This year we're very excited and hopeful that the use of these engaging games, the the automatic feedback, the exit tickets will help us even um surpass that 10% mark that we want to increase in. So although the the state test really focuses on third and fourth grade, we know that the it doesn't just start there. We look at our kindergarten, our pre-K. We have a lot of foundational um skills that we want to teach to those younger students. We will do that with solid um tier one instructions, but also in K through four, we have tier two and tier three interventions um that they see on a consistent basis. Same concept. We test them. We we look where their deficits are, and we really try to meet them where the students are to try to close that gap. All right, Jesse Zarret, our literacy coach.
I mean, you'd have to flip it around a little bit and you'd have to say, "Okay, what's the most important component for safety uh of our students, right? what what do we need to do to ensure our students are safe um and have buildings that aren't leaking, they have heat in their buildings. Those are priority items. I just list them as I was um going through previous iterations of our budget, not only from this year, but from the past five years. Um you'll notice things like uh the gym floor at the at the middle school We know it's dangerous. It's unsafe. It's slippery. Uh it's something that hasn't been replaced that needs to be replaced. Is it something we can replace within our budget? Those are conversations that that Chris and I are having then that we will propose to the school committee that that's the first thing we take care of if we can do that within our budget.
circuit breaker even though again it's statutory regarding what it is it and how it is we use it is a 3% decrease from the beginning of 25 to the projected end of 26 transportation is an increase in funds available for it and that is mainly because as we've reported out before we had one the cosmascus overbuild the district on a run that wasn't included so we had a credit which is why when you look at this chart there are no expenses that we have coming out of the transportation revolving account. Again, the all funds approach, we could have we could have allocated 200 grand, 400 grand out of the transportation revolving account, but with the credit, we chose not to to then help us out in future years for transportation. And that's so that's a 7% increase from the beginning of 25 to the end of FY26.
So, as we're going, what we're trying to do right now is kind of build that rotation and that skill set in them of like the planning. And then what um Ron and Jackie and I want to do is kind of start building a list of like, hey, here are the the titles we think you as a team should start addressing, you know, um and then we're going to give those to them and kind of give them an outline of how they might want to spread their their day across, you know, as they or their week across um through the summer. The other part of it is that as we hit the next year, right, we'll have sixth graders. And so we're going to take the sixth graders, we're going to send them up to competition. We're going to bring in a crop of fifth graders.
Just wonder if it was a good feeder program. Yeah, it can be. Yeah. Do other districts do something similar? I'm pretty sure a lot of them do or doing the way we're doing it. The the services like Kelly services and things like that are really expensive to pay into and the turnover is just tremendous. You never never but rarely get the same person like two days in a row. If you have somebody else four or five days in a row, you might have four or five different people in there. At least now we have some continuity. I agree. So, would these employees have the ability to unionize? It's a good question. I'm not sure. I can have a conversation with Fel about that. We can see that is I mean probably I think we probably could know that we're all to the subject and I thought we all Yeah.
I just also wanted to thank our uh student representatives that came out this evening to speak, the students that spoke uh during our public session as well as the parent. Um and we will certainly take those feedbacks into consideration um in our planning moving forward.
And to the two young ladies and the young man that helped me with my packages coming up the stair, I want to thank you. Thank you very much. Now I know your name in [Music] Okay. Thank you, Mr.
We I I will tell you right now, and I told Michelle this, and I told my board this last night, I will never agree to anything that's going to hurt Bass Lake because I have a lot of loyalty to this district. I was here for 20 years, and so that will never happen. Okay? I want to make sure you understand that. But we want to be as invisible to you as possible. We don't want to be a burden. We don't want to take your kids, unless they're kids that just are not thriving. Usually it's kids that aren't thriving here and they go up there and it's a whole different world. So it's just a different opportunity for kids. Thank you very much. All right. You can go to bed now. Late night for you. Long day. Good see you, Mr. Thank you. I sleep on the way home.
So the first one being the sell or lease of workhouse workforce housing purposes of nonprofitations to public schools. Um and that was recommendation by the committee. So we present the report. Thank you very much. Any comments from the board? None. All right. I just would like to add first I I just want to thank um our committee for their participation. Several of them also um had participated in our school consolidation committee process. So had a lot of good understanding of our facilities and our district needs. Some of them have also been on our budget stabilization committee. And so also um understand you know the just the revenue and the structural deficit that we've been trying to address and you know the different opportunities we've talked about on how to create revenue streams for the district. And so this certainly um the 7-Eleven committee allowed for that discussion.
So it cuts it even $50. Now there's no guarantee there's going to be nine tuition students. Um there may be more, there may be less depending on um what our numbers applied, how many kiddos applied. Like we said last, um six of the nine students are going into kindergarten. Um and they might, you know, some we might lose some kiddos to head start, some might come over here to um to prek. So there's no there's no guarantee that we're going to get those nine students and these are going to be the same. But I just used the number that we had here because it's the same projected number that we had. I think we had six tuition students. Last year, five for this school year. No, last year. Five or six. We had tuition students last year, but we had eight scholarships last year, too.
Um, from there what we did is we tested potential projects and these were all randomized and rotated. So, some folks got safety and security first, other folks got roof repair first and this was they were asked to r uh to rate all of these items. So, again um everybody got every single question but they order so that we don't add any bias and we don't ensure that just because something was asked last every time maybe it gets a lower amount. What that allows us to do is measure every item against one another. And school safety and security uh was one of the top items at 4.47 uh with 71% giving that a five are very important. Basically, every item that we tested in the bond did incredibly well, some more than others. What we find is that the voters are actually have an appetite for all of these items, but to varying degrees.
