Birol I'm and hand it over to you to sort of explain some of those updates thank you so as we all know we're dealing we're into our third month of distance learning and all of us dealing with as best we can for ourselves and our families and our students how to cope with with with the major change that we've had to deal with and as I opened my remarks and the superintendent report I talked about the school reopening team the cross-section of stakeholders and the work that needs to be done some of the some of the work that needs to be done to ensure that we meet the public health requirements for the immediacy of the the physical health and safety of students and staff along with meeting the teaching and learning needs of professional development needs of our staff in preparing for the school year really demand more planning than we've ever had to endure as we prepare for a traditional school year many of you know that in our current calendar and our traditional school year we have two days at the beginning of the school year where teachers engage in professional development as we prepare for the first day of school and if you're have a as I'm talking if you could pull up the calendar at least assent there's a link to the current calendar that's been approved by the board and so you can look at that as we're talking we're in a situation where we're planning for some things that are known but we're also planning for the unknowns and we're planning for some of the most difficult tasks that we've ever had a plan for in terms of social distancing learning how to use PPE reorganizing our school staggering schedules we've talked about a blended learning model where we'd rotate days where some students are in some students are out so we could physically space students so with you physically space students on buses there's all kinds of details that have to work out the conversation tonight is not about that because that plan is yet to be crafted tonight is about making sure that to honor our students and make sure we are as prepared as we can be we have the days prior to the school year starting with our staff with our teachers to ensure that they have the proper training not only for learning how to use PPE and professional learning that has to happen regarding distance learning and technology but every other thing that's going to come up over the summer with the ever-changing and ever-evolving guidelines and requirements that we have to meet and so I have a proposal this evening I'd like to process with the board and hopefully with that proposal you would approve it which is a change in you it's a budget-neutral change and it's utilizing the available days we have with our teachers to make sure they have the proper training the proper time for planning and arranging and being ready for students to come on the first day of school so the plan would involve keeping our first two days of professional development for the teachers on August 24th and 25th that happens to be a Monday and a Tuesday but I've proposed that we move the first day of school for the following week to August 31st that's still before Labor Day so it's still an early start for those of us who used to start after Labor Day remember those days probably probably back in the 80s and then earlier and then the three days the three additional days that week the 26th the 27th and 28th the leadership team and I talked earlier this week and we would like to have those three days be professional days as well for the teachers and the administrators to plan and prepare our students and there's lots of things we're thinking about we don't have all five days articulated to exactly what we're going to do on those days but we're getting close and so how we would achieve this is we would get the three days from the following proposal we would look at the Femi of the existing February 12th professional development day which is the Friday before President's Day weekend that is in your current calendar for next year that is a professional day for the teachers a day for the students we would just we would take that professional day and move it to let's call it August 26 and the kids would go to school on it make the day up instead of being on August 26 they make that day up on February 12 just go to school for a week that we we would sacrifice the PD day later in the year and get it earlier in the year because that would be our priority that is our priority the other two days and then so let me stop that PD day would be the one we choose versus the Columbus Day professional development or the Election Day professional development because Election Day you really can't change and that'sa becomes a security issue space issue for voting and you can't have the kids in the school while voting is going on in the volume that goes on especially presidential elections and the Columbus Day one starts to get into contractual issues with some of our union groups workdays and all kinds of things so we would want to stay away from that so that's why I would choose the professional development day in February while the other two days would be achieved we were thinking of a trade-off and we thought it'd be better prepared to get ready for the beginning of the school year considering all the obstacles and challenges were going to face with proposing a 180-day student day year for the kids rather than the one eighty two teachers have to work 187 day up to 180 seven days by contract and so we would like to get those days shortens the school year to learning days for the students because we think we'd be better prepared and get more value out of 180 days especially those first few weeks of the school year having our teachers that are prepared we never have enough time with our training in our professional development and this is this is the opportunity to do that and when we really started to process it with the principals and our doctor Ruby its various and thinking things through and this is why Ghana with all the work we have to do and all the needs of our students we wanted to be able to meet all of their needs not only physically being ready but ready for them from the social-emotional transition standpoint and also from a curricular sampling so that's my proposal I'm sure there's some questions and I appreciate the board's support on that happy to have a conversation and I've asked the leadership team you know those questions come up to please step in and share your thoughts on it as well any questions and I know it's a big change but it's something that many of the districts in the region we've been talking about as a superintendent group and around the nation were in around the state we're looking at how do we adjust the calendar so we can make sure we'll prepare because just so much to do does anyone have any questions the school year is being shortened for students by a few days couple days the shortening at John to the 180 impact our ability to lock in the graduation date remember there was some number of days we had to book the calendar for and her to be able to say we can we can fix to our graduation date that's a great question Bob um the only person I could lean on right now would be mr.
