So you shouldn't read this and say, "Oh, this is the the exact same same situation for all these schools." For instance, Southernington, it appears that they spend less money per pupil. We don't have a universal chart of accounts. So, you know, I'm going through a budget book to try to figure out um all of their line items, but you know, Southernington in this instance also has uh a longer distance between like the mileage requirement for students. Um they don't have to transport for sports like hockey. So, it's really hard to make that comparison, but I would say if you're looking at this, some of the most comparable schools, at least demographically and size-wise, are going to be Guilford, Avon, and Simsbury. and we're kind of in the middle of the road when we look at per pupil spend for those districts. Um, overall our transportation increase from this fiscal year to next fiscal year is 6.4%.
Right now, that message is not being set correctly. We understand that you're busy, but we're not here to complain. We're here because we care. We are here. We are here because we want better for our school, for our classmates, and for our future public education day. Thank you for your time. This was Isaac Varga and Daniel Lee was talking. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, hi. So, I go by EJ and I'm going to talk about the Danbury High School swim team for both the boys and girls. So, I'm part of the boys swim team and I just wanted to share something that's been really hard for us this season. We practice at another school um New Voil High School and since we don't have a pool at our school, it was kind of hard to get to practices. Um our coach scheduled them for like 3:30, but still I had to take the bus home and then go back and then the person that dropped me off had to go back home.
So again, great accolades to the S3 team and what they've been doing in their rollouts at our school. Um as well, our data teams continue where we're looking at identifying specific needs for our students and creating plans that are differentiated. Our community service projects are really getting a little more traction right now of where we've had cards and letters going to different members of our communities mainly focusing on our seniors as well. Our second graders have taken on a role of just cleaning up the playground and making sure that lost and found actually comes into the building, doesn't get left outside. And as well, as you'll see as a later goal, our STM math champions. U we've had second graders and now first graders as well that are actually going into other classrooms to help students in their problem solving. Our goal to be to continue as part of this grant is to have 80% of our journey um completed by the end of the school year.
It's a thought experiment. The point is that by imagining that future hindsight, reflecting back from death's doorstep, we can make decisions now which can prevent that fate. Consider ultimately what you wish you had more time for, what you will wish you would have more time for. Whatever is on that list, those are the things you should spend your time on. Now, as juniors, you read the things they carried in which Tim O'Brien uses fiction to ch to challenge you to experience things from other people's perspectives and recognize the physical and emotional and psychological burdens that many people are carrying around. And we learn that to see from another's point of view is an act of imagination. But it is through that type of narrative thinking that we can develop meaningful relationships and reach for the truth at the heart of our own experiences. As seniors, some of you perhaps begrudgingly read Milton's Paradise Lost in which Satan says, "The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." But four books later, he realizes that the one obligation he was under to be grateful, which he had felt was so unjust, a burden, was really a gift, a blessing.
So that matters quite a bit when we're going from about $4.4 million to 4.6. And that's all of our transportation accounts. So I've just talked a whole bunch. I don't know if anyone has a any questions or comments up to this point before we launch into the proposals themselves. Right. Proposed times. What are we requesting the start times? And when you say start time, it's more school start time, not the first pickup time basically. Correct. Correct. And I would say for pickup times, um, try trying to keep them under an hour from the school start time. But everything you're going to see here is the start and end of the actual school day. Bus drop off is usually five minutes before the start of the school day. So, what time is is it 8:30 for elementary? uh for our for our second tier schools right now.
It was just a lot for my family to do that. So, um, because of that, some swimmers had to quit since they couldn't always get a ride. So, by the end of the season, we only had eight committed swimmers left. And it made things tough, even though everyone really wanted to be a part of the team. So, I know that there might be costs or other reasons for not having a bus to practice. And I don't know all the details, but even just having a bus once or twice a week would really help us out. And I also noticed we were able to get a bus for a home meet, um, which we didn't really need it because the time was so much later. So, I'm wondering why we can't get one for practices, too. Can I just ask you a quick question about about that?
As a school, we've already surpassed 91%. um kindergarten who got a slow start last year because of a technology roll out, they've already met 100% of the journey being met. Grade one has met 88%, grade two has met 83%. Uh so again, just some some great work that's been happening from our old plan of what was going um this year, the additional pieces that are new for us, it's continuing these other pieces, but a big push from our site council is to improve our volunteerism at our school and to get back to preandemic levels. um to bring out new ideas that are coming through. We've surveyed families this year to gather some thoughts and ideas and it's more about how we can bring people back into our school more often. Um as well continuing to be a unified school champion through the Special Olympics. This year, Erica Zipsy has been serving as year two as our liaison for our school.
