that and then I I went into some detail on the Portuguese bilingual adding a half teacher to the existing half position we have in the budget um and then while there's not necessarily major new investment uh really focusing on um the updated strategic plan um and and really working things through on systems and structures and professional learning and special education now there's a lot of Staffing things I said there so I wanted to put a slide together that simply summarizes it for everybody so the first thing we're doing in terms of Staffing because remember I said status quo was was a pretty solid just kind of a rollover type budget in terms of collective bargaining seven ftes are going to be eliminated six of those are the instructional coaches there is I have not heard a lot of value from the community on this and the faculty themselves are not utilizing them for the instructional coaching it's more getting coaching but really focused on the curriculum uh implementation area so we're going to we're going to talk about that in just a second and the other is the enrollment adjustment and lowering uh Staffing uh faculty by one FTE at the elementary school those seven FTE will be replaced by creating seven new FTE the first one would be the C for curriculum specialist which I've talked about the math interventionist which we've talked about at the elementary school the climate compliance teacher which we talked about in great detail two weeks ago and the the science math uh teacher for [Music] BHS that remains in the status quo we then have those additional part- times that I talked about the point 2 French for the increased interest and the Portuguese bilingual that's the summary of the Staffing changes so it's really straightforward you just go to this slide anybody who's watching at home who's just got to get back to this just go to this slide it tells everything we're doing and then reviewing the student driven new Investments well the French and the bilingual are student- driven Investments I'm just rolling from one slide to the next here the ski coach stiens and the adviser for the morning video news at the middle school and then the curriculum instruction assessment Investments which is CK for grades four and five with the support boost reading digital tool to go with that those are the invest going to slide into enrollment projections right now so everybody kind of just change gears for a second the elementary school next year we're anticipating based on current enrollment looking at our enrollment uh study uh 1,21 students that includes prek whis skiner a little less with f a little less from where it is this year at 579 and at the high school 830 this brings us to 2430 students that we anticipate for next year as you know in the enrollment report that I shared earlier this fall um we uh our population is about 100 students more right now and you could see that in the kind of that middle section some important notes on our subgroups that we really do track here in District they're very important we not only track them here in District these we have to report out on these particular subgroups and uh it's a lot of data uh on Ed site with with the state department of Ed uh students with special needs uh right now three as of October 1 348 students were identified as having uh an iepa or special need and that's a year-to-date change from last year uh of uh 17 less students uh we're at about 14% of our student population identified with special needs the state average is about 17% people know that multilingual Learners we've done some some a lot of talking about that tonight um we have right now 100 or as of October 1 122 students identified when I got here uh 9 10 years ago that number was in the '90s as I recall um and students weren't exiting out of the program they were kind of identified and that was it we really worked hard to bring in programming for those students and each year on average about 20 students exit so as more and more kids come and you can see it's plus eight from last year um about uh and in last year to this year we had 14 students test out of the program which is great because we're we're always moving the students and assimilating them uh here into English and into America um we'd be looking at about 136 kids if we didn't matriculate those students out uh through through all the work that goes on there then free and reduced lunch uh 668 students that's 23% of our kids qualify for free and reduce lunch um it was under 10% when I got here 10 years ago so there's a big change in the Dynamics in our community but there is a caveat to that there was in 2018 uh a different a change in the threshold where um it it it more students qualified based on the change in the threshold so I want to be you know uh very transparent about that but really that is a lot of students qualifying and so it's something to be concerned about and we pay attention to all right class size averages like I said said working with Dr P working with Mr Renda uh you could see uh down at the bottom of that there's a there a 10year history there's not a lot of red on this chart red is when we're outside of the uh high end of the range we really uh K8 do a great job staying uh uh tight on class size and this this next year assuming the numbers don't really uh Spike at all those class sizes look really good I mean I mean if if I'm a parent I am I am enjoying the fact that my kids are going to be in in quite small classes [Music] so I told you what I was going to tell you I told you and kind of going to tell you again just to bring you back to the summary slide I'm not going to go through it but at the end of the day our status quo to keep business as usual not adding uh a great deal of Staff or anything like that 3.44% increases that's just the cost of doing business contractual increases Etc we then look at the bilingual programming we want to really add to that to make sure we give that opportunity to our students and then uh about $100,000 in student driven Investments very specific and very um uh very appropriate frankly and um I'm excited for the kids I think this is a really focused and uh tight budget and I'm actually excited for the community because it's it's a a well under 4% increase at this point and we know we will be sharpening the pencils with the finance committee and and doing a lot of work over the next number of months getting to the last slide here um reminding everybody that the budget as I said earlier in the presentation is a financial statement of our values and education educating our students expenditures by category so this is kind of our our total here so if we look at salary and benefits uh almost 80% 77.8% of the total net budget request uh of 52 almost $53 million is Staffing right and you could see that in the pie chart to the left and then again going to non-discretionary spending which is salaries benefits Transportation utilities and special education tuition and transportation represents nearly 94% of the total budget just some facts there for you now the the the the numbers on this chart if you look at there's some fine print on the bottom there that's not inclusive of grants that we anticipate of $1.5 billion coming in and that's it for the budget presentation I thank you for your attention and if there's questions or thank you Dr bur I just wanted to say that I appreciate that you listened to the board and the community when we had had concerns about the instructional coach model nothing to do with the individuals but um the fact that your team and you have taken that and advanced that and developed that into something that can be more useful or helpful for the teachers and for the budget um I just wanted to say that I think that's that's a really uh what's the word I'm trying to think of pro thank you or or um proactive thank you thank you for being proactive and listening to I appreciate that you have really heard all of that I have a couple questions um we have two months for questions yeah no this one's just a clarifying question um so for the for the 0.5ft Portuguese bilingual teacher do we already have I thought you mentioned that we're going to have this basically brings us to a full time it would bring us to a full time is this two half times no it would bring us to a fulltime it would be a one it would be meant for one person okay and that's going to immeasurably increase our chances of getting someone to to be a teacher in that area we can't promise though because no we don't even have five we're using the fund budgeted we have it budgeted the5 is budgeted it's in the budget and we're using those funds we we talked about this we're using these funds with a par educator okay who has uh linguistic Acumen and they're they are they are working with those students but the state would not just allow us to just do that you know there's laws in place for this to make sure the kids are getting the proper education the ml teachers are actually supporting that par educator okay no yeah yeah okay I understand now so we will have hopefully hopefully a full-time if this all goes through yeah right and then the other quick question was um even though we talked about it in the finance committee but um for the health insurance the estimated 4.7 increase is is the town planning on budgeting that way as well yes okay yes so this we came to an agreement you know those are those those weekly Monday meetings and um the other thing is I I believe Steve has had some conversations perhaps with Board of Finance leadership by this point but I think officially unless they're meeting tonight I think next week they're meeting and so look at e over there yes there you go and when e comes to the finance committee meetings too so we talked about this already so yeah okay that's it so everybody's in alignment so for members of the public who want to ask questions about this if you think about it or dive into these documents over the next week next two weeks it's on the 18th I'd like carry the one um Wednesday the 18th here at uh 6 o' we'll have the budget round table and that's for um the community to come and ask questions but also people could attend the finance subcommittee meetings right those are Thursday at 6:30 yes um our regular meetings are the SEC sorry our regular meetings are the second um Thursday um of each month at 6:30 but in the month of December we will be meeting every week um until the until roughly like probably mid January until we get through all the line items at 6:30 at I 6:30 on Wednesdays yep sorry on Thursday we went through like week by week and I think there might have been some and my apologies I put all those subcommittee meetings in for next week and I didn't put the special Finance subcommittee which is Thursday right next week okay it'll be posted for it's at town hall for people who would like to attend to just um witness some of the deliberations they're very detailed can I add one more one more thing um we do have a budget blast ready to go out tomorrow and that will have the links to this PowerPoint presentation to the um you know Dr bur's presentation and and uh and where to find all of the budget documents on the website for members of the community that want to take a deeper look and you're not kidding I mean it's a deeper look it's a deeper look and and as a reminder we we you know uh between Lisa and Eric they'll work on taking the contents of the budget binder I want to make sure the way Casey said that so everybody understands it and get that it'll be electronically by section up there like it is each year and we have what about an 8ye history up online right now at least yeah maybe 10 year history up online wonderful then quick one quick question the science maath teacher at the high school is that just going to kind of be a hybrid depending on the need so we have to wait for uh course registration right so we have to wait for that so in working with Mr Banda he's got some people who have multiple certifications and high schools that's the toughest Dr man went into a whole dissertation on that a couple meetings ago so we've got some people who can can be that hybrid and so when we look to hire depending and again we're not going to post for a long time at this point when we look for that we may be looking for a specific physics or a specific math or whatever and then the person who's here right now who might not be in a hybrid type position might do that so that's what we're trying to look at I have a question as far as a math intervention I know that we're looking for one at the elementary level but historically when we're looking at our test scores our math scores across the board you know in middle school and high school are struggling as well so are we looking to do anything to assist those students or you know yeah so we have our our multi-tiered uh support uh services in place so that we have that uh in terms of intervention it used to be called RTI and and all that kind of stuff as you know a the um so that's where we're looking at you know those six weeks intervals and to help our students the interventionist obviously will help us another interventionist can certainly help us with that but across the board the other thing we're having some very preliminary conversation you know when we look at our high school test scores when when the kids take a PSAT or then they take an SAT it's an integrated math assessment right so they may not have taken geometry yet but there's geometry questions so they're not going to score well because they haven't been taught that yet so one of the things Mr Hill Mr Planet having some very preliminary conversations nothing that would affect next year at this point what we need to start thinking about is is the curriculum itself and the curriculum specialist can really help us in this area too is K through 12 do we want to do something different with spiraling or integrating a little differently than maybe we do now to help our students with that so they looking not only at schedules and Staffing but also our actual approach remember when we have illustrative math or we had my math before that that's just a curricular tool that's a a base for us to work from but that's not the curriculum and that's not great teachers teaching that content to the kids so moving forward um there is no old business so we're going to go to the second round of public comment and Mrs Rice um it is your turn okay Denise rice three old Hemlock Road um I just want to say just quick with the minutes Andy on the last meeting the first public comment it was about not complying with the law second one was about ethics violations just for the record you can go look at it um I anyway and I see that you're going to Executive session after the meeting I believe the attorneys will be present I think we do need to move on so I think it'll be cost effective to add the following item tonight while they are present instead of having another meeting at a later date which will likely end up costing double to disc to discuss attorney client privileged into information and advice regarding a meeting among board chair Vice chair and Brookfield Education Association representation any board member can make a motion to add an agenda item if everything is above board nobody should have a problem with this I believe the whole board would be interested in hearing Council explain their communication with the board chair and advice given on a separate note as parents when we get up and speak we're welcomed with grunts rolled eyes and laughed at by certain board members or disregarded or last month in my case was even told was was wasting time it was shocking to see the same treatment happen to another board member if you don't happen to agree with others opinions I believe when was told to even hurry up what is that when the same person in the past went on a 10-minute dissertation about her political views that was allowed I think we need to stop the circus and um certain board members can't run it you're sitting as board members that took an oath for what's best for our children to deliver the best educational experience you can and it kind of sickens me that several members don't have the children's best interest or mindset to make the necessary changes needed to move this District in to the world class education that Brookfield claims to deliver so I think that maybe we should all pull together and try to do this by being transparent and having more people patience because I know how hard it is to be up here and it wasn't right hurry up thanks thank you Mrs Rice um Mrs C you are next sear C case mow UI Brookfield Connecticut sorry let me just my notes good evening I'm no stranger to standing before you I have for many years I've even spoken at many board members before this panel was in effect I often speak on special education budget and policy I myself in the past have F filed a 1312 complaint and I and I have also helped many others file their own State complaints regarding their children and their educational process um I can probably recy idea and my sleep and at this point I'm fully aware of my rights and those of our children I recently joked around with a principal at the football game that I'm not a rule follower because I've often found that rules and policies you want others to follow don't even exist I cringe when I hear the word policy thrown around and and if the policy is in effect those that should be implementing them and using them as a resource don't I employ I implore anyone in the public to do a quick search on their own you can see when they have our policies have been revised many are outdated Antiquated and many state mandated laws and policies in Brookfield don't even exist when these don't exist it opens up us up to legal fees litigation and mediation this cost our district dearly again do a search on that filing a complaint is and should be taken seriously the average State complaint uses up eight hours of legal fees I work in finance and I have for many years there is a process called an internal audit what that means means is an assessment is done to make sure policies and procedures are being handled with Fidelity and care if you sat on the board and simultaneously sat on the finance committee you should fire yourself immediately because to date there still is not a policy in effect regarding my own 1312 that I had filed that states that a special Edge ver verifi certified teacher needs to be in effect for long-term sub how can you possibly keep to a budget when you know how and where we are bleeding finances and do nothing about it it's lucky that I don't sit on the board of Finance because I would probably rip your budget apart thank you thank you Mrs oops thank you Mrs CES um so let's talk about the um three main points what do you what did you gather so I thinking the first should be um the summary of the bef Grant updates because that pretty significant and um great news for the school um two would be the policy approvals cuz that's a huge chunk of uh what we've been working on and then the third the um Dr Burl's uh budget proposal update yep or proposal presentation um ladies that was 18 policies approved from the 9,000 Series well done okay upcoming um oh wait actually what did you guys think of what did you guys think of um the three main points do those seem like good choices to you all right okay upcoming events so we know that we've got the concert on the 17th there was nothing new from the last meeting I had included all of the upcoming events right awesome um all right so we are um well I'm going to move that we uh actually hold on this ends the public session for everybody who's watching at home and for the folks here um we're going to be um moving into executive deess uh session to discuss um employment sorry okay all right so I move that we um move into executive session uh to discuss employment of administrator and possible action concerning employment of the administrator second um all in favor of so moving I oppos all right so this concludes it and thanks everybody have a great night

security task force also meets next week at 10:00 a.m. over at CES and the midyear um kind of first semester teacher attendance update will be coming to you we're looking to get that ready for you in February that would be a followup from the July uh discussion we had uh and then finally under business and operations and the final uh opportunity here for my superintendent report uh we had a um an issue with uh the start of school on Monday with heat at Brookfield High School so I wanted to bring that up um it was very frustrating that that occurred uh facilities Committee just actually met today and talked about it a little bit before this meeting um and I'm going to turn it over to Casey our uh Director of Business and operation who also works directly with facilities uh supervisor and talk a little bit about that for us sure um so uh thank you Dr BR um sorry to end the superintendent update on uh this this cold note um but uh it was a situation uh where our heads custodian arrived at the the building Monday morning after the long weekend um and found uh the building to be at lower than acceptable temperatures um in the the mid to Upper 50s is what the um the classrooms were reading at that time um I was alerted about 7:30 on my I was already on my way in here I did come to BHS first thing so I was here about 7:45 um and I I can report that the hallways were certainly colder than the classrooms that I went in I did not go into every single classroom but I did go in most wings of the building um and the hallways were colder than the classrooms um it was it was not um freezing certainly it was not the most comfortable um and and and it never should have happened I will just say that um so uh as we uh debriefed in the facilities committee meeting um and Mr Caldwell uh reported um it was a manual ual error that that uh had this occur it was not a it was not an issue with the boiler itself there was no mechanical failure of the system um I think we've we've talked about these boilers at the high school in the past and how um you know at certain times of the year when the out outdoor temperatures um fluctuate uh drastically we do turn the the boilers manually on and off um at different times during the day at this point in the season with the temperatures being cold all all day and all night um the boilers should have been on 24 hours a day um at some point before the break the boilers were turned off um and so that's problem number one and and problem number two is the fact that um they the temperatures of the classrooms and the building in general were not verified prior to Monday morning um so two two issues there that I will continue to investigate and look into um on a positive note um with that happening um uh Mr Caldwell did meet with abs who um is a vendor that looks at our the BMS the building management system that the investment that the Board of Ed made um into the heating system and monitoring the controls um and um alarms have been set now in place to ensure that if something like this were to happen again we would be alerted before it becomes the problem that it was Monday morning two such alarms are um and not to get too technical but I do I just want you to understand you know that we're covering all the bases here um two one one alarm if is if the building is calling for heat but the pressure is not building up in the system itself an alarm will sound to Mr Caldwell and his team that there's an issue another another instance is if the hot water tank uh temperature drops below a certain temperature um another alarm will sound and be alerted right to their um you know to their personal devices um to come in and and check and see what's going on so um so those are those are now in place and we will continue to investigate um again how we got here but moving forward um I'm confident that we'll be in a better place so I just have a question um so is it standard practice for that to be turned off not at this time in the year okay um so what exactly does a manual error mean it means somebody turned the boilers off that's what I want to make sure yeah okay um enjoy one of the things that was explained to me uh by Dan um Casey I'm sure you guys talked about it at facilities is with some of the lack of control of the boilers as you've heard for years the um building gets too hot in certain areas so one of the answers is to manually go and turn them off for a while to let the building cool down um so that's all technical pieces We are continuing to work on there and so that that is that's an issue with the system itself but again even as Mr Caldwell reported at the facilities committee meeting at this point in the season it's cold all day and all night the boilers really there's no real need for them to you know to be turned off at all um and so that's why it is a manual error and one of the other human error I should say ER yeah and one of the other practices that Casey and I talked about and Ken and I instituted uh years ago and we follow this with Casey is that there is there is um absolute Authority for Mr Caldwell for himself or to have a a custodian do a walkthrough of a building on a Sunday evening or an extended break he wants some check-ins we will you know obviously we have overtime built into the budget and things like that for a custodian to walk the building to ensure that things aren't cold in the building or that there isn't a burst pipe or something like that when we get these really especially these extreme temperatures so um like I said we were very frustrated with this on Monday morning and um we don't anticipate this happening again is at any point do wouldn't you call like that's it's not appropriate for the kids to be in school cuz it's so cold so or is that never a question so the the we actually uh collaborated with the health department and they went out and when they took the temperature a little later in the morning it was 58 degrees in the cafeteria um so while it wasn't one of these things where they felt at all it wasn't even close to we should evacuate or you know call school early or something like that uh the optimal temperature is the 65 to I think 72 degrees is what you're looking to have the school be at on a consistent basis yeah to follow up on that there were two um calls placed into the town health department and so that does prompt them by law to come out and and look and so they did come and they walked through the building and and measured classroom temperatures hallway temperatures um and um yeah the coolest temperature was 58 degrees at that time about mid morning so um like I said I was here at 745 as students and staff were arriving um and it it it was it was chilly it it's not something to where I was now if I had a preschooler sitting in in in a in the hallway you know for that extended time maybe I I would be concerned um you know as I said as a parent um but um but I will I I can confirm that going through the building it was it was nothing that you know if I had a concern about it I would have you know called Dr BR right away and said this building is way way too cold for anybody to be in here well you called me right away well I didn't call you right away I would have said that but but there was no recommendation for that but again there's no it's it's a problem so and the last thing would you would be safe to say that moving forward that would warrant communication to parents or or no I mean I know communication did go out to the students to staff and students um I mean I I suppose I mean it wasn't it wasn't extreme cold we weren't canceling school or early dismissal so um but if we you can't you can't underc communicate so it it wouldn't hurt you know that kind of thing okay I have a question on a different topic if we're ready to move on um about the um Healthy Start times with the ad hoc subcommittee because it's going to be virtual where can people find the link if they want to tune in we're going to post the meeting agenda on Friday and the zoom link will be in the posting great thanks okay so um excuse me it's a Google meet not a zoom link right all right um so let's go to subcommittee reports let's hear from policy okay the policy Communications committee members when went through each of the 9,000 Series policies that were submitted for a first read at the meeting on October 30th each policy was reviewed a few minor changes were Incorporated based on feedback from board members and you saw those changes highlighted on that chart that I made that Lisa sent out to help make things clear um then the committee made the recommendation for the following bylaws to be put on the consent agenda tonight for a final read and adoption those policies are 9010 9011 912 9030 9100 9114 9115 9130 9160 9200 99230 9251 9311 9312 93 25.1 9327 9360 and 9400 additionally there were a few policies that we pulled out due to either major changes or errors and how they were submitted for the first read so you'll see those on a few of those on the consent agenda for the first read tonight if you guys could give me feedback on those first read policies by December Friday December 13th that'll give me enough time to get everything together for our December 18th policy meeting and then hopefully we can have those submitted in January for a final read and adoption and then we will have completed our first series of updates the 3,000 series excuse me the 3,000 policy series is up next for review and will be the committee's priority at the December policy meeting uh we're going to focus on the shipment and Goodwin legally required and recommended policies at that meeting we received the 5,000 policy book series and we will make that a priority after the 3,000 legally required and recommended updates are complete as always Aaron Joy and I continue to be deeply invested in updating as many legally required and recommended shipment and goodwi policies as possible and as quickly as were able uh Communications as you know from our oh no this is still a policy sorry as you know from our last board meeting Dr Burl informed the committee that there is new legislation and mandates around the school climate and bull bullying policy that will go into effect July 1st 2025 um the committee will work to adopt that policy by March in order to implement any changes that need to be made by July 1st 2025 and as we know this is evolving um and as Dr BR gets more information information he will inform us and we will keep um the board and the public informed and Communications lastly the weekly budget Blast has given the public an opportunity to receive and digest the budget in smaller easier to understand pieces um this is also attribute to the influence that the public has on our um the way we operate and how we look to improve our communication with the community um it's posted in parent Square currently and we talked about Dr brell um maybe expanding that post to the Facebook page the Brookfield Public School Facebook page so that we're able to share that info in as many places as possible to help keep the public informed are there any questions about any of that big props to you guys for your continued good work and that the only the only question I have if um shipping a good does come out with um that I know that they don't currently have that policy but if they do absolutely Oh I thought I heard the the door click I did ask um Pete and Rebecca about that and at this point they they still don't have one so we'll keep an eye I think that's why we don't have to rush you know we we have it early enough and so I figured March gives us more than plenty and if it takes till April and if by then they have one that'll give us a little pause and we can do that no thank you yeah and then one last thing on Communications if I might add uh Stephanie a couple things so um in terms of the the parents Square budget blast or anything else that's on parents square and getting it to Facebook um if you're not a member or logged in or have the app for parent Square putting that link just by itself up there uh becomes problematic so we're working with Eric on how we can interface that the other thing Eric is doing with Communications which kind of links to this just thinking about the weather for tomorrow I have my 4:30 conference call looking forward to that um the the um there will be a parents SAR blast that goes out about if we have to do do a delay or something like that obviously no news is regular schedule um but if there is a delay and Eric is trying to the test tomorrow to set it up if one post will also link to Facebook and also link to the website we're just trying to you know make everybody's life a little easier uh at all times with disseminating this information to the different uh platforms that we have so thank you all awesome let's move to consent agenda thank you Stephan was my talking save your voice um okay I recommend that the board approve the items listed on the consent agenda as recommended resignations bylaws for a final reading where the first reading was on October 30th 2024 and bylaws for a first reading second um are there particular uh pieces of discussion or are we ready to move to a vote great um so all in favor of approving the items on the consent agenda uh please say I I I um any oppos say nay all right so uh motion carries 70 thank you very much everybody let's go into new business then um so the first item is well take it away all right I move that the board discuss and approve its subcommittee structure and other board representation Magnet School bef Education Connection Brookfield cares rbac rbac yes and MBC from January through June 2025 [Music] great any discussion on this just had to yeah we have to actually discuss oh yeah um wa take your name for the um is everyone G to stay oh you're doing I'm not sure I don't know that is I guess keep my name there I don't know it's this it's the very last so it sounds like we are going to have a little discussion okay um so let's go through so we're we're we're good on our um committees up at the top yeah okay so um let's just use this moment to to like confirm um I'm going to stay as AIS rep unless anybody else is burning to do it I mean it's okay um education Advance rep Rob that's you okay um bef is Stephanie Brookfield cares Aaron that's you it's not me cuz they meet when I'm working that's right that's right we had that discussion and then we asked um who could maybe uh take that space in now it's unfilled um 10 o' in the morning know what I don't okay available in the morning I just need to know what day all right I'll check into that and circle back to you I'd be um I'd be okay taking that spot if okay there's no one else available I'll be happy to for you you the email that I have but I can't make it work thanks guys okay so the rbac that's me um NBC is Robert are you good with that sure okay and um sah for the Youth commission all right and then um the interface with the State Rep yes okay Town facil Robert you are popular um the so the Jo another ad hog I do I do actually um and then the town arpa ad hoc is does that committee exist anymore yeah is I have no idea that that was the town arpa funds that came in but with all that ending I don't even know if that's still right I I was on that but that's a different one this is Town facilities as separate underneath right next one that's kind of done but Town facilities at is there a town fac I was on and then you were on is that the capital oh no that's the capital's also down here at the bottom that's the one I'm on now I thought it was too and then I was like no the capital's down here right so got space on class I I could follow up why don't I follow up with Mr Dunn to see if if there's such a committee still in existence and we'll take it from there I'll let Wendy know pass it we're going to be asking about the town facilities ad hoc that's one to ask about right and then um just gone yeah the arpa is gone and then the 10year capital is now's that's that was when we just went and um um are you okay so the B the board of Finance do you what do you want to do about that do you want I I can take over I just yeah I mean I can still go with you to like I would really like that a lot yes what you like okay last one Wendy just on the last one it says it meets through January of 2024 oh yeah you can just take that out awesome also so it's it still exists but just the meets part we can take it yes it just meets kind of yearly um it's it should be meeting like all year but it really doesn't so like it'll meet through budget season yeah in talking with Mr when Casey and I met with Marsha and Mr Dunn on Monday afternoon there was there was some changes in other membership you know not just board representation but other Town Department representation but they're really trying to get that on a more regular schedule for the winter all right so um that's really outstanding thanks everybody we have um cleaned this up a bit and now that we um have it largely set um can we can we vote to approve it and we may have to vote to amend um to add Stephanie's name Wendy yes she's willing to take over the NBC rep wonderful great Aon so you're you're sure that that's a time that works for you yeah it's at night that's fine okay gosh Rob Christmas coming early I might give it back okay so um I got more to offer by the way the gift that keeps on giving so let's just let's just go ahead and pencil Stephanie in for the Brookfield cares and if it works out then we don't have to come back in and amend this again okay all right and then you're also in for the 10year capital plan which will'll meet at some in the future we talked about that last night all right it sounds like we're it sounds like we're good to go okay so we could you could you make your so actually I don't think we need to amend anything because really motion was to Chang we just call it all right so um all in favor of um approving the subcommittee structure and other board representation um for the next six months please say I I I any opposed all right so the motion carries uh 70 great so now let's go to the star of the show the superintendent's budget proposal Dr bril the floor is yours [Music] all right good evening everybody um good to be back on the mic again uh it's that time of year I cannot believe it um mentioning about the pride in seeing the kids um perform tonight just cannot believe this is the 10th budget we've been through we've been doing this uh together and I know this board um uh their very first meeting last year you might recall uh they were hit with a 6.2% increase and so I think there was more shell shock and not a lot of questions at that point uh given arpa uh roll in and things like that we're not in a position like that for this year I think you know that uh just as a reminder for everybody uh um in the public the board received the Wednesday before Thanksgiving uh a high level budget summary of exactly what we've got going on um with notes that kind of explain the big investments in the status quo budget which is our big piece from the the timeline um in addition to that um I'm the uh budget binders you have in front of you the board of selectman board of Finance uh the town Treasurer and town finance um uh manager all received those as well this afternoon so that's that's out there um and then the final piece on this is uh yesterday I sent an email to you with a slight just a little update on that highlevel piece which is reflected in the actual presentation and in your your binders today um I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all of you uh specifically the finance committee uh for the the early support in this and and in advance thank you for the work you're going to do this month and in January meeting on many of the off weeks uh for special meetings to make sure things happen also thanking department heads um uh various teacher leaders um uh especially our principals Casey uh Dr man Eric uh Bill uh Lisa for putting the binders together Joan all the people that that really take the time to put this together it is a uh there's there's a lot of work that goes into it and I'll start to explain that as we go um like any good presentation I'm going to start with kind of our big frame of what we stand for and why we're here and the value um that we put into finances to make make sure we have the the support for our students uh and our staff uh to have uh an optimal outstanding education system here uh as evidenced by some of the the work you saw the students today the the Athletics that's been going on this fall talking about Mr Blanda and his team at the high school and some of the great things they've been doing um and uh obviously the collaboration with the community and and the grant work and just everything that goes on and then I'll tell you what I'm going to tell you I'll tell you in detail and then I'll tell you again right at the end that's how we're going to have a little sandwich here it's about 20 slides it'll probably take me about 20 20 5 minutes to go through the presentation so to start with everything the board has an approved strategic plan uh we are in year two of that strategic plan and we are working diligently to align all of our efforts with the Strategic plan the mission of the school system is to inspire Challenge and prepare all of our students to live meaningful and productive lives and of course making sure our kids are prepared for success in life uh work and in learning and then our portrait of The Graduate kind of frames that out as we start to really think about the learning experiences in the curriculum what are those big Pieces by the time the students leave 13 years with us that we want them to have we want them to be able to demonstrate that the critical and creative thinkers communicator and collaborators caring citizens and change makers all right most of you would be very familiar with this document we call this the one pager this is the Strategic plan 20 25 page document distilled into one page to kind of simplify everything that we do so it's digestible and uh easier to understand so the first thing is kind of visionary statement that we want to have a worldclass school system that cultivates growth and learning and then of course that mission of preparing students for living those meaningful and productive lives and then those Brookfield Seas of collaborators and communicators and critical and creative thinkers social change makers and of course caring citizens the top part of this document never changes but each year in the kind of pink area there are big chunks that we work on in adjust each year for the actual action steps and work work dynamics that we want to make sure we accomplish so um and those four pieces are are straightforward two of them are the portrait of The Graduate and working on that and I've highlighted some key things I'm just going to touch on there's a more to it but for the point of the presentation we're making sure that we're working on developing the domains for the p and those are newly established and those descriptors of those C's that I talked about the other piece is the pro portrait of The Graduate look fors um that we identified and we're making sure we explore those and we have an actual portrait of The Graduate team um K through 12 that is is working on this in regard to instructional practice and how we incorporate the portra of The Graduate some highlights there are making sure we have professional learning for all of our District staff we are making sure and this was a big emphasis at the beginning of the school year and presenting to the board is getting everybody on board with a new teacher evaluation and administrator evaluation support and growth plan in the purpose-driven work we talked about with Boston College coming in and really helping us with a lot of that and then the um aligned standard based curriculum that we're always fine-tuning and working on and adjusting to the changes and standards and then making sure the most rigorous and research based best practices in uh in instruction and assessment as a matter of fact I actually had a a joyful walk through with Mark this morning and we went into a couple of classrooms and really saw some learning Target work that was really best practice topof the line uh and then finally in that area um making sure uh Community connections and we we really want to make sure we're emphasizing that and doing more and more of that with our students supporting uh portra of The Graduate work we also we can't forget we live in a digital world so supporting not only the technology infrastructure but the digital tools for Learning and Investments that we make in digital tools we assess each year the usage the effectiveness Etc and so sometimes we'll change digital tools we'll discard we we'll invest in something new whatever it might be so you see a little bit of that in the budget and then of course undergoing everything is a spirit of continuous Improvement and that's really a lot of back office work that goes on and kind of um for lack of a better term kind of that roll up the sleeves a little bit of grunt work here um we just talked about policy and that that's the last one that's highlighted there um toward can you see can you see talk about shipment and goodwind policies it's down toward the bottom the policy work that goes into things merging the Board of Ed and town technology department Eric has the double leadership now that was a big move this year in terms of continuous Improvement and looking at how we could uh have efficiencies in the community focusing on the Student Activity fund those of you on the finance uh committee know about the work Casey has done especially with the high school and Student Activities and working with Mr Baldwin so a lot of great work going on there and then of course parent Square in the website so just a lot of incredible work aligned and in the actions as you think of the things we've done this year aligned exactly with the actions for the Strategic plan but you have to focus you know I often say if you try to be everything to all people you're nothing to everyone you have to focus we prioritize a lot lot of initiatives this year continuing on that and capacity building in the areas that we're focusing on focusing strategically for next year working on the portrait of The Graduate and getting that into the portrait of The Graduate re really integrated into our curriculum continuing that work is a big Focus area not only this year going into next year work we're doing in achievement as we always talk about Reading Writing math science social study standards but specifically really focusing on math we all saw the presentation early on public comment mentioned it earlier really got to work on math what are we going to do in this budget to work on math we're going to provide or I'm recommending we provide a math interventionist at the elementary school and that we work on adjusting the SK schedule and Dr P and his team are already doing that to make more time for math instruction being as creative as we can with that also at the high school investing not only to create smaller class sizes in uh specifically in the math department but integrating that with science and a piece that we need to do with both science and math and trying to make uh not only class sizes smaller but offer uh courses more responsive to student requests so you'll see that and then finally the focus area so it's Port of The Graduate work achievement specifically really focus on math work and then the third piece is the implementation of climate legislation and school climate working on that and we talked a lot two weeks ago about a climate compliance teacher leader to really help the district work on that and be responsive to those needs trying to have an optimal environment for our students but making sure we can comply with this very new uh very um uh overarching law that's come in all right I'm going to take a little step back going to budget process where I started to talk about that it's really important to share all of us put a tremendous amount of effort into our budget and it takes a lot of time to put all of this together uh it's a team effort it's a board effort it's a board of selectman and board of Finance effort over the course of the year and obviously hearing from our citizens and the thing that they're interested in and our staff so in October literally this year it happened on October 1 uh Mrs di puts out the memo that explains everything about the various spreadsheets and so forth that we have to put forward to get our our teams ready with uh budget development we get in input from the departments at the school level uh we get input from staff um and we start to develop the budgets the principles bring those budgets forward um and we discuss it at central office and we look at what are our priorities what are the things we're focused on and and how are we going to make our resources match that in November and this year it happened to be October 31st um the assumptions and priorities document that I shared with the board was presented and that really starts to lay out not only the the key assumptions we all need to be focused on but what are those priorities going to be and we start to have early discussion on that and I noted to the board in my email last Wednesday that a couple of things that I was putting in as prioritize while important Concepts as we continue to fine-tune and prioritize they didn't make this final recommendation for you or this recommendation at this time Casey and I then really work hard to put the budget together there's a lot of work that goes into it and then the status quo budget is presented to you as it was last week tonight we the superintendent puts the recommendation forward and then what's going to happen over the next two months the board begins to submit questions the Board of Ed the finance committee continues to fine-tune inspect work on it divide the budget up really get into the nitty-gritty of the budget ask a lot of questions and really inspect the budget the um board will facilitate before the regular meeting on the 18th a budget Roundtable for the public uh to not only have public comment like they do at a regular board but actually interact with the board and have conversation and administration comes as well January um there will be a budget hearing shortly after the winter break uh I think it's might be the 15th but I don't know someone could check the the date on that and then the the board continues deliberations with the admin team through the month of January um finance committee continues its inspection there's a lot of work there we make any adjustments during January is when we start to really make adjustments you know John this looks a little M can you go back can you bring we're interested in this do you have some data on that how's this program really working there's a lot of those good questions and we come back with that material and the principles jump in and really uh uh respond and help us um so we get that feedback and then by the end of January the board has to adopt the budget we need to give ourselves some time because the charter it's January 31st we have to submit it um uh whatever weekday it falls on I have to bring it over to the and present it literally to the first selectman and so that has to happen that way which means if the board has any changes mid late January that they're looking for that I need to come back with and have actually adopted by the board we need a little bit of lead time to then the next day or two actually do the calculations and put a coherent budget together so there's a lot there then in February we uh We've uh probably the last seven or eight years had a a wonderful joint board meeting with Board of finance and board of Selectmen where all in the Board of Ed all three boards get together and really go through um the board's adopted budget at that point a lot of give and take there and then the board of finance and board of select the board of selectman recommends forward to the board of Finance Board of Finance takes over from there and then we're back and forth as we need to all the way to uh usually the second Tuesday in May when we finally have a budget Town budget in Board of Ed budget out there for referendum so it's a it's a drawn out process here in town eight months of the year is spent on developing the budget for the next [Music] year before I get into the details of the budget recommendation it's important to make this note about recent positions eliminated there's a notion out there that the the school system uh or the town government is always adding positions I can tell you on the board side that isn't necessarily the case but I could understand people on thinking of it that way because with the ARP eser funds there was the rolling plan over the three years there was a lot going on and a lot that puts and takes so in 23 24 which was last year can't forget we had the consolidate part of the consolidation plan was to eliminate uh for going to the elementary school as eliminated administrator and we actually eliminated the CES principal position now to be intellectually honest we have to remind everybody that as part of the consolidation plan we introduced a teacher leader position which was the dean of students at the middle school because the assistant one of the assistant principal positions was brought down from the Middle School to the elementary school so so that was there but specifically in this year's budget uh we eliminated a grade five counseling position um we eliminated the technology integration coach we eliminated a secretary we didn't feel after the consolidation that we we want to see how things kind of played out we didn't need four secretaries at the the large Elementary School three would suffice and so that's what we have now especially with having the security monitors in place that helps with the the visitor entry and so forth a half a nurse uh as we continue to consolidate and prioritize needs and actually A8 HR coordinator was was uh eliminated when we Consolidated HR last year um and went from 2.

