Westman or setting the stage so well for us and now it's your turn what I would like to invite you to do is to give us your comments and your thoughts about what you've heard tonight as well as what your perceptions are of our Avon Community School Corporation I would ask you because there are a number of you here and that's delightful we're really pleased that we have such a great turnout tonight thank you so much for taking this Monday evening to come and share with us but I would like for you as you give your comments please give us your name and where your address and then limit your comments I know it will be hard but limit your comments please to about three minutes so that we can get everyone an opportunity that like said that would like to speak to speak as dr. Barnabas said this won't be your only opportunity to talk or weigh in and in fact what we hope is that as we go through the next several meetings that this will be an evolutionary process that as these your concerns are be here input that we'll be able to infuse this presentation with more information that is helpful to you and our and so with that I will open the floor for your comments yes sir particularly with Mitch here wish to be here what are some of those proposals the cuts and is there are there things that we can do to try to help to the offset I don't think that our board or our administration came in tonight with a set of Robster of things that we intend to because in fact what we're hoping for is that we'll be able to maintain everything that we have today I think that what you can see though is that the efficiencies with you when you add up the 65 million dollars loss of property tax caps go to the past several years that when we looked at just recently our annual budget is tipped above 100 million dollars so sixty-five million is sixty five percent of an entire year's budget that is gone lost to us and not recoverable what we've tried to do in the efficiency slide show that is incremental we find ways that we could not cut services to students not cut programs to students and still maintain our budget but as you can imagine there comes an end to that there's nothing more you can cut until you begin to cut bone and muscle so we did not come into this meeting at all with an agenda of things that would be cut but I think this is probably a poor analogy but this is the best one that I think describes it my mother-in-law was an educator my mother who was an educator for 40 years died in 2000 from all fibers and we did not see her deterioration as a clip what we saw is a daily dimming of her ability to maintain cognitive reasoning be able to function I think that's what we see in a con is that this is not a severe cliff cut this is the situation where we're abiding small incremental decline because we don't have funding to maintain or better improve or actually add programs for our students so thank you for coming thinking that there were going to be so if you wanted to speak out about cuts that would be widespread we have no such plans for that but what we're trying to do is try to encourage our community to help us to maintain and increase our programs our solutions yes that helped a lot of things have you thought of some ways that we can't help them you know I have a student here who actually has an idea of something that she wants to do and so that's kind of one of the things that we why we wanted to just get an idea of what's going on okay well dad in a crowd before somehow we started so we touch the fourth graders ads or animation if they wouldn't mind in your letters written out with don't need know what you don't have to start at the absolutely you start learning how to play actually the classes on further along I think that second grade is showing a lot of musical interest not let a promise yet but I think that sat is an awesome idea it takes teachers of course to commandeer and to move forward an organization like that at birth of an idea like that great idea we definitely that's why we are at Valley Inn neighbors we have ideas about things that we can do to improve and we should do those things I think in the end funding to encourage professional instruction which help to expedite that even further in fourth grade in fifth grade in sixth grade so that I I missed your name Tierney hands thank you thank you very much other thoughts ideas input yes I'm Sarah Weimer the 592 box for drive my husband in this building I guess I'm learning more about my friend but I think I'm also interested that information [Music] Gordan we're getting little bit on that now but very good point Sarah people's bring that information we will add that to our docket of information slides that we debrief to the next meeting I hope you all caught that too that next meeting will be Monday November the 27th and so people make sure [Music] learning the board are here welcome you to I instituted a run and so obviously and so Thursday is my plug for our land we're actually perfect awesome a lot of the graphics thank you so much the median sir 6:30 at Senator John crane and representing the prankster well we'll be there they've been very very involved with our school corporation and you don't have to just talk about education this is very informal you don't have to feel all uptight about talking to legislators they are very approachable it's very informal if you want to talk about education I'm talking about education if you want to talk about something else that's in the news that's happening in Indiana that our legislators are going to affect feel free come yes my name is grant I'm very good thank you I'm a member of the Avon require boosters from the local pastor 30 years the most important and my father the three wonderful children two of which are currently in school and one former student alcohol state here that advocate well and speaking and based on mr.
Westman standing ovation I think I'm speaking to a like-minded crowd but in case there are a few of the Centers and beyond the door I'm going to advocate general for the referendum but specifically in areas of music instruction especially the intermediate school levels of a creative art occurred when a monster elaboration made their cuts everybody experiences some of those have been restored but some of the not including the instruction that teachers and funding especially as it relates to the sightings whereas some athletics get this energy stipends now where some this lizard used to make it mandatory for students to enroll in music class through eighth grade they no longer require that only through sixth grade they've got another drop seventh grade so even though it might be helpful to list the thousands of reasons why that is counterproductive to your children only one leads to Google why is he usable instruction beneficial and they will find it currently basically rates easier college acceptance more scholarships and higher job at positions in my life ceremony in the process I also learned that emotional energies were exhausted during the process and our game is awesome and back then it can become deeply personal to fight for Richmond and as we've learned over the past few years so it can be seen that more destroyed on the dress of course and nothing is more first there was there was one I know that personally because I had some of it was listening back and as we saw in the exhaustive in presentations we see how she was investing in dr.
