Richards our whiskey and your school nurse went to all the nurses office in the district after mr. Dunn asked me to see you know what we had for supplies to help out with our first responders here in town and she went around to all the nurses office office has gathered up the gallons and masks and gloves and we donated those to our first responders from the school and in addition to that misses being carry one of our science teachers at the high school went through the science department and did the same thing and so those those are extra supplies now for our first responders that were able to dominate in addition to that unfortunately the Red Cross canceled their blood drive that was scheduled for April 7th but we were able to have that scheduled as well and again working with the town officials really provide that space and so that will get it rescheduled I'm sure and then finally another piece is the food pantry we may depending on town halls usage and availability we may bring the food pantry materials to the high school and store them there so we're able to help those less fortunate and keep keep the food safe and dry and those kind of things so we'll say one last final piece that I wanted to share is for the whole community to know the track the the high school track is still open for people to walk on a lot of things have been closed but mr.
Dunn has not made a decision with mr. with dr. Sullivan to close the track at this point so we just wanted to let people know that if you want to go for a walk or run the track still available and that's all I have for tonight and I'm happy to answer anybody's questions thank you hey John come piggyback only said about the track too to remind you that I'm still open and it's time for 11 o'clock at night the lights are on on the track right the lights though the push button they can push the button and go on I will based on your yesterday and that works until what I bought a night for those people might want to use the track so correct and that's all I have Rosa thank you thank you and thank you for being so communicative and her everybody's help during this whole thing it's it's really been a lot easier than then you might think you know all the help that teachers and administrators are providing is very helpful so thank you it's been great board support so thank familiar any other questions for dr.
Brown okay so we can move on to the well we don't have any subcommittee reports there is nothing on our consent agenda so we can move on to new business okay I am making a motion that the board move that pursuant to Connecticut general statute section ten dash 151 the Brookfield Board of Education non-renew the teaching contract of the non-tenured teachers at the end of the 2019 2020 school year as recommended by the superintendent and further moves that the superintendent be directed to communicate this action of the board in writing to the non-tenured teachers and that the superintendent be authorized to respond on behalf of the board to any requests for a hearing if required by law or for other data which may be forthcoming from the teacher and/or his representative pursuant to applicable provisions of Connecticut general statute section ten dash 151 and that the superintendent be directed that any response to a request for a hearing if a hearing is required by law indicate that such hearing is to be before the board or at the board's discretion a subcommittee of the board packet Thank You Dwight okay so this just so that our new bullet metals are familiar this is a process that we have to go through every year and most towns have to go through every year because we don't have a budget approved for next year so we have to be able to provide that notice to those particular non-tenured teachers so of course in this particular year you know I hope that we can we can maybe not have to actually send out those formal notices but that will really all depend on on how our our town and school budget gets approved this year so does anybody have any questions on this or any comments Bob I think you're trying to talk but I think you're muted okay here you alright let's see if that works the problem the problem is if I turn that on I get an echo so look I want to make sure that we don't send out the notices until we are absolutely sure that we don't have a budget because I think the Board of Finance can act if they choose but that roads gonna kill me I think we can we if we work this right the Board of Finance can approve the budget before we have to send notices and I think we owe that to our teachers in this time of stress to not send notices unless we absolutely have to so John how late can you wait to send the notices oh the the way the tenure the Connecticut tenure law works is that teachers have to find out before April 1 that's the deadline so we have to give them a Freedom of Information Act oh I see Terry so here you want to jump in it's a first mate yes May 1st so so say yeah so they um I apologize May 1st meaning that they would have to receive a letter from me of non-renewal by April 30th so we want to get that to them before May 1st in our situation right now I mean every other year in every other community in Connecticut the way this works is the administrator typically with humanity is able to bring this in person and hand-deliver the letter we do that every year we're in this very difficult circumstance now and so as Amy read that very long motion that that has to be approved by the board and then authorize the superintendent each year to go forward with that so to answer your question about the latest I could probably send these out is around you know maybe to be safe April 24th or 25th to make sure through us mail the teachers did receive them so if we did have a budget to your point and that's based on the governor's executive order that that the budgets can be moved along without some of the typical process that goes on this year in typical years we could definitely pull it off we do not a rush to get this out tomorrow or next week so I hope that I heard that the Board of Finance is having their hearing next week and that soon after that they would meet and work on whether to approve the budget roses that what you're hearing as well yeah so they're they're meeting right now actually and they're meeting tonight will determine whether or not they are from my understanding is they're most likely going to push out 30 days before they set mill rates and approve it actually the first electron has told me that it is now a mandate that that they go ahead and approve budgets without a town vote because I don't think the governor wants municipalities when are waiting until or trying to hold votes in this particular environment so they're going to have to do that and I have strongly urged them to do that before if they're gonna push out then you know if there's any way that they can make that determination before April 24th 25th so that we could you know potentially not send those notices out [Music] was there any further questions on under this process at all or anything like that okay so we can proceed to vote okay so all in favor visually and vocally say aye aye okay the motion is unanimous thank you Mary thank you for making sure I said the right date thank you okay moving on we have a few policies but first we have a bylaw waiver okay I make a motion that the board waiver bylaw number 9 3 1 1 policies for the purpose of adopting new policy number six one four six point one nine credit for online courses ok thank you joy okay so um I had sent an email to you guys I'm just alerting you guys to this particular item in the agenda and the next one they kind of go together this particular bylaw waiver is needed mostly for the next item on the agenda because we are there is a motion to approve a policy without going through the policy subcommittee so does anybody have any questions on the waiver of this particular policy and our bylaws okay all in favor aye okay the motions unanimous thank you and so now we can move on to that policy okay I move that the board approved new policy number six one four six point one nine credit for online courses as recommended by superintendent dr.