there will will be activities for young kids and a movie to watch as well as a visit from the Grinch himself admission is $5 and it will be held at CHS but tickets must be purchased online and for any Clifton High School students or parents trim is hosting a toy drive up until December 13th to donate Ed toys that'll be all for this month thank you and uh happy holidays thank you [Applause] Mark next we have a presentation by assistant superintendent Jenaro concerning our therapy dog initiative where is he oh we just have to get chewy proof before we get ready for our presentation and thank you and welcome to my beautiful daughter here who's assisting with chewwy Patrol as I get to give a presentation uh as always good evening ladies and gentlemen of the Board of Education our audience those watching at home uh just to begin with an update on our therapy dog initiative I would be remiss if I did not begin a presentation and take a moment to once again thank our Board of Ed Commissioners and Dr Rober toy for their unwavering support of this initiative uh the last time we presented on our therapy dog initiative was back in September where I began my audition for to be the next Amer American Idol if you remember me singing and literally barking the lyrics to Who Let the Dogs Out and at the end of that presentation we finally gave the answer to the rhetorical question and that's that Clifton let the dogs out so tonight to help kick off the holiday season as Mr Louie did with his wonderful strings performance with the wood Wilson strings team we want to show how Clifton continues to let the dogs out because after all the holiday season It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year it's a time of joy and celebration peace and hope anticipation and excitement and of course tradition and one of my personal favorite Traditions is that holiday wish list and while many of our students here in Clifton as well as children worldwide have already written their letters to Santa Claus right here our favorite four-legged furry friend he wrote his wish list to what we call the legendary chewy CLA so tonight we're here to share the story of Chewy's wish as we all know pets especially chewy make their families smile they give us purpose and help students through hard times and for chewy these responsibilities Loom especially large because Chewy's family consists of over 11,000 students as what was once the sole therapy dog for our district uh chewy supports students in our district from all levels from prek all the way through high school and we know our district is large just as the job he has is so big and Monumental chewy and I love every minute of it but even with an energetic and endless friendly uh pup like chewy he can't provide support to all of our our students here in Clifton just by himself or even now with the help of his two newest friends who were introduced in September Kobe and Teddy so as such Chewy's wish to chewy CLA was to send another friend who is destined to share in the joy and excitement of working with the students here in Clifton so at this time I'd like to just share and take a look at Chewy's chewy cloth wish on YouTube I know therapy dogs bring a calmness and a peace to those children it's such a connection of love it's Priceless good morning good morning [Music] friends Hello friends come say hello to chewy he's here for you guys today my name is Mark jaro and this is my best friend chwy his real name is Chewbacca uh his Handler myself happens to be an enormous Star Wars fan chewy is a therapy dog for the entire Clifton School District we utilize chewy and a whole host of classroom and building settings and he'll Li it right out of your hand pretty cool right it's an amazing experience to have him I don't really have to talk I think that chew takes over even though chy doesn't talk I think the kids interaction with them speaks for love it makes you feel better right the single most important thing we need to help our kids at this point in regards to the therapy dog program are more dogs chei is only one dog with 11,000 students and he can only handle so much so it's really important that in order for us to expand the program we need more than one [Music] jwy we have a very very very special treat for you boys and girls this morning I said great things come in small packages one two three say hello to solo boys and girls Jimmy CL has selflessly and generously donated an additional therapy dollar to the clipton public school district it not only covers the cost of training but also the cost of food toys vet visits for one year that goes such a long way it's incredible that chew paw has found clipon public schools and has offered us this amazing opportunity having an additional dog will make a world of a [Music] difference yes got to take care of a lot of our people I feel like we've won the golden ticket chew's not going to be our own Soldier anymore it's just such a reward to us this program will grow now because of your generosity we will be able to do wonderful extraordinary things there are no words that we can ever say that will ever come to the thank you that is warranted because this real nation is going to impact children's lives on ways that we can never comprehend from the bottom of our heart a million times over thank you [Music] [Applause] Sher so as we week right now that video is trending worldwide on chuy.com social media I'm sorry uh homebased web page as one of the many recipients of this year's chewy CL award and for you Star Wars fans out there you know you could never have a Chewbacca without a captain Han Solo so as a result from the generous donation from chewy we now have the newest member of what we call team chewy so for the first time ever let me introduce to the board Commissioners and the one Clifton learning community Captain solo and his Handler Miss merto Lopez CHS 9th grade [Applause] counselor did a baby the best was the dog on Bry X lab so as uh as Sol was getting acquainted he literally was just delivered this morning so the timing of how it all worked was just impeccable but we thank you all for your continuous support for this initiative uh things are only getting better and at first we had a chewy and after the chewy we run the news and then it was the day show nationally now clipon public schools and what we're doing for our students is going worldwide so thank you very much Commissioners I can ask if you guys can come out and take a picture with Captain solo so we can send it we're we'll have our commissioner set up and then we'll get solo to get right try to get him he's going to want his bone oh my God sign around listen man a Nothing free you something it's nice I'm just gonna have to grab yours oh my C release down so one of the questions is how big will Captain solo get uh he is probably going to be right now the smallest of our four therapy dogs but what makes this situation so unique is as we continue to expand this initiative Captain solo will be our first dog ever assigned specifically to a building uh so why not choose the flagship here in Clifton which is our high school and we're trying to expand by having some of our our school staff serve as handlers so Mrs Lopez has the Herculean task of piloting what it will look like to have a a therapy animal specific to a building so we're looking forward to for great things to come thank you once again we'll continue to keep you post on the updates of our initiative thank you great [Applause] job thank you Mr Jenaro and welcome to Captain solo okay we'll we'll start with um committee meeting minutes and the first is Athletics commissioner bassford could you please read Athletics she is good evening um the Athletics committee met on December 3rd at 2 pm via Google meets um together with President Alan Parish commissioner Tanya Suarez myself as the chair from administration of the athletic director Mr Tom Maly assistant superintendent of schools Mark jenero assistant superintendent of business Amed chah and our superintendent Danny robotzi um we met and we we spoke about a lot of items one was the fall Sports and went to uh preview all teams made the state tournaments the boy soccer made it to the sectional finals and Coach lambre earned his 3,000 career win winter numbers were very strong expecting to have a full girls wrestling team this season first ever in Clifton yay team uh recognizing the teams individuals and coaching accomplishments um the coaches were um informed of all the first team All County New Jersey nj.com All State and individual accomplishments will be recognized at our February special Board of Education meeting the concession stand was discussed at the stadium regarding Renovations the discussion um about the renovations of the current concession concession stand versus the building and a standalone building for concession um will be uh further sent to other committees such as facilities and finance for uh in detailed discussion program additions they added a girls flag unified bowling um unified basketball girls uh wrestling and Ms wrestling over the last past years they're exploring bringing back golf I have some information on that for you as well I have to share Mustang name and logo usage there was a question on how the clipton apparel is sold in various stores throughout the town every summer the department gets a check um for the use of the logo usually between $100 and $300 some people see those logos on stuff from Walgreens and and things like that so that was a question that was brought up um the seating at the soccer and the lacrosse Fields were discussed should we add extra seating in the one side when you walk into to the left the current setup makes uh makes for a better crowd management easier and safy safer and provides options for spectators who prefer to stand or bring their own chairs and then we had new business there was a discussion on purchasing recycle bins at the stadium and there was a discussion on location of lighting sources for the Mustang in front of the uh CHS Stadium on Mustang way any questions yeah I do um so that you mentioned the the name and logo usage is that going to a specific booster club I I think that goes in the general fund right yep and everybody gets to share it it's a it's a royalty that we get for using our our logo but people were thinking that we weren't getting anything that we do get something is it based on sales or is it just a flat fee it's the company itself I guess they base it on what they're going to give to us okay they're probably based on sales y any other questions thank you thank you commissioner bassford um next up we have you our Municipal Alliance minutes uh commissioner siano please read those thank you president Paris the municipal Alliance committee met this past Monday December 2nd at the administration building and started at :5 president at the meeting from the Board of Ed War myself as the chair president Paris vice president Dany commissioner Santiago and from the administration Mr Mark jenero the assistant superintendent president from the city were Nick volano the city manager councilman Lona councilman Cog and councilwoman Pino the agenda consisted of six topics first topic was timeline for signage on the crosswalks the city manager reported that the majority of school crosswalks have been freshly painted this year using durable thermop plastic stick materials additionally he announced the delivery of new blinking pedestrian signs which with plans to order more as additional funding becomes available vice president Danny raised a safety concern regarding traffic patterns at the ca be location during arrival and dismissal Mr jenero explained that this issue has been a recurring challenge addressed collaboratively by both the Board of Education and the city over several years key factors contributing to the problem include the location of the ca be building uh shortage of designated parking spaces for staff forcing them to park on Brighton Road and the absence of a mandated crossing guard the latter is due to the requirement that pre students be escorted to and from school by a parent or Guardian Mr jenero outlined several solutions that have been implemented over the years to address the issue these include reconfiguring parking spaces to create additional staff parking within the lot efforts to secure access to neighboring business parking areas attempts to design a streamline drop off pattern and increasing police presence to enforce proper traffic flow additionally Mr jenero and Mr volano outlined the next planned intervention to address safety concerns which is installing ballards along Brighton Road in front of the school this measure aims to prevent parking in areas where students and families cross enhancing overall safety Mr Paris suggested prioritizing the installation of blinking signs on Brighton Road as an additional preventative safety measure second topic was Chromebook search history councilman Cog shared a concern raised by parents from the school 2 Learning Community regarding the inability to monitor the search history on District issued Chromebooks Mr jenero acknowledged the issue and confirmed that has been brought to the attention of the IT department for review Dr Dany shared that in her District they use a program allowing teachers to monitor in real time what students are doing on their Chromebook storing class Mr jenero informed the committee that the Clifton Public School District employs a similar program currently being piloted at the elementary level following its success at the middle school and high school levels number three was the student shadowing officials day um I inquired and expressed enthusiasm for Reviving The long-standing Clifton tradition of officials day which is basically Youth Day the committee unanimously agreed to reinstate this initiative later in the year Mr Jero and Miss Debbie Oliver will collaborate to ensure the event success continue continuing the tradition of creating a meaningful experience for both students and officials fourth topic was the CCMS tunnel update Mr volano provided the committee with an update on the status of the tunnel project he reported that the project is progressing and remains in development once completed the tunnel will provide a safer handicap accessible route for crossing Route 46 after the project officially Begins the anticipated completion time frame is approximately 9 months number five was new business business Mr jenero provided the committee with an update on the Pope Paul John Paul building the district is currently collaborating collaborating with a demographer to determine the most Equitable way to read District students Once the lease is secured and the building is ready to open the district will continue to provide updates and plans to the community and committee as they develop Mr volano clarified the zoning process regarding the application to add a Pake Arts and Sciences Charter School on Hazel Street and Clifton he explained the charter school has until January 9th 2025 to appeal the zoning board's decision six was the next meeting schedule due to the board of education's reorganization meeting scheduled for January the committee agreed that the next meeting will be held on Monday February 3rd Municipal Alliance meeting ended at 5:55 respectfully submitted notes by Alan Paris thank you thank you commissioner s questions anyone commiss brunak thank you Mr Mr President does the board get an update on these pilot programs such that was described something that was like it was described in in the minutes over here uh Pilots as in the pilot program for the uh we did not discuss any pilot programs this last meeting your what pilot program a pilot program on on monitoring the kids um Chromebooks oh I'm sorry I just took it for for for something else um it's it's already been implemented at the middle school level and high school level and is being rolled out now to the elementary schools and en enables the teachers to monitor what the students are seeing on the Chromebook in real time thank you we can have Mr Mountain I don't on we can have Mr Mountain give an update at the next uh it meeting in in the new year thank you anyone else thank oh Marez no just I agree with that clarification because the meetings the minutes read as if it was pilot being piloted in the elementary school and then will be rolled out in Middle to high school it's already been rolled out high school and is being piloted now the out for U it's not really a pilot anymore because it's been piloted right that's why I understand um commissioner B because it did it did read differently sorry for the confusion commissioner Canova so I I do have some questions I just don't know if they're going to be able to be answered here um when we monitor the students I know we mon monitor for for like typing and if they say anything like you know suicidal or whatever I know we monitor that piece and I'm assuming that's happening everywhere and now this is a new piece that we're doing in the middle school and high school does that also um have the oversight that we're looking for for searches it's there's two separate it's my understanding Mr K that it's the same it's the same program um it's called light speed light speed which you may have heard of um that is what gives us an indication if a student is searching something inappropriate uh but also allows the teacher to monitor the students work what screen they're on during the classroom and that monitoring only extends in the duration I'm going to class the class so third period I only have access to that computer third period the second they leave my class I no longer have access to that that's correct okay thank you okay anyone else I could just I have a a question about officials day uh they usually have a lunch in in in past years the board was invited if we pay our own way are and they they stopped doing that a couple years ago are they still going to allow us to go oh can we ask the um believe it or not it's only I've been here now it's my sixth year there's only been one since I've been here right well Co um but it is my expectation that board members are absolutely invited okay so it's the city officials I think only the board president gets a student right we used to get invited lunch if we wanted to go we would pay our yes that that will be my expectation okay thank you okay thank you all uh next we move on to public recognition this portion of the meeting is open to the residents and non-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 5 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 appropriate 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 no one in Virtual so motion to close virtual motion second motion by commissioner Brun Shack seconded by commissioner bassford so anyone who'd like to approach the podium for comment this evening there we go good evening to all my name is Lor Lama and I'm the president of the Clifton EA as the holiday season approaches I want to take a moment to extend our warmest wishes to the entire Clifton Community to the dedicated staff your unwavering commitment to our students success and well-being is deeply appreciated your hard work creativity and passion ensure that all of our schools remain a place of learning growth and support to our administrators your leadership and vision continue to guide our schools in providing the best possible opportunities for every student to the board of ed Commissioners thank you for your thoughtful decision making and steadfast dedication to the success of our district your efforts to prioritize the needs of students Educators and families create the foundation for a thriving community and to our families your partnership and support are vital to the success of our schools together we have created an environment where every child is encouraged to reach their full potential as we prepare to celebrate the holidays I hope everyone takes this well-deserved break to rest recharge and create cherished memories with your loved ones may this season bring peace joy and warmth to each of you happy holidays and May the New Year be filled with health happy and cons continued success in our school Community since this is our last one for December I wanted to highlight that thank you very much thanks thank you would anyone else like to make comments this evening seeing none motion to close any motion to close excuse me you want it the legend that one of our Legends wants to speak so we have to so basing this on the my name is Janet colano I live at two Valley Road in Clifton and I'm currently an interim principal at school number two so I see in the agenda that Maggie is going to be appointed tonight so I'm kind of speaking ahead of time just to let you know that school 2 staff students parents and the entire Community are so happy that you chose Maggie she's done the job and she's really so well received so well respected so just thank you and Maggie welcome thank you Miss CL anyone else seeing the motion to close close by second passord seconded by commissioner brunc uh next is the adoption of minutes we have uh two sets of minutes that we're going to adopt here simultaneously uh November 14th and November 21st so a motion to adopt the minutes please motion by Comm vice president Danny second second by commissioner Suarez roll call Mr Shahar Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes Mr Warz yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries thank you uh Dr Robert toy thank you Mr President good evening Commissioners and members of the one Clifton Community great to be back in action with you tonight um just like to start off with a on a sad note with my uh deepest condolences to the pent pentti family uh Gary pentti was a longtime board member here in Clifton and his lost his father um the Wake was today funeral is tomorrow so my condolences to the Gary and his family we are entering the holiday uh Winter concert season and I would encourage all of our commissioners and members of the Comm Community to come out and attend your local schools um concert it's it's a lot of fun we we got a little treat tonight with the students playing and it's just it's great to see students playing instruments singing participating um in in music education and you're all welcome you can get the dates of those events on our district website I also want to give a shout out to our board president Mr Paris and the Clifton community band will be hosting a uh I believe it's free absolutely free snowflakes and Sleigh Ride holiday concert on Saturday December 7th at 3 pm in the Clifton High School auditorium the Clifton community band um will be playing all sorts of holiday music and Mr Paris um is there anything that you can add about it uh we have about 20 students high school students playing with us as well and uh most of the rest of the band are alumni so it's a real cliff event and we hope everyone comes out it's absolutely free and hopefully a way to start your holiday with some wonderful Music open to everyone open to the entire Community I'd like to give a shout out um to Diane uh jackam at school 2 who coordinated the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade at school 2 along with teachers Monica Dita Alexa DeVito and uh our par professional staff 38 students in Macy's Parade style costume costumes um that were provided through a Clifton Education Foundation Grant uh marched through the halls of school 2 um Smiles in their faces and pride in their steps and they entertained and impressed all uh who attended it's a great thing unfortunately I missed it this year we had an emergency in the office um but I saw some videos and it's fantastic also another shout out to school to uh staff members who present a check for $4,000 in memory of Jen Lucas um to Valley Hospital to be used for breast cancer research uh the $4,000 represented the proceeds from the love for Lucas fundraiser and it was just another way to honor the memory of um an outstanding person in Miss Lucas on the agenda tonight um is a uh new principal for school 2 um and and can't give a stronger recommendation for the person who's on the agenda uh I expect the board to approve her and and when she does we'll we'll celebrate um I want to invite the entire community on January 9th to our first strategic planning um session there will be a formal invite not formal there will be an invite that goes out uh via email to everyone in the community we will put it out on our social media our we're going to start a new five year strategic planning cycle and everyone is welcome every employee every member of the community students the purpose of a strategic plan is to take a look at where we are and where we're going so on January 9th the the first night of planning Mr Paris will welcome everyone I will do a state of the district type uh address um and then what we will do is um I'm expecting 100 or up to 200 people there maybe more we will break those people up into smaller groups into classrooms where we will identify what are the strengths of the Clifton Public Schools what are some of the challenges we're facing and what are some of the opportunities um after certain amount of time we'll come back into the auditorium and Report those findings um then we'll post those outcomes on our website so that's that's the first night and then we'll do two more um sessions uh one in February and one in March those dates will be announced we will public put that out there for the public but I strongly encourage you to come out and be a part of this process if there's some something that I've learned about this district is that we listen we can't always solve everything but we listen and we do our best to um to find solutions to to issues so I welcome everyone to to come um finally I would like to wish everyone a joyous healthy happy holiday season I hope that um over our break you get a chance to um enjoy time with the ones you love and um really prioritize your own health which I'm trying to do myself these days so thank you all thank you Dr Rober toy um I just have uh two comments one Dr Robert toy mentioned earlier and that's on behalf of the board condolences to uh Lieutenant Gary penti and his family on the loss of his dad uh Leonard pentti who was a um 30-year firefighter in Clifton and a veteran um Gary was a board of ed commissioner and past president uh condolences to his families uh also condolences to the zelasco family on the passing of agie zelasco a beloved child study team psychologist here in Clifton next is unfinished business anyone do we have any finish business I don't see anything on the agenda okay uh next is under education Administration um looking for a motion to approve items one through six motion second motion by commissioner brunjak second by commissioner bassford roll call oh discussion anyone roll call Mr Shada Mr bassford yes Mr brunc yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes Mr Warz yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries uh next under Personnel I'm looking for a motion to approve items number one through 24 motion second by vice president Danny seconded by commissioner Bak discussion anyone Mr President just if we could anyone here for personnel changes if they could you could allow them to speak after we're done with the they will yes thank you sir abolutely okay no dis hearing no discussion uh roll call Mr Shada Miss bassford yes abstaining on P20 my my name I'm the only one the only name uh Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes obstain on p19 Mr C yes Miss Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes I'm staining on p19 motion carries um Maggie congratulations uh we're all calling you Maggie because we can't pronounce your last name would would you like to can I come up absolutely Podium is yours good evening everyone good evening president Paris vice president Danny Dr Roberto miss kevich Mr Jenaro board Commissioners and Central Administration thank you for the honor and privilege of becoming the next principal of school 2 with 17 years of experience in Clifton Public Schools I am deeply deeply grateful for the opportunity to step into this new role and continue the incredible work of our school Community I've had the privilege of being mentored by Miss Lucas for the past two years and I'm excited to build on the strong Foundation that she has laid my work with Jen along with attending the admin Academy has allowed me to grow as a leader and equi me with the tools needed to best support our school I'm excited to continue collaborating with our students families and the amazing school to staff as we move forward on this journey together I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported me along the way inter in principal Mrs colano my friends and colleagues family and especially my wonderful husband and Sons whose love and encouragement have meant the world to me as we move forward on this journey together let us all remember famous school to quote today's children are tomorrow's future thank you everyone wishing everyone happy holidays congratulations [Applause] do they want to take a picture yes yes we'd like to pull nine in facilities for exactly we have to explain it pull nine number nine F9 F9 we're going to call F9 Danny okay yeah at the bid yes okay yes um in in the next group under um Finance facilities we are going to pull F9 it requires some additional yes additional discuss some additional discussion so I'm looking for a motion to approve items one through 14 excluding nine motion by commissioner bord seconded by commissioner Mahia any discussion hearing none roll call Mr Shad Miss bassford yes abstaining on check uh 29760 that is for F14 correct yes sir Mr brunc yes to everything except F14 check number 29793 Mr kova yes Mr Mahia yes Mr M can you check your folder please F14 with check number yeah obain to F14 check number 219 846 Mr Santiago yes substain on F14 check 29643 9794 Mr siano yes abstaining on F14 check 21 9759 check 29985 Miss Suarez yes abstain on f8 and F7 vice president Danny yes abstaining on F14 check 29788 president Paris uh yes abstaining on item uh number one and on 14 checks at end in 635 and 794 thank you motion carries thank you when do we want to discuss this item we just pull it's a litigation okay thank you okay next is up up to a board member comments and we're back to commissioner bassford where we began the year okay thank you I would like to extend a heartfelt gratitude and appreciation several groups and individuals who brought positivity and inspiration to our community this week first a big thank you to the eighth grade strings for the lovely performance tonight your music for holiday cheer and set the perfect tone to begin the season a special uh thanks go to our student representative Mark for your detailed and insightful report thank you um to all the speakers who addressed the board thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and ideas with us your voices are essential in guiding our decisions on a somber note I would like to express my deepest condolences to the lasasco family and also to the penti and Deana family on the recent loss of Len pentti our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time this Saturday December 7th I will be attending the New Jersey school boards Association delegates assemblies not as a representative of Clifton um I'm going as an observer my participant participation stems from my role on the New Jersey school boards Association subresolution committee where last month we held three meetings to review and vote on all the proposed resolutions I'm looking forward to seeing the collective body's decision and making an outcome on the committee's work I'm curious to see what's going to pass and what's not going to pass we worked really hard on this I also want to extend my gratitude for the Clifton police dep Department in the Clifton Public School administration for the opportunity to participate in yesterday's active shooter drill well it was a profound experience that highlighted the exceptional collaboration dedication and the love of our First Responders have for the safety security and Welfare of our students our staff and this community I strongly encourage my fellow board members to attend one of these drills to witness firsthand the incredible teamwork that is involved switching topics to something yet lighter and impactful I never imagine seeing the therapy dog as part of our initiative here during my tenure on this Board of Education to my delight the program has grown from 1 to 3: in September and tonight thanks to chewy claw we have our fourth therapy dog in the district this init initiative continues M I'm sorry it begins to bring a positive change to our community I get very choked up with this this dog because I understand the impact it has on people when they're at need for support so thank you to everyone who supported it today truly is a great day to be a chewy Mustang okay enjoy as we prepare to close this year I wish you all merry Christmas happy K Quanza whatever other holiday you you choose to um celebrate with your family and have a joyful and safe New Year see you all in 2025 good night thank you commissioner bassador commissioner brunak thank you Mr President shout out to the CHS wrestling program first year ever for girls wrestling and uh even though the schedule I saw didn't have any home any home meets there appear to be several away meets that are very close by our city so I'm very pumped up for that also the first the opening night for CHS wrestling um my son and I attended last year is absolutely fantastic I got goosebumps so that starts Friday December 20th 5:00 pm CHS lower gym I hope to see some of you there finally I want to give my I want to wish my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ a Merry Christmas peoples in the Jewish Community a happy Hanukkah and everyone a h a happy safe and healthy New Year thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you commissioner brunak commissioner Canova uh first I just want to extend my condolences to Mr Gary presenti and his family on the loss of his father um when I came in here I thought the students did a great job I love that idea um I know when you attend a wedding and you go in there and you have the cocktail hour and you have the music playing I I think that's pretty cool we should do that every time um thank you to The Chew initiative and the new pup added to the group I think it's a a great project um and it's something that uh that the students benefit from uh I just want to wish everyone a happy happy Holidays happy New Year um there are some holiday events that are coming up um if you have some time take a look at at Peach jar and go through them and and just uh come out for the community and and uh that's all I had thank you thank you commissioner Canova commissioner Mahia thank you very much president Paris um terrific year for the Clon public school districts in my opinion it's been great especially having as we all mentioned before um the new dogs added to our program it is something that at first you know the community obviously um there's always there those challenges here and there but as time grew on it really stuck on a lot of people's minds that what they are doing is actually great for not just our students but the whole Community as a whole um with that said as the the year finishes and we go on to our next year I want to wish everyone you know happy always um happy New Year and I hope to continue you know this work up until next year again thank you and have a great night thank you commissioner Mahia commissioner Santiago thank you president Paris um great to see our chewy program continuing to grow and Thrive um when we kind of talked about or I've mentioned public private Partnerships in the past this is a great example of that we have a private company who wants to sponsor and pay for the costs of an additional dog which saves us all um and uh I hope that we can continue to expand programs like that and reaching out to other organizations to see if they want to partner with us and take on some of the some of the costs um Good Luck to the girls wrestling team fight like a girl um look forward to that and supporting um we have as we mentioned at various events but Friday we have a Christmas tree lighting at Lake View we have one then at botney and then there's an athenia one after uh the city has their City Hall Christmas tree light lighting on Saturday as well so a lot of things to to go out and uh support the Grinch movie night as well and see President Paris rock on Saturday night um yeah just want to wish everybody you know uh all of our staff um all of our parents and our students in our Clifton Community who celebrate uh K Quanza happy K Quanza happy Hanukkah and merry Christmas and hope you have a great blessed new year thanks thank you commissioner Santiago commissioner Siana thank you president Paris I want to start offering my condolences to the family of Leonard penzi I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving that really was a great way to start the meeting with the strings they did an amazing job I want to thank them for sharing their talents with us thank you Mark for the student rep report thank you for the speakers tonight I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our award recipients during the quarterly Awards meeting uh giving them the spotlight they deserve was an inspiring reminder of the talent and dedication within our community and I'm eager to ensure this tradition continues I also want to take a moment to once again commend Mark Jenaro it's like becoming my hero over there um the ongoing success of the therapy dog initiative it's making a profound impact these animals the impact these animals have on our students and schools is undeniable Mark you have my full support as we work towards the goal of placing a dog in every school and I remain committed to championing this effort alongside you as we approach the holiday season I hope each one of you finds times to celebrate reflect and connect with those around you despite the challenges in our world this time of year brings a unique opportunity to focus on togetherness and gratitude I encourage us to carry that sense of unity beyond the holidays and into the New Year to my fellow Commissioners the entire Administration and our amazing Community thank you for all that you do I wish wish you all a joyful holiday season and a safe happy New Year it's an honor to S serve alongside you and be part of this incredible Community happy holidays to everybody thank you commissioner siano commissioner Suarez thank you president Paris um good evening everyone um just want to reiterate I truly love hearing the students play music uh I was a band Kid myself and and it just brings me joy I remember how much I enjoyed it so to see our kids share that Joy um learning music it's such a skill to have and and I I appreciate I would love it every meeting as well of commission kova so that that was hey I'm down for it um also I'm just uh incredibly excited about solo our fourth dog I can only imagine um the impact it has on our students and our staff there at the high school so I'm really looking forward to seeing that grow um and just want to acknowledge it's my first full year as a board commissioner and I have uh continually be uh am honored and privileged to serve in this role I want to thank my fellow Commissioners uh for the support and guidance I've received this past year and I look forward to the two years to come and lastly happy holidays everyone I wish everyone a blessed new year and I look forward to seeing you then take care thank you commissioner Suarez vice president Danny and thank you um president uh Paris um so first of all I'd like to start out with the condolence es to Gary penti um and his family in this you know difficult and trying time um I'm saying prayers for you um especially around during the holidays you know to lose somebody is really really difficult and challenging so um I hope that um you find peace and um you can you know share with your family and there's you know again it's a really difficult time I I just can't even imagine especially when somebody who's such a rock in your family um I'd like to say uh thank you to the student representative um it's great to hear Mark that uh students are happy about assessments because that's something that you know you don't normally hear students being happy about certain assessments so that's great uh thank you Miss Lama for your um nice words um wishing everyone the holiday spirit and everything thank you um thank you to the eth grade strings uh that really was amazing and it really was nice I think um what everyone said here the Commissioners that it was just nice to come to music playing really set a different tone I feel for the meeting it was really nice would be nice if we had you know strings all the time or something you know some music um I think you know music again just really connects with people on a deep deep level and um so it just changes the mood um thank you Mark Jenaro for that presentation except that um you know Danny said I was getting a dog and you know he said a dog for you and a dog for you and a dog for you so no I'm kidding um so it's really nice to see um Captain solo and again you know the dogs do really make you you know excited um on a more serious note I thought I was actually taking chewy home and I thought you know I was getting real excited for that okay you might not get him back no um and so I'd like to say happy holidays to um everyone in the Clifton School District all the employees all the students um to all of my Commissioners um hope you have a wonderful happy safe holiday and just want to finish off with um Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah and happy K Quanza to all who celebrate he likes to let it run we we heard it let it Ry for a reason in case you didn't hear it thank you vice president Danny everyone did a thorough job there's just a couple of things on my list that no one touched on yet specifically so I just would like to remind uh everyone on Wednesday December 11th the uh Clifton High School orchestra has their W Winter concert at 7M in the High School auditorium on Thursday December 12th Clifton High School has their Honor Society induction I believe that's also at 7M uh and to my fellow Commissioners uh the Pake County School Board uh association meeting is Monday uh December 9th it's at Lakeland Regional uh high school and you can uh go online and register for that should you wish to attend NHS induction 6m NHS induction okay I've I've been informed the Honor Society induction starts at 6: PM that's on December 12th at CHS Auditorium any new business okay hearing none um we will have executive session this evening um we have a number of items to to discuss including uh Personnel student and legal issues action will be taken will take approximately 60 to 90 minutes so motion to adjourn to Executive session motion second motion by commissioner brunak second by commissioner Mahia five minute recess Mr President absolutely sir e e e my Allan is I'm listening what can we move F9 and all of EX and one yes need a roll call back okay uh roll call Mr sh miss bassford here Mr brunak here Mr kova here Mr Mia here Mr Santiago here Mr here m pres vice president Danny here president Paris here we have a quorum okay so we're going to be bringing back D D9 correct F9 F9 yes oh okay in section okay so we bring bring you back F9 uh and grouping it with under executive session items two through six so I need a motion to approve motion to approve Bashford second byz second by Suarez commissioner Suarez roll call Miss bassford yes I'm abstaining on G2 I'm in Conflict Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr ago yes Mr siano yes M Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries okay motion to adjourn motion second commissioner Suarez have a nice have a great holiday guys happy holiday h

e e for Mr Mahia telephoned and told me he'll be running a little late he hit some traffic um but please take the roll call Mr shahad miss bassford here Mr brunc here Mr Kenova here Mr Mr Santiago here Mr siano here miss Suarez here vice president Danny here president Paris here we have a Corum thank you commissioner Suarez could you read our mission statement please thank you president Paris the mission of the clipon 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 and an everchanging world thank you 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 in 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 is our student representative here this evening welcome mark is this good evening thank you so much for having me as always these past few weeks have been rather eventful outside of CHS but less So within the school I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend and I want to congratulate the students that were honored at the last uh special board meeting believe the athlete of the month uh student of the month all those want to congratulate them they really are exemplary students and athletes and they really showcase the true talents and abilities of CHS students as the second marking period gets under way I'd like to quickly reflect on a successful first marking period many students are happy or pleased with the new Common Assessment as opposed to the old quarterly exam format and I hope that many of the test scores will reflect this sentiment other than that there hasn't been much to comment on in the prior 3 weeks so I just quickly want to highlight some CHS events that's that are important to the Clifton Community whether they are here or watching at home the home and School Association is hosting a grinch night on Friday December 13th at 6 p.m.