Mermin was listening and she didn't we've asked her to not all of us including the conscientious citizens of 2011 who with their constitutional right but didn't know if she in the school or didn't recommend them as a pastor I defended my integrity for job security internet business doctor corners is a woman of integrity I believe in her and I believe but more importantly I believe in my kids and I want to be with best for them and that is a top-notch institution top-notch education necessarily includes I'm afraid not essentially a hospital so I'm my son graduates this year so my daughter is a sophomore in college now senior and my mom is a music how many new pretty to be tired but one time she told me she was talking to some colleagues about my granddaughter so the point is that we have a reputation far and wide and everybody we're known another friend of mine they moved to American Fork Utah and they had a conversation and they and so anyway I appreciate the 11% that Plainfield Passover Avon in the 5% and those things I understand that part of that comes from all those billions of square feet of warehouse but what else is talking that difference where is it because we're trying to do everything with less and this stretches out the budget so far or and we're you know trying to be so awesome that poor or what my mysterious was it's making that difference I'll start and I'd love to have those other three chime in so the first thing I would say is that the property tax cap if you take 70% residential 30% industrial or agricultural and you just flip back you can understand that that substantial amount of revenue on remember not the jet not the general a sight that on the side the debt side and the bus replacement and bus operation so that is a significant factor what else may contribute to that and check me on this but when I moved to Avon in 1999 I would do the Davis high school my husband went to Carmel my school our daughter was getting ready to enter her freshman year in high school and we wanted to go where there was a little or high school when we moved to Avon in 1999 there were three thousand six hundred students in Avon Community Schools this year you can see that we're welcoming more than 9,500 students so that growth has been astronomical compared to either our neighbors to the south or to the north and as a result we've had to build schools just in time to accommodate all of those students so our our capital requirements to pay all of those mortgage on brand-new schools as tax that tax that property tax category significant playfield that Brownsburg both of had steady growth but those were established communities that really their growth pattern at a much slower rate than Yvonne's growth so I would say that those those two factors really just become the complexion of where our taxes come from and other tabs in 70% of the households their Catholic that one combined with that astronomical group over a decade causes us to be to be different than that you know sip one of our legislators actually representative care world was was talking about the dynamics that caused our community to be a little bit different and so if you think about Brownsburg i-74 is there a lot of commerce can go on that interstate i-70 is just south of Plainfield and a lot of commerce can come and off load and unload their distribution in those locations that Avon has become the place where people come to live in order to educate their children this is the place where any anomalous people come to educate their children for that very reason it's it's magnificent that we're viewed as the community where we do kids and we do education and you do industry and commerce but those that factor it puts us in a very unique situation when it comes to what our communities so prior to avon I spent some time on the business side of public school operations prior to tax caps and so in those days in communities like ours you did everything you could to protect the general fund because the general fund pays salaries and the daily operations and so anything you could move into the capital side the CPF that the State Board would allow you to do you pushed it into the CPF right and that was just school financing 101 okay and so our situation today I am glad that dr.
Windham is in charge of that not me because I know the stress bills from my past experience but we can't do that and so the general fund has to cover those things that a playing field will push into their CPF or their local property taxes and so I mean there's just many things that that you can do and so our because we actually to protect MPF and our capital side push things into our general fund just to get by and so it's it's it's just crazy and so in a district like ours with the some of the challenges we face because we grew so quickly and where we are is as dr. Hartman it's a perfect storm and it is so complex that when you know the laws were passed in this doctor wouldn't say you couldn't imagine unless you lived it every day as the CFO what would happen you just couldn't if the idea of a tax cut was so much more you know it was just we appreciated that and we've been talking about in this state since the thirties right any containing property taxes and so we finally found a way to do that on one side but there are districts like us devastating impact we talked earlier the operation that we don't have to because that so that around our camp I think that also a part of this the funding formula for the the state of Indiana that is determined that this game we advocate to our legislator and we've made some progress in the we've get a little bit more per student but again it's not keeping pace we're still turning to a child we will of course continue to but how many years will it take to catch up and what will our current kids on teachers News I think the state legislators do the best they can they've got a pot of money and they're charged with dividing it up and whether we agree or disagree thousand to like it or not are we're capable internally our gel on their hands to try to figure out [Music] five hundred dollars less per student one thousand children that's nearly 5 million so how do we all of you what we I think about this they're going to do what we're supposed to just think it out but you know what I've never heard a legislator tell me live within your means I think they're doing the best to work with and some some children are way more needy and so they have to try to help them they actually for them they actually think that they've done by creating the referendum on what they say we're giving you local control you made you believe that here's the method by which that yeah attitude we're just supposed to accept what [Music] Oh and so you just imagine how bad best we have and they know that if they can hide because they games before that you start taking the pass through out for a month but that is what community rich you know you talk about our legislators mom go on and ask them for solutions and you're way out well that's why we wanted to right yes so that's never been but I'm concerned about class sizes a report later that shows in our class sites that's the two topics I want our students but honestly and that's my son I don't want any cut tell us how do we expand whatever we're just going to clarify one thing and mr.
Larsen you've given us that important point that we need to cover at our next meeting which is really on a lot of people's minds why isn't it so badly grounds for new plaintiff that's really what you're saying we need to do a little more succinct and concise explanation of that and we will do that but just to clarify because we all live this we talk about this kind of stuff all the time I don't want you to think that I think bill gives Plainfield schools 100 million although that would be very cool this is going to explain kind of the fine points where that they pass through a AV which is a valuation right the tax generated by that so when we talked earlier about clean bill has more industrial commercial that success the value but in some cases that funding doesn't get passed to all the taxing entities by the town so what Plainfield has said was some of it doesn't get passed through but they allow a portion of it to get pestering and considered in the funding for all the taxing entities so about 100 million dollars in Englehart all the taxing entities get my question is so there's two types of referenda that communities can undertake one is called operational or general fund and I think that's what's primarily on our mind another type of referendum is for a property or - let's just say build another building and that costs a lot of money even if we could afford to build another building we can't afford to staff that zone so at this point mrs.