And so we just need to build um again some knowledge and deepen our understanding of that. And then again um developing some protocols or or processes to ensure that the decision is made at the IE IEP table but is also supported with sound and reliable data. So when we're making student placements that everyone that is a part of that IEP meeting understands why the placement is what it is and what the data that went into making that decision. U Miss I'm sorry Dr. Thomas will talk more about looking at our current continuum of services and exactly what that means when we talk about current state of these programs. Um, and it was and that's where also we need to have a conversation about how do we make sure that our students who are eligible and who would benefit from being having more inclusion into the general education setting get that and how do we then start to look at less direct services meaning I'm being pulled out of the classroom for my services.
And that that's what we need that would come to each uh right you know meeting had good questions just a couple of points of clarification so is that discussion after each agenda item or is that discussion at the be or questions at the beginning question um I'll just make a general where did did the public have any questions and if nobody raises their hand then we don't have any questions can we clarify because I believe there's other policy though as it relates to our school board meetings that we don't enter into conversations back and forth during that time. So, we can take questions and we will provide answers to those or will that be because I think it could become problematic at certain times if um we're not able to provide an answer to a certain po community member, but then we can provide this one.
If we take STAR out and we just if I could bring you into the math committee, the conversations that are being had is that we need professional learning on math that a lot of our mathematical mathematical instruction is focused on computation and not that deeper level thinking of math. Um this was a result of during COVID I believe we adopted SAVIS new curriculum right when COVID happened and so the integration of that it was as teachers you did the best you could with what you had right and trying to engage students and so pieces got taken out and again these are all from the mouths of of our educators and this recognition that they've identified areas that we need to strengthen. So I think across the district again one data point if we look at IR it tells us a very different narrative that parallels with what the teachers are saying that we need to improve upon our professional learning that the teaching and learning department is providing to the teachers.
Hello. Thank you for having me tonight to share our goal three, which is staff recruitment and retention. Our goal is that by the end of this school year, our school will increase staff retention by 20% and fill 100% of open instructional and support positions by the beginning of the 2025 to 2026 school year by implementing targeted um recruitment strategies, enhancing onboard processes, ongoing professional development, and increasing staff support and engagement initiatives. This goal supports our commitment to building and maintaining a stable, skilled, and supported team that reflects our school's mission of cultivating student success through strong relationships, consistent practices, and collaborative and responsive school culture. How we support and grow Anderson staff and connect with the community. First, um we participate in different events such as Cubfest. We have a structured new hire program and mentorship programs. We have quarterly TBRI surveys and we promote professional growth opportunities through coaching cycles, PLC's and professional development aligned to staff goals.
Meaning, could we use building rental funds if we have additional funding there? We have capital that the town has appropriated to the public schools for items that may not be able to be done this year, but so could we reallocate those funds to take some things off from this list? And this is not all-incclusive. I also want to, you know, mention that we've probably got another 20 items that easily could be added to this list. But when we get into turf replacement, um, things of that nature, I I want to caution and and just talk to folks as plainly as I can. The Asham Public Schools does not have a capital line item. We don't have that line item. We don't have access to the revolving funds that come in through rentals, through through field rentals. I know because I was the one at the high school when the high school built the fields 15 years ago.
The total of that overall is a 27% decrease in the funds available out of those accounts that are being used for FY25 and projected FY26. It's worthy of repeating. Yeah. No, thank you. I just want to make sure I was reading this correctly. I appreciate it. Yep. Any member who hasn't had a chance to ask a question yet? I have one. Okay. to Mayor and then to member Ston. Go ahead, Mayor. So, Andy, thank you for explaining some of that. Um, and I see that you um have a chart here on what you planned to do. Okay. So, what you you planned to do this in 26 and 27. So, we we we don't know what will happen with that yet. 25 and 26, your honor. 25 and 26. Yes. Okay. Um, well, you plan to do that in 20 the rest of 25 and then in 26.
And those fifth graders are going to go and they're going to build a year kind of getting themselves set and then they'll become through and then we'll just have that rotation. Um, you know, so that way they can they can kind of prep and and learn from the model that we've got with the kids that have already been in it for. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I just want to know who gets to slime you. It's a good question. So, I think that I mean that is the that is the internal question. So, what we'll probably do is we'll go through and we'll take any kids that um that have uh gotten donations for the fund run and we'll throw their names in a hat and then we'll pull um names from I'm willing to bet if we do it right, we'll have like multiple kids with semifull buckets of stuff to dump upon the principal.
Um, is there any more discussion? All right. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Opposing be so happy with our $20 that I won't have to think about all that kind of nonsense. All right, resignations. We have any of those? We have one resignation for the end of the school year from uh the high school math teacher, Ireina Lav. And we also have a retirement, Donna Fischer, who is the BCS uh social studies teacher, will be retiring at the end of this school year. I would like to thank both of them for their service, and I we wish them well. How many years has Donna been here? I for I'm not even sure. I know she told me during Washington, but that was a blur to be honest. Yeah, I think she's been here as long as more impressive. She saw kindergarten for Yeah, she's been on several levels.
Any questions? Board members asking a question to admin. I can I just ask a question about the start times? Is it looking at all start times or is it just or do you not want to say right now? Um we are looking at everything. Okay. Um will everything change? No. Uh but we are looking at everything to make sure that we're maximizing our transportation services that we're able to provide a tiered system that gets students to school as quickly and efficiently and safely as possible. Um but with the adjustment of the two campuses for the high school level, it will they are a first tier of busing. Um we also have non-publiclix in there which is another uh tier of busing, middle school tier and then two elementary tiers. So we are looking to slightly adjust those times um to maximize the efficiency across the system.