51% of the budget for All funds are expended slash encumbered leaving a budget balance of 39.4% the average for this time of the year for expenditures through November is 41.67% and BD has spent 2457 not including incumbrances are there any questions anything from the board than than you car appreciate you thank you next item on our agenda this evening is the barbecue UniFi School District principal reports Mr [Music] D president when members of the board at this point please help me welcome back Miss Enriquez M Enriquez please take it away good evening board president governing board members super superintendent Diaz I have submitted my report in writing I hope you've had the opportunity to read it unfortunately this month we and that should say November I apologize um we dropped to 88% um second grade is I don't know what happened you can go that's okay you can go back right there yeah um second grade is holding out they are still in the 90% um super proud of second grade um so we're hoping that we can get it back up for the month of December we have a couple of um attendance challenges for our students so we're hoping to see that increase back into the 90% TI um Erin can you go back up to the highlights at the top please thank you we want to thank everybody that supported with our him himash day um we had lots of um community members supporting with different activities um for our students we want to thank um Miss Valdez miss sudam and miss Medina we had four volunteers scheduled in of them showed up to help with the making of popovers which provided lunch for all of the kids all the staff and all the presenters but they stepped in and we were she left um but we were we were just moving really fast to make sure everybody got fed so thank you especially thank you to the three of them because we wouldn't have been able to do it without them um congratulations to the following students and families who had 95% or better attendance they had zero tardies um they won a turkey with the fixings so thank you again to miss sudam Mr Diaz Miss Cornell Miss Bond Miss Sylvia and myself for donating the turkeys for those families um I believe that is it Ruben unless I miss something um I did check the attendance from last year to this year to compare that November and you're still higher than last year so congratulations on that so uh let's keep the students getting sick during the month of November but everything that you're doing is working so congrats thank you [Applause] [Music] above the highest show was four five any questions from the board for Miss Miss V um I guess my computer had to restart but I wanted to go back to the report on where it shows the scores and you know I just wanted um the public and those of you online to see that you know for the scores for our students you know it shows that they are progressing so that's really good so if you look at the um the slide that one right there in the beginning the second grade was like and the red but look at there's 15 that are in the blue now so that that is like proficient right hi highly proficient so I want everyone to see that because it's important it's important that our community knows that everything that you're doing principal um oh my God I have blink it's good so everybody at the school is doing an excellent job I believe and and I know there's room for improvement and there will be um so I just want to I just want people to see that because they are moving forward and we're getting to where we want to be and um you and your staff um we have a great deal of thank you for you doing what you're doing so thank you I I wanted people to see that thank you thank you m [Applause] v first there yes sir she's pointing at the blue and I'm pointing at the red look at how much red has reduced and we continue to improve um and just for clarification purposes we are in the process of finishing second quarter so we will be have B2 hopefully in January uh with a new grafts um but thank you for pointing that out and shout out to our teachers and for our parents for sending the kids to learn anything else the board thank you Miss Enriquez we appreciate it thank you [Applause] Miss Flanigan you are up thank you for representing the prime uh the intermediate um we you are on behalf because Miss B leis should be a grandma anytime soon right that's right the clock is ticking the clock's ticking good evening again um president buendia and board members and superintendent Mr Diaz I'm hoping that you all had a chance to look at the board report that Mrs beay Lewis had shared with you but before we show our video I'd like to just point out a few things um first I want to definitely thank you for allowing me to present in Mrs Bay's absence again the intermediate has turned in their board report and I'm hoping you got a chance to look at it um before you show this video though I'd like to also point out that tonight's video has been um created by our first or excuse me our new sixth grade teacher um Alvin agular so this is his first year with us in fact he's just been with us for less than 6 months so we are proud to have him and I'm hoping you enjoy his video and just a few things from Principal Bay um we at the intermediate excuse me we at the intermediate it is my understanding she taught them so without further Ado I believe if we can watch the video C for [Music] liary [Music] thank you for watching our November video wait what character are we going to focus on next month next monning trustworthiness [Applause] thank you Miss Manan any questions from the board in advance I don't have any questions but I just wanted um the public the audience to um in the in the video where it had the students um all at the desks and then they had that piece of paper and it was in the four sections and then one in the center can you kind of explain what that is or why it is what from go ahead well we're trying to focus one on just collaborating and working as teams so what happens is that the there's a question posed to the students and then they collaborate as a team and share and teach from one another and that's good but one of the things that we were we were shared was shared with us was that those four sections are encouraging the students to be on their own and think about what the question is and write down what their thoughts are so each one does that and then the when they come together in the center and then they collaborate and give um one answer but I really like that so I wanted I wanted people to see that because I think it's really going to help kids to um uh promote thinking really thinking uh about the questions they are asked so thank you yes thank you anything else from the board just um Miss siia no I just wanted to kind of if you want to look at the attendance again but just wondering how the average for 23 24 for fifth fifth grade is 89% where they've had 90% Plus for the since July and it should be 2425 right because that's the school year that was but you see on the part right hand side it is how the school ended last year 23 24 so that we can reference to see if we are beating last year's record oh I see okay talk to us about your systems in place for I'm just kidding but I do like the question anything else for Miss if not thank you ma'am appreciate you let's give it up for M please thank give me welcome back hello again board members president wenia and superintendent Diaz um our highlights for this month is actually our BHS culinary 3 worked with the Desert Diamond Casino in creating their gingerbread Creations they were going weekly and now some of their work is on display at the casino in the big Ginger things um we also had our himash day um it was excuse me it was a success and thank you Miss Enriquez and um Miss Bay Lewis for sharing your teachers with us um we also have number three Mr M has was selected as a finalist for the Arizona Athletics teacher of the year um something nice about that is it's act um there are nine finalists in The Tucson area he is one of nine he will be honored at the U OFA men's basketball game on February 26th um as part of this um kgun 9 will be coming out to do a little video on him and when that comes up we'll let you know but that's just it in making um we'll find out at the end of February if he is selected as it but being a nominee is good enough because you know he's going to be honored and then basketball season has officially started our next home game is on December 20th which is the last school day which is a Friday okay for for e thank you so much Miss on Gover board members questions comments for Miss V um I have a question on the um testing course or the testing portion do you have a preest and a post test or there's just because I don't see so they we do have a preest but the way our benchmarks are set up according to district is for quarter 1 it is specifically on the standards that are done during quarter 1 so to align it to the full like preest is kind of like not fair because it's fewer standards that are addressed on this assessment so that's why it's not there like that okay I just wanted um clarification on that and then also [Music] um again congratul ations to Mr me on his um finalist for Arizona Athletics teacher of the year I know at one time uh there was a quiz that was given to um to us that um um which um sport um made it to or what was the like the division title not division titles but anyway everybody thought it was basketball and it was cross country so that was like something that was like we we overlooked that and yet Mr me has been doing a great job all these years and you know he's he's taking our students far and he deserves that so I just want to make that uh do that shout out to Mr me thank you I do agree with you that's why when we saw that this um application was up we had to make sure we nominated him to ensure that he um does get the um recognition he does deserve absolutely awesome was that miss m elme um I'm concerned about attendance it's still 0 in the 80s is there any kind of um information going out to the parents or to the students that yes um our actual our behavioral support specialist actually contacts um the families um but for the month of December or November there were 17 school days in order for us to get into the 80s 85 you miss 3 days so it's not like it's chronic I mean it is chronic but people were getting sick in November so it's my reason in saying that is if you miss three days in the month of December when there's a few more school days the percentage would be a little different yeah because um yeah it's like July remember July was like 70 because we only had those four or five days I did the math just because I'm Sorry Miss the seniors it's 80% I mean it I mean they they they be they'll be graduating pretty soon you know and I hope they make it Miss Mr Diaz U president members of the board em miss an um I pull out the records from last year to this year to compare where um how we are when it comes to attendance um as I compare last November from last uh from 2023 and 2024 to this year's 20 U 4 25 uh for the month of November you increase the attendance from 71% last year to 83 this year that's an increase of 12% and when I compare also for the High School um uh you increase the high school scores attendance scores for November from 77% to 84% and increase of 70% and as a schoolwide you all have also increased the attendance from last year to this year from 77% schoolwide to 83% so your efforts in continue to increase the attendance um we can slowly but surely continue to seeing um so those initiatives that you are um introducing the students are responding too um I keep an eye on November December and January but when I was compared the last three years of of attendance uh I did notice that there's a huge jump from the Middle School um of 12% and at 7% for the high school for the month of November thank you was that it from the board thank you Miss thank [Applause] [Music] you Mr Fox give it up for Mr Fox everybody good evening president buendia board members and superintendent Diaz um so our highlights we had a good month as far as uh we did some really cool and very educational field trips the snor and Desert Museum the University of Arizona you'll see those incl and Toc AG day in our video uh we added another person uh we'll add a couple two or three more well you'll We'll add we're going to add more but you won't you'll see them in in January um Aaron if you want can you go to the uh last page right keep going right there I want her to keep going down you got to see my BR no no I'm sorry keep going to that picture so you can see the top again and again and again we're very proud that we went three months with no real issues the only reason I'm bringing this to your attention cuz I know next month it's not going to be and again we had a little slip here early on in December um but we're very proud of our 79 students that are pretty much playing by the rules while they're there and there have been no there has been now but there wasn't any large incidents um and then if I would just like to look at our our completion rate numbers um because if you Aon if you let's see go yeah that way keep one more get we don't want to see that right there uh down a little more so on this slide we have the comparison of last year to this year and Ju Just November alone overd doubled last year's November this is with 79 students we had something last last year at this time so every month our students are doing more and more and more um and we're very very excited about that um because that's going to really help me with my grad uation rates U which will hopefully get us up to a b next year um our attendance is what it is we're working on it um when you look at them if it's in red if you go down a little Aon we'll we'll we'll look at the attendance keep going a little bit further so in the purple purple means it's on the right direction last month you saw the middle school was red it went down a percent or so uh this time it went up one but the high school went up 5% um so it things things are happening and you know our 12th our 11th and 12th grade both went up in November which is good because last November they really took a dive I believe and I know Mr Diaz probably has that because we discussed it um so we're working on it and we're getting up there and the little gains really they they add up uh it might take us until May but we're going to keep getting up there um so Aaron whenever you're ready for the video [Music] good job got used to those little 30 second Snippets I I was special now I'm trying now I'm trying to speed the slides I got figure how to speed up I used to try to figure out how to slow them down just wait before I start asking you what your systems on place are um thought any other questions from the board for Mr what department the at the U was it the science I I think it was like science and geology yeah yeah you'd have to ask our in-house U OFA expert which is Mr Alvarez he's our field trip guy you know and and um I do believe they went down underneath the stadium where the rocks and a lot of cool little samples and stuff are and they they absolutely love the Sor Desert Museum um it's we take for granted that it's just it's just down the road from me but from these guys it's a far ways away and they experienced stuff that they're still talking about it the Stingrays the Stingrays were huge they got to feed them um which you know is something that that's a once in a-lifetime experience for some of us uh so we're very grateful to Mr Alvarez for planning all the science all the stem steam activities and the Mesa Club M Stevens the bikes that were donated are those given to the students or are they used on campus or campus well the uh y youth on their own we I forget how many participants we have Mr fro knows they brought bikes for every youth on their own participant I think that was probably about 16 or so and then they asked us how many mckin vento kids do you have so we gave him a list of that and they said well is there anyone else we said hey there's always somebody else so they managed to bring over 36 bicycles they went out to all our students um it was very cool seeing a couple of them strap on their helmets and put the reflectors on and then they rode them home actually um so yeah it went to everybody it went to all pretty much not everyone cuz there's 79 students but many of our students benefited from uh they're really nice bicycles too I really benefited from that so youth on their own um I can't say enough about that organization they've they've made a world of difference for our little campus awesome if nothing else thank thank thank you sir thank you very much for your service you will sorely be missed thank you guys uh with that govern board we'll move on to the governing board member reports go ahead Miss passal theate graduation requirements um I think it's ikf um it says through the um graduating class of 2025 the comp competency requirements for FES to obtain High School can't read that right high school equivalency diploma a a pup pupil must correctly answer at least 60 Questions of the 100 questions listed on the test that is identical to the Civics portion of the Naturalization tests used by the US citizenship and immigration service so make sure yeah so I think that's next next year maybe I believe that part of the policy has to deal with the Effy test where the GED where it's it's the GED they have to answer those that Portion by policy now once they passed it but still our students at at the high school level still have pass the um Civic Civic test thank you thank you ready graduation I think you're referencing the GED program of the test students get grade sometimes I just wanted to giving us some marching orders yeah thank you Mella um Miss siia um I just want to thank the board members for allowing uh the change in in our meeting time um just because I asked every one if they're okay because I am taking thei hamash uh course that the uh the college is offering this um for I think we have 16 sessions that we have to go to and um so Bo you be your spokesperson when we're done but transl everything we're saying so thank you very much for allowing for the change for approving it um I did attent the um Miracle On Main Street I know that I haven't been attending very much just because of work and then also been ill quite a bit too and um trying to get through all that um but again um uh it was a wonderful turnout for the Miracle On Main Street um was so much happening that day the Miracle On Main Street and everybody went to the just parked their cars there and the parade came by and and um thank you uh it was a a wonderful lunch it was really good the the barbecue chicken and and all that and um yeah so that was what one of the fun that I was able to actually go to um that's it okay anything Miss Stevens oh she miss Vance turned in her written report I submitted my board report in writing short sweet to the point she list no um for for that for the board report um I put on there that I attended the Miracle On Main Street but I didn't put any details on there because that was going to be that evening and I wanted to make sure I met the deadline but um I had a I had a really great time time along with um um the primary school and um the high school and we were in the serving line so it was so cool we had fun and the food was delicious it really was barbecue barbecue and the corn and ah it was so good for those of you that missed out you missed out it was really good we had a we had a lot of entertainment there too and that was really nice so I really want to say thank you to miss Hart for putting all of that together and getting all the people there and step and it was a really great turnout so thank you for that um I think that's it and then on the the three previous things were the watrs um and I just want to really say I want to I want to thank the principles for you know having us go through the walkthroughs because I'm learning a lot and um it's just really neat to see how the teachers are doing and how the kids are responding and and it's just a really good thing that we're doing with with the walkthrough so I just want to thank all the um principles for for that um there is also um on the elementary I mean the um the primary school there's that multi- system uh and support plan that's attached to your um report so I really want to thank you for that because it kind of it really shows like what you're doing what steps you're going to do to make sure kids are on track and if they're not on track then these are the steps that we're going to take so it's it's more than just highlighting you know what we have like the the plan um so I really want to say thank you for that so that's that's all thank you m thank you Miss B no thank you Miss for her Mt as this plan plans coming I had questions but it's thank you for sub um I don't I don't have much I know that um same thing just a miracle I mean um I was in several different places all at once but uh nonetheless I always want to say thank you so much to all of the staff and everyone who comes together to make those uh community events a success it is such an honor and a pleasure especially to see you all interacting with the community um I always mean to to um I always mean to and I should have because you weren't here and I should have um acknowledged to the community members that everybody there is actually staff members for the district and that's their opportunity to to to get to know them but um next time I'll do that next time uh nonetheless um I think more or less I I don't don't have much so we'll we'll we'll continue with our agenda this evening so not holding anything up um we'll move on barbecue unified scho dist superintendent report Mr Diaz president when members of the board members of the community and uh colleagues um during the month of November it was a a very busy month um and a lot of events were taking place um I want to thank also the principles uh for their support not only for supporting the the individual ilts that we having and reviewing everything that we're doing to see if it's what we're doing is working or how can we improve um I want also to support uh thank them for being supported with the classroom visits and also the board members that are join us in the classroom visits um also I want to thank the the board members that have joined not only the the classroom visit but also all of the events uh thank you for your support doing the uh toono autum Nation meetings uh for um guachi as well as uh sales District thank you president mundia uh as well and thank you Miss Ella for being in the games and and you're the loudest person in the um in the audience supporting our Warriors um I have another uh a couple of shout outs as well um there's more uh that will be highlighted during the video but for the curriculum and instruction Department I want to congratulate them on the ongoing uh support suppor in the new teacher um inductions U they have ongoing sessions to continue the support um they have not only the beginning of the year but they have done two additional ones and also for collaborating with the primary um with these new amazing um um initiative or thinking classroom where the students get to stand up and collaborate uh the students are responding very well to that uh so thank you for curriculum instruction and for B for collaborating in that professional development uh to operation um even though he didn't not mention in his report I wanted to bring it up to everyone's attention the bble give of high school district and operations they are collaborating with OCC to establish an ongoing uh professional development um and preparation through the app Apprentice program so that we can take advantage of the plumbing electricity uh electrician and the carpentry program so we will be continuing the the that plan and collaboration so that our operations uh staff they can um take advantage of three hours a week of professional development and continue to get also certifications through Toc transportations I want to thank them for the ongoing maintenance uh preparations that they are doing to ensure that we pass the inspections for DPS from the social emotional learning um Department um all of the topics that you are preparing um for our students for six and grade including building healthy relationships taking care of relationships and now an important one relationships in the digital age thank you for those topics that you are bringing into our sixth and seventh graders to the sunrise house um again a shout out for the miracle main I apologize for not being able du to a family um event as well that was U taking place at the same time um uh and also for the workshops that the sunrise house is providing related to parent view um sewing and attendance classes the importance of attendance classes to the exceptional at Department thank you for getting our exceptional LED students ready for the Special Olympics and beginning that training and um at this point can we pleas please uh play the video uh thank you for mran for supporting me in putting the video together uh with all the highlights for the month of November how do you do that we have we're just solving these equations [Music] that wasn't it no that wasn't it that is um October's month uhhuh oh well no no no no no no no well um Mr zala and no there were good stuff in there please is that one that's and when I asked for Access San actually emailed it to me because it wasn't it wasn't on this yeah Weir yeah yeah yeah so I was able to watch it on email the we we're work uh he's going to work on it right now um but yes we need experience menual the links for whatever reason that we're not working and we were troubleshooting them today um but we do have the video I promise you nope nope BL once twice [Music] sorry come on on that note um I'm sorry takes Port NADA you you see do you see do you see it no there's a word for this CH we're almost there if you go to the December I mean November tracker I mean December tracker for the November highlights okay then we'll take a break 3 minutes minut 3 minutes good call [Music] beats did you send it to her she sent it to all of us but when I was when I Wasing doing the board was access we have a Tracker when I click on the [Music] tracker that's it that the one [Music] there's cake I believe you there's cake Hello everybody uh if you go to the left out here uh SF made some cake for Miss gwood if there's some plates and forks up there if you want to grab some [Music] I was going to say that when I was speaking all they get some computer she could she she learned she learned yeah [Music] over here video yes yeah there I know we made sure I asked her if we could put her in she said it was oh yeah they did they did great I love that picture get back tool tomor yeah they said I show the kids videos and whatnot can you make it funny say something funny yeah stuff I'll [Music] try uh all they're going to hit you with the epol if you're lucky that's all it is what'd you [Music] get is that new beautiful make some coffee a bunch of sugar in there oh no Alexia Alia Oh I thought it was like Yeah because it looks like it looks like constellation what is that harle Quinn yeah that is harle quin how cool that how's a princess who made [Music] the peaches it's a white cake [Laughter] no it's a white but and Saturday she going to have it well you waited and really you get it I turned that I just don't know congratulations did you get dinner what are they having what are we having every ready yeah yeah okay well uh go ahead and call the meeting back to order so we can uh get to dinner somebody wants their video you got dinner too um we'll call the meting back to order Mr D Aon call he doesn't have it on oh it's words that you don't know you are it's words that are that you do know around a word that you don't know you use the words around to get the word that you don't know yeah wow the first sound together begin [Music] St still we're looking at the degrees right here and there's an invisible one and since they're the same degree we're dividing the top I forgot what this is called We're dividing this with this one invisible one so but how you oh with a B battery can May eyes get closer to see how he's going to react whoa sorry super cool how is that even possible e questions or comments from the board for the super um questions comments if not thank you sir appreciate the report number eight this evening is our first reading of the Arizona school board's associate Association policy advisor again board this is just for your information at this point first reading at our next meeting Mr sabala correct it'll come back for actual approval yeah okay so if there's anything you want to make sure or recommend in these policies please make sure that you're forwarding them to Mr sabala Number Nine is our coaches and Club sponsors um Mark Justin maros for secondary project yes uh for just for your information again letter F is this evening is is our action items number one is discussion of possible approval the bar un School District FY 23 FY 2023 annual audit reports issued for fiscal year ending 6 2023 Mr Diaz or do you want Miss Carla Miss Carla [Applause] [Music] so there you go thank you so this is a annual requirement um ars1 15- 914 requires that school districts who have an adopted M budget limit in excess of $2 million annually shall contract for an audit Financial annual financial statement audit and the completion of the usfr compliance questionnaire school districts who expend more than $150,000 in federal revenues must also contract for federal single audit and in the spring of 20201 the Arizona legisl legislature passed legislation that requires the governing board to publicly accept the audits through a roll call vote the school district must also upload these files in the AR to the Arizona Department of Education and provide them to the county superintendent's office so I don't know if you had an opportunity to review the audit um there was uh after all this Fiasco all of the delays there was um I say only because I've seen it a lot worse there was only nine audit findings for fiscal year 23 um everything has already been uploaded we dodged a bullet um the ad wanted to put us on the agenda to withhold our state funding because we're so late with the fiscal year 23 but we were able to prove that we had submitted all the files the audit had submitted the fil so they took us off the agenda for it was actually today right Reuben mhm the meeting was today so we're they're not going to withhold anything so now this is just the last step for the fiscal year 23 audits is for the for you the governing board to approve the the reports so so the little email that we got because I know I got one um from the aotter general was just that notice that we were late in submitting it was actually from ad uhhuh so ad actually contacted the AG's office to confirm okay that they had received the file not from us but from the actual auditor so we did I had already sent it to them but it wasn't official until the auditor actually submitted the files to them oh gotcha okay yeah I don't have anything anything else from the board if not the recommendation is to um accept the FY 23 annual audit report it motion by Miss Sylvia Hendrick second by Miss anary Stevens M okay motion carries thank you Miss car number two is discussion and possible approval of Arizon of schools for the DEA and blind and bar UNIF School District Regional Cooperative agreement Mr Diaz president members of the board uh this is one of the agreements that we do annually uh we need the governing board to make sure that we can continue to provide um the uh those services for the number of students that do need it or that will need it or may need it um this is one of the uh M that we do annually to ensure that we continue to provide those Services I know we do it annually and for the sake of I understand that it's needed but I I do want to make sure that um I guess impress and Empower our staff if they're I mean I I've never ever actually gone to and seen the school and what our students are doing and maybe that's a point to make as a board member to be able to be there and to see um but I definitely want to make sure that we're also um making sure that we're advocating for them as much as possible I'm sure that they're doing everything that they need to um but I always want to make sure that you know we're not just approving for the sake of approving and that if there is anything that ever comes up or anything Miss Miss P please for the for the students that we have the few students that we have attending ASD um they include us in their their meetings when their when their annual review comes up to review their individualized educational program and um those meetings are just amazing because I I've attended several and um the parents are usually there and all the teachers and all the related service people who provide the child these Services they all share and and then of course they have the representative from the from us from our school it's usually me um ask our thoughts in regard to how the services are being um you know provided I mean are I mean do we feel that they are good services and whatnot and I usually tell them that they we could not provide the services that our children get from them because we don't have Specialists who sign who um work with um children with um who are deaf or who are blind and so our kids who go there get some really good services and then the staff the bus driver drivers who wake up in the we hours of the of the morning to go way out there to you know close to pass Santa Rosa to pick up kids and then pick up a few more and they drive them into Tucson and then they drive them back and um they they do just a terrific job and asdb has remarked on them as well that uh we have we we provide um Superior drivers for our kids to take them to ASB so for the um agreement we have with them I think our children get very very good services and plus we have an individual who comes to the um primary school um generally on a weekly basis to provide services at our school here because we have a a kid who has a a visual impairment so um I've been quite impressed with the U individual who provide services to our kids from asdb thank you Dr P it's very I very much appreciate your input I it is thank you Mr syvia no I just was kind of curious how many students um their servicing and then also I'm pretty sure that families appreciate the the agreement that we have with them as you said you know we don't have the Personnel to you know to take to do the work that needs to be done with the students but I'm pretty sure they all appreciate us providing that for them but I was just kind of curious how many are we are they servicing right now we have three over there have one at the oh okay going to be two so we have three that go over there full time and then two over primary okay oh okay okay thank you thank you if there are other questions I will move to um approve the item as presented second by Miss Kathleen Vance carries lgy this evening is our vote to convenience to Executive session per ars3 8-4 31.03 813 uh without objection a motion to approve is there second second second by Miss Kathleen with that if you are not and you don't need to be here we appreciate you Mr Diaz you're free to let yours go you're free to let anybody go that doesn't need to be here than e e e Mr Bates when you're ready we're ready you going to make the motion yeah oh second okay uh we'll go ahead and call tonight's meeting back to order letter H is our vote to reconvening to regul meeting without objection a motion to approve is there second second second by Miss syia Hendricks m m thank you we are now back in a regular session our action items this evening uh letter I action items uh number one is discussion and possible approval of the superintendent paper performance uh governing board members uh FYI recommendation is to uh for the board to approve the release of paper performance plan in the amount of $5,000 as presented are there any questions or a motion to approve second oh motion by Miss anarie Stevens second by Miss Sylvia Hendrick motion carries number two discussion and possible approval of the 2025 2026 superintendent contract governing board as you're aware uh we are approving the contract as presented by the superintendent I would like to motion to approve with the amendment to extend the contract um as opposed to [Music] ending um June 30th 2026 to extend to June 30th 2028 second second by Miss Sylvia Hendricks motion carries you can't go anywhere for a while [Music] you are not going anywhere you can't no take backs um so govering board for your information that um um contract will be sent to the lawyer for adjustments and then we'll go through the processes of signing off and getting everything taken care of so we're happy to have you for as long as you want and we look forward to continue to see you grow and and be amazing so letter j is our consent agenda this evening is there a motion to approve second motion motion by Miss Anam Marie Steven second by Miss syvia Hendricks M all right letter K is our request for future agenda item number one is the spring nap spring when is it I think it's in March it is March um there week do from March I have it right here I think I I I notified when we were asked before I said I would rather go yeah I would rather go to the spring [Music] yeah still Mid Winter it's going to be cold it's super cold C March I remember last it was so cold just it's still cold that cold the last year we went or was it no just that one night where we went yeah oh yeah we read that when when we went it was really you feel that face was cutting I didn't I like to go out I didn't even go out anywhere it was so cold 9 through the 11 so you uh yeah if we can make the same arrangements then you want that right yeah the scooter we want a push cart I with only one board member who else what only one board member we can make it work um there will be one point that we can divide and conquer um and we'll have some students okay mayth events what about the incoming M that will be a possibility um how long do we have a little time well be here next month start tomorrow so I guess I could reach out I can get number I have her number I'll her call see she wants to go doesn't want to go we're here anybody be the back she's Anna I can't go I have stuff for work already when is it it's March March 9th to the 11th the 8 8 9 10 11 8 9 10 11 and I'm hoping to pack all of the we're going to do the same thing that we did last time we're going to have our own visits and I'm going to we're going to be super packed hopefully on the Monday the 10th and half day on the 11th to see if we can complete those I can't go so you can go I'll be an alternate okay will umri and V did we have everything set up for the for the retreat do we have everything set up for the retreat sorry I moved on to agenda there okay remind remind me of the dates and remind me of the dates too which one the retreat um that is Janu uh January uh 25th in 26 oh you weren't here by the way did you send an invite for that I did with the items also all right be here oh be here are can you can you send the agenda i s the with the top okay on the invite and then then did you set up the delegate and the alter for the yeah I did I sent okay is that me I think it's me and you oh you're going after all no it's virtual so I was going to log in oh it's virtual for the 19th okay for the 19th yeah and I also have an update on the 19th okay on site or only what time is it at 3:00 but you'll be there yeah well I'll take my laptop I guess okay St been at McDonald's um go ahead Mr Mr Diaz president members of the board um Mr Fox had already sent the invitations for the graduation to start at 4:00 okay on the 19th at 4:00 eight students and it it's going to be at the intermediate uh gym to be able to accommodate um as with that then Sylvia I'll probably only be able to do the first hour if you'll do the rest oh really okay CU I'll be on at 3: and then be over there at the thing at 4 oh okay okay okay do you want to set up here to listen to oh that' be fine I could do that that will eliminate the yeah then I have to do I'll just be here and get on there and then go over there okay confirm so we can get S link B they'll send a link probably but eight kids are they a link I didn't get one but I can maybe they'll do it like as we get closer huh no I'm I'm confirming that so far we have eight students still that are going to graduate and each one and only uh Sylvia and Ella are going to go get our award CU we got a boore Award right and a nomination oh no I what do you mean why not So Pro hold on let me look at my videos any other requests board members anything else uh future agenda items if not is there a motion to adjourn motion motion by Miss Kathleen Vance a second m m m

and we have some special people here would you like to introduce the group roll call roll call oh roll call well they're here all right president Melinda saski Charlene Diaz here Fred Rushton here barbariki here okay would you like please introduce some sure all right um so today well first of all my name is Valley school today our fourth graders are going to be performing Jingle Bells for you miss Ed has been working diligently with the fourth graders for the past few months they have a holiday show um next week for our fourth grade students and parents and so we're super excited so she's here to showas some students from Miss's class and mr's class and all the things that they've been working on so all of these people here are parents nice of you to be here thank you thank you thank you thank you everybody yes inde for showing up obvious and just inic class we're always really excited to show all parts of our school thank you looking forward to this I bet you they do better on bells than you do I know they do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] w [Music] [Applause] wonderful thank you Miss Edge thank you fourth graders that's wonderful thank you Merry Christmas thank you parents mer Christmas thank you thank you for bringing the kids that was wonderful and you're certainly welcome to stay you don't have to leave just because they're done but that's up to you okay thank you oh that was one that was that was good now if I could have only have done that will on Sunday bills are not easy to play they're not thank you Miss wiie I got I lost I I lost track after the four first four the first four measures yesterday at church okay I was just kind of lost you I didn't know what bell to ring or where I was it was like I ruined it for everybody but it was just like so I am impressed I am impressed did a really good job that was awesome what time ises next Wednesday next Wednesday at what time and it's on it's on the community calendar at the end okay that'll be fun that'll be fun I think I'll try that good look at all of them taking pictures I love it yeah I don't know okay item 4 point 1.4 pressures of the on the general fund duee to school [Music] funding I don't know why my microphone won't move but there we go uh okay so uh earlier well in November when we had uh um an ASA superintendent uh superintendent meeting and uh we have those every couple of months um I didn't go in person I did it virtually but one of the superintendent in the state uh uh Dr Annabelle opella uh put together this information and at the time I thought oh I'm sure the board would like to see this uh because it talks about how we how funding is done in Arizona but it's comparing it's also giving us information about public school funding charter school funding and esas and uh how that all plays together so uh I thought that she did this in such a way that it's pretty accessible uh which makes it really nice for those of us who are not necessarily um uh on top of all of this stuff so um here's her report uh for for uh K12 total revenues for fiscal year 23 so keep in mind that's two years ago um okay so here in the leftand column you can see uh how funding works for um districts like ours okay so the blue on the bottom is the funding from the state the Orange is the primary tax rate now keep in mind that these are averages so it might be a little different from school district to school district um so I'll give you an example uh the on the left in that First Column school districts like Scottsdale that get no State funding so where it's red where it's orange and blue it would be entirely orange there are three school districts in the state that do not get State funding at all don't get any Equalization funding they fund their schools completely with uh property tax uh money from their you know in their County or in their school district okay but most of us the rest of us 20 230 some school districts get um some kind of state funding so this is the average okay and then uh the light orange uh is for so the Blue Line shows for most of us okay so for us it would be the blue and the orange that's it for uh some districts that have secondary um or bonds or overrides or other local money um they get um that light orange and then there are federal dollars now we do get federal dollars because we have title funding uh we've had eser funding recently uh whatever so any of the federal dollars so for us uh it would be something like the dark blue the orange and the green okay okay and this was for fiscal year 2023 so you can see how it is that sometimes they say in Arizona that districts have between 14 and $15,000 funding for each student okay um uh and the blue part uh adding the blue and the orange makes it about 8,000 uh I will tell you that's not us um but it gives you an idea of how the state funding and the local the county funding and the other funding streams work for public school districts the second column is Charter Schools so Charter Schools draw no funding from the county from property tax all of their funding uh the blue part all of their funding comes from the state so that means from the state budget that's approved by the legislature each year okay um and then in some cases they get some local or County money okay I don't know how that's determined I don't I'm not sure that Annabelle told us that she may have and I didn't put it in my notes uh and then they can apply also for uh Title One and some of those funds as well so U so you can see uh that uh that funding okay then you can see the esas so in fiscal year 23 the esas they were drawing all their funding from the state from uh that state budget and you can see it was below the blue line so it was about $99,500 doll a little over $9,500 um and for fiscal year 24 for which they did uh she could get U data uh that went up to 9782 uh and this is per student okay per student so for all four columns we're talking about the amount of funding uh and this is averages but for uh for each student Okay so we've talked in the past about um uh what can happen and what can be beneficial for those districts that have uh bonds and overrides and so when you look at this this average of $2,400 for those districts that per student that they can get because they've passed bonds and overrides um you can see that that can make a significant difference in the funding available uh in a school district um and clearly arizonans um uh support public education uh 78% the bonds and overrides that were on the ballot in November did pass okay so there's strong support in Arizona for public schools and that's a good thing we want that um you know we want that for any school district okay um it's interesting though that adding up the the our column District column we get about $9,600 and then 98 and 97 uhhuh not quite right but that's okay keep going well and and the thing is that's part of what we have to look at here because what you're going to see is then what happens when for instance when we lose students to a charter or we or Charters lose students to us or we all any of us lose students to the esas um and that's part of her uh part of the point of this um but keep in mind that all of that blue when that all adds up in the in the um uh the state budget uh the Constitution limits the percentage of the annual state budget that can be spent on education okay so if so if you think about my examples of the jars of marbles okay so even the legislature each year when it approves a budget only a certain percentage of those marbles in the jar can go to education and they can't go over that or they have to change some other things Okay so so the core State responsibility for for Equalization formula so this gives these are examples of um um schools so on the left you have District a uh which has low wealth and in this case the uh the blue still indicates uh the State dollars that come out of the state budget and orange indicates uh property tax County property tax okay and then you have a medium wealth a district of medium wealth and then you have a district of high wealth and then you have those three districts that are not represented here where that entire amount of money 100% is blue because I I mean is orange sorry for those three District it's orange because they fund their schools those three school districts completely with property taxes um uh we are kind of between on these examples we're kind of between districts a and District B okay we're kind of in there it's not we're not at 5050 U uh but we uh we get a little more money so I'm going to give you kind of round numbers in our $18 million budget about 10 million comes from the state and about 8 million from the county roughly okay and then you can see over on the right charter schools are entirely funded with um uh with State monies and uh and get an addition amount of money so they get the 100% that the rest of us get with the combination of State money and local tax money and another 20% okay so any questions or comments about that um just because I don't know why do Charter Schools get that extra 20% I I don't know the reason I just know that's the way it was built into the the legislation that uh authorizes Charter Schools okay kind of goes against the uh the equality that the government uh strives to force down our throats right thanks FR I that's a good conclusion or the equity if you would um I mean and the whole idea of the State uh equal ation and I will tell you Most states have Equalization because they recognize that they have districts that particularly rural districts that don't have the you know the property tax funding and U and and so you know 40 or 50 years ago Most states recognized wait a minute if we want quality education in all of our districts in all of our schools we better figure out a way to make sure that there's pretty equal funding per student in all of our school schols and so I think virtually every state has some kind of an equalization formula uh to make that happen of those three schools who don't use this funding source who use just property taxes do they have the same rules we have yes absolutely the same rules we have Charters not so much yeah not so much there are there are some things that U uh that they don't have to do uh but pretty much they match the public schools pretty much um there are enough differences that some of us whne me included sometimes uh that that it would be nice if not only were there equity in funding but equity in expectations and accountability okay so it's you know it's like it's like okay let's play football U but this group is going to play by these rules and and it's kind of like a VIN diagram you know here here's the rule here are the rules for public schools here are the rules for Charter Schools and so there's there's a lot of overlap but then there are some differences out there and you kind of go can we can we get these lined up can we just get them lined up I'm just thinking about Scottdale that doesn't have any state funds are they still dictate or dictated to by the state absolutely they have all the same regulations we have even if they don't get state funded absolutely okay absolutely all right okay I just was curious okay so um okay so this gets a little more complicated but we're we're we're talking here about non-sp special education we're talking about regular classrooms and uh and the funding and keep in mind that on on these other graphs okay so even on here this includes high schools so now you're going to see because I'm sure you're saying wait a minute Stuart you told us our our basic funding per student was about a little over $5,000 well okay so this will explain to you why so you can see here that the base amount for elementary for us uh it says 5805 I will tell you that when I calculated our adjusted budget it was about 5,15 so again there's an average here but you can see that High School base pay is over base rate is over 6,000 so that's why on that first graph it looks like there's more per student than what we actually get for our district okay okay and then there's additional uh District additional assistance daa which is capital and we get funded at roughly 4 $550 per student and high schools at 685 um and I will tell you that that because we were really good this year about salary raises and and those kinds of things um what we get this year for daa is in fact our capital and that's less than uh less than last year and and you'll see that you can see that when you look at the budget um revision that I you know that is now posted and that we're going to approve uh hopefully on Thursday um uh that you can see that our Capital uh amount for this year is down simply because uh we're using all all but about $20,000 is from the daa okay District transportation uh is the same there's a an equal amount there for Elementary and high school and then and uh there's the the capital uh the charter additional assistance um for Capital things um at 20 290 for elementaries and 2435 for uh high schools so that's that additional uh 20% okay so then uh base formula of total for the district rows 1 through three so you can see it's 6598 that's the average for elementaries uh and then for Charters 7 895 and then you can see what the esa formula is and what the legislature approved was 90% of what they fund Charters okay okay now just like public schools Charters don't have to have transportation um uh and of course esas don't have to have transportation um uh so if they choose not to transportation um if they don't have it do they still get that no they wouldn't get that okay so you can see though the the uh dise Equity of um particularly line five and line seven uh for the esas and here's the other thing the esas any any student who's receiving an education in Arizona through an Esa there are no rules yeah so they don't don't have to do State Testing they don't have to use State uh uh curriculum or state standards there are no rules and there is very little accountability so if you've noticed in some of the news releases last year there have been some things like oh we purchased uh we we bought ski tickets or um we bought a baby grand piano or you know I mean those are some of the some of the more outlandish ones uh we heard recently that um three individuals who don't even live in Arizona uh established Esa accounts for a number of students uh for some reason 12 students comes to mind but I'm not sure if that's accurate or not um uh and and collected the money they don't the adults don't live in Arizona they have they enr they have no children they enrolled children in Arizona esas and received the money now the good news is they got caught yeah and well you know the the state will take them to court to get the funding back but think about how much money that that really was that went off to people that were you know have no kids in Arizona or Arizona schools never okay so so there really are no rules for even applying not much not much and the fact that you know it's three that they caught how many more are out there that they haven't caught yet exactly exactly Charlene you had a question comment yeah I I just want for clarification when you're saying ES say you're talking about the homeschooling yeah it's not just homeschooling it's it is the esa is the uh um the empowerment scholarship fund so parents who have their children who've had their children in private schools forever can apply and get the money for esas and in fact of the 70 plus thousand students who had esas this past year about 58 thousand of them have never been in public schools never they've never been enrolled in public schools so their parents could afford to pay for the private schools and um and now they are getting paid for having their students in private schools and there's still no there's still no there's still no accountability for those students okay the intent was uh originally the intent was to make sure there are opportunities for students who have maybe special needs or and keep in mind these dollars don't even have to do with special ed these are just general ed students but the original intent was to make sure that students who had disabilities uh if their own School District could not provide the education for them that they needed um that there would be a way for them to go someplace and have those you know have those opportunities um or for uh uh or for St students who were in low performing school districts to be able to you know to go to a a school either a charter school or a private school or whatever um that would have the opportunities uh for them to get equal you know equal opportunity some equity in in their education okay um uh so you know so there's there's some I see some disconnect between the intent and the and the way it's functioning and I think a lot of people see that you know that disconnect does this money have to be spent within the year like hour yes so that means if somebody got the 7,000 78 whatever for Esa 7100 M well it's supposed to be I was going to say I don't think it's supposed to be but I'm not sure that in fact we've heard stories now these are rumors so be careful here and and uh but we've heard stories that some of those folks who have been paying tuition for all of the years that their kids have never been in public school are socking those funds away for uh or what they're doing is they're paying for they're using their esas to pay for their students to go to private schools and socking Away what they would have been spending to send their kids to college okay um we hear that um I wonder if that's true it sounds you know it sounds plausible to to me that that that that's happening um uh can I prove it no and I'm not not sure anybody can but uh you know but that's one of the things that that can be done with the funding okay okay well here's here's the the thing that I really wanted you to have a chance to look at about the additional cost to the state and oh by the way the uh the funding this is all for kids who are nons sped so any student who spe has special needs there is a waiting Wei G HT i n g waiting for them that they get more money and uh uh and so uh I think the highest is like 35,000 per student per year um that would be a very very high need Student um uh so you know the range goes up significantly from the 7,000 to you know a much a much higher amount okay so um this is fiscal year 25 so any school choice away from a school district meaning a public school district is an additional cost to the stated uh state fund state general fund so if a student moves uh from a district school like ours to a charter so let's say we lost three students this year to one of the local Charters um uh in terms of State funding um that is costing for elementary an additional almost $1,300 to the state budget okay per student okay so so I'm going to flip to the next one and no not that one this one and then come back so if you think about each of these columns as being 100% of the money available okay then when you think about this okay so the money available each year is whatever the legislature decides that's 100% all right when a student moves from a district school dist from a public school district to a charter that balance changes by 1,300 bucks roughly 1300 bucks because the 100% doesn't change it's there okay and at the high school it's about 1,500 okay if a student moves from a district to an Esa so um uh so ad is including teacher experience index in this um it costs the state about $57 okay if a student moves from