Lambert I would say that what is primarily being discussed is an operational referendum that would increase funds to the general fund if still would help because on the property tax caps I remember we said we're dipping into the general fund we're taking money that should be going to teachers and salaries and benefits we're taking some money in over here to pay for a chiller and Avon middle school South that goes out from the day that school is about to start so we unfortunately are dipping into our general fund for some of our capital projects needs because of property taxes I think primarily we're talking more about operational the other point that I want to make about this whole notion of the property tax caps because it goes today why do we feel it so much more in a bond I think we all understand that we feel it more in Avon because we're so highly residential but there are only a third of the school districts in the state of Indiana that are even affected by property taxes property tax caps the rest of them have enough agriculture enough business it's just a non-issue so this is not an issue that very many people care about and then when you take that 90 school districts that are really negatively affected by property taxes the Airy few of them grew as fast as we did and built all those buildings and bought all those buses and incurred all that mortgage and very few of them have seen their dollars per child go down six years in a row that's what we mean by that perfect or maybe better described as in perfect storm of getting hit on both sides but we'll do a more thorough and I hope concise job of addressing I do want to be clear that an operational referendum is an increase to the local property taxes in the community outside of tax caps so you can increase property taxes in a community through a referendum and use those dollars on the general fund side so and that is an eighth year as an eighth year time frame or renewal so if you do an operational referendum it's for eight years you generate a certain amount of dollars annually for eight years in the capital referendum right would be then for a project or some sort of capital improvement so to build a building or to replace a chiller all right no biggie so and so that would be that would be a one-time now we might we generate those taxes over a certain number of years whatever we sold the bonds for to pay those bonds back method by which the legislature has right and you have to be a realist right classroom while we what so someone we were optimal so we're stupid I'm hi I'm Mary Burke aye [Music] in tax evaders here a little bit different than those people in Sweden to because obviously enough state line and also my husband and I our daughter graduated in 2010 and our daughter did very well because of the opportunities that should have here in the she got into a top college he's currently a second-year law student and a great law school and he goes back to the opportunities that she had here and again graduating in 2010 it was before a lot of the things that have to be cut or actually feather so just to business abuses point that if your children were in school before men perhaps their elementary students now you may not be aware of all the things then but my point for being here is as Horsham you no longer hurts children in the school corporation I feel a passion for money your kids and your grandkids to have the same opportunities that my daughter was afforded that is so important to me and loved mr.
West who needs to talk about a valley of neighbors I had never heard that before here's the next up Steve you know articulates what I know and that is I think I want people like me even though I don't know many of you in this room that we certainly don't near the children as a member of this community I want us to be to care and to be invested in the Eternity of opportunities that are available to your kids it's seven or the I mean the way I see it some of the pillars of any community a non-included certainly include quality public schools these protections firefighters all of that is so important and we need to support these pillars of our society to have the creative community that we play you know what I've asked myself is what kind of community do I want to live in I want to live in a community where people like me who no longer have children we're still invested because it's community I care about my neighbors kids I care about my co-workers kids I care about your kids and if I don't know you or know that it's important that we keep the school corporation is strong and so that your kids can grow up you know when I went to school dinosaurs were roaming the earth but when I went to school I competed for college place repair jobs locally or perhaps regionally my daughter and your kids they're competing actually means one way it's important that all of these programs and these are made available to your kids and I want you to know that someone like me cares about that even though my kids aren't here so I just for 50 grand I am actually a student at Avon high school a junior and the largest spots at Oakland High School isn't at the Holcomb and my question to the board is actually since class times and font sizes are increasing which I've learned a lot of recruits as I said it comes through a long high school how is the board trying to diminish the amount students are in per classroom and increase amount of teaching ability per classroom to help improve these students learning experience that's a great question Ruth I mean we we recently went some additions to our staff really to focus on classroom sizes in that prime time area Katie's three three and four we felt those are kids who when you were in third and second third grade you were trying to learn to read and socially adapt and do math and just understand how you did school right and so what we've tried to do is really focus on those areas because we believe that those children really deserve to get that very pointed instruction that helps them we have focused less on large classroom sizes in the upper grades which is something that is not far from any of our minds ever we believe that that is an unmet need we believe that there are leads that occur at those higher grade levels where students still need that individual instruction or they mean a team of teachers to come around them and really assist them but we have had to make some choices with our diminished funding and we have really focused on those younger students this chalasis here tonight she was my grandson's first grade teacher and what I've noticed in him was that before we had classrooms that were really sized manageable we had to rely on some of our gifted and talented students in those classrooms to teach their peers we were asking children to educate their other children who needed that remediation and we simply could not provide that with the dholtze that were in that classroom well I think that that is a collaborative way of learning I still believe that those students who are asked to do that are that their educational ability is diminished so what we're really trying to do is focus on those grades where we feel we set those children up for success in later grades but it does not go unnoticed to us that classroom sizes across all of our buildings including our are very sizeable junior class that that that is exactly what needs attention I also like to mention that about a little over two and a half years ago we began to talk with the board at every single board meeting about class size and the board quickly said that they wanted to see what our class sizes were at every single board and so every time we need that is a standing item and we don't think we should all be about test scores but we are concerned about some slippage and some of our standardized test scores so the board asked us a couple of years ago to take the top performing districts in in the Animas a the top 15 and and research what are their class sizes and then compare those to may bonds class sizes now here I am talking only about social studies science math and language arts and only talking about the k8 level one of the reasons we don't out that research all the time is because we don't want to be all about eye step we know that the whole child is far more important than just those subjects nonetheless at every board meeting and would do it again tonight we will talk about what the class size average is an Avon K through eight in those general education subjects and how those compared to the top performing districts despite our very very significant investment and eight and a half elementary teachers so that our K or class size average is now for the first time since I've been superintendent 25 or less with some outliers at Sycamore in Hickory in particular but we have those class sizes a little bit more in control despite that dr.