John Farrell okay thank you joy okay dr. Brill do you want to explain this particular policy of course sure thank thanks Rosa thanks everyone so the the purpose of this new policy is specifically for the situation we're in right now as I've shared before I've been fortunate enough to participate in many calls not only with the governor and the Commissioner of Education but also with our packet super-intense group known as caps Connecticut Association of public school superintendents and we are sharing best practice and talking through and helping advise the Commissioner of Education on all the different issues that have come up and boy there are many with distance learning in the situation that we find ourselves and now one of the key things we were talking about is the needing some uniformity and some protection in some direction from our local boards on what what we have for policies for graduation requirements and making sure students with online learning are obtaining the proper credit so with the credit for online courses policy this was a policy was actually developed specific to this situation specific to earning credit via distance learning in the kovat crisis and this was actually developed by a law firm that's very well known in category called shipment of Goodwin and Tom Mooney himself who is the gentleman who actually wrote the Connecticut educational law book practically developed this policy for all of us to consider and so what I did is not only if this policy from him with the strong admonishment and some caps and from the commissioner that each local board adopt this policy I brought it before our board attorney Dan Murphy and I brought it to principal Belinda to ensure that this policy reinforced any existing policies that we had and didn't contradict in fact the policy does reinforce our existing policy and it does not contradict and so it works very well for us in terms of making sure we not only have the proper credits being chief but they can earn them through distance learning I didn't know if there was any further questions on this that people had a chance to read this in terms of process we're really going to need to because of the timing of everything the board can act as a committee of the whole and discuss it tonight and since we've just waived the the policy adoption policy we can actually approve this this evening as well and put it into effect immediately so I'm happy to answer any questions and I know mr.
Blandon I think is on the line so you know there's any questions about anything or wanted to walk through the policy at all more than happy to do that everybody get a chance to read through it when it was sent to the packet mm-hmm what does anybody have any questions or or comments about it concerns edits okay all right so we can proceed to vote so all in favor aye moving on to the bidding procedure waiver okay I move that the board waive the bidding requirements set forth and board policy 33:20 and regulation 33 20.1 and waive its purchasing policy for the purpose of lacking in heating oil and diesel fuel for the 2021 2022 fiscal year as recommended by director of business and operations CEM Coast Thank You Julie one I'm sure Ken can sort of add comment to it but this particular waiver would be advantageous for us not only because we can save money this year on our unused heating oil diesel fuel but we could we could roll that over plus lock us in to the lower prices that we're seeing on on heating oil and diesel fuel so um you know this is something that's recommended by I miss her post but Ken do you want to add specific comment to them sure I had to hold us talking points but I don't need to say them all now um yeah we we have the product the opportunity to lock in for this is for 2021 2022 so it's the year after the budget that we've already put forward for next year at the rates right now we believe that we can save approximately 40 cents per gallon on eating oil and diesel fuel which amounts to about seventy seven thousand dollars for the year and we're doing this in conjunction with the town and Jerry gay our purchasing agent has found two suppliers willing to contract with us for that year and one of them is our current supplier which is Mitchell oil and they also have our contract for next year because they won the bid for that already a couple of issues one is that with school being out right now and possibly out for the rest of the year we have $25,000 remaining in our commitment to buy from Mitchell this year so if we went with a different supply there at some point in time this year or next year we would have to eat that 25 thousand gallons but pay some kind of a liquidation charge if we do read up with Mitchell for 21 22 they're willing to let us carry over 7,500 gallons into our next year and then lower our commitment for 21 22 which will be very helpful so for those reasons we're asking the board to waive the the bidding requirements so we can just lock in with Mitchell both the town and us and mr.
Dunn was already on board with this it's a great opportunity yeah I think it makes a whole lot of sense does anybody else have any comments on this okay so we can proceed to vote on favor okay thank you the votes an individual okay we can move on to two old business we have a bunch of policies okay I recommend a motion that the board approve policy number for one 18.5 to use of new web tools for a final reading as recommended by the policy communications subcommittee first reading was on March 4th 2020 Thank You Jay Debbie did you have any comments on this no I didn't good Amy okay so all in favor aye aye thank you votes unanimous go ahead Amy okay make a motion that the board approve policy number four one one eight point one one two sexual harassment for a final reading is recommended by the policy and communications subcommittee first reading was on March 4th 2020 okay thanks joy Debbie did you if you want to just streamline it all right so all in favor aye aye aye animus okay make a motion at the board approve policy number four one one eight point one one three harassment for our final reading as recommended by the policy communications subcommittee first reading was on March 4th 2020 okay all in favor aye Mike I assume you are and I Thanks okay go ahead okay I'll move that the board approved policy number four one one eight point two for staff and student non-fraternization for a final reading as recommended by the policy communications subcommittee first reading was March 4th 2020 okay thank you okay last one I'll make a motion that the board approved policy number four 1/3 for tutoring for a final reading as recommended by the policy communications subcommittee first reading was on March 4th 2020 thank you joy all in favor aye aye fine thank you okay thank you we can move on to our 2019 2020 school calendar and possible motion I'm just gonna try and pull this up myself so I have it in front of me dr.