a no state aid District to a charter so that's Scottdale Cave Creek and preset look at the cost to the state budget per student per year $ 7895 in elementary and O and almost 8,800 in high school because keep in mind that that Esa is 100% from state budget and the student if the student was in one of those three school districts that where it was being paid for by the county by county taxes and the whole then the whole cost goes to the state okay to the state budget and so that means for every one of those students the amount of money available to other schools either Charters or Public Schools goes down because that 100% is still 100% okay if a student goes from a no state aid District to an Esa it's slightly less but it's still pretty significant if a student goes from a charter to an Esa the state actually saves some money okay it sounds kind of counterintuitive but it's it it's um uh the truth if a student goes from private or homeschool to Esa it's that same $715 because prior to esas parents who homeschooled their children received no funding mhm okay no funding at all okay so when we look at the uh K12 U revenues this really is the same as that first graph thanks Cass okay okay this shows you how much the the budgets have gone up from 2004 to 2000 actually to the current fiscal year and you can see that the current fiscal year total is less than the previous fiscal year okay so the once is all based on that whatever the Constitution or the legal says of the percentage of the budget yeah and we're going to see on the next slide where where you you know where you level that out and and see that 100% and how the 100% whatever each Year's 100% amounts to how that breaks out but in this case you're actually seeing the actual dollars um uh uh so 900 uh 9 9,000 million what billion dollar uh um that doesn't sound right but um you can see still the blue is the general fund so that's the state money the light blue uh what is s right now I can't remember what setr s t is well it looks like it's a it's kind of it's pretty small it's pretty small and you not well and it's disappeared actually doesn't exist in the last 3 years then we have have the turquoise which is education sales uh I'm not even sure what that is okay um uh and then uh permanent state aid is the purple um I think that's uh I think that is uh classroom site fund okay okay so that's sales tax and then the qtr is the county you know the county thing okay okay so now when you consider every year at uh at uh 100% whatever the total dollars were for that year here's how they break down so as an average for the current fiscal year the state is funding 65.8 7% okay the county is funding County on average funds 64% and then you can see those other um the other things the purple stays about the same because uh uh sales tax has been pretty healthy in Arizona for the last few years you can also see that it was pretty slim in those years after the uh after the bubble burst the um real estate Bubble Burst okay H State Equalization tax rate oh that's the rate and sunset2 oh yes and it sunsetted in 22 okay thanks Lance I should have looked that up well that's why it disappeared that's why it disappeared it sunset it it was a it was a one of those timed things that the legislature passed and said it you know it can looks like passed right after the the upheaval yeah yes oh yeah and then sunsetted okay so this one shows you now what's happened with uh how this has changed with uh esas so down at the bottom you can see so now 8% of the total school funding budget school funding 8.2% now is going to esas so look what that has done to the blue the dark blue okay so try your schools are even feeling a pinch aren't they absolutely okay now once again as a as a personal and as a professional stance um uh it wouldn't make as much difference to me in terms of our district if at least we were all planned by the same rules you know have the same accountability for the use of the tax dollars okay um uh and I think that that's a fairly common opinion among Educators you know if we're going to do these things to help educate our kids any all of our kids whatever then let's at least have everybody have the same accountability uh and play by the same rules okay so truth and Taxation keeps the qtr relatively flat uh with no connection to cost uh of the education formula so we don't really determine our um uh tax rate um that's determined by a formula based on the um uh assessed valuation in our district so um while I can say over the last five years our tax rate has gone down um it wasn't anything I could control I mean it's determined by the assessed valuation and a formula at the state level and that's true for every District in the state every Public School District increases to anything in the equalization formula results in additional cost to the general fund okay that's an important Point increases in anything in the formula result in additional cost okay so when the uh when they anticipate or um uh estimate what the uh state tax income is going to be so that the legislature can determine a budget um then and it changes all of these formulas doesn't change the formulas sorry it changes the amounts the numbers that go in the formulas so if you recall this current year fiscal year 25 the anticipation was that state tax revenues would be less than last year so when the Constitution says you can only spend this percentage of the state budget on education if if the state budget amount drops then the amount then those dollars drop okay that's very logical but I think it's the thing it's one of the things we don't necessarily think about when we hear that the legislature is talking about the budget is recognizing that whatever that budget does affects the amount of money that is in that maximum that can be spent for education in Arizona okay so let's say it's 48% so if the Constitution says the maximum of the state budget that can be spent is 48% okay every time this raises or lowers that 48% raises or lowers and then affects whatever it is we're doing in you know in our um calculations Caroline do states typically have a percentage that can only be can only be spent for education I I don't really know that I just know that in Arizona it's in the Constitution yeah I mean so it's not like it's not like the legislature can just decide you know oh this year you know schools need X Y and Z so we're going to increase that that it's just it's dictated okay it's kind of like the AE is dictated from a constitutional amendment that was uh that was made now that that piece of the Constitution at least has a a a safety valve that lets the legislature uh wave that on an annual basis um there are some proposals that say because the way that is written is based on $1 1980 um uh and and a formula related to that but there's uh there is an opportunity that the legislature could without having a referendum of the public to change the Constitution or that Amendment could change what's used for that formula that would mean that we would not have to calculate that every single year and you know and and get a waiver from the legislature every year so uh each year uh the alphabet groups encourage the legislature to look at this alternative way of calculating that you know calculating that so we don't have to go through this every year so we're hopeful that um you know as school districts we're hopeful that the um uh the legislature will look at that you know that change in uh in how that's calculated at what numbers are used to calculate that tie it closer to the cost of living increases and those kinds of things as opposed to a finite number that it is now okay um now the daa which is that District additional assistance which is for Capital the the legislature has to has to determine that every year and this past year there was a struggle to get it approved and there was some conversation that this current fiscal year 25 would be the last time they would approve it now of course each legislature gets to decide you know each session of the legislature gets to decideed but it was in the conversations so for us that means that we would have to move whatever it is we are currently funding from daa into our m no okay so right now that's a million 15,000 no a million 115,000 and if that went away then that means for us to continue to do um uh to to lease our xrox machines to consider purchasing a bus to uh the number the the 10 or 12 um uh ongoing uh technology programs that we use like visions and Panorama and um Synergy all of those programs that help us function as a district are funded out of capital okay because they are considered leases we'd have to then take to continue those we would have to take a piece of our M budget and move it over to Capital to continue those things okay so U of course we're always you know we're always encouraging our legislators uh to continue the daa uh because for us it would be it would be pretty drastic it would be a pretty drastic change that's a lot of toilet paper well and it's I mean and no toilet paper supplies that well yeah but then we might not be able to buy as much toilet a lot L I should have said less toilet paper I mean or pencils or whatever classroom supplies yes and considering that and in fact I just calculated this today for something else that I'm working on okay uh 57% of our budget M budget is salaries another 21% is benefits so salaries and benefits represent 70 8% 78% of our budget okay and then so then that leaves Okay so that leaves 22% we have fixed costs that we can't control you know electricity and sewer and uh you know and and all of our utilities and our our uh disposal no insurance is in that benefits it's in that 21% um building insurance and stuff yes you're absolutely right those are part of that 22% that we have left okay uh repairs any supplies that we use for repairs any toilet paper any any cleaning supplies Any teacher supplies any office supplies okay or advertising or I mean there's a whole laundry list of things that fall in that 22% travel expenses um but some of them we don't we can't really control we can't control what happens with utilities we have to make sure we budget enough for the utilities okay so it ends up leaving only about between 5 and 8% of wiggle room there okay um so then 5% of our $18 million budget you know what goes away if we have to move that million one over to over to Capital okay not that we can't do it we can those are the only two budgets where we can move money back and forth okay those are the only two um uh and we could do it but what goes away well okay I think we still need toilet paper and you know there are some things like that that we still need we still need cleaning supplies we still need some of that and so then it boils down to okay what do we do relative to salaries do we cut you know do we cut the number of people because we still want to give raises every year so somewhere somewhere some Mar marbles in that jar get moved okay and I'm not complaining I'm just talking facts of life here all right and what we have to consider okay um and so then you can see the other pressures that that are on the legislature when they're talking about funding for schools okay okay and you've asked really good questions and I hope you don't ask any more difficult ones because I probably can't answer them but I can certainly find out U because I know that Annabelle and Annabelle U was gracious enough to share all of these uh share her slides and her research with all of us um so that we could share it with with you and with anybody else who wants to know so uh she would be very gracious about answering questions and helping us and I'm sure she would be able to answer them is the state doing anything about esas about limiting because I'm sure that they've recognized this somewhere along the line has been pointed out to them at least well pointed out um uh but when when an amount of money that's that's budgeted to the uh Arizona Department of Education so that the state superintendent of public education can promote esas it's doubtful that that a whole at this point the Outlook is that is that there's not you know that there's not much of a move to put some restrictions and some um accountability on this the truth is that the folks who really want to promote the esas are not interested in having accountability because they useit because they use the esa for their family yeah and some of those folk and some of those folks own schools that benefit from the esas but don't our rules Come From the state department of Education well from the State Board of Education through EXC through them but only based on what the what the legislature um passes as bills and as as whatever so they have to function within whatever laws the the legislature passes okay so besides helping you be informed because I will tell you this was very informative to me I could not have told you these things on my own I haven't done that much research but I will tell you it kind of guides me in what I want to be saying to our local representatives and Senator about you know please look at some of these things does that mean that the the little church schools that suddenly cropped up here in Bullhead yes are getting almost 59 or $7,900 per student yes that's what it means when if their parents have enrolled them in those schools with esas yes that's exactly what they're they don't have to follow any of the rules no the curriculum doesn't have to be followed zero they don't have to do State Testing more money than we do they don't have to adhere to state standards they don't have to no no that's why I'm saying Melinda that that this would be an easier pill to swallow if we were playing by the same rules yeah okay good and as a passionate ad advocate of public school education you can see why my opinion is very is very focused on this and it is my opinion it's my professional opinion it's my personal opinion as a parent I would resent the fact that my neighbor's child could be going to school paid for with tax dollars and no accountability so I can say it as a parent and I can say it as a professional it's not so much the tax dollars you resent it's the fact that there's no accountability that you resent right yeah but as but as a taxpayer yeah you know um uh okay so U Mark Scott who is our facilities director okay came to us out of Private Industry came to us as a former owner of a you know of a uh construction company and a um uh developing you know he owned the company and so if if if if costs were going up or or there were expectations and rules and regulations for uh for electrical installation and plumbing and all of that stuff he could change his budget change what he charged to to accommodate that and he didn't have to answer to anybody because he owned the company okay um so when he came to work for us it's a whole new ball game and and um you know and and he's been very nice about about it and has learned a whole lot and is and and is really on board at this time but at the beginning he's going why can't you just XYZ and I said because it's tax dollars and taxpayers hold us accountable they hold me accountable for having that budget that you're going to look at on Thursday they hold me accountable for keeping that balanced okay um uh and for us projecting down the road you know there Washington school district in Phoenix just determined last week that they're going to close five schools for next year okay and of course that irritated a whole lot of parents and neighborhoods and whatever because they are neighborhood schools but they are looking at a $5 million deficit in their budget so they're trying you know so they're planning so they don't have A5 million doll deficit in their budget okay that would be like us looking at having a million doll def or you know somewhere in the range of a million dollar deficit well you're not going to let me present to you a budget that is a million dollars in the red and taxpayers don't want us to be functioning that way they hold us accountable so Fred you're right but part of me as a taxpayer says wait a minute you know I want to know I want to know as a taxpayer how my dollars are being spent and that somebody's checking on that to make sure that it's legitimate expenditures okay so it's a number of those factors that I kind of all group together with a let's play by the same rules right okay so um uh I hope that's not too much of me pontificating but I get pretty passionate about the fact that we do great things in public schools and um and try to do everything equitably so that every student that we serve has the opportunity to as good in education as we can provide okay every kid um and and um and that gets harder and harder when the dollars are not there it gets harder and harder it's kind of off topic but just curious if you have like a private school that they don't have to test they don't have to do all the things we you know they don't have the follow the state standards whatever how does so they're not accredited how do those students benefit from that to get into college you know say just to get into High School some place well yeah exactly except some of them are high school schols M if you're talking high school if you're talking high school and and it's a private school so they don't have the test they don't have to do any of those things they don't have to they don't they're not accredited some of them are some of them have sought accreditation there are some I'm working with a student teacher right now she's working at a private school it is an accredited school and they do have to adhere to State Standards but there are some that don't so I don't understand the parents Ben uh thinking because if it's not accredited how do they get into you know what I'm saying typically that's a family that wants her child to go to Harvard or yes whatever how do they get in if they're not going to a high school that's accredited I suspect that that's where some of the like act and the SAT test you know sat act and those testing help yeah so they still have to take those have to I guess but well unless the University or the college requires it and most of them do so you know somehow they're going to have to demonstrate demonstrate proficiency of you know to get into the college uh or the university you would think because it just logically it doesn't make sense to me it doesn't we even a trade school yes you know if you can't do the math you can't get into a a trade scho that's right that's right if you can't uh so a trade school is considered a still a college of no tra well no it's just it's another level of it's another level of higher education it's postsecondary and trade schools are not going to let you in without some kind of evidence of what it is you're capable of doing I'm sure that if you're going to a carpentry trade school that they're going to make sure that you know how to use a ruler well one would hope that yes um although I've had some construction done that not sure they did okay maybe we should move on and thank you for the extra time to do that but I I really felt that this was valuable information if nothing else background information for you and also um also I don't like to be completely uh in unable to I me you know could I could I bound on this a lot no I'm depending on annabella's um Annabelle's uh research and she's clearly taken the time to do it um so you know I'm not going to go out and expound on it to lots of people but I I appreciate the fact that I can now at least answer some questions if a you know if a Community member or a parent comes in and says you know you know that they say in the news that you have X dollar to you know per student and and I can say well not really or yeah yes you're right or no we actually have a little more than that um uh but at least I can be a little bit intelligent in in my ability to respond to people um and then honest enough to say I don't know the answer to some of it but I'll find out for you um and I and you all get asked questions Melinda mentioned something to me before we started tonight that somebody in the community had asked her so you know we we want to at least be able to to respond intelligently to people okay so thank you okay do I have a motion to adjourn the workshop I make a motion we adjourn the workshop I'll second at the motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I BB ziki okay I'd like to call to order the regular meeting for uh Bullhead City School Board on Monday December 9th 2024 at MH roll call I pres Melinda sabraski Charlene Diaz here Fred rushon here Barb Zar ziki here and I don't see oh we're going say pledge ready pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liy and justice for all I always forget where that is there is no well that's where yeah okay um all citizens present I don't see any so I'm just going to skip that call the public I'm going to skip that because we don't have any of that um adoption of the agenda how about donations we got donations donations oh yeah I was looking at that can we bring that oh yeah what was the one that I was looking at festal There He Go Ellie and Mitchell zler of festal Center Museum selected Valerie deloo yeahuh as one of the 500 what what is her um she's a teacher at Sunrise we actually have uh teachers at Desert Valley oh gosh now I can't remember we have teachers we have I think we have four teachers who uh got the uh $2,500 uh fiestable really what do they do what do they doing with the 2400 uh different things they're doing uh things for their classrooms so I know one of the teachers is um uh increasing the classroom library and um materials another teacher is creating uh kind of a reading Nook um in the classroom and so uh uh some bean bags that meet fire standards and some carpets to designate an area for that because keep in mind we you know removed carpet wall toall from classroom so it's kind of nice to designate an area in the classroom um uh I looked at valer part of Valerie's list today and uh she was looking for some bookshelves and some uh storage you know units for her kindergarten classroom because you have lots of things in kindergarten classrooms uh so a variety of things that they're that they're doing for their classrooms but it's very nice they just did she just write for it or what did she do they did and then it's just a random drawing oh it's a random drawing of all the people who uh you know who put in and then it comes through uh donor's choose so Festival Charities um um sets it up with donors choose and they send their you know send their orders through there so it's very nice it is that doesn't mean that the shrine and oh no all everything all the rest of these guys on here are not appreciated it's just that I was really astounded by 2500 bucks right there were um yeah there are 500 recipients in the state each year from fiestable so you know so not only does festable do cool things for a couple of colleges or universities to come and play and bring their folks and uh does things for tourism in Arizona um but there's also the give back to Arizona schools which is wonderful wonderful I appreciate it every donation is appreciated any other comments on donations okay now we get to adopt the agenda can I have a motion to adopt the agenda as presented I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda as presented second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Dias I Fred rushon I Barb Zuki okay superintendent um can we go down to the fiveyear comparison the last one Mal has been around a long time I mean lot longer on this side um right I think what we're seeing from particularly last year and this year um are a couple of new Charter Schools the private es the private schools sorry not Charters the private schools well and also effect of one of the charter schools uh you know desert star added to High School this year added freshman sophomore of their high school and uh in a few cases the parents of students who they Cho the parents chose for the students to go there the high school students then it made some sense I'm sure for those families to take their elementary students there as well so I'm I'm sure we lost a few there um but the other thing is right now the in Arizona part of the issue is the drop in the birth rate and um uh so we're being affect Ed by that as much as anybody so um you know there's not one single cause for this drop but in four years we've lost 400 students 300 300 okay 300 300 students yeah students and over the course of time with uh over the the the last few years probably the last 10 years we've lost 900 well I think of the economy because a lot of people moving out even when I was still working the parents were leaving with their children to go back with to live with other family members and so that's I think created a lot of movement in the population too I I find it very interesting that um uh 2122 uh 2021 was the year the full year of covid MH and um that 2122 that our numbers went back up and um which was nice but I don't know quite why why that happened his parents were excited to get them back in maybe I think maybe that was part of it although we had kids in school all year on 23 uh in 2021 although a third of our kids were were um you know at home and virtual but they were still enrolled in our schools um um but I also think we had we had some folks who were you know moving in multiple families in you know in households because of because of the after effects of you know of covid and whatever um uh but yeah the the drop since then but there's not one cause there are multiple multiple reasons um if you have questions about any of the other charts or or tables um I I'll try to answer those I only have one item for an update um the Auditors were here the week before Thanksgiving and that full week before um they were done on Wednesday afternoon I I've never I I mean in you know in the five years six Fifth Fifth time of doing this for them to be done in three days was amazing um I mean literally they were done and we did exit report on Wednesday afternoon before they left uh we usually do exit report on Friday morning and uh so that was pretty amazing um it was a clean audit and um we had 10 minor uh 10 minor little you know fix these things some of which were fixed before um some one item of which because of course it was the audit for fiscal year 24 one of the items that you know that they reported to us we'd already fixed for this year so uh it was fixed before they even before they even saw the the data and stuff um but we've already worked on everything else so um uh you know those items will be cleared for for next year so it was a it was a clean audit and uh was good good kind of nice to hear very nice to hear yeah that's great okay any and you will I'm sorry you will get the formal audit report when the written one comes and and it will be on your you know on the agenda so you can see all of the you know all of the information including the 10 items that they want us to to work on so do anybody need to see anything any of those reports anybody okay not today um moving on then to 2.9 board member updates has anybody been in the schools not since last month I was this is a good one for you Fred I was talking to the guy from IE or EI I Kevin Kevin he says that we need to be up at uh Sunrise talking to our third grade teachers because they have shown some real enthusiasm not necessarily Improvement but enthusiasm to at least looking at Improvement and well actually doing some improvement so because that was one of the schools that you really like going to wasn't it I like going to them Mall well yeah I mean that was but I was impressed by the sunrise campus yeah and but you might want to go up there and I CU he's he basically I I what was I doing um I was over at Desert Valley or we were going to give Santa stuff Santa Clauses to people who the Kinders who were caught being kind and uh he caught me in the parking lot so I thought of Fred at that time uh oh your phone's ringing excuse [Music] me this fure out sorry I apologize for that but anyway Fred third grade and Kevin was mentioning the third grade teacher's enthusiasm about uh about the EI stuff yeah about improving he he didn't say that they had reached any kind of specific level right but that they basically were attitude more than results yeah and I thought you got to start there got to start somewhere start somewhere and I was really I was really happy that he stopped me and he said he was talking about this with with usual Kevin enthusiasm you know sometimes I'll swear that he takes pills for that but he but he's he does you know he was very enthusiastic and I did think of you Fred because okay you had talked about Sunrise thank you um item three consent agenda anything on the consent agenda you guys want to talk about that we need to pull or can I have motion to accept the consent agenda I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb Zari and there is no old business so we're going to move right on to new business and Wells Fargo this is the same thing right we do this annually um uh this is this is just to give us a financial cushion in case uh for any reason the state does not deposit for us the you know the monthly monthly uh dollars uh We've not had to draw on this at all since I've been in this position but it's always nice to have a parachute yeah is 7.75% is that a is that a pre I think that's typical yeah right now yeah okay I don't and frankly I don't pay much attention to it because as I said we've not had to use it U but as I said it's nice to have a parachute so I have a motion to approve the uh establishment of a credit line with Wells Fargo for school year or fiscal year 25 I make a motion we approve the line of credit with f Wells Fargo for the fiscal year 25 I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon i b there zi property donation now this was interesting yeah um yeah Cass would you put up the there you go thank you so much so uh uh the um there's a better map of this yeah there's a better map on the next page so oh there we go yeah you might want to bring it down a little bit now there you go um the realtor uh contacted Cass and asked her about this uh and um of course she asked me and I said well I think we need this on the board agenda um you can see it's immediately adjacent to the football field at uh Fox Creek um the elevation is a little lower than the football field but certainly not as low as uh down in that wash so it's it's not at risk of flooding or you know any of those kinds of things uh it is rather an odd-shaped parcel yeah um and uh so it's it's kind of understandable why U they were having uh you know they've sold some other Parcels in along the parkway for uh businesses and whatever um but U one of the advantages for us is not you know is that if we have it as part of our uh property um then then there's not a chance of something being built there you know some business being built there which becomes kind of an attractive nuisance for our students we like it another Circle K yeah yes is it is is it something that's usable or I mean I think it would be I don't know I you know I don't have any ideas right offand what we might use it for um but yeah I think it would be you know it's even just as a buffer zone you know if it's and stuff yeah yeah um uh I mean you can kind of tell from this areal view that that there's some changes in elevation there and they're pretty they're pretty pronounced too they they are when you drive when you drive by and look at it um uh but you know we just we don't know who knows we might end up with some great idea of what to do with that little piece of property mhm is it going to increase um property taxes or anything like that it doesn't change property taxes we don't pay taxes on our property and um uh you know we don't pay tax we don't pay property taxes on any of our properties and um uh at this point it's not going to it's not going to increase our uh insurance rates or any of those things because there's you know there's nothing on there right now to uh to be insured that's probably going to be a real tax advantage for the donators well and I think so too um um and um you know and certainly no harm no foul to anybody else oh absolutely right right um so it's it's one of those where I kind of go well don't look at gift horse in the mouth exactly it's not it's not U something that it is very there's no on it it is kind of a funny shape isn't it it makes me kind of wonder why uh why originally our property wasn't didn't include that to begin with you know um but I have no idea I mean that's you know that's that's ancient history 25 years ago so I have no idea um do I have a motion to accept this donation I make a motion that we accept the property donation from Avalon reality LLC for the parcel of land uh adjacent to the southeast corner of the football field at Fox Creek junior high I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Alinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb Zar Zuki okay okay uh Cass would you put that regulation up please when I read this I didn't see anything weird with it yeah I I skimmed it I it's very long it is but I was and it's our current regulation the changes are at the very end I didn't notice any difference in type or color or anything I'm sorry I had a long weekend it's underlined but it's there it is okay so one of the things are the blue things which are the references to regulations um uh they're not laws they are um they're Administrative Code regulations and um and the many of them have to do with graduation which does not affect us at all yeah uh Cass if you scroll back up just a here okay wh okay uh establish implement make available to its personnel and parents written procedures regarding access to special ed we do that already uh I think mostly this is just to reference some new things that were put in the uh administrative regulations and you can see the multiple references there and then whoops there's one okay and again it's graduation so it doesn't really affect us and I saw this I I didn't see and these all have to do with uh uh things for uh special ed students yeah so it it very much defines uh School District's UH responsibilities for uh continued education and um and a plan for students um uh services to students beyond the age of 16 um so these changes really do not affect anything that that we would do differently at elementary yeah do I have a motion to adopt regulation ib-r special education special instructional programs MO to adopt I'll make a motion that we adopt regulation ib-r special instructional pro programs all second the motion all those in favor I'm Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I I Fred Rush i b ziki okay item 4 5.4 uh going into executive session do I have a motion to move to Executive session I'm sor you have to read that whole thing that you love what happened to you I have to read the whole thing yeah oh yeah okay I you're right I don't like this item 4 or 5.4 convenient to Executive session pursuant to AR ARS 384 31.03 A1 discussion or consideration of employment assignment appointment promotion demotion dismissal salaries disciplining or resignation of a public officer appointee or employee of any public body except that with the exception of salary discussions an officer appointee or employee May demand that the discussion or consideration occur in public meeting did the person want a public meeting no okay so do I have a motion to to convene I'll make a motion that we convene to Executive session I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene andas I Fred Rushton we are in executive barar ziki I'm sorry I had a m full lemonade [Music] a [Music] he [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] for [Music] he [Music] he [Music] nah [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] I have a motion to reconvene into public session make a motion that we reconvene into public session I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I biki um item 7.2 establishing the St superint stup super sorry Carolyn superintendent Prof or per yeah performance goals do I have a a motion or anything I make a motion we table 7.2 until our special meeting on Thursday o uh December 12th at 10: a.m. I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz hi Fred rushon hi barbariki closing items 8.1 future topics was there anything that we would like to to dis have discussed Barb and I have decided not to go to annual conference so we are not going we're not going it's 4 days before Christmas and it's like cuz it's the 19th oh and it's like it's just an ugly time didn't work out right for being too close to Christmas so yeah and with everything else at this time of the year we we've opted not to this year [Music] um item 8.2 upcoming board events I think that's yeah Desert Valley holiday show that's what I want 18th at 5:30 is anybody else planning on going to that what's that the Wednesday 18th yeah for the um I will be Lance even if two of us are there you might want to put out a notice that we that we may have a quorum oh okay I just want you to just want us to be thank you yeah um got to go support members yeah just 5:30 I think that would be kind of cool to see yeah um um that's the only one I see on here are there any of the other schools having is Junior High having one tomorrow sunrise has a couple Sunrise concerts tomorrow at 5:30 oh I could go at those no I can't no not tomorrow not tomorrow maybe Wednesday maybe the Wednesday one tomorrow we got VR so 12 12 1211 at 5:30 sunrise and you may want to set your January meeting tonight yeah not wait till we is January meeting is that what you're saying yeah the regular meeting the nth theth I don't have any trouble with the 9th I'm okay with that me check real quick come on phone works for me January 9th works for me yeah um that will be the night that you will that will be the night that you consider um any anybody who's interested in uh School Board School Board vacancy MH [Music] um when does the Science Olympiad happen is that we're not doing Science Olympiad this year we had no we had no sponsors that's too bad those kids were inspired yes is that an after school program mhm and they should have been working on it all year long okay I was going to say oh man I wish i' had known that because I probably would have volunteered to do that um okay we'll keep that in mind for next year okay so we're going to go for January 9th and we're going to start with a workshop at 5:30 and have a regular meeting soon after that right yes okay do I have a motion to adour well let's remind everybody that we have a meeting on Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m.

this event is for students and families and special education programs as well as students who have an IEP or 504 plan who are seeking more information about college vocational and Career Training students from asgo high school and trer Thompson and Ben narc and plank junior high schools shared their musical talents at Friday night's Christmas walk hosted by the village of a weo we're so proud of their performances good job congratulations to the seven OS musicians and the a OE HS musicians select at I lmea all state band chorus Jazz and Orchestra this distinct honor showcases the students talents and commitment and the value of a strong music music program in our schools we're proud of each each of you of course um for our Junior High and high school students the first semester is quickly coming to a close congratulations to our students on the successful school year thus far finish strong and best of luck to our high school students during finals week yes congratulations finish strong please study all right we're going to move to Stu I'm sorry yeah student board member reports hello so during our last ssac meeting Dr McDonald I mean Mr McDonald and Mr Kyer co-directors of Technology came to begin receiving feedback from students on effective next steps for providing Chromebooks devices to our seniors upon graduation we look forward to being a part of the process to create an outcome that's best for all students furthermore me and Cali have collaborated with new ideas to boost and create momentum after the winter break we have enjoyed collaborating during our Lunchtime with Miss prior where she gives us the tools to lead the ssac we have determined what we would Define as a trusted adult and we look forward to sharing more about our fine tuning after the new year as we take the new steps to collaborate with our building Administration and staff thank you so very much we're going to move to 6.3 the board committee reports we'll start with the equity and learning and Innovation report um in equity learning ation uh we had a presentation and update on uh the strategic planning process and then we also discussed specific policies that had a uh a strong connection to curriculum and instruction um those were presented at um legislation or the legislative committee as well at some point so we discussed some policies related to that and then that is all thank you m finance and Facilities uh um we had a robust conversation around our strategic planning Dr Kade presented an update to our committee it was an excellent conversation um key components that have been completed such as the curriculum audit and building walkthroughs for the master facility plan the next step will involve both colleagues and Community to provide their feedback through both digital and in-person discussions and I think we all look forward to hearing from our community the strategic plan has a draft of four main pillars academic and Student Success educational access and supportive environment partnership and collaboration and resource allocation and underneath those pillars is very robust list of what those things will do and mean and be measured by these are further divided into the focus areas as the process moves along um we will see feedback and revisions and tenative dates for presentation it's very exciting this is something that um I think will I think all the entire committee believes will really um give us a huge uh step forward in the future um we are looking for uh the Strategic plan to go to the board and approval in February or March of 2025 also uh as you saw Jason Coyle from Baker Tilly came tonight we had another robust discussion around our annual financial report otherwise known as our audit um for the first time in many years as he stated it was filed with the Kendall County Roe on time to meet the December 15th deadline actually was early and um just a chuckle that we all had that Kendall County actually went ahead and did a um extension for us because we always do ask for extension or need an extension and uh so I was proud to say we did not need it and um they were quite surprised but um we're incredibly proud of our finance team um so and then the notable highlights as he said which I don't think we can um stress enough but our net position and increase which is the accumulation of all our fund balances the debt impact and the capital asset assets the fact that we did not file those tax anticipation warrants for the first time in 20 years and the audit highlighted which Mr obafemi has told us and made us well aware of that we really need to address the transportation deficit um which is the current focus and um we all can uh collaborate on ways to make that happen but overall we are in a very positive um position and really excited uh for the future finally um Mrs satar uh talked about fee Collections and gave us an update and um it was really interesting to see that um right now our overall collection rate is at 53% um that's 53 out of 100% of the fees that we need to collect at this point in time again it was this is at a point in time it changes every month but they are presenting that information also to the board um they will that information will be and our board packet moving forward um it's very important that you take a look at that um as the school year progresses they also updated us on um some rfps that are going out including a bid for the redeveloping plan for the old choer building um that RFP is now public we encourage everyone to take a look at it forward that information on to any developers you might know and that want to uh collaborate with us uh to take some of this unused link and put it to good use for the benefit of our students and our community so thank you very much any additional comments questions and I did not ask the same thing for equity and learning and Innovation so any any additional comments or questions all right great policy and legislation so we had a very efficient meeting um and uh basically we went over some um new policy from uh that'll have their first reading tonight from the uh from press 117 um we discussed some bills regarding ethics and gift bands accelerated placement program equal educational opportunities and connection to the community uh we also looked at the digestive bills that were passed in the spring of this year and uh couple the two of us Dr Maro and I each picked out a bill that we wanted to highlight um so since I'm talking already I'll go ahead so the um the one that I wanted to highlight was uh HP 4219 which is the fentanyl education for grades 6 to8 and the reason I wanted to highlight this was not because and not because I think that six to eth graders need to know about fentanyl um but the fact is whether or not I think they do um it's kind of gotten to that point in education we need to make sure that our kids that our students um know what's out there in the world world and are not living in a bubble so um it's not something that's going to be some big um uh some big class that they're going to have um five days a week or anything like that but um the state does mandate now that fentel education do does take place for junior high students and then the book uh bill that I chose to highlight was HB 4261 teacher performance assessment task force the bill actually just stated that they are requesting that that task force make uh or provide a report to the legislature in October of 2024 so upon research they did that and I read through their report uh and this is related to actually teacher preparation and what they need to pass to get an Illinois teaching license um the summary of the report is that they're um they're going to move forward with a a two or threee plan to review that process and what they might need to change or or add um to the te the teacher performance assessment that um for for Teacher licensure in the state of Illinois uh not a like direct direct impact on us except that is about the teacher Pipeline and the more efficient and more prepared we can make teachers to pass that assessment the stronger our pipeline is uh and it will likely have some impacts in the future on our teacher Residency program as those residents will have to pass the TPA to be able um to obtain their license so I'm not sure if we've already highlighted this one but I think um it's kind of one of those that needs a little new want which is um HB 499 which deals with the tier 2 pension piece and it might sound like hey why are we talking about tier 2 pension but I think uh we need to be real uh or we need to realize and and thank you to um representative kwit for really um spearheading this that if we don't do something and we don't make Safe Harbor uh at the very least um we're going to take a huge hit and so there's definitely some interest from all sides depending on who you are um you know uh there's there is we should be definitely paying attention to this um and I'm sure uh uh Mr oemi um if we have to start paying Social Security on our employees you're going to come to this meeting and have a serious conversation with us in a real quick moment so um that's not all that needs to be done with this because we're not attracting enough Educators but uh certainly that's the here and now if somebody asks what it is that uh is going to affect us that one would absolutely impact us immensely right away any additional questions can you just repeat your bill number why your bill number I have to go back I'll go back to the notes no that's okay that's 42 H 42 thank you all right right moving on to 6.4 board member comments I'll I'll just be quick I apologize I I kind of thought I was going to be late and then I thought no I'll be okay and then sorry to the community um over the weekend we uh family dealing with my mom over at Copley she's still there um be there probably till tomorrow maybe we're hoping we get her out or she is saying bust her out uh but my apologies um for that so she'll probably be fine but you know one of those things so sorry no apology need it but yeah no apology I just wanted to update um we a lot of us all of us were at uh uh triple I uh and a great opportunity for our board to do continued learning um uh around our work and the school board I did have a chance uh to represent uh 308 at the delegate assembly so I just wanted to report back on those results um the six consent agenda items uh were all eventually passed uh although four of them were removed from the consent agenda from the cons consent agenda to for further discussion uh mostly for um districts to provide additional information or support regarding um those items but all six of them uh um passed they were about dual language uh e EB F authorized charter school funding Tiff accountability faiths law the centralized state agency for state for Faith's law um HealthCare coverage and then polling places at school so those six all uh passed in the assembly um and then there were three appealed resolutions that actually uh made it through the process uh to uh for comment uh and then um to um vote on if we wanted to be if we wanted it to be heard on the floor so those were cell phone usage uh the Inspector General one and then the criminal background check again um a couple of schools made uh some comments on those but on the vote uh there was not enough people in the room that wanted those items to be heard and so they never made it to a vote eventually but there was some discussion on those items um so proud to represent the district I think we have a good process for moving forward with these uh with this process um so I take questions if there's questions if I can answer you know uh it's not really a question it's just uh if somebody's listening to our meetings for the very first time yeah what passed like what does that mean it means that my understanding is that this is what they will be uh ADV advocating for at the state level um so the Illinois Association School Board they lobbyist yeah thank you that's the word I was thinking Lobby for those items Lobby for those items so they're not NE these aren't law things that are being passed right these are what we are are supporting them and and lobbying for okay so I do have I do have a question and um I'm actually very happy that it's very heartwarming to know that they took up the Inspector General piece and had that discussion can you like I don't expect you to give me a playby play but what was there kind of like a um maybe a consensus or a theme as far as both sides of that go um my notes although they could be lacking have only one um District speaking on it and that was Harvey a school district from Harvey um and just indicating that there has been a lot of mismanagement and so we need something like that to kind of have the the checks in place to make sure that mismanagement doesn't occur and I'll Echo that because I you know like I said there's I don't I think when we're not nurturing or paying attention to our local levels there's there's an opportunity for some nefarious things to occur tragically uh I'm not saying here necessarily or uh but but it's out there and it's it's too bad I'm assuming the vote was not closed though um only 17 voted for it to be heard sure yeah it it needs some work but I'm I'm glad to hear there was the discussion because there should be attention to it so yeah is was there any discussion around I you know it's interesting lately um other school districts I've seen across the country um we had a parent recently um gift us all a book on cell phone use it just feels like there's something there and I don't know what it is yet I don't know whether that requires the board level or you know Administration level but what was the discussion if was there anything of significance in there um I think most of what was heard in support of it would be that yes we want to look at limiting cell phone usage in schools um out of the ones that were brought for consideration to appeal this was one the one of the ones that had the most votes out of three 167 people voted wow to be have it heard and I would concur just personally my experience and I'm hearing a lot of this as well uh nationally in my home with my friends yes with with parents um and so I think it's um worthy of continued conversation on the board of where where where we might land on something like that because I don't see necessarily you know that going away and it shouldn't go away right it's I think um our children and us are going to have to contend with in the future so and I think we as a board um our specific um situation that we have such an Engaged and intelligent um student board and student advisory committee that together if we could do something and have those conversations so that we aren't taking away something that is so you know integral to to them but also um still honors the you know the learning environment within the school um so maybe a potential topic down the road for our ssac and and her ambassadors and my personal experience is sometimes I think that we think it's so integral like they won't ever want to give them up but when you talk to kids about it they understand like my experience has been that they understand like yeah it's probably a big problem and we would probably understand if you took away our phones or whatever ever the case may be so um yeah it's interesting yeah I will say like my high school this year I've had zero problems and last year it was terrible it was it was like what was the CH what was the CH what was the change yeah great great question it's a large school right over three 3,000 students and so what happened was it was a schoolwide expectation that uh in the front of the room every room has um pocket a pocket and and they put them in the beginning uh and then they pull at the end and what we decided was Hey listen rather than fight with students throughout instruction like we're like Hey we're we're going to give up that we're used to these Bell ringers but give up that first minute and that last two minutes right so that they can get their phones so that there's not that like uh what do you want to say um taking away their property right but then they have those moments right because to some of them they are like checking things there might be things going on at home Etc and so forth and so on on um and so it's been largely successful I'm not saying there hasen't been issues there are but compared to last year uh last year like cell phone was the largest thing and we had situations where students were texting each other and trying to meet up in in the bathroom and there were there were issues around that we've had none of those none of those um I highly recommend something like that but again I'm not I don't like to dictate to to any kind of like um community of schools because I think that's a choice that has to be made and they have to come to that but uh I'd invite anyone to ask anyone for and my school can be a tough crowd from time so it's not like it's you know hey this is the idic place all the time but yeah we've had nothing and and the other High School in our district isn't doing that and and I hear about it all the time so Food For Thought um I think when it comes to like phones being in the classroom I feel like students and even outside the classroom understand just how much like phone usage that we get like we try to like limit but it's like I'm not going to lie it's an addiction a phone is an addiction especially when you get at such a young age and like you're having iPads at three you're having iPads at four so you're like intertwined with that for a really long time and then coming to the school setting I feel like the issue comes where students don't know how to decipher between school time learning time and then them just being on their phones like as a whole like I feel like if like students were to understand that hey like I understand that you know I'm at school learning is what we're here to do and then we can use our phones whether it's during that passing period I know that um one of my family members they can't use their phone at school at all like it's just not allowed not in the hallways not in the classroom like it's not allowed end of conversation you'll take it you'll have a referral that's it but here at AOS we go east it's very like by um it's by department and it's by by teacher and if they decide that they you they feel like it's a issue then it is but if it's not and I actually wrote a page on your book about disruptions Dr Waller knows about it but I wrote a page on it about so cell phone policy and I talked to Miss Bowski and I kind of you know wanted to see it from a teacher perspective student perspective and then a higher perspective and I kind of just wrote a little bit about how students it's not that they have a problem with turning it in but they feel more secure with having it on them it's more of a comfort thing um they feel like more comfortable having it they feel like what if something happens like it's more of a disconnection that they feel when they're giving it to somebody else or can't have it near them rather than oh I don't want to turn my phone in no I do but I just don't want to have it like I just want it to myself but teachers are like you're not understanding the material so yeah that's my input it's really important to understand I think especially when there are Generations gaps with you your generation has grown up with with technology and we haven't and I think also I think the trust conversation comes in too that do you trust your teachers and your admin that if something were to happen we have the process procedures and and plans in place to keep you safe that's actually what Mr Bell does that's like his whole job and what you know he manages is to make sure that in each School those things go and are in place to protect you and sometimes I think as a as the adults where we get concerned is that they actually get in the way instead of helping because we're not paying attention to the things that we're supposed to instead we're paying attention to our phones and I say that for adults and children you know we're we're no different you know when it comes to being addicted to phones um it it it was built up that's what technology was built to do was to get you addicted so and I'll say there was trepidation in our school from from everyone like first of all you had adults who didn't think it would work I I personally model it I go in the first thing I do is is put my phone in there too the students do it on their own it's um of course like that first week there was a lot of what the heck is this nobody even says anything anymore it's kind of like when in our school I know I'm get controversial in our school like we don't care about hats anymore and of course there were people who cared about hats like this is going to be the end of the world cuz people are going to wear hats nobody cares like like nobody cares anymore and it it's like one of those things like I think sometimes we just don't like change and so we get mad cuz something's about to change and then you know what it's like oh okay I I mean I'm not saying like this is what we should do I I don't like I said I don't like that because I think a school should have its own culture and figure these things out but I do think sometimes we're just like afraid of change in general and we're fine no hats are okay where we're at like I haven't had anyone get in a fight over a hat the phones they put them up it's they learn a lot and they'll tell you that they are paying more attention just one this is a oh please after you oh okay um I have three things I want to talk about real quick oh I I just want to just to underscore um all these themes I think are really important I want to invite everybody January 9th at 6:30 p.m.