ava has been a report later and the board's regular meeting that we are still at the bottom of the perform of the class size averages compared to the top 15 districts so at least I do want you to know that this is something that our board has asked us to report on publicly for probably thirty we don't have a lot of people at our board meeting but our board still doesn't conducts their business in the public and wants everything on the record and when we meet with our Teachers Union which we meet with our Teachers Union quarterly that is also something that we report on each time so it doesn't feel good to just report on it and don't boy that's a drag that's the way it's felt for a couple of years but I do want you to know that it's been uppermost in our boards life you go to the high school level in terms of what have we done allemande with poverty yes I just wanted this forever 15 2017 when my son started hitting her there were 18 kids in his class at country my daughter had 21 or 22 that country we have 27 to turner's and everybody's done and if you didn't see stuttering kindergartners to Lincoln big difference I volunteer for kindergartners base it's huge and we're asking these teachers to do more and more rigorous these kids are being mentioned for active interest well they was not connected so they were only there two and a half hours these kids are out here all day earlier about more needs and we got the grant for relief were counselors to inform our kids coming in with higher needs and a higher science classes that we've ever had and criminals were innocent so for those of you that it's not been that long since the classifieds were that small and now we grow so much realize how much and how short a time period those classes are oh yes thank you yes I but here's what this jar for most possible in many articles Miss America school supplies and loading up their cards and so one of the things that - is to not only think doubt for money into our schools into our children so that every kid has the chance shut wire or be on the map we you know to travel to another I'm very important have those opportunities but also you gave our art teacher crash and so I encourage us to our futures they are so barking I feel other than money too well that's okay teachers in college so I appreciate the the first year she had we have and now I'm concerned and I know that this very class is bigger than the junior class and you just wondered how and it's taken three years to get where and I know that you know very important but I don't want her to get lost in the shuffle of this that's such a good point there's an old adage that says if you have to eat an elephant the best way to do it is just one bite at a time and so as we fix one problem we have to look at the next problem in the next problem and certainly I think one of the things towards mine is as you made a dent in the case report classroom size here you're right those children the to the trick you laid to upper grades and we've got to continue to try to solve that problem forward we try to think of ways that we could be even more efficient and effective we think of ways to be able to maneuver classroom sizes and cross all of the Elementary's you know as an example if you were to look at every single classroom size came through for at every single elementary school you would find some that are at the low end and some that are the high end and so there's a lot more ability and in a number of elementary schools to be able to through get around to take advantage of that but as you get to intermediate school and you get to middle school those those have built that ability does not carry on so it is I wish I could give you an answer for what as dr.
Burton said we report every single meeting except that we have dr. Edith pull the information sometimes oh we can do a staring thing yeah well that's still bad but [Music] we don't know or are you some of those things are those things on your mind - have we done a good enough job ours [Music] and they know that they'd like this that have tremendous [Music] to know that some nursery and all of our teachers and so I can't do we were it's frustrating you have to there's more and we saw fewer inspired a work [Music] so I am a junior and I really see that that is my second family I but I believe that Avon is the valley of neighbors but it's hard to find a and such the so you know what we do is people who find smaller communities to really get closer to you are close to me through that Orchestra it's very and know what strings wait sir and the whole year you know I did and consonances learned as much as I could and I'd like to say like to pretend that the reason that I like when I signed up for Orchestra next year at the in the sixth grade going into 7th grade it was because I just loved it so much because those have won such a big time and I didn't I kind of didn't want to continue because I didn't know what I was doing I wasn't like but by the end of demonstrated I got I understood the community and I understood what's so amazing about our program like actually care about artwork character stuff I mean I would say the work she's a really big part of my life and a part going up and so I definitely think that you know making the kids to Orchestra through seventh grade through eighth grade is a policy considered saving but I think it's really wanted to find develop programs and policies and such that helps the students and the teachers as best as we can without having to do like Alcon moving things around because the atmosphere some sense without is I know so I think it's very important those bikini ways to help may be said about appreciating teachers just making sure that the community is alive and helping each other example as a student we are always working through things put on a colored resumes so many like community service max ourselves looking for yeah it's like the court and the whole community should always be ways to think upset lots for she's a very patient there what's the actual shortfall what's our budget what how much are we spending how much do we eat what's that trimming going forward you know what I wouldn't those charts look there I've got that to us and see if everything to see how this is well gab is a little offended this is what we think we need to close this gap you know some actual dollar figures that I'm assured commissioner we didn't feel ready to present that to you yet and part of it is because we need to know what you want you know there are a lot of performing arts people here a lot of music people here we're hearing some very loudly what is value in the school district I know what the principal's want we have this conversation with them they want class sizes at 25 or below at the elementary 26 27 at the inter medium school they feel that they need additional instructional coaches they feel that we need additional counselors at the 512 they feel that the ECAs extracurricular activities are poorly compensated and that teacher shouldn't have to volunteer their time I've got a whole litany of things but before I can put a price tag to it these kinds of conversations need to occur so that we can come back because if we do ask you and we moved here and I'm a homeowner yeren if I'm going to ever ask this community to pay more we want to do exactly what you say which is this is how much it's gonna cost and this is what you're going to get but right now I think it's a little bit premature for us to tell you how much it's going to cost until we get a better sense of what you all want and you've done a marvelous job tonight I've got pages and pages of notes and many ideas for the presentation two weeks from tonight we thought we practiced a lot and a lot more work to do so we will absolutely come back and refund this presentation and I promise you that we will get to that point but we want to continue to ask what's the most important thing to you is class size as extracurriculars as opportunities for our kids is it a number of instructional minutes that our youngsters have our music and physical education what is it and as you tell us that will get a sense and we'll be able to come back to you not say here's the plan but we can say here's what this would get here's what this would get here's what this weekend and again I know our board well enough having for five years I know our board is going to want your opinion if we're going to ask for more money from the community they're going to want to know that you think this is a good plan so I promise you that we can get to that I won't say to you that there's a shortfall right now because that would imply that we're spending more money than we're taking in we do have a balanced budget but it's been balanced on the backs of our kids and our teachers and our staff members our bus drivers and our teaching assistants etcetera etc so we balance our budget or we're holding on for dear life and my attitude upset it over and over again I want to avoid a referendum I want to avoid a referendum I would not want to have a referendum that's what I've said but now I'm looking around and I can't I don't have any more tricks to pull out I can't get any more sponsorship sighted I don't think I can be a whole lot more efficient so now that's what we want to get your input about are there efficiencies we haven't considered are there revenue streams that we haven't considered and what is it that we want for our schools so I really appreciate that question because I think it really will take us to the next step and both sharpen our pencils any final comments here will be dude and I just worked with dr.