Brill do you want to walk us through and third week changes sure so I'm having trouble finding the calendar but that's okay yeah I'm doing it myself if we had some conversation on the March 18th meeting about you know where we might end up we weren't sure exactly where we were and beginner learning it just learned from the commissioner that he was waving the 180 day requirement so the the plan going forward that I'd like to present is in terms of understanding if the board would like to maximize the teacher contract our teachers can work up to 180 seven days that's what the board budget force budget for budgets for excuse me and with the three days on March the 18th 18 19 and 20 that the teachers worked on to begin with training in preparation for distance learning to kick in on March 23rd the students had been off during that week so those are three additional days that the teachers essentially conducted professional development if you will and so those are additional days they've already worked so if the teachers were to work the full 180 seven days in this academic year they would maximize and land on 187 on June 22nd which is a Monday now for the students June 22nd would be the hundred and seventy ninth day so that's where we're at it's okay that we only have 179 days we don't have to do 180 this year that was made clear by the Commissioner and the governor's executive Ward so that's if the teachers work up to 187 days we'd end on a Monday again June 22nd right now the Board of Education has already approved the graduation Brookville high school graduation for June 20th which is the Saturday prior to this possible lat that so there's always discussion and there's always opportunity the board can decide where we would like to to land would we like to have the teachers work you know only up to that Friday and have the students end on a Friday which would be June 19th students would do 180 excuse me 178 days and the teachers would work 186 days and then we don't we graduate on Saturday we don't even have to carry over into that Monday I don't think not a would that we're going to have any snow anytime soon so the fact that could be part of the plan so I wanted to put some options out there for the board to discuss and hear people's opinion and ultimately we can make a decision together here tonight and then tomorrow or Friday I can communicate out to the parents because they've been clamoring for that last day people are wondering I think the parents are wondering more than the students at this point it's all that home teaching that's going on yeah so I I did kind of get a chance to connect with each of our board members and it seems like we are in agreement that we I think and everybody can you know correct me if your opinions have changed at all but I think we would like to just close it up on that Friday I'm not worried about coming back on that Monday and obviously you know maintaining April break and I think that's just the cleanest way to close out the year thank you for sharing that rose I forgot to talk about April break that was also part of our discussion last time was to keep April break sacred for everybody that's kind of been our tradition in Brookfield so we can do that if that's what the board would like to do anybody else have any thoughts on the calendar are we all in agreement I think just for the public's sake I don't know how many people are watching I think it's worth explaining what happens if we took away April break and worked right through what does that do to the numbers well what we would do then is we just move everything five days of five days earlier that's how that would work because there's five days over the April critical instead of the 22nd being that Monday or in this case let's use the 19th it would be Friday be twelve right it would actually be six wouldn't it cuz a Good Friday the week before no the Good Friday is already counted in this it wouldn't a some practice we have five april days one thing I worry about that is not only the you know we've communicated that April break would still be there for everybody and I know there's the whole argument well people can't really go anywhere at this point I totally understand that is the Commissioner asked us the governor and the Commissioner were gracious enough remember the macro burst we remember other local tragedies where the 180-day waiver was absolutely not granted barely was considered in this particular unprecedented situation they're waiving the 180 day requirement and and that is just the connective state Department of Education in concert with the governor and legislature and State Board of Ed they just never do this so there's that piece the commissioner said is long you don't have to get your hundred eighty days in as long as you eat and feel free to end around the time you were going to end anyway now if you look at our calendar that was that June 15 to 20 days I'd like to respect the the commissioners wishes there and not try to play with the April break and try to end earlier than our original end date which was the 15th especially because we're not getting the 180 days in so I want to you know I want to be very careful about that as well and and just ending the week that we were supposed to end just short of the hundred eighty bills and I and I think that's acceptable and respects the the wishes and the flexibility of the folks at the state I agree with you and that's a sort of what we talked about amongst ourselves when Rosa was asking for opinions I felt that if we took away April break that would mean we're ending school you sooner than the original June 17th and I I could imagine that for some parents that could be a childcare issue you know if I mean who knows if people would be back to work by then and what the childcare situation will be but if you were planning on putting your child in camp or you had other arrangements that started at the end of June now all of a sudden were moving that up almost two weeks so I just thought that that could create a lot of problems for people good point thank you okay so do we need a motion to amend the calendar I think I think it would be because we're not having the teachers work up to the full 187 which was the original intention and because we're going to end with 178 school days rather than the 182 it's important for the board to make that motion okay so I move to the revised 19 2019 2020 school calendar to reflect the last day of school on June 19th which is how many days 186 teacher days 130 178 student days so 186 teacher days and 180 you said right 170 878 sorry yeah student days a second thank you Amy any other discussion on that on favor all right thank you okay okay so old business we have just our budget estimate discussion right now I again the board I just got word from the affordable how things are progressing at the Board of Finance meeting right now it does look like they have they are they're goofing everything out 30 days which is something that they they can't tonight they could have set the mill rate for next year approved budgets for both the town and school and they have chosen to push that out 30 days which they can do but then they will be mandated to to set those budgets so I am assuming that they're looking for more information in terms of how they will set that mill rate I can again still urge them to try to maybe make that more like 23 days as opposed to 30 days because that would again maybe help us not send out those non-renewals if we could possibly do that but can is there is there any way that you can maybe and this is probably something you had sent this out to us so we can sort of go into that discussion now not only for the reductions for next year but any possible savings that we might see from this closure or even exposures that we might see from this closure this year sure I sent that out to you earlier here today it's and it's really a moving target I I've kind of combed through the accounts and I see where we might have explorers we might have savings but a lot of it is gonna depend on a couple things if we can get back in session it changes things it seems like every day there's a new executive order from the governor telling us you know we have to pay people that we may maybe didn't think we had to pay before so it's it's changing so often so yeah I've identified a bunch of areas where I think we will save money in a couple of areas where I think we have some exposure but nothing I can really quantify first Anya okay I know that's helpful yeah if there are there any accounts where even if you don't know the number that we we definitely want to see some savings in like as utilities or well certainly diesel fuel for sure possibly electricity propane which we use in our school kitchens extended duty substitutes possibly coaching stipends if we lose the spring sports professional development that's not not happening athletic transportation would certainly be lower even if we can resume partially part of the season so there are a number of areas and with our bus contracts this year I know that we had prepaid and that was you know we had initially well captured a little bit of a savings there because of that creep but now is that sort of are we committed to are we gonna be able to save anything from transportation regular transportation I've already had the conversation with the president of the company about recouping some of that and we got some more direct this kind of direction from the state today that they want the bus companies to continue providing benefits and to continue paying their drivers I don't think all star was paying their drivers so again I have to have another conversation with him and they're supposed to quantify what these costs are and we're supposed to pay them at least to cover that and reasonable overhead the objective is to kind of make them whole without letting them profit off the situation right a lot of math has to be done in that and it's complicated by the fact that that we've paid them who knew yes and I think I think Ken mentioned the summer's exactly rewards the other thing that's that's from state law on Friday Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the the cares Act federal cares Act so that's influencing what just came last night which was the I don't know what number but I know it put a summary together and sent it out to the board this morning with links to each of the decade of orders from the governor in fact mrs.