with that meeting adjourned thank you

uh we have all five trustees um in person here uh first uh item is the the adoption of the agenda if there any questions if not I'll ENT in a motion I move to adopt the agenda second moved and seconded all those in favor say I I I the agenda is adopted as presented the next item is under review and discussion School consolidation and closure study session Dr FES thank you good evening this evening uh assistant superintendent of Business Services Kevin Franklin will open our presentation and and assist the board in their discussion on the matter of school consolidation right all right good evening so I have a few slides here that are part of a request for more information from the last study session that we had so I'm here to present those particular slides um and answer any questions that you might have about some of this information so the first is just um a slide about the options that uh we had brought forward at the last study session options a b and c um with I believe the focus being on option b um at that time but still have the three options available um depending on what the board's direction is okay the next item that was requested was the schematics for a tk8 campus and so what we had talked about was that there are really two realistic um schematics uh for a tk8 campus the first one being this particular school pedmont middle school and what we were looking at was option C within the three different options and a lot of that was based on cost and the timeline to be able to implement those changes to reconfigure the School site so with this particular option for um pedmont Middle School to make pedmont a K8 what we're looking at doing is pretty much kind of dividing the school into two sides um with the bottom side on this particular map being the elementary side and so you can see reconfiguring the classrooms there in the front to uh the TK classrooms and Kinder class classrooms putting a playground out in front of those classrooms for the kindergarten students so um playground appropriate for ages five years and under to accommodate those students and then out further on the black top behind the mini gym is the other playground for the older Elementary School students then what we have is pretty much everything else along the the administration building remaining the same with the choir and then this NPR um being the same and then leaving the band room um where it's currently located in the library and also in this particular instance leaving the fif space where it is and then um creating the the upper 67 and eighth grade um classrooms on that end of the campus the other thing that we would do that I failed to mention was down in the TK section is that we would reconfigure the restrooms in that area to be appropriate for uh the TK and Kinder students so in in installing smaller um toilets and and um making that restroom suitable for those students so we would do that reconfiguration so all of that cost is about $2.4 million we would also look at what options we have to make drop off a little bit easier out here in the front so right now there's currently a a short fence along that curve for the drop off we would look at removing that fence then we would also look at any other reconfiguration we could do to help make it uh easier for parents and families to drop off students especially the younger students that are TK and Kinder age over there by those classrooms any questions about this particular uh layout for pedmont before I move on from the board feel free to ask interrupt Mr Franklin uh quickly for the for the drop off glad that you mentioned for the conf reconfiguration for the younger students so I would imagine there would be a staggered um belt schedule uh because if if if we do uh end up with the tk8 configuration so yeah that would depend as we're developing um you know what what that looks like um I know that I'm familiar with some tk8 campuses that are larger in size than what we would be creating and they all have one standard start time of of 8:30 so we'd have to take some of those things into consideration you might have some families that have an older student and a younger student and so maybe a stagger drop off might not be conducive to to their situation so we'd have to really kind of take a look at how we wanted to do that as far as the bell schedule goes okay okay then the next option to look at at roughly the same cost was sierant middle school and reconfiguring that school into a tk8 campus as well and again the same concept of kind of creating that divide between the the younger grades and the older Middle School grades so creating at the bottom half of that map um you know the Kinder and TK area there at the bottom having that TK playground out in front of those classrooms and then going around on the side the first through uh fifth grades and then leaving the other half of the campus for the older students and not doing any changes to the current art room the current band rooms or the science rooms all of those um would still remain the same and then you would have um the seventh and eighth grade like I said on the on the middle of the building and then eighth grade also occupying some of the Portables and there I don't know that we would need to do any reconfiguration for drop off although there is an option to be able to do that to reconfigure the small parking lot in the front to have an entrance and to have a drop off section there as well but that would be a little bit more than the the 2.3 million that's shown um as the cost for the reconfiguration and then another playground for the older elementary students out there by the third and fourth grade [Music] classrooms any questions about this particular layout do those good schematics require change to the existing boundaries to the middle schools so yes it would because depending on how you want to configure um you know what elementary schools are going to be feeding into those so for instance if p was chosen and if it was Toyon and and um Summerdale merging into this particular campus then we would need to reconfigure the Middle School boundaries for Vincy Park and Noble which feed um you know about 50% of their students to uh to Pont for both schools and then CRM also depending on what schools were being um Consolidated into that particular campus then we would have to look at capacity and to see um how that would work out so in other words if um Pon was selected to become a TK through 8 school their boundaries would shrink and same for siot if they were selected to be a TK through 8 their boundaries will shrink as well yes [Music] okay just one additional note on that with the tk8 at sier aont you would have a more large scale boundary change for the Middle School attendance then you would with pedmont simply because the elementaries that feed into sier Mon are larger in size than the elementary schools that feed into pedmont any additional questions before we move to the next slides all right so I'll quickly go through these next ones because these are just some of the items um that kind of came up during the board study session discussion last time and so there's just additional more in-depth information that I'll go through relatively quickly but please feel free to ask questions as we go through if you have any um first was about the boundaries um as you just mentioned and what those currently are um and where they they all the students are currently located so the next couple of slides are the current boundaries and then some school density Maps as far as where our students reside within those boundaries as they currently are so it's the elementary these are the Middle School boundaries so you can see how some of Noble's attendance area um splits between sierant and that peach middle section um some of Noble's boundaries go there and then they're in that fluorescent green those students go to uh pedmont and then same with Vincy Park some of Vincy Park's area is green going to Pont and some of Vincy Park's area is yellow going to morill so those are the adjustments that would need to be made um in the situation that um that was just being mentioned and then as far as density Maps it's a little bit hard to see on this particular screen it's actually pretty clear on the on the displays but um you can see that there's darker um red color areas where it's a higher density of our students residing and so you can see some of the really dark red areas are some of the areas where you see some of the apartment complexes that have uh many students living in them and then some of the lighter shaded areas are where we don't have very many students uh residing and then this next particular slide um shows in these dots exactly where we have students and higher densities of students so again that's something that you know when you see it on the on the computer screen and you can zoom in you can kind of see where our students are currently residing right now the this is a a graph of the or a table of the distances between school sites so you know how close one school is to another and for each particular School you know what the next closest school is those are highlighted in yellow so you can see the next closest school for instance to uh Noble the closest schools are Ruskin Summerdale and Toyon so that's how that particular table works okay next was school capacity and utilization and again just a reminder that all of these slides have been presented before they're presented to the committee and we've we've shared them a few times they're available on our website as well um these are the school capacity calculations so just how many um uh students uh can be served at a particular School site based on the current number of classrooms and if we add additional Portables how many can uh the School site sustain and how many students can they serve so that's the current capacity calculations here's the utilization rates for 23 24 so this is the the utilization rates that we were utilizing last year when we started this process so you can go down and you can see that for each of our school sites and then because we're looking at implementing this in 2526 we did another utilization rate based on projected enrollment at that time for each School site so that's why we use 2526 rather than this current fiscal year because we're going to Implement next year there are also some questions about the Mandarin dual immersion program at Cherrywood so this is some of the information that was requested out of that conversation so the program started in the fall of 2018 starting with two Kinder and one first grade classroom and then two classrooms were added each school years each school year to build the program and now we're currently having we have students in sixth grade and seventh grade at CR middle school as well so it goes beyond Cherrywood now and then as you can see on that next line in 2526 you will have our first group of eighth graders uh finishing that first cohort through camont middle school so the total enrollment as it currently sits with the Cherrywood dual immersion program there's a total enrollment of the school site of 533 we have uh 277 of those students in the Mandarin dual imersion program 256 six that are not currently in the program so a little bit more than 50% of the students are in the Mandarin dual emersion program at Cherrywood and then you can see how those numbers play out between how many Resident Cherrywood students are in the program versus non-resident students and out of District students so you know a majority of the amount of students come from either outside of the school district or from other School site attendance boundaries uh do we know which School uh sends most Mandarin students from our district to Cherrywood Vincy park I think it's in the 54 or so um but yeah Vincy park has the most uh students in that program the next set of information that was requested was about title one so just a quick overview of Title One eligibility and what it could be used for um Title One schools are eligible for Title One funds when they're above 40% % um when above 40% of their students are considered low income so when you go below 40% then you can apply for a waiver if you meet any of the following criteria which is greater than or equal to 25% of the students being low income greater than 30% um being English Learners um or if you've been identified for comprehensive or targeted support so all of our schools currently receive funding through a title one waiver meaning none of our schools qualify anymore as being above 40% so all of them are below 40% now where that hadn't been the case in Prior years and then expenditures um all must be supplemental in nature and directly related to increasing the academic achievement of economically disadvantaged students so everything must be above and [Music] beyond this is a list of our schools that qualify for Title One status and the percentage of free and reduced um free and reduced price meals which is How We Gather the low-income um and socioeconomic status of our students so that's the in the middle column is the number of eligible students and then what that translates into as a percentage and then the corresponding Revenue associated with those students for each of the school sites and then another term that we use often is the unduplicated pupil count so we also get supplemental dollars from the state for our unduplicated pupil count students very similar to Title One in nature um and it's for we get additional funds for any student who falls into one of these three categories um students eligible for free and reduced price meals English Learners Foster youth or homeless and so basically what that means is that if a student falls into multiple of those categories they only count that student once you don't get additional dollars if they meet multiple um categories and then this is the unduplicated people count by um type at each School site so which one of our students are Foster youth or homeless um which ones are free and reduced and which students are English Learners so this is just um a chart showing how many of those students are at each of our school sites as they currently are this year any questions about any of these slides thank you for the presentation um there any questions from the board uh we may ask at this time before we move to public comments we could spend some time um discussing the findings of the data uh and then uh move on to public comments and come back uh to discuss the U next steps the Bo's prerogative I also just want to quickly share with the trustees we do have others here in the audience that can also support answering any questions you may have we have Brianna Garcia here who's our facilitator for our school consolidation advisory committee we also have Tom Williams our demographer um our uh chairperson is still here Mr Carol for the committee as well as Harold Freeman our um legal councel who's been assisting us through this process and of course cabinet that can answer any question questions you may have so on the U just from the uh the data from [Music] Cherrywood wrong slide oh there you go so the nonmi enrollment is uh all all 256 sherrywood resident students or do we have transfers overflows and things like no we do have some students who are overflowed into the in into the school site um I think there's about 10 that are in the K5 program and I think there's another 8 to 10 or so in TK that come from other areas in the district okay I I just have a quick question about um how our students and families get around to the different schools are you do you have information about um how many students will be who walk to school who will be impacted if we do a TK to a like to pedmont and to sierant like the incoming schools do you have those kind of rough numers yeah I'd have to go back and look at the previous presentation from that time frame but we did have um we did have the safe routes to school that was part of the study that uh Dan Norris did um and we did present that information so we do have that data um I just don't remember it off the top of my head but I can get that you know um I know combo class sizes changes every year but is there any particular site that historically always has had an issue with always having combo classes because I think that's one of the issues that I would like to address is to avoid the need for combo classes yeah so from my experience the past few years it's typically your smaller School Toyon Summerdale um there's a handful at um Cherrywood this year Lan view has some um Brook tree I think has one or two but typically it's the smaller schools we've we've seen them every year at at Toyon and Summerdale since I've been here okay so our two smallest Road schools are are Toyon Summerdale and what's the third one now Lane View Lane view okay Noble's another one that's probably roughly the same say go ahead sorry yeah I have one question just regarding the you know the uh I guess adjusting or you know upgrading the facilities the middle school facilities to accept um you know to make them T TK to 8 so the cost is roughly 2 half million that's what we're trying to save by uh you know by consolidating schools why can't we use those funds just to pay for you know for the cost instead of consolidating schools yeah so that's a good question so the the dollars that we would use to upgrade this facility or CR for a tk8 would come out of our bond and developer fees which are specific to using to improve our facilities and can be used only for our facilities and not for um just general purpose salaries and we have the the bond funds available for for that type I know because it wasn't initially you know part of our our planning for yeah so there are bond funds so you know if we do close uh three schools we will um have some savings from not needing to do all of the projects scheduled to occur at those School sites some of them we would still of course um still follow through on such as like fire alarm systems things like that because our facilities are still going to be are going to be around and we'll need to keep them safe um but there'd be other projects that we would maybe um not be moving forward with that we would could then reallocate those funds to upgrade these sites okay and then there's also some dollars available that that were already committed um for instance upgrading science labs things like that that were already scheduled to be done at each of the middle schools okay and it seems like pretty extensive work that could be done before the beginning of next year yes So the plan would be um once the board makes the decision on whether or not to move forward with the tk8 at either of the school sites we we've already had an architect look at um the layout for each School site what we would do is we'd start with purchasing the playground equipment so we can move forward with that and we would start doing a lot of that work um and then we would try to schedule out the restroom work to be done during one of the breaks if possible before the summer okay um what are your thoughts on um when it comes to converting uh the middle schools either seront or Pont middle into TK through R uh the safety and traffic issues I know SI is located further inside the residential areas there's a lot of uh residential parking for parents and Guardians to walk their students or their children to school a little bit more safer but as far as Pont middle it's on a larger thoroughfare just right out here um could that become problematic or how would we address that um I'm not sure is there do parents drop off their kids right off here in peont road yeah there's some that do park down the street and and the students walk I've seen parents walk with students as well um it's pretty good traffic flow moving through the the circle here and and out in the morning um you'd also then have probably staggered in times to you know so typically TK and Kinder get out earlier than the rest of the students um but again the School site after creating a tk8 would be roughly the same size that the school sites currently are maybe slightly bigger if it's pedmont versus zont but again pedmont a just a few years ago was over 800 students and so if we're creating a tk8 that has between 700 and 750 students you know there's actually less students coming to school um and then typically you know if we're looking at Summerdale and Toyon those students are already families that come here um for drop off currently but again too we have to remember that with the reconfiguration there's going to be more staff so then there will be staff that could help you know out in the front with helping children get out of cars and help with the flow of traffic so um it there's a chance that or there's more staff so it helps make things smoother during drop off and pickup times thank you so even just even is you good please sorry um yeah that's actually one of my concerns as well as traffic um you know for this site I have a middle schooler here you know I have a an elementary student at Summerdale and those you know younger students need the parent to bring them to the school to wait for them after school my middle school or you know I wait for them on peniten Creek Road because the traff so bad um so uh I think you know with the just having the main road here one of main roads and know the Bas area is is a little bit problematic in terms of traffic flow and stuff like that but we also have theot lot right which Right Now isn't available to drop off or pick up it's just for would that be something that perhaps we could look at um um I probably wouldn't recommend it just because of the fact that we are going to be reconfiguring and rebuilding our warehouse facility and it will be rebuilt up in the front here but even before that there are still big trucks that do come in to to drop off for deliveries and we can't always you know plan exactly when they're they're coming into theot yard and so if we're allowing that to be used for um for pickup during the day and we have deliveries that need to be made it could become problematic but we would definitely look into traffic that'd be part of one of the next steps moving forward is to to look at what the impact of the decision would be as far as traffic and the two and a half million doesn't include any like say you know parking lot upgrades or changes or anything like that um it would it most likely would be able to include some of those if you're going to completely redo the parking lot then no we would need to add some funds but there's definitely um some some dollars in there for some reconfiguration of the parking lot to help with the traffic so of course this was this was redesigned like five years ago into the current um layout with Middle School in mind but we could we would definitely take a look to see if there's a more efficient way to make it um more conducive to a tk8 and then just to go back to trusty HG had asked about the safe routes to schools and those numbers it's on page 176 in your binder you'll have a configuration there for every school that gives an estimate of the Walkers and what those um patterns are around each facility which is what the committee looked at during their August 8th meeting it's under the appendix a and in appendix a page 176 is where it begins and as Mr Franklin mentioned um the next follow-up step once we do have schools identified from the board would be a more intensive traffic study for those locations so basically no matter what we decide we'll make it work uh in a good way yeah kind of pivoting to another topic too I also wanted to touch on um Staffing for mental health as well so for a TK to8 model has do we have an idea if we would maintain the model that we currently have with our psychologists and social workers we share them among the elementary schools and what would happen with the TK to8 model would we maintain one for the entire school or I'd kind of defer that to ed services and and what their thoughts are I know psych just we allocate based on a a student ratio so that would probably stay the same yeah the one thing I would uh advocate for is if you're moving to tk8 you have two elementary schools our school social workers support two elementary schools so I would advocate for an elementary social worker and then a middle school social worker then you have that additional um academic counselor and then the school psychologists who would serve probably just the whole school and they wouldn't um uh share sites where most of our school psychologists currently share sites so I think that would be my recommendation so I'm actually glad you brought that up uh because I think one of the most important factors um of this process the closure and potential consolidation is that uh we want to provide more resources we're not we shouldn't be thinking of it as closing a school and taking away from our community but we should be discussing it as if we're adding more resources by consolidating it so that way our students have more available resources that are more readily available to them at one site absolutely and if we go back to our original objective um for this school consolidation process as much of a financial challenge that we have it is about making sure we're better utilizing our resources and maximizing services for our students um I know there's no actions taken tonight but uh maybe uh we could set some parameters is there any potential School sites uh that you guys feel are off limits or you absolutely cannot support closing so that way when we do take action next week we kind of focus our conversations on the schools that at least the five of us can't support consolidating or closing like is there a middle school or are middle schools off the ti T any particular sites that you just absolutely cannot support closing yeah I think the the last meeting U I expressed and I think trusty boak also might have I don't want to speak on her behalf but I did Express um that I'm not inclined to to close uh any of the middle schools as far as possible uh I mean uh again we want to keep that as a last option uh ideally if there's a there's a pathway to creating a tk8 uh in a successful tk8 model uh then we we should look at uh preserving the Middle School uh and preserving all three middle schools uh you know reconfiguring one uh into a tk8 kind of a model that that's where we were at at the for middle schools and I can also speak for myself since I wasn't here but I agree with that I really think we should not touch our middle schools for closure there would be a lot of students impacted I also would like to stay Within in the schools that were recommended by the committee I think that you know the process was robustly done by community members and we should maintain that short list that they provided to us and also I would like to voice that I'm really concerned about the impact that uh this will have on our Latino population our um mckin vento students and so I would a on the side of you know trying to make sure that they're supported and that our decision does not ultimately greatly impact them the most since school closures are happening across the side it's disproportionately affecting our lowincome homeless Latino students so I just want to voice that as well all right uh any other questions trusty black yeah if I remembered correctly the last time we met here we chose option was it option C or I can't remember what it was anymore where we would reconfigure one one middle school and close two and I think it's uh option option b then I think that's the one right yeah it's option b no Middle School must close I totally I am against that and I think we all agree as members of the board so the with the option b we say we talking about closing two Elementary merging wait sorry two Elementary merging one with a middle school but um if I heard you correctly uh I mean you probably might have cited it as an example but you did talk about suale and toon merging into pmon so capacity wise uh does pedmont have capacity to absorb both the schools um as they are meaning without breaking up breaking apart the community uh the S Summerdale community and the toon community community and then bringing both schools as it is so it won't be a closure per say it'll be consolidation of both elementary schools into Middle School is that capacity yes so yeah so the the utilizing the current projected numbers for Summerdale and Toyon for next year combining them into one school here as a as a tk8 would be within the capacity it'd be well under the maximum capacity and it would be somewhere between probably 740 to 775 students somewhere around that that range just depending on some of the parameters that are put on to uh the creation of the of the tk8 right and for sorry uh just quickly uh to continue on that tk8 model for seront I don't think we we spoke about any one school or two schools I did I I do understand that the the M Majestic Cherrywood and rasing that feed into San a larger school elementary schools um what would be the vision like for for that um I'm just curious how how we structured that yeah so to be able to create that at carmont you'd probably have to reconfigure um you know what that looks like so right now you currently have the Mandarin dual immersion that I mentioned at um at sierant so then you'd be looking at I would assume most likely Cherrywood becoming part of that K8 um but then you're really limited because then that's one attendance area then only for um the middle schools or for the Middle School portion of that K8 and so um that wouldn't necessarily work but but they have 520 or 30 or so students and so that's around the amount of elementary students that we would be looking at having for a a within a tk8 so configuring that to be able to be the size and and and everything to not have the disruption to the other two schools as far as where those students go to Middle School you'd have to um have the rusin students um go to a different middle school and you'd have to have the Majestic students go to a different middle school as well I got okay and then if you chose Ruskin rusin then you're looking at 300 yeah to 350 depending on the projection in the the years moving forward and then that's not enough so then you'd have to look at then where you're GNA you know pull the remainder of those elementary students from to create that TKA yeah just see minutes I am oh I'm sorry [Music] okay thank you um so if we were to consolidate say you know Toyon and Summerdale here how would that affect the boundaries of the other schools that feed into uh pedmont Middle School right so right now part of nobles students come to uh pedmont the rest go to sierant and then uh with Vincy Park some of them come to pedmont some of them go to morill so I think after having conversations with Tom Williams um we would most likely look at um having the Vincy Park students feed into uh Mor and the um Noble students feed into camont but of course we could take a look you know in more detail at those boundaries and see if some of the Vincy Park students if it would be more appropriate for them to attend um camont based on where they live but um there was also a good point brought up to me earlier about um Vincy Park and there being um public transportation bus Transportation through VTA going from the Vincy Park neighborhood directly to Morel so Vincy I mean of the four schools Vincy and Noble are more affluent than you the student populations than say Summerdale and Toyon right so and in a way we're segregating the more affen students with the less affluent students because now you know they all me here I mean it just depends some of them like I said already from Vincy Park they they already split between the two schools so um how those numbers you know and what the status is of those students I'm not right I don't know which you know half goes there but right you know just in terms of uh just entire School population as the whole yeah that's okay I um I have a concern at the same time when we have to close Title One schools and if um Summerdale and toon were to come here here that's all Title One schools but at the same time I'm looking at it in another way too that um more students that can receive Title One um more than 40% it will be schoolwide so the resources would be would be com in plenty and know for them am I correct on that one yes so if it were Summerdale and Toyon merging in with pedmont trying to get to that title one slide here so you know you're looking at you know the two highest percentage Title One schools merging within the highest or pedmont and Mill are roughly the same um as far as Title One percentage but you're you're correct you'd be merging um essentially three Title One schools together um basically two the two feeder Title One schools that feed into pedmont and so more than likely um because those percentages are so close to 40% for Summerdale and Toyon you would have a school that was over 40% um and not needing the waiver uh for Title One um by creating the tk8 here at peont so the the resources would be schoolwide and perhaps hire more resources more mental health people more there more counselors and so forth right for instance when you see you know Summerdale and Toyon combined receiving about $90,000 in Title One money and then on top top of that another $90,000 from pedmont you can do a lot more with those dollars combined than you could with just sommerdale and Toyon so for instance Summerdale and Toyon the way they're currently configured um you wouldn't even really be able to hire a halftime like reading intervention teacher for instance um or some other um type of uh support type teacher intervention teacher um but when you combine those three together you would definitely have enough money to provide resources like that at a school yeah I also have to point out too Summerdale and Toyon pedmont is their home school for Middle School right so they're going to have to come here anyway okay yes oh and I also want to note um I would also like to see if we were to combine all our Title One schools like pushing for something that would benefit those students like a steam school for Pon middle school just to give um this community a benefit you know since if we were to do that option as well I would voice Advocate heavily for that as well it's my concern you know neighboring districts have schools with large Title One populations no one is clamoring to go to those schools no one is saying You know despite the additional funds additional resources hey I want to send my kid to Title One school or high Title One population so that is my concern uh that you know would happen here is that we would have a giant school with a large larger Title One population than any other school in the district uh I don't see parents saying oh well they have you know they have extra assistance they have an extra counselor I want to send my kid there that's not what parents look at um you know um so that's that's something I'm really concerned about but if we reconfigure this school as a steam some kind of an academy then I think it would be more attractive to the other districts if we were to do something like that yeah and that's definitely an option so I mean as part of the Recon configuration we could definitely look at doing something like that and reconfiguring classrooms um as we start to create the the plan for the school we can definitely look into that I think we the board agrees as to not to close any of the Middle School uh I think I'm getting that from everyone here um so perhaps The Next Step would be we need to really think about the other closures the other school sites if that is something that the board agrees on and to rethink all these things I just want a quick clarification from truste so can you uh explain one more time your concern about creating a big huge Title One school is that a I mean over the Optics of I know that yeah yeah I know that you know neighboring districts have schools with large Title One populations I went to Title One schools all my life and they're not the schools that people choose to send their kids to despite people you know when parents are looking they look at test scores Etc right um but and they look at you know student uh demographics they don't look at you know they they're getting some extra funds because you know they have poor kids because they have second language Learners that tend to bring down the test scores right so uh they're not usually the schools that people want to send their kids to for whatever reason you know why we know the reasons but it's just yeah having gone to Title One schools I can tell you they're not the schools that people even though they may be good schools right and they have you know resources they have great teachers and assistants and all that stuff they're not the ones that parents want to send their kids to right so so just just due to the fact that we label it as a as a title one school just the Optics of that might uh might not look good even though the the yeah well I mean you and students that are you know second language Learners that come from disadvantaged backgrounds also tend to score lower on on tests and so that and that's what parents look at as the test scores right so unless the assistant is assistance is really but I mean in general is it really enough to to elevate the test scor to some you know to a school with like say a Mor affluent all English learn you know all English proficient population I don't know okay thank you so I see it a little bit differently um I don't think it should be looked at whether the parents want to send their children to that school or not I think it should be looked at the fact that the children that that are enrolled in those schools are they getting the the support that they needed and if we have the ability to provide that support and additional resources I think that's what's important especially for um families living that neighborhood often times they don't have the resources or ability to drive their children to the schools that they do want to send their kids to because it's not Title One or whatever uh oftentimes those families are forced to go to those neighborhood schools um and if they are sending their kids to those schools we should provide those children with the uh the most uh resource and support I think that's how we should be looking at it yeah well and and that's part of the problem so the the families within those boundaries that can that have the means or have the knowledge to send their kids to another school uh within the district or you know they can afford a private school they will do that and so my concern is I mean that happens here at this school right I know kids that choose not to come to pedon because you know it has a bad reputation uh quote unquote so they send you know the ones that know that they can do that and they have the transportation they have the time to take their kids to the campus or the means to s in private school they will choose those options instead so it creates more segregation and that's really that's my concern I think that parents if they wish to send their kids to private schools they can I mean that's their choice but at the same time as a former educator myself I am not really too concerned about um whether whether the parents are going to send send their kids to a title one school believe me we can create it we can create a school that is extremely attractive to these parents and one of them in my opinion is turning it into a steam Academy of some kind and and that I think is very very attractive as a teacher myself it's it's not so much of a concern because we cannot help when parents want to send their children to private schools yeah yeah I want to Echo that I share the same concern as you trusty Jimenez because I do acknowledge that that you know all three of the schools are Title One schools but I also agree with trusty boak you know I think that if we give the school an added benefit it'll become a even better school and we can give them those resources like having the steam Academy or like a steam school but I would want to know like you know with our board Direction I want to make it explicitly clear that we need to give it some sort of like steam Academy steam school and have some sort of special benefit for this school specifically for the title one kids because growing up in the district too like I I know the the reputations that our different schools have but you know they change over time you know so I went to moral midle and like at the time it was like only Morel was like oh the one for sports and whatever but now we have completely different reputation with Morel and you know being a California distinguished School site now you know like there's the school can change over time and I think that that you know having like steam at peont middle can you know change that reputation over time too so and I hear the private school argument a lot as well and I want to make sure that you know all of our schools have that added benefit and with this process we have that ability to do so so and I I hear you on the segregation Point as well but what I've learned is that you know we need to give additional resources to these schools and I think that doing a seam programming or something like in addition to would make ke M middle a really incredible school you know so that's what I'm uh thinking as well yeah I agree with with you know both of you um so I don't think that you know just having it be a title in school because it's get gets extra money for you know the extra system that the students need anyway I don't think that that is to me it's not a selling point but if there there were something else right to make these schools that aren't so attractive right now right no one's saying oh I want to send my kid instead of sending him to Ruskin I want to send them Summerdale I want to send them to Twan and that's part of the problem right or I instead of sending him sierant you know I want to send them to people how how often do we hear that we never hear that so there has to be something that really makes if we're going to do this right to make it an outstanding School uh besides the title one status actually in spite of the title one status so I agree with uh what everything was said and I've shared this with the superintendent fenus I also support uh rebranding if we were to go down this route rebranding the school that we decide to consolidate to make it a steam Academy adding science programs engineering programs you know to make it attractive for our parents and the students that are impacted by this um and one of the the largest points uh for the parents I speak up against the Rusk enclosure was they have a science lab there none of our our elementary schools have a science lab so whatever schools get impacted maybe we could you know incorporate those type of programs into the schools that are are Consolidated so that way our elementary schools do have these these programs that are so important in this Valley you know engineering and math um so again that's just how I see it um when we think of the consolidation process it needs to be not what we're taking away from our students but what we're adding to the students that are getting impacted all right good points so um maybe this could be a good time to move to public comments and we can come back uh you know if you continue to gather your thoughts want come back to that uh discussion is that does that sound okay with everybody or are there more questions for um for uh the cabinet or any of our uh guests today you good interesting one are you okay all right all right so let's move to the uh public comments on the agenda items they 12 me e okay all right let's move forward with public comments before uh before we go to public comments uh I want to remind everybody I I uh said this is the last meeting also I wanted to uh uh begin once again acknowledging the challenges involved in this process never easy uh to consolidate schools or uh close schools those are scary words uh the worst thing that that a school board can undertake uh we understand that it's a emotional journey and can it can be very difficult to grasp uh just wanted to share with everybody in case you missed it last time that we started this process in 2022 um when we established our budget stabilization committee uh it reflects our commitment to addressing the district's Financial realities thoughtfully and the with the desire to preserve services and support to our students as we spoke just now uh as we review the process and uh you know talk about uh you know all the all the information tonight uh I ask everyone to REM remember or share purpose it's to ensure that all current current and future students in the barasa community receive a quality education um let's keep this meeting respectful constructive and focused on the facts uh basa we have a strong reputation for maintaining decorum and I really appreciate that from everybody for being thoughtful and respectful and for setting a positive example for our children some of whom here are here today hopefully some of them are watching us online all right so um before calling up the speakers um I'll read the speaker conduct for those uh all those who wish to address the board during the public com periods speakers are requested to state your name and affiliation for the record each speaker today will be given 2 minutes to address the board and 5 minutes per per organization uh we are a little flexible with the timing uh so uh I I'd like to remind the speakers to communicate with respect fairness and courteousness to each other and to all present we ask that you not use the name of any District employee in your comments the board welcomes orderly communication from the public with that we will call first Speaker uh PR from Ruskin [Applause] uh thank you everyone for your time and effort it's a difficult process and it affects our children navigating this path has to be well thought of and I'm encouraged to see that our trustees are taking this seriously I personally would like to say that I am in support of the decision of making a school as a speciality school every parent likes something special for their kids so if there is a special program parents are going to be encouraged to role in that given that opportunity we should also keep it in mind some parents may not want to have that uh stem or steam process such parents should be given an option to opt out and anyone else who is interested in should be given an opportunity to join what this means is to keep our enrollments open give parents an option to choose the school that they want their children to go to this would not only encourage the parents to stay within the district and maybe bringing some of the parents who are in private school back to our public school system so thank you for giving the opportunity and the best thank you for those comments next speakers uh there are two on the start Victoria Kio and Delila Ramirez [Applause] hi my name is Victoria CIO I'm a former student hi my name is dalala r and I'm a first grader student okay um with recent discussions about potential changes affecting the schools I wanted to share why I felt it was essential to keep them open um I understand your guys' concerns about declining enrollment and reduced funding but I believe we must keep the students best interest at heart instead of taking any easy way out I watched classmates from my elementary school Ruskin go on to Ivy League colleges and top tier uc's beras is a place where students are given opportunities and Pathways to success and I know it can continue to be that place if we make thoughtful decisions so going back to the point you guys said earlier I really do like that idea of added benefits because it brings attraction to the schools um I'm very glad I didn't attend a private school because I feel I got way more resources from Barry Esa than I would have got anywhere else um most people want to send their kids to these schools because they feel that the benefits are better than a private school for Less cost for them and that'll allocate more money to you guys and the district so as a political science student I also want to call attention to a recent Bill introduced to eliminate the US Department of Education one of these biggest impacts would shifting K through 12 education funding directly to the states through block grants so while this may sound promis promising such funding often falls short of meeting the schools and community's needs so while I urge you to make the right decision about the future of our schools please consider not only short fixes but long-term effects for students uh families and the community as a whole [Applause] [Music] wait so we learned about Johnny apple seed and also we go to the science lab and my favorite thing is about the science lab the water cycle and if they close Ruskin and there's a shiny Park and I will so be so sad thank you thank you both thank you both for those comments next speaker is Jennifer hen [Music] hi my name is Jennifer and I'm a Rus I'm a rusin parent Ruskin is ranking as one of the top in the district for academics data from the state indicates that students perform 8% higher in math and 30% higher in Reading tests compared to the district average for students exceeding State benchmarks Ruskin Rings among the top in public and private last year Ruskin number one overall in the Silicon Val Valley Math League beating out private schools like Harker and Challenger in addition programs like the science lab further make it a competitive alternative to nearby private schools these achievements make Ruskin not only an asset to the district but also a critical factor for families deciding between public and private education additionally ruskin's oncampus after school program Sunshine offers extended hours and activities such as Sports arts and language this unique offering supports working parents and enhances ruskin's appeal compared to private schools data from the last meeting showed only 60% of students born within the district boundaries enroll in district schools 40% presumed to be attending private schools the student density map that was presented shows that most of the dense areas are where the top performing schools are and it further supports that perhaps families are choosing private within District boundaries are because of their homeschool doesn't perform to their family standards closing Ruskin would push families out of the public system and further decrease enrollment high- performing schools like Ruskin are essential for retaining workingclass families who would prefer not to pay tuition if the district wants to grow and maintain enrollment Ruskin must remain open thank you thank you V Next speaker next speaker is T Yan uh my name is cayen I'm a rasing and Si Mountain mom I know many friends and neighbors who send their childrens to private schools but I was still shocked by the number our demographer presented at the November's board meeting more than 60% of students attending straford mil Peters School are from our district that's about 400 students and straford is just one example we have many other private schools nearby but it was uh it was it wasn't always like this only s years ago about 90% of our kids attend in the public school and today the number dropped to about 60% parents chose private school not because they believe those schools are perfect solution for their children's education most of those families are working class and tuation a heavy burden to them as well they chose private school because public schools have