Bergman says which really was the purpose of tonight's meeting was to do a lot of listening and not a lot of talking that we heard more information it was important for us to give you some basic information in those slides but now really what we'd like to encourage you to do is to start thinking about what are some of those trade offs one of the things that are important what are the things that your neighbors and your fellow parents believe are important and to really start to focus on that as we begin this process of studying what's next great money please come to the November 27th meeting encourage others to do that because once again probably won't have those answers but we're getting you know it's like when you're focusing a camera the aperture gets very much more clear as you as you try to get this thing and so I would encourage you to talk to others to send us your information if you think it's something as soon as you leave the meeting please one last thing is there are the note cards that are on your chairs please take this opportunity to break down any questions or comments that either you feel strongly about move we didn't have time for this evening or that maybe you just didn't want to ask you this public forum that all of that would be consideration to do import my comments won't fit on a card and finding it on the agenda and email cardboard so how there are a couple of different things that thank you for that question this is a great way to gather information but there are a lot of people who didn't speak our course today I'm thinking and as this process emerges there will be opportunities for electronic and but both anonymous and from your email because we know that that's important we know as we move forward will be important to say this question was asked and this is the answer so at this moment I always invite anyone to email me you might you know address names hard to spell we use middle initials it keeps us from having too many awful technology my email addresses M as in Maggie E H o ER and as in Nancy E a and m h o ER and e ma and at a bond - fools org I know our auratus always open to receiving input and all of their email addresses are on the webpage so they're hyperlinks so they're pretty easy to to connect with because sometimes you don't really want to talk to the superintendent directly to the border I know that they welcome that input both formally and in for right now I think that's your best bet but I can I guarantee you that before a decision is made about what we're going to do and how we're going to do it it what it's going to be there will be a lot more opportunities fringe but thanks for asking that question last night I'm going to bed my wife so without their that this meeting is about cutting these and I was floored Cheryl pants have me heard that how many hurt that you think you're thinking that to those who spoke about teachers I'm not a parent here who's graduated a few years ago greater so we have completed in our house with them and even though I haven't counted and all of that else is what theory classroom I saw the numbers I knew how to what whether fabulous that's the best three years ago so we did we did add teaches the past year especially well very concerned about you know so you know Senator John sit up here or make the laws now the classes should be so he makes it a point to extend it's important because talk about but if you never and it's disappearance night it's not something I like so we're not talking about kids in the ideal world we could expand everything to have all classes down we know the state active state involved as we go through this process to decide what our options are really appreciated we are going to move on to the rest of our agenda which includes very encouraging now budget and we love daddy state but these understands been here I know for two hours how are you yeah
[Music] okay good evening I'd like to call the Brookfield Board of Education meeting for Wednesday November 15th to order as a first order of business let's please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance thank you thank you so we have in terms of our Board of Education members here yes we do we have six we don't have no Paul chap all Jocko is not here Paul Paul is out of town I do know he's out of town we do have a new member Debbie Brooks we have to do this with the other new board members who will be joining us at our December sixth meeting but I see they're here in the audience today so congratulations to all of you for your your recent win in the elections and we can't wait to have you join us here at the table and also in our in our in our upcoming retreats where we'll you know come together as a board so this will be great tonight's a interesting bittersweet night we're saying goodbye to some board members this evening who are who have been with us through thick and thin and I just wanted to thank the three board members who are departing this evening Harry shaker Steve Harding and Paul chucko who's not here with us tonight for for their service I'm gonna start Harry with with you you and I ran together for public office the same year into 2003 I ran for the board of Finance and you ran for the Board of Education I served eight years on the Board of Finance and you have served 14 years here in on the board of education and that's amazing to me it's so much I think you you and I sat and added it up but I think you've done more than a thousand meetings as a as a Board of Ed member and you've done countless negotiations with with different union groups you've you've I think you've served on almost every single subcommittee that the board has had and have contributed and in so many ways in good times and in tough times Steve not as long as Howard but you know what you've been with us for four years right you and I served together here for the last two but it was a tumultuous four years in a lot of ways it's you know and III think back on some of the stuff you've done both as the as a member of this board but also in bridging the gap to the state legislature and giving us so much insight and in areas of you know funding from the state policy and and just general insights to what's going on it's it's just such a contribution to a board like ours and I can I urge you to keep visiting I will but thank you thank you so much for everything and Paul chucko who's not here tonight is it served for six years on this board he was a four year term and then just re-elected as a two-year term recently Paul spend my vice chair and has been a strength for this board in terms of his knowledge and experience on how things get done and how we should be thinking is important I think all of us have benefited from Paul's sage advice along with Harry's and Steve sage advice in terms of you know how to do things right as a board he's headed up our facilities and our Finance Committee I think the entire time he's been on the board and and he's bred it brought us strength there and I think that's I talked to Paul earlier today and I thanked him told him I would be you know giving a brief speech for him but boy Paul has been a huge asset it was the Lord as well so we're losing first I just first part for me and then I'll open it up to the rest of the board for any comments they'd