Gavin on dr. Ruby and I are going to be meeting with attorney Murphy tomorrow morning to actually discuss the the impact of the governor's recent executive order and the cares act because as the board knows and it's clearly an issue across this nation we have our employees that are working in a distance learning format with their or with their students and when when we have that situation it's very different working conditions than we've had so we've been working on developing memorandums of agreement to each of the collective bargaining contracts at this point the teacher of Brookfield Education Association Memorandum of Understanding is the only one that's actually formally executed at this point the rest are still discussion going back and forth between legal counsel and the union representation and so that's part of the discussion we need to have because this executive order may significantly influence that renders of understanding and working conditions and again to what Ken said how we pay and who we pay in that kind of thing including bus contractors so it's very fluid and we're all doing our best to adjust John your point and I'm actually I'm doing it I'm attending a huge attending a huge webinar on that cares Act because obviously it's it affects my business and people that work for me and all that so I'm gonna have a I'm actually looking forward to them on a lot more information on that on that cares Act it's it's run by attorney so I'm looking forward to it yeah it's a lot for everybody to take in um does anybody have any questions comments about you know any and at least for this current budget year and how that might affect next the the other if there's heat that can had sent forward is the remainder of the recommendations for reductions for next year so did you want to walk through those Ken yeah I'd like to talk for a moment um the leadership team had met a month or more ago when we were first working on the a whole eight hundred seventeen thousand dollars and then after our last board meeting we met again this past Monday to come up with the list that I sent you today of the new the Tier three reductions and we try to be careful to select items and accounts that had the least direct impact on students so you see a lot of postage and copiers and other things on there um and we were able to find enough two or three reductions that allowed us to had twenty thousand dollars back to Amanda Erin's PD as you requested and add eighty two hundred ninety two dollars back to the apt professional learning so many of the Tier three reductions are a result of just going through and looking at every account and comparing our budget request with our historical actual spending with the understanding that historical spending has been cut back many years due to budget freezes recently other items are specific reductions for example a tuition reimbursement we're adjusting that down a little bit because the administrators in their contract they get reimbursed if they're in programs and we only have one administrator that we know of is going to be in a doctoral program next year so I set the amount at the maximum that that person you could get professional education services were reducing professional books for teachers and using in-house resources instead of outside providers for some of the school-based professional learning other professional services were eliminating the outside Communication Service and reducing some you know services storage we're eliminating the outside storage unit that's currently used by the business office and Human Resources and travelling conferences we've reduced below the level of our 2018-2019 spending and most of the other accounts are like I said just a result of going back and and basing it on historical levels of spending I'll take anything but he has any questions about that our process or about specific items I'll do my next answer them I don't have anything else standing you no problem this what's the last travel dues fees is that that separate from travel and conference that's 7075 enchanter 3 and that's the case that was from a bunch of different accounts across the district again we just went back and took a real careful look at comparing it with our historical spending and what we've been able to get away with the you know or do without I should say in the past okay on the potential exposures what does what's the excess cost grant that would be an exposure for this year possibly if for some reason we don't fully fund the special education transportation or the outplacement tuition and then the stuff is all up in the air right now we would end up spending less so we get less grand my back how does that an exposure okay yeah okay less revenue so we haven't been reimbursed for that for those costs yet no not entirely sound sounds convenient there like I said before everything's up in the air right now yeah I know are we good because we have because it looks like so many of these accounts and Tier three are the ones that we froze this year you know how much it just looks like you know a lot of it is just sort of just shaved you sort of just shaved a lot for me to count I don't know if anybody here could maybe speak to what it is how much are we not restoring back to the levels that we started with at this school year because I know obviously if we if we froze much of these accounts many of these accounts then obviously we're not we're not really recouping anything I think we approached it with the mindset that we've you know but again we've done without stuff in recent years and at least without as much as we would optimally have but these were items since we had to cut something it was farthest away from directly affecting the students so we just made the collective the decision that we're we're doing it this way can can you hear me okay yes okay this is a chase am I getting an echo now I'm not thinking here hi the I saw in the governor's latest Proclamation that he is directed the state agencies to pay out the grants as planned does that mean we're locked in at the excess cost grant or is it still in flux or do we not know well the grant in my opinion anyway the grant would be affected if we spent less money right and I don't know that he was referring to the excess cost grant or not I didn't see the full text yeah we ought to exercise that because you know we might spend a little I mean I think what he was if I read that full thing it said they want us to pay the providers whether students are there or not and they want us to pay the bus company so they can cover benefits and salaries although as you said that's complex math I would hope that that also means that the towns will get the excess cost grants based on our application not based on things that change and I'd love to get confirmation of that what it is right because I think the more that becomes a refiling let's come up with new numbers let's do something different it just creates an uncertainty for the town and I think we need to have more certainty and the Board of Finance needs more certainty absolutely so are you ready to lock and load with these reductions for next year's budget at this point in time yes we are then you'd like us out on them so we can get them done and move on yes we're ready to go Bob okay all right sorry notes have any questions or comments on on these proposed reductions okay so I will move that the board approve the proposed reductions as listed and provided by the superintendent and director of operations can post tell second is there any discussion on that Oh on favor aye okay the vote is unanimous thank you all thank you thanks guys thank you and John and the entire team entire team absolutely okay so up next we have the new school building project and um we had Eddie on the call earlier we should have maybe move that up so yeah we dr.