a disappointed him because they feel that our district don't care about what they care about so if we continue to make poor decision right now the enrollment will for sure decline even further when more kids leave Public School the one who suffer the most are those who have no choice but to stay fewer students means less funding for our schools and those who have to stay are left with fewer resources and opportunities and my last sentence I think all parents care about the quality of their children's education regardless of social economic status thank you for those comments next card I have is Cherrywood [Applause] teachers um we the chairwood teachers I'm a the third grade Mi teacher I'm Miss Wayne I Am A K1 teacher my name is Sylvia Chan okay we would like to thank you for our schools district support cherwood is the only School in the district with a positive enrollment change rate we have the second highest enrollment in the school district and the third highest utilization we are one of the top two academically performing School based on state priorities we have the highest transfer in numbers one of the lowest transfer out numbers so talk about attracting more students and parents to um come to our um basa School District I I I do believe that Cherrywood it's like a magnet we we we attract a lot of um positive um learning um students and parents who really want to come to um bayasa school to study okay and um as I found the above that I said one of the most important thing to consider is um it has been taking years and years of hard work to establish a work on bilingual teaching model with the one-on-one switch class at every grade level and an integrated bilingual curriculum that requires enhance collaboration between the English and mentoring teachers within and across grade levels the logistical and financial challenges in relocating the entire program and reimplementing it effectively elsewhere include moving or retaining teaching Partners at each grade level cannot be underestimated putting the district in a position of restarting the process with new teachers creating a greater financial burden um so with the district's support with our manag immersion program we were able to win and receive a lot of national um wide recognition um and so we also are very proud of our manager imersion parent advisory Council and our home and School Association who um who's had very strong established strong Community with um engaging parents so we wanted to 10 seconds to finish your thought Miss Chan 10 seconds more that's okay that's okay thank you thank you so much thank you for your [Music] support next next speaker will be Lily from rusy it just say I don't have the last name [Applause] sorry hello everyone thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Lily and I'm a proud parent of two students and Rasin so eight years ago my family moved to this community because of the excellent reputation of Raskin and saramont their reputation was built through years of hard work and dedication through Educators students parents and the entire Community today my children are thriving at Raskin both academically and socially the school has met and exceeded our every expectation and we are grateful for that however we are facing the challenge as many families in our district now choose private schools in recent years while some simply believe private school offers a better better education many others still value public schools and would happily choose top performing public schools for great education with free tuition if they are given such opportunity so I urge the district to strengthen to invest and to promote your top schools as magnets and making en rollment more flexible to attract students from both in and outside the district keeping the public education strong on the opposite if a top school like Raskin were closed instead of solving the financial problem in the short term it will cause both shortterm and long-term negative effects to the district on the short term we may immediately lose students to private school because many families simply wouldn't risk the quality of Education in face of uncertainties on the long term the insignificance of hard earned academic reputation in the school closure decision-making process will damage the overall reputation of bosd make it harder to attract and retain families harming the enrollment for years to come so in conclusion please fully consider the immense value of Raskin and sount to our school district and to the future of our children and Community thank you very [Music] much next speaker excuse me next speaker Karen kamisa I said your name right the last time I this time sorry it's about as good as I get it thank you and and thank you all for coming out this evening and for giving us as a community another opportunity to talk I think it's been really helpful at least for my perspective to see the additional data and um thought process that's going in behind that so I I really appreciate app that um I know we've talked a lot and I've been up here in front of you all before um I really just want to remind you all um that in the past you chose Cherrywood as the source for your Mandarin program and you chose it because of its good location the ease of access to multiple communities to come and drop off children to pick off children for the ability um for it to house many many students um my my children aren't personally in the Mandarin program but we still can see the benefit of that across the community and it's it's really built a strong um School environment um for our children to learn in um The Mandarin program and its dual pairing is is kind of an important part of that program and its success um so I would urge you to consider that and uh the success that it brings our district um in as far as drawing in children um bringing positive enrollment to our group so um please consider preserving Cherrywood and Pres in that Mandarin immersion program which is going so strong um it would be a real shame if in all of this disruption um we hurt one of the things that is going so strongly for our district that's all thank you thank you for your comments next speaker is Alex hello uh my name is Alexander jimsky um my daughter goes to Cherrywood sorry can you hear me now um so what I wanted to tell you um board is I would urge you to look outside the five schools that were selected I disagree with the fact that the the committee did a good job I'm not it was not at all clear what um criteria was selected in especially ranking these schools that that were given uh I thought the whole point of this was It was supposed to be about money a lot of the schools or at least some of the schools that were not on that list seem to be spending a lot of money per student uh and now I'm now I look at some of your new data as well so let's you know just an example Brook tree has a huge drop in utilization um and there was nowhere even on the list and from your own data it showed that uh it's spending quite a bit more money per student than all the ones that are on the list so I would just urge you to take a second look at all the schools and not just pigeon ho yourself and the ones that the committee selected thank you thank you for those comments next uh speaker is [Applause] Sheldon I sorry well hi everyone thank you all for uh the work you're all doing in this difficult time so you know I'm a parent uh who just this past year uh put my kids in Cherrywood School actually so um um I thought I'd talk about two things um um two C's maybe one is community and one is competition on the community side um you know as a parent put my kids in Cherrywood for the first time by the way we moved from Stratford so we have some experience in selecting private schools um you know one of the things we wanted to do was just to see what the Public School System had to offer and we met with a lot of people at Cherrywood before putting our kids there um and so far so good so you know I have to say one of the one of the great things about Cherrywood is the community aspect uh they've over the years put a lot of work into developing a very very strong community that extends I think beyond our very local region across uh the district um you know the Homeland school club the teachers um the students we found all very good so so that's that's one on the community aspect so um for us that's been a plus coming from a private school and the other thing I'd say is um I was encouraged to hear some more discussion about specialized programs and the reason I mentioned competition is because you know earlier on I heard a lot about demographics and you know I I don't want to say that's not an issue it's definitely an issue everybody needs to have more kids I suppose but on the other hand um you know there is competition so it's not true that uh there that that's the only issue I mean Stratford is building more schools in the area and so um I think as a school district you know the school districts need to understand how how do you compete effectively and it seems to me one way to do that is through specialized programs my kids are not in the Mandarin immersion program but I can you can expect that that is a draw um the other would be like some what some of you have been talking about today is a specialized steam program so um you know my view is that keep the programs that are working working look at really how Implement new programs that can also be an attracting to the region okay thank you very much thank you for those [Applause] comments next speaker is Kim [Applause] no hi I only have a few words um I'll be quick just Reflections on the last couple months um we the rusin sount community have put efforts to collaborate with the schools within our district and for awareness and in the process you know we reach out to all the schools um to unify our voice and so we aligned efforts um to support our schools for many months now because we all love and we care for our schools deeply and we I don't think any of us can imagine our communities without our schools so um I know others have already brought up the our permanent um science lab our test sco um Ruskin fit program our Math League competition results and our outstanding teachers and staff so I don't want to repeat any of that I just want to tell you that I truly believe Ruskin has the secret sauce that makes our school Irreplaceable my oldest is just a first grader I have two younger younger than her um and I still continue to learn about the accomplishments and accolades that Ruskin has achieved over its time I have found Ruskin to be inclusive and diverse and more than that just immensely supportive as a community we all want the best for our kids and we hope that you the board have listened to the numerous great points that all the parents have brought up um the teachers and the community I'm encouraged by the dialogue and discussion so please continue to dig deep and continue to ask those questions before you make your decisions um I'm just hoping for as smoooth a transition for anyone that is affected and so I at the end of the day um if there are ways for you to help us be reassured that our kids best interest is your top priority um in your decision-making process I would just appreciate that and your time and your efforts thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Steve Chang Steve Chang two of you walking [Music] up hi good evening um thank you once again for giving us the opportunity to speak to you um be kind be respectful be responsible be safe these are the phases that our children memorize at Cherrywood elementary school right it takes a lot to heart I wish as adults we could learn a lot from them and continue to learn from them right I want to speak on behalf of Cherrywood because of its super strong Community right um we actually are very inclusive and have students from all walks of life right we have students that are pretty privileged also students who are homeless and students qualify for free reduced meals why do I know that well there's data but I know it because I've spent numerous hours volunteering right whether it's at our steam night or shering for field trips Etc um so what you have here is we have a an institution here that's performing really well um it has one of the highest enrollment rates right it continue to grows and actually we have according to the data very good utilization rate but the capacity take more so I think at chood we are welcoming of students into our school right it's taken seven years of really hard work right you know I don't think it's fair to separate or divide or split the data between what's at Cherrywood versus Mi nonmi because well the data for the seven last seven years speak for themselves right and um I sincerely or but respectfully disagree with board members who say that they looked at the data from the committee the Consulting committee that's incorrect data right and there's a lot of data to refute the consulting firm on that so in closing I would say hey we've worked together really hard by we I mean the school the staff and the parents the community this is what makes up our community right we have something going really well my kids they tell me it doesn't make any sense to close cheru I agree if you look at the data cheru makes a lot of dollars in sense right that's just from the business angle but again we're here for our children we're here for Education thank you for your time thank you for those comments next speaker is Nina Nina from Ras [Applause] seron thank you for the opportunity to speak this uh this evening uh I am a Community member and I live close to Russian and seront so I'm going to be speaking on behalf of these two schools one of the things that I want to reiterate is I spent a lot of time you know I work from home I spend a lot of time walking the neighborhood meeting new neighbors and and I have found that in the last you know since Co hit there are a lot of young couples who have moved into my area so these are people who are planning to have kids they've moved specifically for Ruskin and sierant I mean I know this I've been to the open houses right I mean that's the reason why a lot of these couples you know either people with young children or no kids they're moving specifically for these schools so I think the one thing that we need to be really cognizant of is that while we may see a shift in enrollment right now that doesn't mean that people aren't coming that in the next 2 to three years or four years that you're not going to see those students come to these schools um the second thing that I want to reiterate and I think a lot of people have talked about this is that I think the school district has been a little bit behind the eightball when it comes to creating competitive programs I mean when I went to Ruskin and seron I mean the only competition was probably St Victor's right and maybe some other random private schools right but you didn't have Stratford you didn't have Challenger you didn't have Mary Hill you didn't have all these other schools and in order to compete effectively the public schools are going to have to create more programs right I mean I think that's what it boils down to I mean it might not have been the case 20 or 30 years ago but that is the case today and that's what families are expecting and I think it behooves us to create those programs because I grew up in a household where we couldn't afford to go to private school and that's the case for a lot of families they want a good quality education for their children but maybe they don't have $225,000 a year to send their kids to statford and so we need to really have those academically challenging programs you know whether it's the science lab whether it's other programs that we create so that bsud has that Competitive Edge thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is T [Music] dear members of the BD I'm Jeffrey Chow I'm the father of two daughters that attend Cherrywood uh they are in the immersion program I don't envy your position you guys have an important decision to make that's going to impact all of our community um the budget deficit is a looming issue that takes precedent and I understand that um I feel like I've gone through the five stages of grief at this point um you know and continuing to reflect on what we are facing as a community um with the deficit with lower enrollment with stagnant funding um It ultimately brings me back to the decision-making process and the rationale of this decision right um in spite of declining enrollment um Cherrywood is one of the only schools to have increased year-over-year and they have capacity to continue to increase um and if if enrollment numbers are a critical Factor actor then cherry wood is the wrong school to close um I can understand the rationalization behind taking the imersion program moving it somewhere else I've spoken to my kids teachers uh you know they've worked lockstep at that at the infrastructure in Cherrywood and they they've told me that if you move the program you kill the program because they partner with their with the English teacher so if you move them they have to start over from square one that's seven years of work that's undone um I'm I'm against closing any school um I understand I'm I'm trying to be realistic about it and I just again I need to harp on the fact that I think closing Cherrywood is the wrong closing Cherrywood is the wrong school and you're killing a Golden Goose you guys talked about making schools and having schools that attract attract members of our community Cherrywood is that school um and one one small anecdote we did a poll a week ago before Thanksgiving or a week before Thanksgiving 100 36 responses 80% in favor of increasing the parcel tax by $60 to save all schools so so there's something for you guys to think about thank you for those comments next speaker is CH Shen Fang Shan Fang [Applause] [Music] uh good evening uh my name is Fen Chen and I'm from rasing elementary school and this is my son Alexander Chen he's a little shy but he is uh the third grade scho students in rasing elementary so we are standing here is because we really want to voice the thought from as a parents as a proud parents of rasing Elementary so school is always about learning and I definitely see this from rasing elementary when um 2,000 years ago there is a mother single mother in China he she moved three times for her son to get a better environment to get better education and her son which is mon became one of the most famous politician and educator in Chinese history he is as famous as Kung fui okay so as a parents of the modern society we are always worked so hard to be able to provide our children a better education so we moved to the rasing school district right actually uh it's not exact because it's Bas District but it belongs to Wasing and we took our son out from Challenger which is a private school because we think rasing can provide a better education than the private school it's not because we cannot afford it but we think this is a better choice and I joined the PTA in rasing I feel so many people are really like a family raise your hands up my family so please this is really about family and closing it is breaking us up thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Jeffrey CH Jeffrey CH sorry no I thought he was F oh that's Jeff ch no that is same this is [Applause] just uh good evening B members my name is t I'm a parent of three children attending Raskin and Sh today I urge the bo members to consider the long-term impact and sustainability with making decisions about which schools to close so it is unfortunate that our school district is facing financial difficulties and we must make tough decisions however we need to ensure that we do not find ourselves in the same situation again in five years so we must consider the messages or decisions sent to the community and the Future Families according to the data presented by the demographer at the November Bor meeting the future of our school district looks bleak if we do not take the correct actions the kindergarten in Roman ratio has dropped from 90% % to 64% in five years and about 60% of ster students come from our district not to mention those two Challenger Val chisan school and M chisan schools so we need to focus on tracking and retaining students in our schools closing top performing schools like Rasin and sount send a message to the community that we do not care about education quality this will result in losing more existing students and attracting fewer new ones uh additionally we will be taking away opportunities from low-income families to access high quality education because they cannot afford private schools so please do not make decisions solely to get by this financial hardship temporarily consider a long-term implications for school districts and Community thank you thank you for the comments next speaker is Eli from Sam Eli [Applause] [Music] Eli I am in i a third grader the first time I went to some I was s but I made some friends on the second day I was not s on the third day I made at least five friends soon I got enough friends and I realized that was some of those store so keep some window open for people to can make friends enough friends please do don't forget about the students like me at some of please do not forget our amazing teachers and the principle the the phrases of some adult is stay safe treat others with kindness act responsibly and treat and be respectful thank [Applause] you hi I'm Eli's mom I wanted to thank you guys for reading my letter and I just wanted to say that as Eli's mom I know that my family my kids are going to be okay because I'm very involved but I volunteer at the school and I see the parents who cannot be involved because they're working two and three jobs and it shows because they're not here you know all of these parents who are at these schools are not here because they are busy and they don't have the opportunity so I just want to speak for some of the title W moms who are not able to make it to say don't put all the title one schools and one school and then put a Band-Aid on it and call it steam because all you're doing is you're hiding these kids and you're making them into a poster child for something that it's not if you have the resources to help them why aren't you doing it right now why are you going to wait till next year these students need help right now which it just bws my mind how that's the thought process when these kids deserve a lot better than what you guys were discussing up there [Applause] thank go ahead I'll give you 30 seconds all right thank you um thank you all for uh listening to us and reading our letters and hearing our voices um I'm also a parent at suel elementary I represent sumerell I've been in the PTA my children have gone to the school schol since I have a Kinder I have a third grader who just ran for student council president um you don't hear that a lot with other schools that have been doing it she was the only third grader that ran and actually won against the fourth and fifth graders um we're doing great things at the school we have great teachers and staff um Eli here that just did he's been with the with my girls for at sumerell for the longest time and we've all become a close family and um we might not have a fancy science lab or other things but we do have friendly staff loving teachers caring parents and a great community so please save our school thank you thank you for thank you for your comments next speaker is Susan Susan Lee oh [Applause] thank you my name is Susan Lee and uh my child goes to Ruskin uh went to Ruskin is now at camont I actually really welcome um new specialized programs like the steam Academy at pedmont if that could happen even if it's a big Title One school if the steam Academy succeeds I would really consider moving my child from camont to Pont for that Academy what doesn't make sense is to try to elevate peont Middle with the steam Academy Academy but Clos the existing top schools like Ruskin and camon next I want to talk about um converting uh one of the middle schools a K through 8 like I said our my child used to go to a private k through eight school so and we liked it as long I think it's fine as long as the kids the elementary school kids and the middle school kids are kept separate Pont middle has two gyms that makes a lot easier than camont which has a very small gym uh one gym also I want to address Traffic Safety we bought a house so my child could walk to camon and shockingly even though it's a residential area it's actually very dangerous because tra I really would like the board to drive to both peont and camont because it's a residential area and there's no crossing guards no traffic uh control no traffic lights parents actually do u-turns all the time parents um cross the crosswalk even though uh kids are crossing the crosswalk I almost got hit by a car because and I'm experienced I had the slam on the hood of the car to get it to stop and it stopped right here so imagine if it was a child who does not have the experience to recognize the car was not going to stop um I actually drove to pedmont because I actually thought the the traffic here driving to school would be worse but here there's actually controlled one-way uh traffic flow which camont does not have and so I was actually able to leave school after a fake drop off faster than at camont which uh all the all the drivers have to exit off host stutter and they run into crossing guards at crosswalks and there's no controlled safety there so please consider the traffic issues that way thank you thank you thank you for those [Music] comments next speaker is Asia Asia um M mon hi [Applause] [Music] thank you my name is Asia I have a second grader at Cherrywood Elementary in the Mandarin immersion program the Mi program is a wonderful program and it's the only thing drawing student enrollment in the district closing the school that's a ma magnet for enrollment while being worried about declining enrollment is only going to make enrollment work our family acely transfers from out of the school district we don't speak Mandarin at home but we still commute from Milpas to join this program um we wanted our son to be in a dual immersion program and we debated attending a Spanish imersion program at our public Milpa school and ultimately chose the Mi program at Cherrywood the prospect of having the program we chose torn apart is very disappointing also Cherrywood is is the most convenient location in the Bara Union School District for us to travel to since it's near the freeway and not buried in a neighborhood um Chinese is my son's favorite subject even though math comes easily to him and English is the only language he's grown up with this is due to the phenomenal teacher teachers and strongly involved home and school club with their many enriching activities at Cherrywood the other Chinese Heritage students help him in Chinese and he helps them in their math or English they all learned so much from each other adding English only students from other schools to Cherrywood be would would be helpful so that each level can return to having two equal classes of Mandarin and English classes all of their lessons are very integrated last week he was learning about matter solids liquids and gases and he sang me a song about it in both Mandarin and in English because he learned it in Chinese but it was written on a poster on the wall of his English class you cannot split up our school you would need to move all of the students together this is an amazing program and it has been so neat to watch him to go go from zero Mandarin to where he is at in only 2 and a half years please don't close Cherrywood and halt this program's amazing progress thank you for those comments next speaker is it natania Nat [Music] um can you help me is it hit or well let's see all right hello hello board members I'm Natan osul a student here at pedmont middle I'm speaking because this idea of consolidation will not help anyone I believe that the idea of merging with an elementary won't help it would hurt our students staff and teachers that worked hard to get here there will be many challenges through this decision teachers who work hard would be affected teachers may need additional training to get the differences between younger and older students and their learning levels this would be a struggle especially for everything to happen so sudden merging would also affect students deeply I don't think it's suitable for older and younger students to be in the same campus the age differences would impact many students Lives Many may be imitated merging this school would not only disrupt our way of learning in campus culture but also result in the loss of community Hub a place of learning and a significant impact on both our staff and students the halls of peont Middle School Echo with the voices of countless students who have walked through them each leaving their Mark and taking a piece of the school with them in their hearts let us please keep the laner Spirit Alive and ensure that pedmont Middle School continues to have the spirit we've always had for generations to come this school is more than just a building it's my school home and for many a place where we've built memories that last a lifetime thank you good job thank you so much for those [Applause] comments uh next speaker is Christian uh [Applause] narez hello hello my name is Christian of ours I the a president here at Pont Middle School I'm speaking today because I deeply care about what what our school and the people inside of it the plan to combine the school doesn't sit right with me I know it will you guys think it will help but I don't think it will I think it will hurt our students and staff more our district motto is Pathway to the future but how does this align with this how can you say we're building a pathway to the future if we're tearing down the foundation of our community P middle isn't just a school to me it's my second home it's where I have made a long long lifelong friends grown as a person and had the chance to lead and make a difference combining this school wouldn't just affect our education it would tear apart the bonds that we have made over the years what about our teachers they are our they are more than just Educators they are our mentors role models and the ones who Inspire us to aim higher I can't imagine losing the teachers who supported me and many others if this plan moves forward many of them will have to leave and start over somewhere else that's not Frid of them for all they have done for us this is about the students this isn't about the students here now it's about the future what will the kids who come after us do will they have a school where they feel safe valued and connected schools like Pont middle are the hearts of our community and taking away that would only be Dev sitting for all of us have you seen the traffic here at pedmont it is very congested and scary the plan to double the traffic here adding small children into the equation is a recipe for disaster the the traffic here at Pont is so bad I even seen a teacher get H dry drop off if this board is really concerned about the money then the reconfiguration cost for Pont million for P for Pont middle is 4 to $ million two minutes which is much higher than P middle which is about 2 million and it would take a whole lot less time according to the schematics that the board has published thank you for your comments in two minutes thank you so much for your comments our next speaker is an Chu good evening my name is Conor I'm a fourth grader at trood elementary school I it will be sad if these some of these schools close down and it will be sad for some teachers to lose their teaching job and also it it will and it will be really crowded at schools if we merge them all right um I'm speaking on behalf as a parent um the founding member of myc as well as the former HSC president as many of you know also the current School librarian one point I want to touch on that was talked about on data points earlier regarding the homeschool um actually as a parent when we signed the contract to join the program we forgo our home school and see no longer do not return therefore if a student is a part of the program and come to Cherrywood if they decide to no longer be a part of it they actually remain at Cherrywood so in terms of numbers they've kind of have now become a part of Cherrywood even if they're not a part of the program um in terms of enrollment costs we I see that neighboring school districts are opening similar programs to mirror this and so to stay competitive I think we need to keep ourselves at our advantage with the seven-year um gain that we have ahead of these other programs and so we don't want to see the loss that we have have made um many have iterated tonight that the Seal program that the model of the teachers use has taken the years to develop and to form these relationships and bonds and so it's not really just a portable let's pick up this program and move it elsewhere so taking consideration how nationally recognized how locally we've been recognized I hope you strongly consider that we can keep the program intact at and keep the pl and keep Cherrywood open thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Cassandra fam Cassandra fam [Music] [Applause] Cassandra hello everybody my name is Cassandra fam and I'm an eighth grader here at pedmont and an ASB Spirit leader I've been a student in the berasa Union School District for eight years and have developed a strong love for our community P Middle School is a place where I constantly see growth love and support because of this school I've met people who have stuck by my side through thick and thin and have made friendships that have lasted me a lifetime because of the school I met teachers who inspire me to persevere and always dream big because of the school I am the person I am here today every day I come and watch connections be built in an environment that's meant to be lasting forever this school has been a part of shaping many lives throughout our district and even some of our own faculty members when people look back at their time here I know they'll feel a sense of comfort it's what I'll feel when I reflect on my last three years here the reason why I felt this Comfort was the fact that I've been around people my own age facing the same experiences we were all pre-teens learning about ourselves and how to handle life a kther eight would disrupt this process for many people like me children deserve a school experience where they are comfortable and on the same level with the people they are around this configuration with the campus at pedmont would merge children with different ages groups which would not be appropriate whereas a school like camont has a layout that can create hubs for separate grade levels it would create a more beneficial K through 8 plan if this board was were concerned about the money then the cost to reconfigure pedmont would be four through $4 to7 million which is much higher than sier of about $2 million in addition it would take a whole lot less time according to the schematics that you have published merging pedmont would uproot relationships and connections established it would erase history memories growth and Community thank you thank you for those comments uh next speaker is um M MP [Music] M say MP oh there you go [Music] hi good evening uh this is my first time to attend this kind of a meeting so um and I'm actually a little bit of a sad in what the agenda is all about so the agenda is about closure of schools so I'm actually thinking why don't we have an option D no closure make it like do we have other alternative atives that we can think of instead of just closure because I only found out about this today that these are the agenda this is the agenda all closures no other Alternatives I live in the area of Raskin and shamont I actually just live across Raskin my children studied at Trin and Sheron and of course eventually they studied at pidmont Hills High School these are all high performing schools and my children are actually now in a better place they're all Engineers because of their foundation and the foundation is Raskin and camont high performing schools and because they are actually close to pidmont Hills High School all of them actually are high performing schools if any of those are going to be closed what are we losing we're losing High performing schools that eventually will also raise our high school which is pidmont Hills High School any of these schools if they are closed what are we going to have in the future future of our kids future of my grandkids and that is what I'm here for so I'm hoping that I'm giving you some insights and if anyway we can help in terms of getting that alternative in a business process way re engineering way like in a corporation feel free I will be happy to be part of it to look into Alternatives thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is next speaker is Caroline Guam Caroline [Applause] one good evening everyone this is Caroline a sixth grader from Sierra Middle School and a rusin alumni I have lived in this area for since I was born I love this friendly Community which was full of Harmony safety and diversity today I'm going to give a big thanks to roskin and sier for supporting us children to grow into a better person first thanks to rusin for helping us kids for having a vision of being a global citizen this summer in my promotion speech I use six different languages that I learned from my friends at school to greet everyone and now I'm going to do it again Ola kicha s magang umaa an and hello in this way I just want to say every single child matters Every Family Matters and every single race or culture matters and of course Ruskin and Sierra M matter today I also brought two things to share with you first this is a national champion shirt from the math League uh there are a total of schools on it and Ruskin is one of them and and I also brought this one which it shows 2024 national championships second place sweep Stakes division 5 I am so proud of us rusin kids not only because of our success in academic achievement but also our fabulous teamwork I am happy that we trusted each other and used effective strategies to overcome different challenges from qualification level District level state level and finally the national championships thank you everybody thank you for your comments good job next speaker is Dan Je [Applause] um good evening everyone this is Demi from Sama Middle School thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts I'm so proud of our rasing and the s kids who are willing to learn and welcome all cultures of the community I'm so proud of our parents par s and teachers who are willing to participate in every activity to engage our kids in school we are not Title One schools and got the least funding but we had always been the top performing schools if it is a business it is worth it to keep treating ring and camone as role models and welcome more students who are interested in joining in according to the survey about how parents choose schools for their children if rking or ceremon is closed the data show that our school districts may lose hundreds of children and actually lots of our friends have already thought about private schools that priv uh provide more advanced and challenging classes yes private schools are available for certain families but we still need to ADV for low-income families and the families with multiple kids in our rasing and seram Community berasa used to be a great School District I really hope that we can achieve our goals together by value learning and the real good uh education systems thanks thank you for those comments next speaker is sh Brewer shaa good evening I'm guessing I'm one of the last because I wasn't going to speak and I put my card in pretty late so hopefully I'm not between you and going home um I'm shaa Brewer I was actually on the committee um I'm parent of a noble student a peont middle student I grew up here I went to school Noble peont Middle peont High School um I also am unique in that I have one kid that did PPP at Noble one kid that did not I had one kid that went to St John viani for Kinder when we couldn't um go to Noble there wasn't room and I also considered going back there when I didn't think we could get back to Noble um after covid so I've I've weighed all the odds something I've learned is that um every school's so special and all these parents here love their school they're so involved we have a very high presence of some schools and as one of our parents said those that are not here there's a reason where we have some schools that we're targeting that are title one that being said I'm so supportive of K to8 here I think it's a wonderful idea I'm uncomfortable with consolidating Title One schools in one place for the reasons that have been mentioned but um I'm very nervous wow uh and those would tell you I'm not a quiet voice on this committee I've been this is the most nervous they've probably heard my voice um Summerdale was not on my list I didn't actually I wasn't super excited about that idea even though I've never attended that school my kids don't go there but what I learned is their PBIS program is very strong and the work that's been done at this school in the last year that I've seen my daughter's in eth grade has been a complete turnaround with the PBIS program so I have full confidence in the leadership that's going to help bring a k to8 I also believe that when you have a parent community that starts from K to fifth it carries over if that school is still intact for 6 through eight whereas when we move it's harder to stay involved so I just wanted to share that with you um I have other thoughts but I'm out of time thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Jordan Jordan Nash hello my name is Jordan Ash and my name is Ava white we are student athletes and a part of the music department here at pedmont my family purchased their home years ago because of the highly rated schools but these ratings have significantly dropped since I understand the importance of saving money and reducing schools but you also have to think about the students and parents involved in this if the rating drops most parents are going to want to move their children out and into other schools or go private now not all parents can switch up their daily life schedules or afford private because you guys want to change things here at pedmont we barely have enough resources for the students and adding on students will start decreasing them also looking at the map for pedmont it looks very decompacted but compacted with more classes for elementary students when there's clearly way more class periods for middle schoolers while looking at Sierra Mon's layout it looks more like an elementary school layout how will making this change affect the classrooms we use for our clubs music and after school sports here at pedmont how will it affect the special ed classes how will you try to fit all of these kids and not think about the ones who need more help it seemed to us that students and as students and parents some of that the board members are only interested in saving money and not saving our child's future education and attitude problems produced from older children we want the best for everyone thank you for those comments next speaker is uh Shu Chang Liu good evening thank you for the opportunity uh I'm a childwood uh parent uh and I want to thank all the U committee and the uh board members U for your effort uh we understand that the district uh is facing some difficulties but we still want to express our concerns um to our parents um Charwood is a very um good school with a group of uh great faculty and a a great principal um who they emphasize uh the academic uh the student development and support many academic and enrichment Pro U activities um as a as a parents we feel very confident to have our uh uh have our um kids uh in this school um I know that there are a lot of reasons we don't want to close Charwood and many of them have been uh emphasized by by the previous speakers so here I only want to put one question um to the the board U since we all know the man M immersion program is a very unique uh infrastructure as a whole uh and it uh include 377 students and du due to this report so in our opinion to maintain the structure and moving the whole uh whole program means moving all the almost 400 students and all the u m immersion teachers together um there for um we and based on the report uh we notice that uh whether or not we keep the cas three model not none of the elementary and middle school have enough space to hold this almost 400 students so we hope um our superintendent and all the board members take this into consideration don't close childhood thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Eddie uh K Edie cor got good evening fellow board members I'm a a parent who sends their child to a k38 school I have two children who um we live right here we have two homes and when we were deciding it was between Ruskin and Noble but we decided to send our CH child to a k38 dual emerence Spanish program and I will tell you I was hesitant about sending a child to k through eight having sent my child through a k through e is it awesome because my older kids did not mature too fast you get little kids looking up to the older kids as role models and then you see the older kids not behaving like middle kids being positive role models to the other kids so that's personally um I think that uh converting one of the middle schools to a k 38 model is actually the way to go ideally I think personally we just live two blocks away pedb Middle School is the ideal location because it's the most the least disruptive you have toyan is only one block away and you got Summerdale three blocks away from a traffic perspective what you end up doing here is you have the little kids arrive later because you want to make sure there's space and and and parking um and all those things you can manage now um the important thing here is do not touch any program that's going to give you growth and the reality the only Pro two programs that will give you growth is your manand program if you do not um if you keep the Ming program I encourage the Chariot schools uh parents to be the drivers to get another um cohort because you are the best recruiters there's no other schools around here I've doing the Spanish on there's a lot of competition so if you stay together then help the district by growing it the other one don't touch your high performing schools that is what's going to keep you and it's going to keep parents not sending their their kids to to other schools so um do the the best thing you can do but the reality is don't touch where your growth is because people are not having children and third don't touch your high performance because that is what's going to have your parents stay here thank you very much great thank you for those comments our final speaker tonight is T t [Applause] [Music] t my name is t I'm a fourth grade student at Cherrywood I feel very sad about the idea of our school closing and moving to a new one I love my teachers mov to a new school make things difficult harder for me our teachers have been so important in helping us learn and grow it would be difficult without them I can only ask you think about the decision closing CH thanks for listening to me thank you job so in one one thing I would like to bring to both notice is like Cher is one of the schools which is able to attract the students not just within Bas school district there are good number of students who are coming and joining cherwood because of program which is quite successful which which has been there from P seven years so and whatever the enrollment future enrollment prediction is probably much higher in cherwood than whatever currently we are predicting because likely some of the students from other uh area who are not staying in basa District also will likely join Cherrywood in the future so I would like to request board to consider this while consolidating the schools thank you thank you for those comments and those are all the public comments we have uh the board the board will take a short break 5 minutes e e e if the board is ready we can uh restart our meeting y all right okay so we will Circle back to review and discussion about the uh School consolidation Clos closure study session um so what have we learned um after this what other other questions do we have uh we did talk about extensively about um you know possibly converting pedmont to Kate consolidating ton possibly consolidating uh toon and suale here uh that gives us that gave us two schools um talk about we need one additional School uh and from the list we have Raskin and Cherrywood um and what else L as the three other schools that we need to uh discuss uh uh how we structure that thoughts comments from the uh question questions from the board on that first of all do we are we still comfortable with the um with the K8 model for Pont or do we uh do you have a change of heart change of opinion well I want to know what other options are in terms of consolidation uh Middle School whether it be at pedmont uh you know what are elementary schools could be an option or at seront wood schools would be an option right I am I am um in agreement I'm I'm fine really with consolidating tuon and Summerdale the pedmont middle it's the other two that I'm having I have to really think about all the possibilities of the other two schools two elementary schools and as a board do we want to limit to the list to the five schools on the list or do we want to consider schools that are that weren't on the committee's recommendation list um let's let's hear it let's hear your thoughts but we don't need to mean we can definitely um see what else makes sense if it does what are your thoughts trusty us oh my thoughts are everything's on the table do you have uh any one particular site in mind that you're uh thinking no but I don't want to uh you know limit to say you know although it makes it more difficult right and it might be more timec consuming to consider everything but I want to make sure we're thorough and considering every option all right yeah if we were to expand the list one more time to all the school sites I think we should um maybe pick out different criteria and then look at it that way like look at school capacity again School utilization rates and rerank them as a possibility but you know I'm a little more comfortable with sticking with what we have selected just because I know the committee had a long process on it but if board members are open to looking at the other schools again we can definitely do that but just keeping it to the elementary school sites yeah we would just have to rehash and re rank the schools again if we are going to consolidate Summerdale and toon that is two schools already two Elementary so all we need if we're to do three then all we need to do is choose one more if that is the case but I do agree with the um that we everything must be considered but at the same time I am I am actually in agreement with what's already listed there I think um I can select or think about where I should go with a second with a third school if the board is in agreement with that and so let's hear all the opinions um my thoughts on this is um I agree with trustey uh H um I am confident in the committee's work um I know there's disagreement uh but what I can say is that there are some schools as part of the