like to make but for me we're losing an extraordinary amount of experience and thoughtfulness and wisdom with you guys moving on and we'll miss you actively on the board but we do have your phone number so so I'm sure we'll be calling you if we need you so thank you I would like to thank Perry for new years of service and not only that but the institutional knowledge you've been able to breathe which is a valuable when we're debating and discussing something to have someone who has the background knowledge thank you very much for that Steve thank you for all the plates have been juggling in the air thank you um and in addition to that just uh can-do spirit of positivity that you bring with you every single meeting thank you and Paul for his experience and his forceful opinions when did we meet and the thing that thrills me most about the three of you all is that you're not really leaving the barn at all we're I mean we're going to have our presentation in the state we're going to have Paul on strategic facilities and we're gonna have areas of Selectmen so I'm happy that everyone is still going to be fighting the good fight for education of Brookfield thank you : okay first is Harry thank you so much Harry my very first meeting is the Board of Education member took me under his wing and gave me sound advice explained everything that was going on I was the newbie no experience and I will never forget that because it was very helpful thank you Steve I'm calling you in heartburn and again like I said when you become governor I don't think so I want to be voted in invite ya Paul um check oh I guess the the most valuable thing that I've learned being on the board in the past two years was two years ago when I joined the board if I had believed any of the stories that I had heard or had taken people's comments to face value it would have been a huge huge mistake Paul is a fabulous person I have learned so much from him and I'm so glad that when I came into the board I put all the rumors aside and I just concentrated with a clear head and I wasn't going to prejudge anybody and I'm so glad that I did that because I would have lost some valuable information and a very good board member that I became friendly with so I guess I would be my advice to anybody when you come onto a board just put aside anything you've heard about anybody and just work together the voters voted you in your job is to work together and I'm glad that I did that with Paul or the same thing I conference for individual conversations which we've already started all right there you go so thank you to our board members who are leaving and I just want to welcome the four new board members once again we have Debbie who's here at the table because she's been sworn in and for those of you listening on TV the way the process works is when you're filling a two-year slot you take office actually immediately after the election and the those who are taking a four year slot actually are sworn in on the first of December and would take office at that point and puts Rosie in an interestingly challenging position because she's been sitting with us for so long and and and as actually it has to take a month officially off but you know we all you know Rosie you you know you're part of us you know and Jan and that joy as well you guys are welcome to come sit up at the table if you'd like it'll squeeze in and do that or if you want to wait until you actually take office it just you can't actually be voting or anything I just want to say thank you to the people who supported me over the years and you know Steve I'm just so proud of Steve because it's very difficult to command and try to do two jobs and the value that he has brought to us being our state rep has just been incredible and to our administers administrators you hear a lot around town when you're in shop right and when you're on the fields and everything about what's wrong but I couldn't be prouder of our administration and we're very fortunate to have and you know look forward to working with them in a different capacity for the new board members I think the one thing that I can tell you is that you need to come up and sit in this chair we had to be able to be yourself and not be swayed by party your friends or or situations I think one of the reasons why I've lasted as long as I have is because I've been true to my convictions and to my my beliefs and you need to do that because you can it gets tough especially during we've had some very difficult times and I think you just need to make sure that when you come up here you come up with a clear mind and lastly I have to look out here because I can't look at Lisa but uh she is the workhorse of this board this board does not exist without Lisa and I want to thank her very much and Steve and I have something for ya Steve very quickly Harry you have always been a mentor in this sport and to myself and to many other individuals and you have always put kids first and especially the athletic programs has been a real passion of yours and I think we've advanced in a lot of sports because of your strong efforts on this board and I want to thank you for 14 years you know four years was tough great times and good times with 14 years multiplied by tenants incredible that is true I'm the young guy I used to get picked on and you're gonna have to find somebody else so Rose is pretty young so you know actually everyone coming on the board actually now that I think about it is young Jan is very young herself as well so and joy is exceedingly young I gotta get reelected in two years I got so anyway I just just quickly this board whether it's the current board members who have always been by my side or the previous board members with Scott and Susan and Viktor we've been through tough times but this experience has been amazing to me I changed my name so fee on certain things and I was talking to Jen actually that bagel man the weekend before about how it's changed the person that I am and it's been an amazing experience I when I came on this board I didn't know my wife I still live with my parents and I didn't have a really able job and since then I've gotten married had my first house and had my own law firm so there's my life has changed but has changed me and I think to the new people coming on this board it's going to change you to in really positive ways that how rewarding this is is truly incredible and I want to thank everyone for specially the administration for sharing this experience with me so thank you thank you there is also a yes now we have bookends thank you very much oh we did we switch them you guys will sort that out and I think we're gonna take a brief recess for some refreshments yes oh so if you'll bear with us on TV we're going to go in recess as a board and I join everybody who's here for a slice of cake and a little bit of a thanks to both Harry and to Steve who are leaving us tonight [Music] all right so we're back in session could I you know bring us back to an order here so thank you all for for some patience I hope you all enjoyed a piece of cake and and thank you for those of you on TV for your patience next up on our agenda is public comment and first up for public comment is Linda Davies so I'll turn it over you a name and address before