Burrell and I talked with Eddie and some of the team from tech town the other day and we received a bit of an update they they continued to work with all the user groups you know the media center folks have sort of have given all their details that they need to really have a fully functioning media center for for all the grades that that the school will service and despite all of this the progress on the new school has not stalled or slow down so we're they're continuing to move forward and and work on everything that they need and the project is moving along there are some changes they were able to to get all classrooms in the building which was you know one of our biggest priorities and now what they are really trying to do is sort of firm up what the interior not only layout but the materials the materials that they're going to use on the exterior the materials that are going to be used and it's some of the drawings are really are really nice and they're really you know there's another opportunity I think for for the board to provide some feedback and and to to loop in some some other users you know school psychologists and counselors and guidance that might be able to to help you know sort of start to bring this vision sort of into a reality and some real plans so so I mean I don't know if I miss anything John but um oh yeah just a couple things I wanted to share I think I was very Rosa thank you so just a couple of to get those classrooms and some of the other things that they're doing it's a concept of a phrase called space utilization they're really in design development what I've learned from the our our our architects in terms of tech con as well as Paul and Josh on the MVC is this is a state where they're really when something initially might have been 150 feet across they're squeezing things down we only need 148 feet I mean they were looking for every inch they can find in the square footage to stay on time stay on budget and get the the best space utilization we cannot build them in addition to that we're pretty excited mr.
Dunn on the talent side I've been working with tacking on and the MVC this entire time it looks as though the way you know the budget we have for the project and also working with the town there's been a lot of talk about working with eversource and running the natural gas and running water public water up to the school looks like that the plans are really coming into fruition now how that's gonna look so that's working and we're pretty excited about that rather than having wells so that's going on what was the other one I wanted to share oh the other big one was the board is aware that that originally when we were looking at the floodplain Techcon had the building kind of the back of the building peered into the hill at the back of the property with the mapping and the FEMA waiver that they're going for they've moved the building down to more of a flat area of the back of the property so you don't have to go to the hill that's brought the costs down the estimated cost down it also makes a better opportunity for a emergency roadway behind the school and in addition to that I really wanted to let everybody know and the public know that the FEMA waiver process is is well underway and moving forward and they don't see anything at this point getting in the way so that was that's a big hurdle while we don't believe it should be a big hurdle because of the mapping in the history on the site the 500-year floodplain and all the all these technical things that I don't fully understand I'm told things are moving in the right direction with that and once we get the formal waiver from FEMA there should be no issue with the the folks at the safe so that was another piece I wanted to share and I think as Rosa said on-time and on-budget so far we keep keep saying that but we're constantly monitoring so we continue to be excited and try to during this time do a few virtual meetings and bring in more a couple more user groups again have some conversation about how we start to bring the interior together that's why I have anybody have any questions on the new school nice all right so that brings us to the end of our meeting our three main points [Music] definitely like to um-hmm yep calendar the calendar sure yeah yeah I'm the last day of school yep and I mean we can talk about our budget reductions doesn't say budget reductions I I actually think I would like to suggest instead that we put in dr.
burrows remarks about the teachers and how everybody has come through the first two weeks of distance learning and the feedback we heard from students and Steve's part of the meeting yeah I agree I think distance learning should be highlighted a Herculean effort on the part of administration and teachers and I think that should definitely be one of them one of the main points oh do we have poor or do we switch one well I mean I feel like we've kind of we didn't make any changes to the budget discussion the budget items that we discussed last week so at this point we're really waiting for the Board of Finance I mean there were minor tweaks that Ken made so I'm not sure we need to mention the budget again anybody else the budget every time because it's still on ongoing issue especially issue before all this now it's announced it continued to be a serious I have a thought if we do for the three main points if we do locker-room budget and distance learning and then how about I put a communication out on the calendar it's a very simple communication tomorrow and then that does you know then we stick to the three main points and I can still get calendar and flow out to two buddy about that okay or even condensed like we can say we finalize the budget and the the school your calendar could combine them yeah yeah I think it's better like John said to do the communication about calendar separate if that also main points okay I think yeah I mean as long as the information gets you know I mean it's probably gonna be disseminated anyways right I mean well if I send a school message out I think I think you guys know this already if I send a school that's a Joe Eric immediately posted on Facebook so it kind of goes through the same yeah I news anyway so want to do I'll do whatever you guys would like to do so you know either way we'll make sure the information gets out yeah silence and you know we can let John send the message out about the calendar and we can you know have the three main points about the budget the boys locker room and the distance learning okay sounds good all right in that order um maybe however they appeared on the agenda okay yes yeah Debbie I can give me a little blurb if you want to add like one project sure and then Eric if you're able to get it uh you could have the Eddy's PowerPoint set so we could get that linked in and that would be great as well yeah I'll confirm when the me didn't make any changes from the copy that I received earlier this week and then and then we'll post that one on the new school project website and wherever else we need to okay thank you sir okay thank you Eric for facilitating these meetings they've been going off without a hitch pretty much yeah oh thank you little things to figure out here and there and we'll improve on each one but it all went quite well tonight thank you there's a lot to thank Eric and attacked the particle there's a lot sure okay so the next is upcoming events there are none well the parade happened so they filled in the blank with whatever you're planning on doing in your own house right we go on much longer John you give this gonna have to tell the school they have to do the st.