recommendation that I cannot support closing or consolidating I'll go ahead and say that um so I've sat up here for 16 years and never once across my mind that would consider closing two of the schools that ended up being on the list and uh those are Ruskin and Lane view so those are the two schools that I just absolutely cannot support closing um sitting up here for 16 years and this the first time I public said it because I know it's controversial but toyan has always been the school that was up for discussion um the other two schools that were Runner ups were cherry wood in sommerdale and that's just based on my experience of U being a board member uh so if we were to discuss any three schools it would be between those three schools toon Summerdale and Cherrywood and for me uh closing a middle school is also off the list as well along with Ruskin and Lan view those are the schools that would not support closing yeah I just want to highlight too that with Lane view my particular concern with that school is that we have the autism program there and I'm really concerned about moving our students with disabilities around and so that's why I'm you know I wouldn't necessarily support closing that school specifically as well yeah with the other schools on the list I really want to take a look at the resident schools or the resident um students going to those schools and the projected capacity as well like that's kind of what I've been taking a look at as well for um the next school to take a look at for consolidation and closure I just want to ask you know of Staff um so you know uh obviously you know School consolidation School closure uh the community feels obviously you know they feel that it's a loss for them is there anything redeeming about um you know potentially losing your school site um that there might be something that the community can kind of stand behind or say okay well I I can see why I would benefit from that I don't know if there's something you know perhaps like that but if there is I'd sure like to hear it I think going back to some of the discussions um some of you had earlier it's you know it's looking at improved Services how we can how can we make our students learning experiences stronger than they currently are uh we know every single School in varesa has a wonderful Community a wonderful School culture uh we've seen you know great engagement with our parents um we know that we have that can't be here at every study session or board meeting but they've called they've emailed you know we've we've heard voices uh throughout the community but also in your engagement um on sites at different events you've seen the the wonderful spirit that each school has um having said that we also know um part of the budget stabilization committee when they reviewed all of our um efforts in trying to mitigate our structural deficit you know School consolidation was always considered as the last resort and it as a result of the pandemic as a result of changes in state funding uh we are now at that place in time and also in you know the challenge that we provided to the committee before they even looked at any data points was to understand that yes we have some FIS we have fiscal pressures that we need to address but to also know that lower enrolled schools are already dealing with impacts of that such as combination classrooms um that continue to increase each year we know that we've never been able to make that promise of no combination classrooms but to know that a child might need to have uh be in a combination classroom not just one academic year but two possibly three we know that's not the best situation for for the students also over the years uh we've received increased request for expanded elective opportunities at our middle schools and as our middle schools have declined in enrollment uh being able to provide the additional Staffing for those electives has also become a challenge so um so not only do we want to pay attention to being able to remain fiscally solvent at the same time we want to see where are those opportunities embedded where we can provide increased Services uh to our students no matter what school um they're at that remains open and I think um for the board that is your discretion to give direction to staff to ensure that that happens uh not only you know with our existing resources I know there's been a lot of focused discussion on our Title One funds but remember the driver of School Services across all of our sites is our lcap right every year we work through our lcap talking about um what you know intervention supports we want for students but also enrichment opportunities um student supervision you know after school care all of those items that are really important um to make sure our students and families have what they need those are opportunities where uh those Services um and interests get expressed and uh you know and ultimately the board gives us Direction on on you know those action items that are really important and critical for you in terms of making sure our students have a well-rounded uh learning experience and so that certainly this is a a very critical time to stay focused on that as well thank you um so uh for me you know Toyon is it's an important school because it's at the uh southernmost part of the district although moving at to pedmont you know it's not a huge um you know shift for parents um that you know walk to the school or the drive it's not much more of a commute Sumer I mean my kids you know three kids I have one there now uh it's near near to my heart um the school but I also have a student here um and to me you know a way of preserving the schools you know preserving Summerdale preserving toon because we would be able to bring them here entirely is that correct with all the students coming here and pretty much all the staff the teaching staff we would be able to bring all of the Toyon and Summerdale students here if that were the decision how about the staff with the staffs be able to stay together for you know for the most part for the most part yeah what what the contract has is that the teachers uh have first priority to follow wherever the students go so in this case if one SCH one school came to a middle school all the students that know those teachers would have the ability to move to that school right and you know being part of the summerill family I know those teachers are very close you know some of them are newer some of them have been there a few years U you know they've mentored those teachers one thing I learned and this is you know problem at toy on and Summerdale that I learned at the conference that you know we had a a workshop on School consolidation is they have one teacher per grade level and that doesn't allow for collaboration between teachers of the same grade level which is U something that I think is you know it's instrumental to to providing a good education so that would be a benefit um so therefore I wouldn't be you know oppos to the idea of combining those two schools and bringing them here because in a sense it would be you know in a way you lose some of the the school identity you lose you know the mascot you lose the um the name of the school and even then right we can find ways to maybe uh work around that somehow but uh but you know you preserve the students and to me keeping the students together um you know U I grew up my parents were Runners and as a runner you move around and I moved around schools a lot and that was detrimental so to me it's a priority to make sure you know when I was raising my kids that they went to the same school from kindergarten or from TK all the way to fifth grade and Beyond and to have the same classmates just because that shift and you know changing schools and uh making new friends and things like that is it's disruptive to the students so to me that's a priority and that would in a way help us uh you know be able to do that and from TK all the way through eight they would have the same classmates I which I think would be great um yeah I'm I'm a little troubled by you know we're going to then lose some of the students because I think also combining students of different backgrounds of different um you know social classes U of different ethnicities together in a way we would lose some of that because then no would be and beny park would be uh they would go to different U Middle Schools uh so that to me is is detrimental um but I think uh maybe the benefits would be uh you know be greater than the loss created there um I'm wonder if we could explore the option I know at the East Side Union School District I believe it's um uh Evergreen there's like a a um a certain geographic area over the East Side were they the option of attending either ever evergreen or Silver Creek I'm wondering if that's a possibility for us for example the Toyon students if they choose if their families choose to have their children remain at a K through five they could potentially send them to Noble if they choose to to attend this if we let's say we go forward with this newly uh TK 38 program they could have the option either going to Noble or or um pedmont TK through 8 and same with Summerdale they could potentially have the option to go to Cherrywood or t or Pont TK through 8 so uh just a similar uh um you know format that eite has up in the Foothills so that way we could address the problems or the issues of some parents having you know reservations send to send their students to a TK through 8 school I would be supportive of that as well I think the schools that are um selected for consolidation or closure the parents should be able to pick which school they would like to go to or at least that first year that they're affected just just to give them that choice but you know like limit it to like okay you can go here or here not like everywhere you know so that I would be excuse me supportive of that as well I think giving the parents a choice certainly um it happened when I was principal at Silver Creek High School and um we had a boundary change and the parents were given a choice to go which way they would go either it's Silver Creek High School or Evergreen they were given that choice uh but with that said I do support the the TK through a program at this site I believe that uh when we uh close schools again I just want to reiterate what I said uh we shouldn't look at it as we're taking away from the community when we close and consolidate we're adding back to the community so when we consolidate programs to this community at this site we're giving it to more students instead of splitting it up amongst three different sites so um that's why I support the TK through 8 model at this site yeah and saying that um I agree with you um I think that we should make sure that if we do a need create a a TK through 8 school here that it's it's an exceptional school and that we do everything in our power to ensure that we're providing students not only the tools they need but uh beyond that uh programs that perhaps you know other sites do have you know rusin does have the science lab that's great Noble has the PPP um Cherrywood has you know the the dual immersion there are other programs in other uh schools uh in the district and we should provide you know steam plus maybe some other uh things that would not only be beneficial for the students living within the attendance area of a TK 38 school but that would attract students from you know other other schools so then a rusin parent could say hey you know what I want my kid to go there or you sieron parent could say you know I want my kid to go there or even students from other uh school districts or a possibility of a dual immersion Spanish K8 I would not mind the exploration of that or you know either uh Spanish or Vietnamese I know we talked about that you know a few years ago having a Vietnamese dual immersion uh anything you know in addition that we provide our students I think well for any of our schools right but if we're going to have a a school of that magnitude kind of a unique School in the district uh that's that creates a lot of opportuni yeah sure I think the opportunities are endless on this one if we were to go this because I think we can create something that's really fantastic for this school for our own kids for our kids and for kid for other kids who might want to join us here I think we can create something that's extremely wonderful I agree that you know it's a it's it's an opportunity to explore something new I mean we have um been status quo for for a bit I mean we made we did make some boundary changes we did uh Institute the U man immersion program uh but PR of pretty much has been traditional uh program offering so this structure might give us you know um the impetus to think about something uh to create something unique uh you know create those um opportunities for our students uh that may otherwise not have that had that opportunity um outside of private schools right so uh so the hope is my My Hope and prayer is that you know we are able to Recon we able to create the configuration and create those opportunities uh for our students uh so are are we so where we at so we we're saying um ideal scenario is to is to consolidate Toyon and and suale uh into into a tk8 at pedmont with the option of uh uh of giving those families that do not want to participate in ATK to be able to uh go to a choice school is that is that where we we landed with this scenario I'd still like to consider you know the the other other options are there other options uh we've discussed this one discussed it thoroughly and it sounds a good idea but I just want to make sure that there are you no other better options uh so if we were to consolidate into seront what would that look like or maybe perhaps are there options for other schools uh to consolidate into pedmont middle instead of Summerdale and toy sumd and to right yeah I guess to if we were to entertain um sierant to be the middle school for the K through 8 um is there any thought or discussion about which schools we would want in seront and like how many how how much can seront take like how many students can they take cuz I know that we can keep the communities together with Summerdale Summerdale and Toyon but I'm not sure about like treywood resin or even Majestic Way if we were to put them in si what would that kind of look like I don't know if anyone has from from a logistical point of view the closest school to to S is Ruskin right uh so from walkability or or that that point of view U and from what I heard uh from a capacity uh point of view there will be a lot more changes uh with with sieron because uh the fer schools correct me if I'm wrong the Fredo schools into to all three schools are pretty large uh so we there will be a there'll be a configuration change if you want to speak to that again Dr Fus Mr Franklin yeah so currently the the schools are a little bit larger because you have Cherrywood you have Ruskin and you have Majestic Way now rusin and Majestic Way are are projected to decline but right now the way they currently are you'd have to I mean you you'd have to decide to go off the list and so you would probably or you'd have to move the Mandarin immersion program from crer to somewhere else because if you chose to consolidate most of rusin or all of Ruskin and most of a majestic way then there would not be room for the Mandarin immersion program at the middle school they would those students would have to go to a different midd middle school now if you chose to keep Cherrywood um and their 500 plus students and move them into camont as a K8 then again like I mentioned then that would be the only um students that would be going to camont so they you be talking about um a lot of change for those middle school students that come from Majestic Way and rusin to then have to go to a different Middle School and so and even if we were to say U consolidate one of those schools in seront it wouldn't save Toyon or Summerdale there's no guarantee of that right that they would be left intact because then we'd still have to decide to close I mean we have to close or you know consolidate three schools total three elementary schools so um to say that you know new and that would preserve you know the school that my kids go to it's not realistic I agree with that and yes so that that's a that's a valid point and you know regardless we are going to have a touch um we one or two of those schools and if if we do have to touch one of those two two schools then why not create something new right that's where that's where that's my thought process is um initially I was thinking may maybe turn on due to the vicinity uh Noble might be able to absorb all of turn because there's not too many kids uh but then again we run the run the risk of uh maybe losing the the T1 dolls it doesn't look like we will but uh with the change in enrollment in demographics we might uh but but again so if we are able to pull those resources into into one uh one part and create something unique for our district would be my preference to to go that way but you're right regardless of what we do there one of these two two schools uh will will get affected or both both also I just want to say about Title One you know we have a new presidential uh Administration coming in next year I don't know we don't know what's going to happen Title One federal dollars so I don't know if those will even be around and uh let's hope that you know not too many changes that affect schools public schools in their would way happen but you let's just say that it's not looking very good yeah I doubt it I I mean all those rhetoric uh and all those things uh there enough I I personally believe that there are enough uh representatives in the middle that do do the actual work in Congress the rest of them one one is on CNN one is on Fox uh they're all just doing interviews the people in the middle that are moderates that know understand America well are the ones that that are doing the work and I'm sure that uh we will we will be okay well and I'll go back and just remind the board again in terms of funding source your main funding sources are within your LC cap it's LC cap yeah I just want to clarify if it were to go with um seront not to close it but to reconfigure it one school would fit into it and and and Kevin you mentioned um Cherrywood would fit into the school but only one school would fit at camon am I right on that one yes cuz then the numbers would be about the same as what we'd be doing here in the toy on Summerdale scenario of putting around 550 Elementary School students into the school and then having a school size of about 750 or so so you would achieve that by moving Cherrywood into camont but there'd be room for a few you know for a handful of other students but not an entire school and then Raskin then will be left as is correct however is what we decide they would however they would not be going to CRM mon for middle school they would be redirected to one of the other two middle school that's right that these they won't be going there for their middle school they'd be correct it would just be Cherrywood students that would then promote into camont then we'd still have to close two other choose to close two other schools so just for clarity too for SI middle if we were to to do this option so it would just be Cherrywood but no other feeder schools would go into sierant is that am I understanding that correctly yes I mean it it maybe a a few other students but I wouldn't recommend it there would not be capacity to take a whole other school but you could reconfigure boundaries however you wanted to to achieve the size of the school that you like reconfiguring um moral middle school is out of the question it does not have the room am I right on that one it was that one was eliminated by the committee um as a result of space but also because of the cost and time frame the school would not be able to be reconfigured in less than a year and the cost was was also significant I understand the cost was closer to 7 million because of all the reconfiguring of classrooms that would need to be done and is it the same case if we were to do put Ruskin into seront then the Cherrywood students wouldn't go to camont at all if Ruskin went into camont ruskin's projected to be in the low 300S for elementary um in the upcoming years so you would need to move students from another school to be able to have uh a large enough tk8 school to be successful however again all of Cherrywood wouldn't fit and um even including all of Majestic Way even though Majestic Way is projected to um reduce down it would still be be um it would be too many students at first maybe in four or five years they would fit um but currently you'd have you know 650 almost 700 Elementary only kids and then the associated six through eight we' be above capacity that is the um number of students if we were to do that with seron that would come from Majestic Way and Rasin it would be too many students going into it correct and also for clarity one more time um I Heard a couple of public comments about the price of the schematics is the cost for both camont and pedmont about the same that 2 million number is that still correct yes so 2.35 was estimate for sieron 2.4 is the estimate for pedmont those are fairly conservative estimates I believe some of the um public were referencing other schematics for pedmont there was a option A an option b and then an option C option A and B were at a higher price point as well as a longer time frame option C however was very similar in price and time frame as the sieron option so if if we were to try to do sierant we would do Majestic Way and Ruskin but then wouldn't the Cherrywood manderin immersion program be affected like would they still be able to go to sier that's you're correct it would be impacted you have currently three and a half feeder schools that go into sieron you've got all of Majestic Way all of ruscin all of Cherrywood as well as half of noble then um moving Cherrywood over here wouldn't be beneficial because would it would the whole school first of all would the whole school no I guess not since they have 500 plus students so it would have to be the English only students where would the Mandarin immersion students then go right so if you it it'd be the same issue with if you move Cherrywood here so then all of the students that lived in locally here for Summerdale Toyon Vincy Park Noble they'd all have to go to a different Middle School just like in the sierant um scenario and Cherrywood feeds into sier Mon correct all the students from Cherry feed feed into camont yes so then they would change that would change their Middle School boundaries yeah I mean given that discussion you know I am more supportive of having Summerdale and Toyon come to pedmont just because you know we can keep the communities together and then we can invest in pedmont Middle School you know breaking up the feeder schools for Sion I think is a little too much I think it might just be e like it might be more beneficial to keep the communities together at Summerdale and Toyon rather than breaking up the different communities feeding into sierant I do have a point that hasn't been discussed yet but at some point I do believe that uh there should be a uh a study done on Noble's boundaries uh I believe there's an issue of uh inequity um Noble's boundary stretches across the entire district and it consists of homes all up in the foot hills it just uh bothers me that there's you're driving some homes you have to drive past three elementary schools just ATT 10 Noble uh I believe that with declining roing Lane view some of the Noble's homes needs to be moved to Lane view some of the homes in Noble currently Noble needs to be moved to Majestic Way and some of it needs to be moved to Ruskin so that way Noble could absorb potentially some toy on students would that be part of this uh restructuring or would that happen later on that is depending on the direction the board goes so if the board decides you don't want to do a tk8 then you can look at boundary Recon reconfiguration with option C of closing three Elementary sites because the other piece that you need to keep in mind is trying to balance all the schools that remain open as as much as we can and um so when you start looking at the different boundaries and where they'll be realigned you're impacting those numbers so your uh staff's recommendation would be then to uh work in steps so do this uh consolidation first and then possibly later on look at uh look at our boundaries and see if we can you know Al term to create kind of a more as we continue to monitor them and of course we have Tom that comes out each year uh to let us know what is being um you know anticipated and projected out we've already which is why I say just in terms of I know the Board needs to determine the direction you want to give because what we've heard so far is you want to have the least impact possible to our families during this existing round of review right that's correct I have a question regarding the um the enrollment over at at Noble the PPP program does the PPP program accept students outside of our district they do but very few so it so students are accepted if they wish to enter the PPP program over at at Noble remember there's only one uh class per grade level K1 two three and then that's it so only four classrooms is there a limit to the enrollment of the PPP program 24 students only 24 students and over the last couple years we're barely able to get 24 how about Noble consolidating into pedan how would that look I have to admit I thought about that yeah I have to chime in I you know I was kind of surprised that Noble also wasn't on the list because I know they have you know one school or one classroom is you know resident students and then another classroom is the PPP so that's why I was I was also thinking of that as well but then you know there are other considerations that was taking a look at so I also want to protect what the committee recommended to us but we could take a look at Noble if you if that's what your interests are I'm open to taking a look because yeah if I am not a huge fan of like having seeing one classroom have a lot of things and then one classroom not have a lot of things also from the cost perspective um would with consolidating Noble as an option how much of an impact would it be as compared to uh s toon and maybe one other school U should is Al should also be uh considered was also one of the criterias to in the I have a question regarding the um the decision by the committee why um if they if they considered the the inequity in quity of the PPP program at at um Noble your your chairperson's left but we do have some committee members that are present they did look at all special programs that existed across the sites that was part of the Criterion um I forget which early meeting it was but that that was discussed by the group they didn't go deep into to instructional models but they did identify every um program that was existing uh not only specialize programming but special education programs as well per site and as mentioned that was you know one Criterion of several others that they visited thank you what's the Noble's enrollment Noble's enrollments around 350 so they could consolidate into pedmont but it would just be that one school no there would be capacity to look at Noble and Toyon and potentially Noble and Summerdale just depending um schools in their entirety or uh just SE sections of yes because you have to remember to Noble is comprised of a quite a few students from outside of the noble attendance boundary so the noble resident students if we're talking about moving them or if we're talking about the whole PPP program um just depends can we take a look at um Noble's projected enrollment one more time we're able to pull that out too thank you so the the this is a little bit older but these projections were from a number of months ago but 2526 enrollment for Noble was projected to be around 373 for next year but again that's with the PPP program that's with the PPP program yes I see okay if we were to consolidate Noble then what would happen to the PPP program would it continue or would we have to dissolve it or move it Anis right yeah personally I don't have anything against the ppv program I think it's a good program especially if we have U you know capacity and it seems like they're not a capacity right there are other parents that that could take it take advantage of uh of that program and it's another program that the District offers so um I'm not I'm not opposed to it so where are we right now um are we wanting to pursue uh looking at Noble boundary changes and PPP program and consolidation of possibly consolidation of noble or do we stick with some on K with pedmont um I'm not sure where we landed on but yeah can three schools be consolidate I been reconfigured here that would include Noble toon and Summerdale would that would there be enough room for everybody I'm not sure that there would be enough I don't believe there'd be enough space for all three you're also uh targeting just one geographical area and in addition to that remember that Noble students do not all feed to mon Middle School half of them currently go to sier mon school because of the boundary geography that they have that trustee NN was mentioning that they go across from one side of baresa to the other and one other thing that I think was asked a little bit earlier was the the cost savings and the cost savings with Noble is they were the lowest amount of savings compared to all of the other school sites yes the boundary makes it really diff difficult for that school so um I think that's something that maybe we do have to as trusty said that we have to look at but maybe you know that's a problem for another day yeah I mean if you want to pull up the School boundary site the School boundaries as well in the slideshow so the public can see um what we're talking about with um Noble they have a split population and so they go into the Foothills and so it would be difficult and I think it would add to that inequity honestly if we were trying to make this as Equitable as possible having students commute from all the way to the north down here so that that's also my concern you know Nobles that blue U the turquoise yeah in case anybody was wondering how that goes you know all along the Foothills from one basically one end southern end of the district all the way to the Northern end I don't think there are too many homes or students enrolled in those homes right but is there the this scatter diagram yeah yeah there you go so I don't think there's that many impacted students but I do believe that needs to be uh corrected though so that way uh the students that live in certain areas they go to morale the other students go to carmont and then the bottom goes to Pont middle but what I do support is um is the again after the discussion I still support the T8 model here at Pont but uh expanding Nobles boundaries to include uh some Toyon students if not all Toyon students into Toyon and uh focus on the Summerdale students into middle as the primary uh school for TK through 8 if we were to consolidate Toyon and Summerdale uh there would still be room at Noble right because our boundary likely wouldn't change so any students from either Summerdale or Toyon who wanted to go to Noble they could probably get the get the transfer the in intradistrict transfer yeah I mean Noble definitely has space for them um it's just depending on what we're comfortable allowing and and the size of the school that you know we're looking at having for a um you know a successful K8 program here at pedmont if that's the choice and again my uh you know my recommendation to parents is and you know transfer your student to school you perceive as better uh my goal is as a trustee is to make sure that all schools offer uh students a good education and something that you know will make the this the school a quality school for everybody I'm not you know to transfer because you know the school is going to be better than another one I agree I agree with that sentiment and and you know that some of the rhetoric you know is a little sometimes it's a little disappointing I understand the the emotions behind uh keeping your your school but not not wanting to identify yourself or your family or your student with a different school that is perceived of as a lesser value it doesn't sit well with me so so I agree agree with you uh on that the as as trustees our objective should be all schools 13 school campuses uh all 13 schools um should be successful should be considered top performing schools uh regardless of of you know what whom we serve uh and we we definitely need to be mindful of uh some of those um those communities that that serve underprivileged kids and autistic kids and you know it's they don't have voice here today at the podium so we need to be their voice uh we need to advocate for them uh for sure no I appreciate that uh that sentiment from go ahead TR yeah I just want also just want to Echo that too and I think that's you know after all of our discussion you know I would be more supportive of um Summerdale and Toyon going into pedma and really giving them an amazing school to look forward to joining and so I think that's kind of where I'm louing at that's where I'm landing just to Echo that sentiment of making sure that all of our schools are incredible schools and making sure that we equ equitably do this by providing additional resources at um pedmont middle and giving that to our Title One students are you okay with um with that landing at um K8 consolida we still have more decisions to make that would be the end of for sure but one step at a time yeah yes uh I think you know again you know for the reasons I said you know these keeping these students together and if we're able to do that and it doesn't seem like in any other scenario we can do that um I am okay with that yeah okay I support that as well okay but I also support the fact that trusty nen mentioned about the the noble um the boundary change just to make sure and I'm in agreement with that as well so it's interesting because the um the boundary map does show the the vast vast spread of noble and like Trustin Newan mentioned there are three elementary schools on the way to here so if we if you divide that Community to all the three elementary schools it looks like noble will be left with nothing it'll be you know everybody will be want one to Lan view some to Majestic some to uh Raskin and there'll be no students left in no which that's why I had brought the fact that maybe um potentially um I mean I agree with the the Summerdale and toon consolidation to PE up but maybe we should also discuss Toyon consolidating with Noble because technically I mean they're just a few blocks away from each other very low impact it's it's impactful but it's it's not as impactful as some other consolidations right I I did I did mention that some time ago that the the only I I didn't have that also as an option in my mind but the only challenge I felt is you know the risk of Los losing that title one status those additional support dollars for the students for reading intervention and things like that it may not it may not be an impact maybe uh there are enough there'll be enough students from Toyon joining the current students in Noble to still uh for still be able to be eligible for that waer for for title one dollars but uh that that's the only only Point uh where where I felt was a stumbling block uh which is why having that pool of uh resources for tile one in one place uh g i I felt G gave us little bit more flexibility uh as to how which programs we can uh we can introduce and and things like that uh but yeah definitely that was one of the considerations trusty human is yeah something to say no I was just wondering that if we were to allow say some you know change the boundaries maybe uh increase or adjust Noble boundaries to allow some Toyon students or some Summerdale students to go there you know be their home school would that then allow other students to come here from uh the the you know so have the try to keep more of the students that feed into pedmont middle from the noble boundary area and from Vincy Park do you understand what I'm saying would it allow for you know just because I think again the diversity is important and allowing those students to come here for Middle School is still uh you know beneficial so would that allow for that if we were to say you know adjust no's boundaries so they can absorb some of the students from the yeah but then we're not keeping the students together so it's kind of a no one situation and the students from Toyon would be split up um I think that I think frankly I think that Vol having them go you know if they want voluntarily that might U that might be enough but as far as capacity is concerned so P Pon middle as a middle school uh even with the K8 model do we will we have still have some room for viny and no we still have when they join so they will join the sixth Noble ninc kids will continue to join at the sixth grade level um that would be a boundary uh Readjustment correct Kevin they could have or an option right so I mean you'd be talking about then Vincy Park students then joining the K8 for six through eight I mean there would there would be some space but it's really trying to figure out how many then are choosing to go to Noble to know how many you know you know we have to really establish how many seats we want to H you know what's the capacity of the school I we know what the Max Capacity is but what's the capacity of the school that we want to operate and what's that number and then then you'd be looking at figuring out how many you know Vincy Park students or how many noble students you want to allow in um seems a bit complicated for True what we're trying to achieve at at the moment um but again I mean to to trusty him as his point we we run the risk of creating a silo right because if we if we just have those those set of kids only uh you know targeted then it doesn't seem fair and I appreciate that that point which is why I thought um if if we have a structure where we can continue of getting those kids starting at a sixth grade uh level and I think to remember too that you know even though we're making these decisions right now for 25 26 we're projecting a decline so that'll still continue to happen so we'll still have the opportunity uh you know and while it you know may be a little bit cumbersome to reevaluate boundaries again in the future um after this decision has been made and after we see then where everybody begins to go that's that's I think it's you know the good point is something that obviously if we do this right and create this school here K uh TK to8 that is something that we have to study yearly and make sure that we are uh you know providing the Optimum Services to the students and if there are changes we can make you know year out uh so after next year um that you know that we make those changes and and we look to always improve which we do anyway right but uh you know especially focusing on that if we're going to have such a a a big school with a big population here and Al some of the benefits right so right now schools split uh they split social workers uh what do middle schools split with you know do they have their own uh um counselor do they have their uh they have their own counselors right now middle schools or do they split yeah so each uh middle school has their own academic counselor another thing I just want to bring up when we're talking about just resources if you the um two elementary schools here you also have a music teacher that could start teaching the kids in second third grade you have a choir teacher you have an art program you can really tap into those folks for the potential to make this more than just steam let's focus on Arts let's focus on other aspects that we could bring to the table because steam isn't the Magic Bullet because we already have a really good science program that we've adopted over the last couple years so let's really focus on just additional resources to bring to the table and especially going back to the reading interventionist if you have some, you could potentially hire two people to help support with tital one funds and we have many folks within our district that would be excellent read interventionists just by two cents this particular school has an excellent music uh program so you know you can add it on to the steam and make a Music Academy or something create something that's so attractive to these kids so they split social workers in among elementary schools right now right they do split time so would would they have their own devoted social worker at the school well in earlier Dr mcccu provided the board you know his recommendation would be to have two here to have one that could focus on the needs of you know the mental health supports for elementary and then another that would support specific needs of our middle schoolers so instead of having a halftime social worker they would have two so the elementary kids would have a full-time social worker okay so it sounds like uh if Toyon were to be closed they would gain more benefit if they were to go to Pont Middle's TK through 8 opposed to Nobles okay so with that said again I just go back to what I said earlier here in this evening uh whatever schools decide to be closed uh the savings should be uh uh given to the students that are impacted so however Toyon if toyan is a school that's selected to be closed it should benefit them so if they gain more benefit from going to a TK through 8 where there's more programs and there's more consolidation of programs and that's what I would support okay we can put up pin on that and um and talk about another school either from the list or uh if you have a different School in your mind that is not on the list of the committee uh recommendation um I'd like to hear that so now we're looking at a school just straight School closure so what would be the the case uh you know if I mean obviously we have to decide to close a third school what would happen to those that school students since they wouldn't you know like Summerdale and Toyon they would come here the students would come here the staffs would come here that's not what we're talking about with a third school it would be a different scenario what would happen to those students if we're to close a a third school so with the the other three locations um they would have to be split because they're they larger in size or their geographical context would require that so when I say that I'm talking about like Lane view for example if you take a look at the geographical area that they currently um Encompass you'll have to uh to try to get each child to their nearest next location you would you would do a multi-split there the same thing with um Cherrywood you see they're in the orange there at the bottom and then uh with Rin similarly so there's no way around that the student populations would have to be split into how many parts that that would that depend on the school whether it's into two different schools or three different schools so with with L so let's take one at a time sorry losing it so if you take Lan view for example uh from the list L we does have our autistic kids SDC program there so how does a split over there look I mean if we if you decide to re redraw that boundary and send some kids to The Majestic next to it right on that side um will the SDC kids will they be moved me will they also be split will the will those uh those teachers that collaborate uh for that program be moved how does that correct so with Lane view you have the autism Focus class which is three classrooms three and so Dr McCurry can add but we'd want to keep those three classrooms together and we'd have to select the site of where they'd be relocated and then you have the other students as well and looking at the boundary map you know I I don't know how many additional locations where they would go would it be between Northwood as well as Brook tree yeah I think I think you'd be looking at Northwood and Brook tree or Majestic Way and Northwood or all three Majestic Way Northwood and brick tree but but that that um um those classrooms or those students will will move together is is that is that the Hope which students are you referring to autistic those three classrooms we would keep together move them to one other location but then you have the other students that we'd have to relocate across multiple sites as well see we would we wouldn't break up the autism program so from from my perspective I mean I know the L has worked really hard to get some of those kids back into the classrooms after Co especially uh those autistic kids and and I'm sure all of you know more about autism the Spectrum and things like that and any small change in the environment and the in the way they they uh they arrive at School the way the classroom looks looks like the way the teacher uh is teaching might put them off again so you know that might they might withdraw uh and not go to school again right and that that might lead to learning loss uh it's my one of the risk scenarios that keep going in my mind that you know we don't want um those kids with with those challenges to be put in that position so from from my perspective the if we can avoid uh splitting l view it'll be it'll be great uh but it doesn't look like we can move all the all of the students into uh one School uh as such yes so I just wanted to add on to that I agree with you um truste sh Bon um uh as mentioned earlier Lan view is one of the schools that I I would not support closing uh mostly because of the autistic and special EG program there and also secondly hasn't been mentioned yet but a school Birchwood did close in that neighborhood back in the early 90s and uh or late ' 80s and I don't want that to be forgotten uh if we were to close lane view that would leave U nothing yeah nothing in that neighborhood essentially uh and also I just want to remind the board that there was boundary changes recently about two three years ago maybe longer where the C cadi neighborhood was impacted uh from Northwood they were moved from Northwood to Lan view uh I want this to be as least impactful as possible so that's why I bring up um those changes that uh we made in the past along with the Autistic Program yeah I also want to Echo those sentiments um my main concern is the distance between Lane view Majestic Way Brook tree and Northwood that side of town you know as truste wi said has already close to school and so I'm really worried about that and also you can see on the map that 680 runs directly in between where Lane could Lane view could feed into Northwood and Brook tree and even Majestic Way is closer to the middle of the district and so I think that would be really inconvenient for our lane view families and I'm highly concerned about um our artistic program there as well can some of the students from Lan view which could they could they be accommodated over at Ruskin rather than going across properly and all that and all those other the next nearest school for Lane view is Majestic Way um we have the slide that shows the mile distance yeah from site to site which lets you know um if you look up at that map it's in your presentation there and it'll share with you the next nearest locations for that particular school yeah and then I just also want to point out that you know Brook tree and Northwood are closer but you still have to cross over 680 so you have to cross over through the freeway there's no EAS way here okay so um doesn't look like we have support for uh breaking up Lane view right now do you have anything any thing to add on that or any questions no I mean just like Toyon you know it's it's not my favorite to close because of the location on one uh kind of you know end of the district Lane view is on the other end of the district so that to me is it's a deal breaker all right so uh from the list then if we if we eliminate Lane view we have we left with Raskin and Cherrywood or any other school that the board might uh uh want to consider that was not recommended by the committee U and I'd like to hear your thoughts on uh Cherrywood Ruskin or any other school uh why was Majestic Way not selected by the committee to be on the list the committee didn't discuss Majestic very much from my recollection The Majestic just was not really in the top um of any of the criteria as far as um you know when they did the compilation and scoring and so the committee was not entertaining Majestic as an option how does the operational cost of majestic compared with u Cherrywood or Raskin I know Cherrywood has has a high operating cost we already spoke about that but how does it compare with with the two do you have the if you have the numbers off um Majestic is less savings than um both rusin and uh Cherrywood so while they Gathering a thought so um so let let's see uh what we have for Cherrywood uh we we have the Mi program there and according to the criteria that that program can be uh can be relocated uh easily so one of the things that that was uh that that stood out to me in the in the in the um in one of the tables it's buried in my uh uh folder is the uh um is a Seal Seal program I don't know it's a certification or program how how you want to classify right so all of our all the teachers uh at at um sherrywood are seal certified is certified the right term train SE seal train okay all the teachers of Cherrywood are seal trained but not all teachers at Raskin uh are seal trained uh so in in the in the discussions of moving uh potential moving Mi to Rasin uh we might have that as a stumbling block U according to my my uh analysis over there and uh that's that's one concern I have with the uh with the m program I do trust our uh cabinet and our teacher teaching staff and our administrators to be to make it successful anywhere it is I know it's it's very challenging um they they've worked the community is work work really hard to build up the program to the to the extent that it has uh become successful uh you know it's a it's a good program for our school district so their concerns are valid about um you know disrupting that momentum uh but again we at the end of the day we have to be uh pragmatic and we have to make sure that we we putting the best foot forward for the benefit of all of our students uh but so that those are my thoughts about the Mi program the only only glaring thing in there is is a seal uh part of the equation I don't know whether you have any um any thoughts on that um on the Seal training uh how what's the timeline uh for all all teaching staff uh at a at a different location to achieve that seal uh training um the Seal training started many years ago um six of our elementary schools are currently trained through seal um the majority of the Seal program goes TK through third grade Cherrywood is the only school well not only but fourth and fifth grade are trained um a handful of our teachers at toy honor train in fourth and fifth and I think one teacher at Lane View's taught in fifth grade and seal trained usually takes two years to be sealed trained completely um goes through six units of plan planning and so there's a lot of sub out days for teachers there's a lot of that they call unit development days as well and so they're creating these units of study and they're usually collaboration with um their kindergarten teachers throughout the district so they're not creating units that are