you speak please hi everybody the button needs to be up on the speaker there no no that should be up so if there's a down an aisle or at least that can help you then hi I'm Linda Davies I've been coaching the high school dance team for 18 years actually I took a couple years off needed a sabbatical and I'm back again and we are doing a show for all of the Brookfield schools it's called tis the season this is our 11th year we have been running the show in New Milford we were waiting patiently for Fulfilled to do the auditorium over with their sound system in their lights so we're so happy to be home in the past we did a benefit for aunt's place for cancer care and we earned over $32,000 for them in the ten years that we were in New Milford so because Diane Patrick Oni and I are from Brookfield our children have all graduated from here and obviously we have a very big stake in the Brookfield high school dance team we are putting on a Christmas show on Friday night all proceeds will go to the for Brookfield schools obviously to the superintendent um to split up as he sees fit but first of all I want you to know that you can go on show ticks for you dot-com and you can order a ticket and if you can't make it Friday night you can still make a donation to the Brookfield schools through show ticks they will be writing you a check also and if you want to come on Saturday and Sunday which are additional shows your money can still be donated to the schools so our show consists of the Brookfield high school dance team 21 of them who do the quickest changes you have ever seen in your life because they are the basic part of the show but we do have many young Brookfield kids three years old 5 years a little sick years 6 years old we have a visit from Santa for the kids and I assure you that that the dance team will really really put on an incredible show they're an incredibly talented group of girls I want to thank John and Bob and mark and ELISA they have paved the way and made it so simple for us they are advertising and I would so appreciate it if all of you if you can't make the show make a donation before I go I wanted to make a special thanks to Harry Harry I don't know if you remember this but when we put on my daughter was a senior in 2005 we put on stand by me and you came to the premiere and you wrote the most incredible letter to the other we had a paper at that time and we went on to raise $25,000 for our soldiers serving in Iraq and you have always been supportive when the dance team won it's a big loss and I'm so sorry to see you go thank you everybody Linda is it this Friday December first Friday night 7:00 o'clock that's when the benefit is and tickets are on sale show ticks for you dot-com and Saturday on Sunday we're doing matinees at 2 o'clock okay any anybody else did I miss anything thank you so much thank you I appreciate your coming okay next up is our mr.
Jaffe no you didn't sign up so we have a little confusion on and other people in the same thing mr. Lasser did you did you sign up okay good your neck sent good evening Howard Laster 116 tower Road first I'll join you all in thanking thanking you all for your service thanking the new members elected members for their service I know how much effort this particular job takes my wife was on the board for ten years and so you know it was ten years out of that marriage to Harry have known Harry a long time thank you for your service I know your commitment to the community and I hope to see it continue on the board of selectmen and Steve Steve and I share kind of a special relationship from competitors to collaborators and he's always been very supportive of our efforts at the Craft Center and I appreciate your help Steve but I'm here really to talk about an item on your agenda you have an item where you want to appropriate seventy two thousand dollars for an architectural study for the schools I fully support the architectural study for the schools but the proper way to fund this is really through the town should be creating a capital fund and should put money from its fund balance essentially to that because eventually it's going to get you know world we're going to do a school project at some point and at that point we'll bond that and then pay that loan back it should not come out of your operating budget if you have seventy thousand dollars that you can that you can scrape together out of your operating budget it means either something else isn't getting done that we plan to do or if something actually you know you did save some money somewhere there's obviously a lot of needs we just sat through an hour worth of conversation where people pointed out some some dire needs showers that need to be fixed bathrooms they need to be fixed why not do those things instead of bonding those in the in the bond next year every year we seem to be asking for more and more money for chairs or tables or whatever use the money for that instead of this which really you know from any municipal proper municipal accounting should be done a different way I think you know if anybody has questions I'm glad to answer but I know Steve Bob you know this process no and I'll talk about that when we get to that item is I've had some discussions so the only rationale to do this as expediency but you know I think in this town with a supportive Board of Selectmen and a supportive Board of Finance and doing it the right way I don't see that it's going to really take that much effort to get this is the right way so thank you okay and next up is Mary Jo chuckle yes okay Maryjo check oh sorry I'm the other half of the check Oh 29 Dorsett Lane I just wanted to come at public comment because I have an 8th grader who came home incredibly excited recently because she found out the Washington DC trip was happening and I just wanted to thank dr.
barillo for his part and making sure these kids had you know something that they're going to remember forever it's such an important trip for kids of this age and I know it's on the agenda tonight for approval but thank you thank you to the board for supporting it and I hear there's a rumor we might have a special chaperone I can guarantee all chaperone to maybe myself but it'll be a great trip and thank you for supporting it thank you thank you is there anybody else who wanted to make a public comment before we move on on the agenda this is a well attended meeting with we're gonna start having budget round tables before meetings all the time because we get a chance to have more people here okay so next up on our agenda is a report from our student representative Dan Berryman so Dan I'll turn it over to you and let you give us an update pants movie at 6:30 in the upper gym in addition students were given the honor of naming Brookfield police departments newest k-9 unit and they decided tonight as in a knight in shining armor you just have to be closer to the microphones on all sixth graders will be going on a trip to the CT Science Center science team just going on a trip to the Maritime Center and they celebrated Veterans Day last week by having 12 veterans visit different classrooms and discuss the various military experiences it was a great day to celebrate the veterans let them know how much we appreciate their service to our country dr.