Baldrick's thing because everybody's gonna need a haircut oh yeah I know she is one up coming a been right the blood drive want pencils for next week so they'll reschedule when it's appropriate I guess yeah we shared my son's head last night actually we went out on the deck and had a great time so we're all getting might be ball I just wanna chime in with thanking here for helping with all of the dis ting and giving tutorials to all the teachers and Ben's without Eric it would have been very difficult just a minute hey Steve appreciate that and but but it goes it goes without saying that it is it's it's it's it's a lot but it's also a lot of teamwork and that goes through my department and and every single person on this call and and all the teachers that are hopefully getting some rest this evening for a busy day ahead tomorrow it is truly a group and team effort to do some of the amazing stuff that we've been doing in nearly two and a half weeks it's and been probably more so well we know more but it's it's incredible teamwork by all and I he can keep the meeting going on for everybody but Eric has been working hand in glove with dr.
Ruby dr. Ruby and her vision and grit along with working directly with our whole council specifically our principals to make this happen has just been incredible it's been a yeoman's task and she's actually online with the State Department as well constantly with her connections up there and make sure we have a top-notch high quality distance learning program per student so it's only gonna get better from here so thank you dr.
Ruby and mark I know Mark wanted to give a shout out out he gave it during our Facilities Committee but I think he should give it give one out again mark Turton yeah I do remember joy so she's gonna be embarrassed and upset but I just want to get a shout out to Carolyn D'Arcangelo my secretary at the school since day one as soon as Winston's decided to start doing lunches the lunch program it's been a low mossy cooking in the kitchen doing all the lunches he does all the lunches and preps them every day and then after that Carolyn's there initially volunteering and then she has not missed a day rain doesn't matter she is the one handing out bagged lunches to people people are getting to see here on a regular basis she gets to know people she knows exactly how many lunches certain cars get now she those people by name and I just want to say thank you to her specifically because she without her and she's helping the entire district so I just want a a little shout out to her and say Thank You Carolyn and to Alfred all their hard work and know that this Friday is gonna be a big one because they're giving out lunches for Friday Saturday and Sunday so it's gonna be significant lines a lot of people working and we have some other secretaries the high school that have volunteered to come help out so you know it's not the easiest thing to do we're really lucky to have them being able to do that so that's what I want to say let me just actually this actually goes towards whisk and air I just wanted to let everybody know that whisking air middle school has received the Michaels cup award for having the the top Unified sports program in the state of Connecticut this year and they were supposed to get recognized in April but that unfortunately has been canceled and I just wanted to give a shout out to Dean and Carl and Rafferty coach and evolve that whiskey mirror but that is a tremendous honor because only one school in the state gets recognized as Michael Scott winner and that was with whis Kinnear for their job and unified thank you that's awesome and also Kathy Roman and Nicole forum and you know a bunch of our paraprofessionals that give their time to help out and and also the students and the athletes and the buddies that that participate really make that program very special my quick shout out is to June Gordon she has been in the building handing out and Eric maybe you can help me with another but she has been handing out Chromebooks unbelievable amount of Chromebooks making sure that they are wiped down clean and you know she's been ending up instruments and doing her best to help our kids have all the things that they need they she got a couple math books out the door and you know wiped them down and left them on the ledge so I really appreciate all that she's been doing yeah and and Dean thanks for doing that so we didn't leave the meeting without mentioning to her and a perfect example of what I meant by it's it's truly teamwork well outside of technology anybody's willing to jump in and help from Carol and doing lunches and and June during Chromebooks because she's already in the building and and you know limiting limiting social interaction limiting the number of people in the office is certainly way to do it she's got her system down to keep to keep to keep everybody at a distance and everybody's safe and we provide her with the Chromebooks and we let her do it and she has been there lack of a better way to put it on send in helping us get as many Chromebooks as we can to as many kids as we can and we continue thanks to her ok my turn HR is has been working unbelievably because you can't imagine we have this many employees and this much crazy stuff going on and if a you know if I didn't know Teri's character it's where she was having an affair of Dan Murphy because the so many cool things that be taken care of and she's like living on on the phone and in paperwork and our are two other personnel Beth and Michelle are working from home they've come in so I mean we could stay on here all night just talking about all the people that are doing extra heavy lifts so I mean we can't stay here all night but I can't not talk about the work that Terri in the HR department I think and everybody got paid so you know Joan and all the people and payroll it's just and then Gina bygone ik everything moment you breathe something else changes in special ed at the at the federal level at the state level I don't know if they like know each other's phone numbers because they do the opposite thing sometimes but keeping up with what's going on special ed and making sure that we don't overstep our bounds that we don't break the law that we don't hurt anybody with violating their confidentiality it's just like a tornado just won't stop spinning and they're there 24/7 people are working 24/7 I can assure you of that so thank you alright I gave all the shoutouts last week er when I sent my letter so and I know I spoke on behalf of all you guys so thank you for doing that no yeah I mean yeah I know that we couldn't be more proud of where we are right now in terms of a of a team all right the last thing on our agenda is public comment which Eric I was this sort of a live participation where people could have chimed in had the like was the capability or was it just a live stream I set this up similar to the last meeting we can discuss changing the format at the next one but for this one I had left it that same format where the public comment we moved to the end and then emails or any communication you received but um if if you know as we grow and adapt these meetings because we all know that our next one will be well I'm sure we'll be on here there is another one in two - we don't know the two weeks would be spring break right so we're yeah okay so we may we may have one of these in May we may not we can certainly adapt and adjust and talk of right now no anybody would have had to send a communication to you like the last meeting yep so I didn't receive anything and so I just I wanted to anybody who gets to watch this anybody's watching it now live or anybody who watches this back you know we welcome your public comment and that can either you know you can always send in written correspondence and maybe we can you know at the next meeting you know figure out a capability to do that um like sort of more of a live presentation or live participation you know if that's that's best I don't some talons are doing that so um you know we'll just have to work through this as we go but um of course your comments are always welcome so that is that's it in terms of our agenda is there anything else anyone would like to share before we adjourn okay so thank you very much everyone and this concludes the public meeting and without objection the meeting is adjourned thank you thanks everybody