outside of what has already been created so they would have to recreate some of those units and update them to the standards so you know I think what we started was kindergarten first grade and then we rolled in second and third grade the following year um all of our TK teachers are already trained so the TK teacher at resin is already trained um for seal um once again there's transfer opportunities to to potentially you know move into that school as well for teachers that are already steel trained too that's good to know okay all right can you remind us one more time what is the benefit of having seal teachers like what is Seal can you for just of the Public's reference sure so for um seal it's a uh it's language based right so I think the one father talked about matter and they sing the songs and it's all very inclusive of language and vocabulary and so one of the trademarks of the manand and immersion program is the maner and teachers are seal trained so their seal units are aligned completely with the English language or the English classes so when the students rotate between the two classes they are hearing and seeing the same thing in Mandarin as they are with their English only counterparts so is the main concern then reg um of moving the mandin program to um Raskin so the main concern then is the fact that some of these teachers at Ruskin are not sealed train is that the that was my no that was my concern that was my that's the thing that stood out to me but I mean is that the main concern here that they are not that not all of the of the teachers there at Rasin in the lower grades or in the upper grades whatever that they're not SE trained is that it is that the main concern of not of the reason why we're not we cannot move the Mandarin program there because they're not sealed train so the better question would be uh what would be the impact of moving uh am I program from a from a school that has all seal train teachers to maybe not uh to to a school that maybe does not have all seal TR I understand your concern but my thinking is the fact that these are teachers they can easily be trained as a teacher like myself they can easily it may take some time as Dr mcrai mentioned but it's not impossible for them to know and to understand what seal is all about that's my concern as an educator I I do not disagree with that so my my question is um my concern is the the timeline so like like I said uh the community has worked hard to build up the program to this level uh my concern again it may not not be a real concern not be a valid concern I I defer to The Experts that we don't lose the momentum of the program I'm sorry but I totally disagree with that I think all teachers are are excellent teachers and and besides that if we were to move the Mandarin program there they will be there for a long long time and so therefore they can we can train them or the or seal they can be trained as still teachers I mean so it takes two years Dr mcra in order for them to really absorbed everything that they need to understand but I think these are mature and very smart educ well educated teachers that they can handle something like this thank you thank you for that feedback I just want to add my two cents as well I'm honestly really split on these two schools because you know I understand like how much it took to build the man and immersion program but I can also see you know the cost that it is to you know have that school open you know with Majestic Way like the facility the buildings themselves like I can see the cost savings there I can see how hard it is to upgrade a school that has a lot of concrete in it and like looking at the permanent capacity at Ruskin you know like they have that capacity to add even more students to the Mandarin emergent program and so that's where I'm like unsure you know so I I would love to hear everyone else's opinions on it but I'm still on the fence about you know both you know I'm not sure but I can see the facts on both sides so I'm still like unsure so as for me um again the the not want to close any schools but if I were to entertain having to close schools the three schools would be Toyon Summerdale and Cherrywood with the possible um consolidation and creation of the TK 38 model at pedmont but with that said I believe that when seven years ago when the Mandarin emerging program was first uh implemented um uh it was implemented in order to uh save Cherrywood because Cherrywood has such a high uh declining en rollment and we also tried to implement the Spanish and Vietnamese emersion program which unfortunately did not take off at the time there was not enough interest at the time and then covid happened and then um one thing led to another we uh we stopped trying uh that's for another convers ation though but I think that it should be worthwhile to to consider the fact that um that the Mandarin emerging program is successful and um and it did what it was set out to do at Cherrywood which was to preserve it so I think that's important to um to be mindful of that's the whole point that was put out there is to just preserve that school and prevent it from being closed and we tried to do the same thing with with other school with the other two languages but unfortunately it didn't happen but had it happened we drawn enough interest probably would have prevented toy on and Summerdale from closing too but um that that's one of the purposes of uh the mandering Emer program being placed at Cherry was to uh preserve that site and and I do have us um I'm a little split too because again those were three schools if any schools were to be closed in my opinion it would have been Toyon summerdown and Cherrywood but that's where I stand yeah and I also want to acknowledge that the resident number of students in that neighborhood is falling and so you know I want to also recognize that that's why I'm also unsure so is there an alternative to Cherrywood that anyone would want to consider I mean if you match other schools against the criteria that was uh that is selected and and you know evaluate um everything including cost including programming and and everything um I feel that the committee landed at the right set of schools is is my uh is my thought um again it's a recommendation but if there's anything else any other school that jump out um that would make sense from uh from a cost perspective as well uh being that being one of the criteria um items then you know we can we can definitely have a discussion on that so all of Cherrywood will not fit into Raskin and all of Raskin will not fit into Cherrywood either correct correct and um so if so in in the in the scenario where uh we touch uh cherwood so the the idea would be to uh separate out the Mand immersion program and move it to a different site and then um move the English only Learners where English only students were well Kevin can you share how many classrooms are available at rkin so the board can get a sense of capacity so the projected number of um classrooms available at rusin for next year would be I just want to make sure I get this right it would be 14 so there' be 14 classrooms available at rusin next year and that would that would accommodate all of the all of our Mandarin imersion students correct there's 12 Manor and emerging classrooms at um Cherrywood now how does that one-on-one switching model looks um how how will that look like at at a different side uh than chry would can we we still can we are we still able to continue that that one on one to one switching that I there would be enough classrooms based on the current enrollment but again again moving forward declining enrollment it just depends on on the number of um the English only students at Ruskin because remember ruskin's enrollment is projected to significantly continue to decline well in that case then we should look at definitely redrawing the noble boundary to capture some of those students and bring them to Raskin right so that would make make sense and also um know that we have uh currently anou in place for the Mandarin instructional model at Cherrywood because of the impact that they've experienced recently with the declining numbers uh of the English only students to be able to continue supporting one to one I have a quick question as well so um with the enroll or the resident students in Cherrywood and rkin which one is projected lower like can we see the projections for both um resident students for Cherrywood and rusin so yeah we have that Kim that's in Tom's report on page 19 if you're able to pull up Tom's full report yeah because I've been hearing a lot of concerns about that onetoone model but you know like realistically like if we're looking at the number of students with each school like would we have enough students to keep that model if we keep it in Majestic Way or rkin you know that's the question I'm trying to answer EAS to see on the power show it's it's in both so whichever it's page 19 on the I I have the the report up on my phone or on my iPad and I'm trying to I'm pulling up their current number of classrooms right now no it' be Tom's PowerPoint I don't know if you have that one downloaded so be page 19 for this particular report and then currently there's 12 Mandarin classes classes at Cherrywood and there would be 12 classes at rusin which is more about page seven because we're looking at resident students right for next year pinix 1B I was looking at the chart at the end you see on the right column for 2025 there's only 244 resident tk5 kids projected for Cherrywood next year columns direct to the right of the rightmost vertical B Bar shows Cherrywood at 244 next year in tk5 Resident students that doesn't include in in District kids in the regular program it does not include the mandering program int District kids in the mandering program these are simply the uh residents this is where your kids home address is okay that's for Cherrywood so excluding the ones that are all the in distri kids go to Cherrywood whether for reg or Mandarin there are 244 kids cheed their next year that compares to 251 this year okay so I recognize that Cherrywood has a steep decline but uh what I would like to do is I would like to preserve Cherrywood I recognize that the hard work they've done to uh build up that program but what I would like the district to do is uh now that Co is kind of settling down I would like the district to try again to bring back the Spanish and the Vietnamese emerging program perhaps make Cherrywood a language site I know our our our neighbors to the north and to the South both have Spanish emersion programs and our neighbors to the south in alrock also have a Vine emersion Program so I don't see any reason why us as a district where both both our northern and southern neighbors have a Spanish Immersion program we can't have one and our neighbors to the South there's a lower Vietnamese population than beresta and we can't have one I think the interest is out there I just think that um uh we just need to um uh uh try to Market it better and I I think think we can do it but uh with the declining enrollment in Cherrywood I think that could be a good thing uh in creating a potential language site at Cherrywood for Mandarin Spanish and Vietnamese with the declining enrollment there and preserve that site the one thing to keep in mind and I'll ask um Kevin to share the total capacity of the school because that 244 does not include your 12 Mandarin classrooms to then add an additional language program there at the site you may not have room for a full sequence uh of TK through or Kinder through fifth grade uh potentially then could we move the some students in the Cherrywood population and expand Ruskin and have them attend Ruskin and maybe just focus solely on having a Cherrywood a language site yeah I mean I think if you do that and you move the all of the non- maner immersion students that you see within those figures are the English only partners that we're talking about with the switch so then you know you'd be talking about having you know if you had two different languages there then I I suppose you'd be talking about the two different languages doing the switch and then so that's the way I would Envision that having to be done then the you know if you had a say Vietnamese program along with the Mandarin then they'd switch for English with with the Mandarin teachers and English with the Vietnamese teachers is how I would in that scenario that would work versus having the resident students that are not in the program be the English only switch so I I don't know how successful that model would be but that's what that model would look like if we were to move the Cherrywood resident students um to uh Ruskin and then again with those numbers there 244 resident students and there's currently 44 resident students attending the Mandarin emersion program leaving approximately 200 students resident students English only some of which attend other schools so Cher wood out of the question are we going to look at rusin I think Cherrywood is still in play I don't see I don't think it's I don't think we eliminated Cherrywood as such interesting new exess reservations but uh so talking about rusin next um what what what would be the site that could absorb um those where is the 36 61 going to 339 um uh kids in uh next year is there a site that can absorb all the all those students or uh like how we discussed before rusin will need to be split up into multiple uh sites correct Ruskin would have to be split amongst um a couple of other sites just depending on which I mean some of them could go a Majestic Way um as we mentioned Cherrywood has um limited capacity um you know so you'd be looking at splitting about 12 classes or 12 to 13 classes from rusin so um Majestic Way has room there's also Noble right so with with either of these schools there's there's no uh way no winning there's no way to keep the community whole is is what what I'm hearing and that's a really unfortunate situation there and I don't know if anything has changed since the last time we met uh vold thinking but is there is there a scope of um doing this doing one uh consolidation event now do we did we find any money anywhere to keep the other schools the floor unfortunately it's going the opposite direction that you'll see at the presentation next week um some good news yeah I I wish it would make my life a lot easier all right what are the um truste the other I just want to know is there weight in favor of one or the other in terms of you know uh just the objective measures uh then you know personally I I mean facilities wise you know obviously rcin facilities are nicer um you know just in terms of the school layout what it looks like Etc right um over Cherry Woods you know which is a nice school I mean all our sites are nice but comparing the two with Ruskin you know to me that's uh that gives it a little bit of you know advantage AG um over but are there any other things that you know will you know on balance scales give one way more way to uh just a second trusty hog I just wanted to address that so so from from uh specific to answering your question the the the only only thing uh I don't know I don't know whether it's a positive or whatever you want to call it is is having that um Mandarin immersion having the ability to move the entire Mandarin immersion bubble to a new new location uh from that perspective CH Cherrywood looks uh kind of little bit positive you know it's it's not not there I mean I don't want to create any uh controversies here by saying it's it's a positive thing but what I'm trying to say is uh from the options that we have from The Limited challenging options that we have the only attractive things thing is we we're able to accommodate that entire mandate immersion uh program in in a new site um you know if Ruskin is a target site for that U maybe that that's that's some gives us some hope trusty how things go no just to add to that too you know one of my the things that I was looking at too was also the capacity between the two schools right like with rkin there is more capacity there which I think could be beneficial for that program they can bring in more English students they could attain that onetoone model that they always talk about and you know I find Value in that as well and so that's why I was looking at like moving the man and emerging program to Ruskin just because of that potential for growth because they have you know larger facilities like newer facilities as well yeah and then again on the flip side we do impact the English only students uh whom I would assume uh again just like Ras would be move to multiple sites and do we have any sites in mind um that could accommodate some or all of the students for the Cherrywood uh English only students I think that there would be choice between um splitting between either Lane view or Majestic Way for the students on that end um there's also you know since we're looking at not having Summerdale as an option for those other students than um you know you're looking at Brook tree or Vincy park I think so important to mention is if we do move the mandering emerging program to Ruskin the remaining Cherrywood students they were once Title One School correct that they will be potentially become a title one school again yes so the numbers if you removed the Ander and immersion program from Cherrywood yes they would be about 39% free and reduced so they would be a title one school so um you know pretty much those three schools that I mentioned aside from Majestic Way you know you'd be Lan view brck tree or Vincy Park those three schools are all Title One schools so the non or non- manering students um they would benefit from Title One benefits if um cherry wood were to be closed correct they Title One school yeah what are your thoughts trustan on that I mean you uh are you are you thinking there's a benefit to that but just going back to um the TK through rate I mean I just I think there's huge upside potential to that and there's an opportunity for us to reinvent toon Pont midle and um Summerdale so that's the hug the biggest draw for me all right so so where we at with the with Char and Raskin are we still focusing on those two schools we we don't have we not talking about any other schools at this at this point correct we'll still because we eliminated Lane view I think yeah I'm post closing Lane view um yeah did we Majestic Way I mean I know it's not as SCH on the list but right make sure to discuss we did discuss it but we did discuss it I think uh they didn't meet the criteria and from a cost benefit point of view also it doesn't have that much of an impact on the bottom line uh as well that needs to be one of the things we also need to consider uh whether it's popular opinion or not it's it's one of the things we we need to have uh in mind so it's brusin or Cherrywood it looks like uh those are the two schools that we are um so yeah I mean reluctantly I would be uh willing to if we can move that that Mandarin program you know in the same model into Raskin um and figure out you know what's the what's the best way of achieving that without losing the momentum that that the community has built has worked uh really really really hard uh into getting that to that point where uh they have uh they have won multiple Awards and you know accolades uh and I've been to into at some of those meetings uh uh with those um with ncls ncls national Chinese ncls and the uh feedback that that I heard from uh the visitors and the guests and and the conversations I had it was great to hear so my I don't have any any doubts about my our students the students are amazing I have no uh questions about the staff capacity staff ability teachers uh ability and uh administrators abilities uh my only concern is is that we don't want to lose that momentum uh when we then we disrupt that it is it is going to be disruptive uh regardless of what we do so uh so we how do we preserve that momentum how do we make sure that um if we do decide to move the mandin immersion program to Ruskin how do we continue to uh push forward to make sure that um uh you know we we are getting the best value and we also need to project that we value that the program because it's you know it's something that we have built and you know then the community is taken charge of that and we need to make sure that um we value that program as well so um but yeah I mean um Back Against The Wall I would think uh you know that would probably my be my choice to uh move sh with immersion program to to Ruskin and um and find out what uh what what best we can do for the remaining students um that are not in the M verion program thoughts critiques I mean is there a way that we can guarantee that we push for that onetoone model if we move the Mander and immersion program to rusin is there a way that we could try and ensure that remember that the oneto one is also dependent on you know the number of students so that's what varies year toe and we've you know we've worked collaboratively with our teachers on supporting that we've offer um incentives for those that are participating in that uh onetoone switch so that's something we've talked about and added through the years as well so that would all continue I don't think there could be a guarantee for that because I think when the Mandarin program was uh implemented um there were staff that wanted to participate in the manor Merion program there were staff that didn't and the ones that didn't left Cherrywood correct so if correct overtime so if if Cherrywood the mandering emerging program at Cherrywood were be to be moved to rusin I think um it would go it would start all over with what happened at Cherrywood in the past seven years and I think that would be too much and I don't think all the Ruskin teachers um they uh they're willing to be a part of that yeah and I'm I'm with you on that I'm I'm right there with you so it'll be a uphill task uh if we do decide to go that that route it'll we have t to to get that um uh get that uh program you know uh settled and and you know have the same value that it has it has right now I completely agree with that and I spoke about that at the last meeting also uh you know what those concerns all right so we need some direction we need uh I don't think we are not we're not making a conclusion today we're not making taking any votes um but um we we need at least some sort of consensus on what everybody's thinking and U it looks like on this side of the neighborhood we are we we are comfortable with the uh with the K tk8 uh model at pmon consolidating um toon and suale uh over here is that is that okay is is that correct is that is everybody on board with that um that's the proposal I would support I think gives the most benefit to the impacted students okay perfect without taking away too much from uh uh the sites and uh on the other side uh um it's between sherrywood and Ruskin what are your thoughts so uh again back against the wall we don't we don't have much of a much of a Le much of a choice uh to do uh to do anything uh you know I'd love to preserve Cherrywood the way it is um but things are what they are right now so it's just just unfortunate situation um so from my perspective like I said uh we would carefully move the Mand program retain its value um make sure that they have all the support that they need uh and move it to to Ruskin and then uh ensure that the EO kids uh you know either get a choice of school or or you know are uh well taken care of where wherever they land uh while while you're all thinking about all these conversation one of the things we never spoke about is our ptas and our home on school club uh you know and I know there'll be a drastic change in in culture we'll have if we close uh if we don't have somebody and to on those pts we need to dissolve those will need to be absorbed in uh uh into into the pedmont PTSA uh so that's that's another big change for the for the parent community that uh uh we need to make sure that the council the PDA council is uh you know we collaborate with them to make sure that they they provide all the support that we need that they need uh if we do move Cherrywood uh any part of Cherrywood any other school Cherrywood doesn't have a PTA they have a home school club structured very differently from a PTA have been on both both um both sides uh so I I know the differences so that they the parents will need a lot of support um in U getting uh used to working with the PTA PTSA type of a model it's a different type of a um Ty of model so just wanted to put that out there because that's that's a critical piece um of the equation as well but entertain your thoughts or um you know if you have any any um any other ideas than what what I presented what what I spoke about let me know so again I spoke about moving the mag immersion program only to to uh Ruskin and then um the EO kids to to other schools that that's where I'm at right now so what is your proposal because if you suggest closing Cherrywood then what's the other sites that you propos to close um so we are at suale toon we consolidating Su sum and toon to pedmont to build a K8 pk8 and moving the maning Merion program as well moving the maning Merion program to Raskin on the other side um and impacting shedwood so we're impacting four schools then is what you're proposing we're impacting Cherrywood Pont middle uh summer down yeah yeah the the trade off is the preservation of the three middle schools so yeah we're you know technically impacting Pont but it remains open so as a regular Middle School not TK 38 no it's a three tk3 so the choices were um you know to basically you know close down uh or consolidate three elementary schools and preserve the middle schools which we're doing yeah we're impacting it but we're preserving it you mean the boundary changes for the middle schools what was that so you're is me suggest that Cherrywood is the third Elementary School to be closed right yeah because we have uh Summerdale and Toyon are basically closing they're consolidating because we can move them in their entirety to uh to pedmont we can't do that with Cherrywood or with Ruskin or with any other school on that side uh so they the students there would have to split yeah I think I think that was option b the one that we're entertaining so creating the TK to a consolidating two elementary schools and then closing an additional Elementary or I guess we're doing is that what is suggesting that we close two elementary schools purging one of them so so so option b I think this there's a slight change in option b because now we'll be merging two elementary schools with One Medal school and closing one Elementary School is that correct yes that's correct so would the cost savings be still approximately 2.5 to 2.8 good question based on the schools that you're talking about it' be closer to the 2.5 than the 2.8 the two we would save 2.5 by doing Cherrywood Summerdale and Toyon is that what you're saying yes so if we were to close rusin instead of Cherrywood would the students then be split up among more schools than the Cherrywood students would be because all the Mandarin Merion students which is roughly half the school of Cherrywood would go into one School uh and then the others would be divided among one or two is that right two so three schools total how about Ruskin how many schools would have to uh accept their students so three it' be three okay but it' probably more like a third a school or something like that okay so with mandin immersion we have students from multiple schools coming to to Cherrywood we have students from Maximum from VY Toyon brooktree Majestic uh Ruskin um they're they're all coming to to yeah so so in a way there's fewer students impacted by consolidating Cherrywood um because they're already not in their home school y only half are actually uh so like 250 roughly or are with would you know from the home that's their home school so if Cherrywood were to be closed where would the English only students be going again it would be we'd have to look at the numbers it'd be between potentially either Lane view or Majestic and then either Brook tree or Vincy park and if you want we could you know Vincy park has a lot of space they they all have capacity um you know at least six seven eight you know just depending on which school six seven to eight classrooms or more so while they couldn't take the entire English only students they could you know they could be split between two schools it's just the distance that you want some of those students to travel to get to the school so that's a potential issue for me because I I prioritize neighborhood families before specialized programs I believe if you live in a certain Community you should be entitled to be going to the school in your Comm in your neighborhood so for a Cherrywood family because they're English only if they're not allowed to go to Ruskin and they have to skip rusin to go to Majestic Way that's an issue and for them to cross a freeway to go to Vincy park or Brook tree that's also an issue I believe that as a Cherrywood family in that neighborhood you have priority if Cherrywood were to be closed you should be going to Ruskin or another neighboring School you shouldn't A specialized program I I support the manor eming program but in this this case they shouldn't Trump another family that lives in that neighborhood right is there another option for the Mandarin immersion program the only other school that has space for Mandarin immersion is Summerdale and we're looking at closing some correct it's because of the the size of the program now the other thing to keep in mind Kevin you mentioned earlier the capacity was 14 classrooms Ruskin that's correct there's 12 that's needed for the Mandarin um is that 14 existing classroom space that's existing classroom space not inclusive of if we add any Portables to that location so if there was interest in trying to bring a greater number of Cherrywood students over that could be a possibility to and Kevin just said That's not including perhaps bringing additional classroom space over right that that that wouldn't that wouldn't equate to moving all the 200 200 and something we won't be able to do that that there'll be like 10 10 plus classrooms right then um just for those students we won't be able to do that um in toal to at Cherrywood there are 26 classrooms according to the Chart here 26 yeah that's the that's the whole classroom number yeah so again with the sorry you still saying something Mr Franklin no okay so uh see for for the English only students at Cherrywood um if we do decide to do this uh do the split uh again can we give them the option of uh one of the four schools um we would have to work through that with Tom as we look at the demography okay there would be a geography issue but in terms of stricly numbers I actually think all the regular kids at Cherrywood could go to Lan view but for some of those kids be a long ways to go can you repeat that uh Tom you said the students that would be going to Lane view would be which students the Cherrywood attendance area GG within the Cherrywood attendance area the number of kids attending Cherrywood in regular education and my num is about tk5 there are there are 200 regag kids in that attendance area but 35 or six of them go to other schools such as Noble's parent participation there's really only 164 currently tk5 kids in cherrywoods attendance area in regular at that school so when I look at next year's forecast numbers there'll be space for that L the only thing I'll warn you with that is some of those kids are going to go a long ways to L numerically you can fit them all in L so that that's what I want to um underscore it's a long distance away it's unfair to those families we're unnecessarily um I don't know what the word is but uh not recomending that impacting them yeah so that's why if if we were to close Cherrywood they have to go the neighbor the neighborhood families need to go to the next closest neighborhood school which is rusin and they can't be pushed away because the specialized programs going to Ruskin which is the same con idea was arguing with Noble you know there's families living close to milus and they're driving past three schools just to go to you know another school which I think doesn't make sense to me geographically I wouldn't say that distance however is any longer than some kids currently go for Noble some kids currently go for all right so according to the and I can go to the slide the School site distances Brook tree is actually 1.2 miles from um Cherrywood and Ruskin is 1.4 um which is and then for Cherrywood to Lane view is 2.2 miles now whether Brook tree could could absorb all of those students um I'd have to relook at that we do have um special ed programs at uh brooktree and that would involve a freeway Crossing correct but if we're just looking at strictly distance that's these are the distances just for the sake of conversation and potentiality I know that you know we've been talking about these five School sites if what happens if we were to and I'm sorry to rehash this with this is just an idea since we seem like we're kind of stuck in a wall what if we push Noble and Toyon into pedmont and then Cherry would push into sodale and Ruskin just like from a geographical sense I was just looking at it say that one one more time what if we were to push Noble and Toyon into pedmont because Noble and Toyon geographically are closest to pedmont middle and then we would push Cherrywood students into Ruskin and Summerdale is that something the board would kind of look into or yeah I mean Summerdale definitely has capacity because Summerdale has you know over a dozen or about a dozen classrooms available so that that could work any downsides to that they be able take they wouldn't be able to take the whole school um necessarily um they they potentially could but then you run into the same issue that we talk about with the distance for for uh Lane view it'd be the same thing for Summerdale um and then um I think it was brought up earlier too if we're just talking about you know um a geographic split and going to the next nearest school if you look at Majestic Way if you're going off of the list which Noble would be also um Majestic Way is um you know when you look at Majestic ways distance from from the other closest schools that have capacity or looking at rescue in Lan view also no kids go to right so yeah and then looking at middle schools Noble splits too between where they where the students attend middle school so they would then only go here from some students from Noble they'd go here from K to 5 or TK to 5 and then they'd go somewhere else for for Middle School yeah I mean right now for Noble the students go to um camont and pedmont for Middle School right what 5050 roughly um depends on the year I suppose so they would not stay here from K to a but how much interaction is between the Middle School and grades and the Elementary grades in a k to8 school or TK to8 school if it was it say that again how much interaction or overlap is there between you know the programs of say you know from TK to 5 to um the middle school grades it's more it's more about the shared instructional resources right that they would have I mean that's what makes a K8 attractive right they would have a Continuum of learning experiences whatever that focused area is so the noble parents could potentially request has to stay here if they like it and then suel could take the Mandarin immersion program and then the English students from Cherrywood could go to Ruskin yes that would fit so trusty house suggestion um would would not be optimal is that is that what what I'm hearing is that would not be an optimal U plan or or will not be much of a difference is is that uh what's the conclusion on that that'd be for the board to decide I mean I'm trying trying to see from the from a data point of view what yeah I me it would work um I think logistically it would work the other follow-up question would be the cost Savings in that change of schools yeah so the cost savings would drop Noble well actually let me double check Noble's savings Noble yeah Noble is the lowest cost savings so if you're looking at Noble Cherrywood and Summerdale then we get farther away from making from making the 2.5 million Noble wasn't considered in that range because um they weren't on the list it was only the schools that were on that list that comprised that range how much of a difference do you have any idea yeah Noble is barely over $700,000 in savings and the most of the rest of the schools exception of Summerdale are $ 800,000 in above so 880,000 or so less yes ,000 less yes that's not even one staff position 80,000 um a teacher salary without benefits a beginning teacher with no benefits a teacher is roughly what like 150 with benefits but again then we're 880,000 shorter of shorter so that's more we'd have to cut yes and then just as the reminder that you know the distance the School site distances were one of the criteria that the the committee considered amongst the 19 I I agree with Trustin when though that uh you know that the resident students that live in that neighborhood should get priority in terms of uh you know going the close of school yeah do we know how many Mander and emersion students where their resident school would be Vincy park right oh I was just asking where the res the Mand the Mandarin emerence students would what is their primary residency school and that's Vincy park right Vincy park has the most the second most is Cherrywood um and then I'd have to look and then it's pretty yeah it's pretty split amongst everywhere else I think North would have the lowest amount of students are we able to move the Mandarin emerging program to Majestic Way no not without doing a boundary change for Majestic Way the only sites that have 12 classrooms available are Summerdale and rusin can we consider doing a potential battery change Majestic Way too because that's another um school where I think has awkward boundaries there's a school just north of uh the creek I'm not sure what Creek those that is but essentially those schools are closer to Lane view than Majestic Way yeah I mean Lane view has capacity to take on a number of students so if that's something the board wants to entertain that could be possible to do a boundary change with Majestic Way to then have enough capacity for the Mand erion program those schools on the south side of cople I mean they're passing they have to go down to peont Road or or what is that hostad or no that's not the morel just to get to and then make a turn onto Hoster just to get them a chest way when they could just enter the neighboring residential streets of Lan View and I think of that way we could maintain the manor immersion program within the sierant family if we can maintain the manary mer program within the San family if we move it to Raskin too yeah but then that would unfairly impact the Cherrywood residential homes regardless of that if even if we moved to Majestic Way We Still impact the Cherrywood EO English only resident students correct it doesn't matter if the Mandarin emerging program is in sieron boundaries because the people come from all over the district anyway yeah that's fine I'm game from from a logistical point of view space point a few we yeah but Middle School Manor Middle School students are at Sion right yeah yeah but the ones even if they go to Summerdale for you know uh the Elementary grades they could go to Sierra mon for the middle school grades and since most of them a lot of them are from out of the district or you know from other schools uh with from every school within the district uh it's not like we have to keep the schools close together so it's not like a home school you know where you go to the elementary school in the middle school that's close by it doesn't matter where in the district they go um because they'll go they'll go anyway they'll obviously they they'll travel to go to that program right so it's it's not important well what I'm suggesting as potential um uh way of doing this is change Majestic ways boundaries move it to Lane view because Lane view is experiencing a decline enrollment High rate of decline enrollment and putting the manor immersion program at Majestic Way so if that happens too then the Middle School boundary would be adjusted then for maril and those students currently attending Majestic in that whatever attendance area of majestic is the north Majestic W north of the creek would go to um Morel correct cuz there's L homes just south of coply that goes to mades way when they just need to cross crop to go to Lane View wasn't coply cutting um the boundary for Lane view I thought that's what I saw in the map is there are there are there schools on the other side of cople that are going to Majestic you're saying I thought coply is in [Music] the cop is B between Majestic and l view right s boundary between s Vista and oh I see yep but trust so so your your your logic for moving Majestic I mean the Mand imersion to Majestic Way um you feel would be less impactful for the Cherrywood uh resident students is that is that where we coming at yeah and then the if if you're suggesting that we close Cherrywood then the English only language English only students will be going to Ruskin oh I see for for capacity purposes correct because if that's the case I think it's um more Equitable for the neighborhood families to attend their neighboring school as opposed to a specialized program to Trump those families that's a good point there that's a good point actually so then Majestic uh ways furthest from viny right because so most number of students we're going to verify if there's capacity at Majestic Way sure by moving over so there viny students will have a long commute to come to Majestic for for Mi right I mean Ruskin would not be that much worse either I mean it'll probably be comparable but is there a scenario that the board things that would keep Cherrywood uh intact without without disturbing is there is there a different scenario that I know it's late I know pretty much everybody's famished but uh is there anything that uh comes to mind that would keep sherrywood intact Ruskin intact is there any other um any other scenario you have any any two two more schools maybe that you're looking at I know I'm creating more creating more controversies here but I'm just trying to see uh what other options are there um spe no I have another spreadsheet that's not part of that that shows how many classrooms are in use and so it looks like I think for and I'd have to double check because these numbers were from last spring and so this year um numbers have changed um slightly I think there's five classrooms current at Majestic Way there's room I believe to add two to three Portables and then I believe they would be based on declining enrollment would have two additional so I think that there is about approximately 10 or so um classrooms so it'd be close to being able to fit in the current configuration all of the manor and immersion program but we'd have to double check the capacity figures for or the current utilization for Majestic Way right and so I'd have to double check with the with trusty Newan suggestion of redrawing that that boundary right and right sure we redraw if we redraw the boundary depending on how many students are within that area that he mentioned um we'd have to see how many students currently live in that area to determine then how you know how those numbers adjust because right now the utilization rate shows that there's excess capacity at Majestic Way of 188 for 2526 which we know that there's 277 students in the manner and immersion program as it currently is so it we would need to have at least four more classrooms I don't know that we can add four more Portables there um you know or if there's going to be a couple of other classrooms um based on um revised enrollment uh projections if you make that boundary change the only way that works for next year is if you don't grandfather any of those kids right y just force [Music] them so then we're displacing Majestic Way families for wouldn't support that I'd rather phase it out that's too much of an impact there are the numbers don't work how many classrooms are available at Majestic Way did you say that's what I have to double I'd have to go to the school to double check so the classroom figures they weren't on theist I so I didn't go and and double check those as far as a school for capacity and so the the rate the utilization rates we have are from last spring and so we've adjusted and the school has moved around teachers so we'd have to go a double check but I I think that there's at least five um five or six vacant classrooms there based on the last time I was there um because one thing that did change as well which impacts these numbers is um I believe is at the last board meeting there was a um a board item um to purchase the two County Portables that are currently on the property for a dollar the county has been out of those portables for a number of years now but they weren't ours so we weren't able to include them in the capacity and so that's why that number changed also so that's why I think there's at least five or six because we weren't counting those before and those do exist on that campus maybe since it's getting late we should consider the following options you know the maybe we should at next week's board meeting we should go over Majestics ways capacity and also taking a deeper look at Cherrywood and Ruskin and seeing you know which one like we just look at the facts for both School sites but then what I'm hearing from the board is also we reached a consensus on consens consensus on Summerdale and Toyon and pedmont so now our decision is just on that final school and then maybe we can rehash that relook at all the numbers um next Wednesday that sounds like a plan to me the rest of the board is okay with that um if you want to continue their discussion that's okay also um so I did get a anonymous tip right now that there are six with the county Portables there'd be two more based on declining enrollment that I figured so that's eight and I believe there 's room for three Portables so that's 11 so we're still just shy of and it wouldn't allowed for growth beyond that so that's that's although Majestic will keep declining so so there's really not enough just short all right so um so we it looks like at this point in time we do have somewh of consensus on on the I wouldn't put anything on that oh no Okay so until we we decide all three uh I say you know we're going to do this and then not that it's got to be all on anything tonight I can guarantee that so with with some tration let say we have some sort of a right agreement on the uh tk8 model uh building a tk8 model at pedmont consolidating um Summerdale and toy I don't know because Cherrywood would fit into Summerdale and you know their mandar immersion that would logically make sense if we bring pmon over here Noble over here so that's why I'm not really set on that right so so the so the discussion for um for for Cherrywood for for the man immersion Still Still Remains so that's still still an option that that we need to gather some more um thought and U information on and it might very well come to the point where we we say that we keep suale and then move mersion there uh to and then move the rest to Rask um so the only thing that we're sure of is that we want to do a tk8 here right yeah that that's that seems to be the one thing that we be kind of all are okay with um so what action items do we have for the uh for the cabinet if you can summarize so let me just get clarity here for what staff needs to bring back in terms of scenarios so we have tk8 model for pedmont Middle School the first scenario that the board discussed was looking at Toyon and Summerdale and merging those two here um looking at what I had was options for choice for those families as well um now also staying with pedmont Middle School the others the second scenario was noble and toyan okay and then do we still want to work through what we just discussed with Majestic Way and and what is what is the request what What scenario would you like to see I thought we figured out that we didn't have enough space there just wanted to confirm so with the second scenario we we spare suale which would mean that uh potential uh potentially we can move Mand immersion to suale okay and then uh the the um resident students of Cherrywood to um to rusken did I get the right okay okay or we consolidate rusin is that still on the table it is but capacity wise I think we have we have an issue don't we consolid to consolidate Rasin Raskin cannot I mean from what I understand and I'll let Dr FES elaborate uh there are too many students so Rustin will need to be broken up he cannot go as a whole to right can I ask put at Summerdale you then do that with the Middle School level Summerdale was go is pedmont just going to become a k of the noble and toy areas which really is enough kids to or does I'm just trying to figure out how the numbers work here it works make program cross middle scho down yeah it does right now I mean the the students that are that are in Mand programs at seron are not resident students anyway correct so what does it matter if they they all come to suale and then go to Sion right so I think we might want to revisit U Majestics way status um in my makes sense for us to consider the closure uh preserving Cherrywood closing Majestic Way and splitting it between Lane View and rusin you good yeah I would like to I don't know about that decision but if you want to entertain that I want to see all the rehash what Majestic Way like the cost savings would look like the facility so I would yeah well you know Noble is also not on the on the list of the Committees so if that's up consideration I don't see why Majestic Way shouldn't also we should have you know pretty thorough discussion on that yep yeah if we were to poll another school that wasn't on the committee's list I would like us to have like a really thorough discussion just because you know we went through the committee process and we trust entrusted them with this and so I want to make sure we really land on the right decision there if we pull a school that wasn't on the list so apart from the rest of the rest of the criteria the cost uh you know as a reminder you know we we need to uh be mindful of the you know the cost savings also at the bottom of all this uh whether we like it or not the uh cost savings is an issue so we need to maximize those campuses that will yield as the maximum uh savings to be able to uh be fiscally solvent uh so let's not let's not lose focus on that piece of the equation also I know that I understand all the different options it's great to have those options but at the end of the day uh you know fiscal solvency is also key uh to this to this equation and we need to get to that to that point so trust I was going to say if staff has a best option recommendation uh that I'm open to that as well they're looking at us for directions I don't think I don't think and we're looking at them it's an impa so do we do we have Dr F all the notes that you have all right so so we will uh we're not making any uh taking any votes today we will continue this uh discussion at the next at our regular board meeting on the 18th so at this time I'll enter a motion to adjourn the special meeting please second moved in second and all in favor say I I meeting adjourned at 10:43 p.m. thank you all for your patience thank you for being here we appreciate it [Applause]