Because to live every moment in a state of gratitude is bliss. And to deny being grateful is to inhabit a mental hell. Others of you read Brave New World in which Lenina Crown asks while living a life of superficial pleasure and entertainment, what else is time for? The answer comes almost 100 pages later that the purpose of life is not merely the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge. So, I hope you keep learning and go on to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. I hope you persevere like Odysius. I hope you reflect and discover beauty and meaning like Theorough. I hope you choose empathy, creativity, and gratitude every day. And I hope you take all the things you have learned and continue to learn and put them into practice in your life. I hope it makes for a great story.
Um it is we have Dodd 805 and then let me just double check for Highland and I mean Chapman Chapman and Norton start also at 8:05 and do that is 806 Highland and Norton start at 850 for currently currently currently. So, you're going to see some proposals and that those will change. So, we did a couple different things. So, each of these proposals, I'll kind of walk through what the main changes are, but there's no consistent start time for elementary schools throughout this proposal set. It's a little bit different for any I just want to repeat what I think. It's Chap Chapman Dittle Dodd are 805 Norton Highland. Oh, sorry. Yes. Sorry. Norton Highland Darcy are 850. Right. Kylin, Norton, and Darcy. Yes, third team. Yeah, I'm in the thick of it. So, you're in the Thank you, Tim. I appreciate it. You're right. Y Thank you.
So, you don't you're asking for a bus to go from school after school to your practice, which is where? Um, New Fairfield High School. In New Fairfield High School. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. That's one question. Thank you. Good evening. I'm a senior from Danbury High School. My name is Acham Dagen and I'm also here to sorry I'm also here to speak about the the issue of DHS being underfunded. So, Danbury High School is our district's largest yet ironically most underfunded school. Uh, despite welcoming nearly 4,000 minds every day, we receive the smallest slice of the budget pie. And this imbalance can be seen through every classroom. Our teachers have to stretch outdated textbooks across numerous students and have to ration markers up for years, amongst other things. Our students have to endure bathrooms so run down that dirty conditions and shut down restrooms are the norm and the expectation rather than the exception.
Uh, not only was Erica selected to be a presenter at the fall conference, uh, but she's also been highlighted twice in their, uh, newsletter updates of where they're writing stories about what is happening at Warren School and how we're being inclusive and making sure that we're supporting our students and our families. So, something that I'm very proud of of how we've been working through this. Finally, the the last major shift for us, which will be a lot of work for us, is revamping our report card. And it's really about making sure that our report card is more parent friendly and making sure that it's written for the audience who is the parent of a child. So this way they can understand how their child is doing, how they're progressing through the grade level skills, how they're doing with social emotional skills, all of these aspects.
I'll leave you with a poem. One of my wife's favorites from Roomie. This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival, a joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all. Even if there are crowd of sorrows, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes. And happy [Applause] Thursday. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. The class saludiatoran is awarded to the student who is ranked second in the senior class. This year, our saludiatoran will be attending the University of New Hampshire to pursue a double major in mechanical engineering and sustainability. She's an outstanding student from our engineering program and a resident of Beverly. Please welcome to the podium Joss Eversol. [Music] The last time I spoke on a podium like this was to only 30 people in the fifth grade and I ran away after the second paragraph.
All right. Uh so, I'll jump jump into kind of our first proposal. Um and just highlight some of the This is a busy slide. Um but I'm going to kind of highlight the the big changes here. So this is this is showing what would happen if in 2627 we had the same school setup. So all of the same schools on this left hand table where it says current. So this is not going to be our reality because we're decommissioning some schools and we're opening new schools. But this is just to provide the most baseline comparison point. Um so if and this is our DATCO type one bus cost only. This is not all of our transportation lines, which next year is going to be $4.6 million. This is just our Dco if we're running just our base buses. So on the left you have current um what the projection would be for 2627 where we're paying $48 a day for those big buses.
Hallways are so crowded that at times it can seem impossible to reach class on time. And this stress affects not only students but teachers alike who must endure similar conditions to this while teaching for hours every day. Um, and I think DHS just proves that a lot of students feel that they get unfair treatment due to this like um, lack of funding. And I think it's time we take action so that every student and teacher has the tools, dignity, and environment they deserve. I encourage all of you listening to everything in your power and helping us battle these problems and to help push solutions such as better allocation of funding in our district. Your actions won't just help the current generation but everyone to come after too. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for bringing your message to the board. Our last speaker is Sa.