oh hi so goody is everyone ready yep okay good evening I'd like to call to order the school community meeting for tonight Monday April 6th and as we all know by now governor Baker had suspended suspended certain provisions of the old meeting law which is allowing us to connect to stuffed our meeting remotely in this way and members of the public can access this meeting via livestream WW youtube.com/ ford flash DHS TV media and in addition to that the meeting this meeting will be rebroadcast on DC TV channels 9 and 18 on Wednesday and Thursday at 5 o'clock Friday at 6 a.m. Saturday at 8 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
and just one that notice before we begin the public comment if anyone would like to comment on any of today's agenda items just email kathleen jenthor ka th l ET and g GN th n ER at dartmouth schools dot o-r-g please include your name with your comments so first on our agenda I would entertain a motion to approve the regular o Eveline Avril here Chris Oliver yeah Carol Paradis yeah Shannon Jenkins here John Nunes yeah okay so now I'll entertain a motion to approve them the minutes the regular session minutes from our meeting our last meeting March 23rd so moved second okay any discussion hearing none all in favor hi okay now I will entertain a motion to approve the executive session meetings from that same night March 23rd 2020 so moved madam chair with the stipulation that they be held until the matter for which they were intended is complete yes so madam chair I did got when I was looking through them today I did have a concern about one of the the sentences in there so just like to ask that we do hold the executive session minutes so I could just touch base with you and Kate on that okay so okay so we will not accept your motion okay that's fine with me next on our agenda we have the public comments so we're going to have some awkward pause here allowing for some time for anyone that has comment on tonight's agenda to please email key we heard from anybody we have I have not looks like we got 18 18 viewers watching right now remind everyone who is just tuning in that if you have any comment about any items on tonight's agenda that you please email your name along with your comments - Kathleen Gunther that's Kathleen with a ke jenthor is GE n th NER at Dartmouth schools oor G and we we don't comment or respond to any public comment we just take comments under advisement for our own knowledge in our deliberation so feel free we'll give it a few more minutes a couple more minutes in case email is in the description if you're watching the live feed you can find her email did you see one excuse me we did receive an email from Renee Vieira did the school committee have any input okay can you hear me yes sir yes did the school committee have any input in the remote learning plan was that heard so madam Jeremy might want to note that the superintendent is we don't respond to comments even though it was a question right but we are gonna be talking I think about that superintendent will be updating us on that later so it's not that boring it's just we don't respond to comments during those yeah that'll come up later on Thank You Renee have there been any new emails I suspect no I did receive an email from an individual who did forward a query or or something to do with the last day of school miss Brooks she's asking if that would be shared during public comment I just received this from Miss Brooks so I just bring that to your attention a couple of other emails that I had received prior to today concerning that that matter so which was forwarded to you Kathleen if you call yes yep I received I think we all received them if mister is Miss Brooks asking that her letter be read during public comment is that your the she writes would my email be shared during public comment okay I don't know if you want to interpret that as if it could be read that is a way to interpret that I can find it I don't know if you have that email handy I can find it I wouldn't mind if it be read go ahead I hear somebody John yeah we've got I mean under new business we have the last day of school as an agenda item so we can always talk about Miss Brooks is letter at that time I believe I I'm fine with that as well what is the committee what is the pleasure of the committee so I mean we're just waiting right now so I don't think maybe there's any harm and just reading her letter right okay we'll kill like another two minutes and then email and then that also makes part of sort of the minutes in the official public record so rather than us all sitting here and looking at our screens we could maybe read it to do Kate would you be able to read that part to us of course thank dear members of the Dartmouth School Committee I write to you in consideration of the discussion of agenda item last day of school 2019 2020 well none of us can predict the actions of the governor the Department of elementary and secondary education and or the curve of this virus I want to plead my case to push the last day of school to Friday June 19th I realize that even if you agree to the 19th it is possible that the above-mentioned factors could invalidate the decision due to continued health risks however the longer the potential year the more opportunities we have to return to school even for a few weeks as you are aware I will retire at the end of this school year and so selfishly I would like to have closure however I do feel that our students would also benefit from the return to school I can think of reasons for every grade level to reconnect with the teachers and classmates in order to reset some level of normalcy into their life no matter how we have offered a sense of structure and opportunities for learning reached out to connect with our most vulnerable students provided resources meals and technology as well as engaged via a variety of platforms we have not and cannot replicate the human connections we had taken for granted prior to this unprecedented event it is also possible that the corona virus could reappear in the fall if we are able to week with our students prior to a summer break have the opportunity to build another resiliency skill set which we may need to expand upon in the fall or sadly at any given time in the future this experience to date has put so many things into perspective for all of us I feel that we are all changed because of it hopefully changed for the better thank you for your consideration from a distance heidi silver Brooks thank you madam chair yeah my concern is there were other folks that also sent emails and so I'm not sure if Miss jenthor has those stored I know I only saw about two more I believe I did respond to one parent letting her know the discussion would be taking place of corn she was concerned of course the year-round activities having a senior in high so I'm just a little concerned but I will be providing the committee updates on the survey etc during the calendar time so yeah thank you mm-hmm I think we can bring those up during that discussion too I think Heidi was resending her you know my understanding it sounded like she wanted that read specifically during yeah I would agree with that Kathleen anything else Kate I responded