Brill also visited WMS and spoke with some of the seventh and eighth graders about their experiences they said that they had some very insightful conversations I mean the students appreciated you coming to speak with them at the high school Key Club is having a fundraiser tomorrow at Outback Steakhouse from 4 to 9 p.m. on 15% of your check will go towards Relay for Life and they're having a second fundraiser at Maggie McFly's on November 27th the staff of the paw print our student newspaper was able to raise around three hundred dollars between homecoming carnival earlier in October and a second fundraiser and the money is going to go towards their printing costs all juniors have been visiting the library with their English and history classes on three certain classic American literature and civil rights so mrs. Rocca was pretty excited about that the Gay Straight Alliance participated in an event at Bethel High School on November 3rd in which they allowed and which they were allowed to meet with students from Bethel Danbury and New Fairfield and they were invited to this Saturday to a second event at Newtown High School the best buddiez club had their friends giving today and around 50 students attended they brought food drinks and they had a very large game of bingo the annual rican bake was last saturday many clubs and sports participated including our soccer teams swim team Key Club counselling etc today host a volunteer at hands place which is a Cancer Support Centre in Danbury and they're also launching a tobacco awareness campaign as November is the tobacco Awareness Month any NHS is hosting the staff appreciation breakfast this Friday and Spanish Honor Society reached out to me about making mrs.
Kappa rows to the official to the advisor to do the budget freeze they have been unable to meet so and then on a lighter note as of November 1st forty-one percent of the senior class has applied to at least one college alright so we said it's always a fun time of year when those applications are due aren't isn't it yeah thank you Dan I appreciate it any questions for Dan all right let's move on written correspondence written correspondence from Linda Davies regarding to Holiday Show on December 1st okay board minutes recommend a motion that the board approved the minutes listed below as recommended the regular meeting of October 18 2017 okay do I have a second we're gonna give you all the seconds tonight Harry there you go so any any comments on them on the minutes okay hearing none all in favor any opposed okay next up is the superintendent's update dr.
Birol I'll turn it over to you Thank You mr. Weldon so before I leave before I get in I have just a couple of comments I thank Dan for his his work I do appreciate all the work thus far dan you're doing a great job my nephew did this in the district he grew up in and school he graduated from he's serving in the Navy now and I often refer to a girl before you and of course you would talk to him about those days and yeah he did a heck of a job at it as well so it's an important job representing the kids and I'm really appreciative of the work so far dan so keep it up dan mentioned some of the Veterans Day ceremonies I ain't got to spend the time at center school like I do annually and dr. sail on her team but I'm just a wonderful veteran ceremony where active veterans actually come in and most of the time it's an uncle or a parent or a grandparent with the kids and the kids are considered sponsors and they're introduced and it was just beautiful and then of course there's a beautiful song and it's actually on our Facebook page and I posted it on Twitter that is amazing just to listen to and the the patriotism and pride that the kids exhibited so I wanted to mention that as well and then the other piece you heard Dan talk about classic literature from the English department and civil rights from history to remind everybody in our reorganization mrs.
Spencer is now leading our combined English and history to social studies departments which is the now the humanities department and you can see the integration there already when this is raqqa here from the Media Center which is technology in our research and seeing all that come together immediately this year there'll be more reports on how that's going as time goes on so I just wanted to draw everybody's attention to that and make sure it's emphasized so you'll notice that dr. ruby is not here sitting beside me tonight dr. ruby is representing the district that the Bushnell and Hartford tonight at the Teacher of the Year state ceremony where mrs. Amy Mac our French teacher as our district Teacher of the Year is being recognized so I wanted to let everybody know that and for the first official item on my superintendents report is our munis update we've got some exciting news coming up with with our conversion immunising I'll let mr.
host talk a little bit about that sure thank you there's been a lot of hard work going on particularly with the air conklin our technology director and Joan Reynolds our accounting supervisor very cabin our HR specialist Cindy and carolien our payroll folks a lot of tedious work building positions in the system building pay codes building deduction codes they exported the demographic data out of the old system into the new system so now we are ready for our first parallel test which we expect to take place tomorrow so I have in my mind that with all the work that's going in and should come out perfect but for those most like Bob knows going through things like this it won't be but we will we'll run it and figure out what went wrong and keep running it until it stilts right so we're very excited about this time so that's that's our munis update for this month and and thanks Ken for all the leadership in that area so it's a great deal of working for those in the audience and those at home the plan is the final part of the Muniz conversion is this human resources and payroll conversion that is to occur for January 1st so we're working up on that that hard deadline update quickly on the huckleberry air quality issue that we had very early in the school year our mitigate mitigation efforts were successful we recently did a follow-up assessment and the indoor air quality actually has less count count of the mold spores than the outdoor air so we're in really good shape there and we are keeping a very close eye on that and the the teachers in the particular rooms have expressed their appreciation for our responsiveness there so that's working out quite well at whisk and year you've heard a couple of mentions of this I have to thank mr.
Renda for gathering up a number of student leaders seventh eighth graders yesterday we spent what I say about an hour and a half Dean with the kids yesterday talking about all kinds of issues in schools areas they thought we you know could improve things for the incoming generation of middle school kids they were like they felt like the sage wise folks out there the elders of whiskey and air but also you know moving forward for recommendations not only for the kids coming through but as they thought about high school and things they'd like to to see as part of their educational experience it was great actually Debbie son was one of the kids so it was fantastic and every time you go and sit with the students you realize just how wonderful the town is and the families in these kids I mean they're just amazing they're wonderful to interact with and we'll be working with mr.