What we have found from our work in talking to parents in the community is the first uh trimester parents really don't gain a lot of insight because they're based on end of the year expectations. Uh so they struggle with saying they're not sure how their child does. Thankfully, our teachers do a great job communicating throughout and through their parent teacher conferences, but this is one of the large drivers for us to make these changes that we need. So, next year, we'll be looking to create that, bringing it to the uh to the school committee for approval and then with an imple implementation during the 26 27th I don't what do you mean my kid's nodded? just I just I just skipped down to the comments especially for the first half of the year which is unfortunate that that's what most parents are doing and it's really we do need to make changes so that it's written for our audience not for the staff and and even the staff right so on them if the only real communication is going to happen in the comments and that the other work they're doing isn't meaningful you know to communicate to the parents then they're wasting their time too so it's going to be efficient all around right but it's not like a five minute even though seems like a simple, you know, you've got to make sure that it's in line with what Mindis is doing and there's a lot more to it to make sure that it's consistent and that it's all this all all your staff general and I have been working together to coordinate these efforts.
Today, according to my math, I'm looking at about 2,940 people. I think this is a lot worse. Anyways, for fear of running in these shoes, I'll get right into it. This speech to my fellow peers is meant to be about one of Essex Tech's mission statement values, the ones we see across the backs of our teachers shirts at the beginning of the school year. Develop. I spent a lot of time contemplating this theme because as Mr. Johnson says, it really can be interpreted in multiple different ways, but I have three ideas that could work. My first thought is developing our career paths through our unique experiences here, aligning with our school's mission statement of developing into the architects, artisans, and authors of 21st century community. Well, we all graduated here with experience in some type of career, whether that be arbor or advanced, engineering or environmental or another promising program.
Um the yearly cost for just that bus contract, that base contract would be about $2.6 million. That's a cons, you know, that's that's all things remaining the same. That's not going to be our reality in 2627. Um, but what we've tried here is proposal A, which is as close as you can get to our current reality. Meaning, um, where you have Chapman, you're putting in Barnum, right? So, why it's not an apples to apples comparison, obviously there's going to be a lot more kids at Barnum. Um, so it's not exactly the same because the student makeup is going to be different, but if you tried to move this over as close as possible, you're we're still going to have a cost over that baseline over that 2.6 million um of about $360,000. So, if we tried to keep almost the same setup and apply it to our new school configuration, we're going to be spending $360,000 over the baseline.
Good evening board members and staff. Uh my name is Sariah Bilbao. Uh this is my 11th year teaching multilingual learners at Danbury High School. I am here today for a simple reason. I am here today to give thanks. Uh please allow me to explain. Uh similar to my colleagues as an educator, my philosophy of education informs the why and how I teach and support my students, my kids as I sometimes refer to them. from establishing classroom routines to learning all that I can to create lessons that are engaging and rigorous to promoting reading for pleasure to cording coordinating field trips and advising after school clubs. I want to do all that I can to support my students in uh and help them reach their dreams in each and every way possible. Uh someone once said that the two most important uh uh days of one's life is when one is born and when one finds one's purpose.
Um, and then as well, you know, as Lori just mentioned, and it's been a large part of our conversations at the site council, it also impacts all the curriculum that we're using, the assessment plans that we're doing when these conversations take place and to make sure that everything aligns with the plans because we do have some thoughts about making some changes and to make things again so it's serving the purpose of informing parents of how their child is performing. I have a couple different questions for you on the report card piece. Um, have you thought about, and maybe this will be part of the conversation next year, but how the data team meetings and the data you get from those will play into the timing for report cards, the what's reported on the report cards and kind of what you use to Yes. Yes. That's a big part of the that the timing of all of this is making sure that our five time a year data team meetings, all the assessments that we're doing that they right now not all of them work perfectly and that's again the need for a change.
And even if we don't plan on touching another pipette or piece of personal protective equipment again, in the very least, we will all have an unusual secret superpower. Whether that be fixing a stubborn computer with ease or scaling trees in seconds to retrieve a lost item. The second thought I had, unfortunately, as much as I hate to admit it, my next idea that came to mind were smart goals. Forced upon us since three weeks into freshman year health class, you best believe that we all know how to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. I like to picture that as a starting point of our education here. And since then, we have plowed through our senioritis to get to today's finish line. And we all deserve a pat on the back for that. But the develop that I think I'm supposed to talk about is developing into people.