no need to read email from Heidi stating that it wasn't necessary it was a time fella okay what time are we at now we're at 6:43 thank you and there is another email from okay can you hear me yeah now we didn't hear who it was from can you hear me yes from Renee Vieira it goes on to speak about end of the year Oh rather vacation week which I guess would affect the end of the year I don't know if that's something that you want to be read now is that yes Kathleen yeah I would say yes I would say yes - okay very good I will do that is Vieira writes I understand the idea of trying to keep the momentum with students going I also know that the way we are doing our jobs and the way we are asking students to learn is overwhelming in many ways I strongly feel that we need to follow the holidays in the calendar we all could use a long weekend to catch our breaths next week families who celebrate Easter will not be able to attend church and celebrate with family everyone students families staff administration really could use a short break from the educational responsibilities aspect of this crisis the government health officials are telling us daily that this area will be hit hard in a little less than two weeks just before the April vacation as this situation reaches higher levels locally we all might need to simplify the daily expectations and focus on family the DEA held a board meeting yesterday and and concern was the fact that the days do not end folks are working on lessons answering emails creating tutorials learning new technologies well into the evenings this is especially true for those with school-aged children that need their parents guidance technology during the day when asked the question about Good Friday and April vacation week it was unanimous that these holidays be recognized everyone needs to unplug for a little while without guilt Renee Vieira so we are at 6:46 I I don't know how if the committee agrees I feel it might be a good time to close public comment okay so okay so we're gonna move on to the next order of business which is under old business I would like to turn it over to mr. Kylie who if you could please give us an update as it relates to the budget I know here we have fiscal year budget and vote but I just want to hear an update and then hear from the committee as to how we should best proceed thank you mrs.
amber also we originally you know had this agenda item on tonight to vote on the budget we've had some discussion internally and with a couple of school committee members about whether or not it makes any sense to vote this evening I think that there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of a lot of things that are still developing and I wouldn't recommend moving forward with a vote tonight I did have a meeting this afternoon with mr. McGinnis and mr. Barnes the assumed and had some discussion about next year's budget but I just don't see any benefit of moving forward and voting and defining a number tonight does this given all the uncertainty to you and also to my colleagues mr.
kylie is at some point in time I realized at the moment we don't know what we have for a town meeting date but somewhere down the line we're gonna have to get a number to the Finance Committee I know I guess they're doing as is every other board throughout the Commonwealth doing what we're doing and that is you know meeting remotely but I'm gonna make an assumption that at some point in time we have to get a number two to Town Hall so I'm just wondering if at our next meeting which is the 27th we just vote on the budget that borrowing something radical that changes between now and then we go forward with the budget that we have that's my time sir thank you John so anybody else have any comment okay thank you madam chair so you know I'm I'm trying to be a realist here and I know well you know we're supposed to vote in the budget tonight and I also know there's a lot of uncertainty on that being said mr. Kylie has have you gotten any indication from Town Hall that our funding for next year whether it's chapter 70 local receipts or anything like that there's the to be affected well they are preparing preliminary estimates based on reductions in the receipts and state aid so those two areas I would I would think and I think they believe are the two most volatile components of the equation so they are preparing estimates with some reduction of course how how much the reductions gonna be we're not gonna know for a very long time so I don't think that that is actually going to be particularly helpful in shaping this because as mr.
noon said and he has a good point sooner or later we're gonna have to just move forward agreed so you know we're never gonna have all the answers I I'd like to have more answers and I don't see a big risk in waiting a couple of weeks at this point in the hopes that maybe there are some more answers okay no thank you yeah I'm on board with waiting dr. Jenkins thank you um you know I just may seem out of order but I feel like it's the time to talk about it I want to go back I was reading the minutes so we got a public comment last time about working fees yeah because we're talking about budget I think we don't respond but I do the student you send us an email so I do want to sort of address those concerns you know one I believe the busing we provide busing free cards for high schoolers right so just like all of the other schools they have the option for free transportation the reason why we don't charge parking fees at other schools is because none of the other students are old enough to drive so there's no parking streets at other schools because there are no student drivers so we're treating off - Drive we're treating off students consistently by offering them all free transportation right but then for the extra parking that we need because because the drivers at that school that's what those fees support I think ideally we might want to not have those sorts of fees we do recognize it's a burden but our budget just simply um can't support it at this time and so driving really is a privilege because we are providing that free transportation I just wanted to address that in the context of discussion because I do want people to know when they provide public comment you know that we do hear them and particularly it seemed like it was coming from students I'm not sure about that but I definitely want to respond to those comments and then the other thing that I will say is that I'm in agreement with my colleagues about we I mean we just have no idea the state restarted there but the process I think this week Governor Baker did a trip someone asked him and he said I don't know yeah I mean I think he literally said no idea so who knows if we'll have any more certainty or any more information but I mean I think we all know it's gonna be bad it's all so we got to try to see if we can figure some things out doing now and then so I'm a bored with waiting I am also I mean the more information we have the better it is and I agree with dr.
Jenkins about the parking at this point in time where we don't even know what we're gonna have a budget that's a time really to cut back on fees even though we wish we could yeah thank you for bringing that up Shannon um I was that was gonna be Mike on my question my comment to me because it is a student so it is important that we follow up because it's encouraging to see students speaking up and advocating for things that that they see as you know what worth changing at some point but agreed to you we're kind of in a you know a bad place with the budget and so it's not looking good pandemic or not so yeah I would too now with with this does it require sort of a vote to table it or is it just that no I think just the inaction is sufficient this 20 and will I agree with mr.