Harrigan I was going to say pretty much the same thing that Catherine just said so I'll pick up from there and say can we push back on this can we go back and say 42,500 we would like to delay for a year because these are extenuating circumstances that we're trying to operate under and we simply cannot fit that amount into our operating budget this year we need to be able to put it into our budget in a much more timely fashion than in the middle of our budget cycle not we need to know about it before we put our budget together not all of a sudden have it imposed upon us so you know we haven't hired the person yet right so can we push back can we go back to the town and say we simply cannot do it this year that's a question I I saw Tim nodding I don't be facetious but yeah of course we could as wanted eject I just want to give the benefit of doubt to that I'm like when the budget was passed that were deliberating that hopefully this money was added into it I want to find that out but I think we should push back on this and just find out you know what's going on but I I'm sorry I'm gonna turn my bed okay thank you okay mr.
Blandon and the short term on that one because I've drawn a blank to be honest with you and I know that that's a great great question that so mark any thoughts on that so in terms of grad and they changed a little bit of that actually this past year which allowed us to we don't have to have a different number of calendar days we've played some games with the calendar the last two years they changed it so it won't affect when we set our graduation date we can set it and we'd be fine thank you Mark what it was Bob is you had to because of the archaic law you had to game the system and show emergency days to have 185 in order to set the graduation date or late for one they eliminate on now we don't have to worry about that's what it was okay that's good okay this is gonna be a very odd year I mean it's of all the years that we have to walk in and deal with a structure that is going to be different than we're used to this will be it and none of us can predict exactly what that structure is yet because you got all your committee work going and and whatnot so I think a thought of taking the time and being prepared early and trading that off against things that are you know we would have been student days off later or shortening to 180 doesn't bother me at all it's a logical thing I know you wouldn't do that every year but you'd do it this ya know this I mean obviously this is you know the hackneyed the hackneyed vocabulary word of the spring is unprecedented and never looked at this before and we have to honor the profession of teaching and honor to honor the students to be as best prepared as we can for them and again like the conversation before when we have the opportunity to provide provide time to appropriately plan I think we should take advantage of it and I and I'd rather have our entire organization better prepared for 180 days then have a floppy opening for communication included Oh to gain the extra pay what I mean it just I just picture the world where we need PPE and classrooms and or fewer students with some sort of accommodation on how we do that all of the things that are being talked about will require are very valuable teachers to be able to take the time and say how are we going to deal with that and just walking in on the first day with normal with just the normal couple of days of readiness I'm sure nobody wants that we all want to take the time get the classroom ready get the figure out exactly how we're going to deal with all those situations that won't come up right because there'll be a thousand situations and I I mean I'm not one to walk in here thinking it's gonna be a normal year it's I'm walking in assuming that we are gonna need that time to get ready in a major pieces a lot I like how the Leafs nods as I talk so that's she's making me happy yeah my goal in life is to make sure I list the smiling during meetings okay um so I will go ahead and make a motion if for some reason for some reason does go back to normal would this be rescinded or is this yeah I think joy I think that's something if normal is something that we can get to and we knew early enough I think it's something we can consider the the point of me bringing it up today is we need to let families know look what the teacher is gonna be going on in two weeks right and people considering the year we've all had that last week of June in that first week into July 4th I think a lot of people are going to check out those two weeks and not be looking at emails so the reason I brought it up now rather than waiting two weeks was to make sure we kind of have the community still engaged and paying attention so it's a it's a big communication piece but if the best hopes in the world work out and we know how to open for a traditional school then this could be something to have another conversation about keep changing things back and forth families and on staff but the the reality is in August 31 start date is still relatively early I know not in Connecticut but in in some states where they still start after Labor Day it's still a very early start time okay very good I'm inflexible and open I just want to be careful not to chain take the rug out from people after we make one change in then another but but your your points while taking droids done is something we need to be thinking about the Labor Day is really late this year so it's starting on the Monday before Labor Day will be more natural for parents and families than starting a week and a half before Labor Day so I don't think that that bit of it's going to be too negatively receive it's a more normal end of the summer time okay I'm gonna go ahead and make a motion that we approve the changes to the 2021 school calendar to reflect the revisions recommended by the superintendent I'll second look and enjoy thank you all right any other discussion okay so all in favor all right thank you the votes unanimous thank you everyone and just know mrs.
white comment yes the board could push back we just eliminate this from the budget I mean that's what we do there's no we have not been told to do this this is a request this is how I see it this is a request that was made I think in good faith on the part of the town manager Sean Kimball and the superintendent Jeff solo and they're asking for us now and it's late in the game I based off what I said before I will support this but I have no qualms if somebody raises their hand makes a motion to eliminate this and four hands go up to support the motion I'm not going to but I think that's perfectly I'll do it I'm comment well I mean so I can step away and somebody can make a motion if they want I yeah Catherine go ahead I just want to be clear about this what if we take if we push back and say we are not gonna pay the forty two and a half thousand dollars that money goes back into our operating budget it doesn't we don't like say no we're not gonna spend it and and also we're reducing our budget by that amount let's just wanna make sure we're all on the same page but about you know here's the thing you know we can't do anything about the bottom line of what the town council approved so it's up to us to figure out how to get where we need to be but so the forty two and a half I mean I'm also happy to make a motion but I'll let Ian do it hmm you know just a couple of points here if I may that you know tomorrow we'll be making the request of the council to roll over two hundred thousand dollars of our current you know operating budget to address Cobin related impact from this current year that we never saw never budgeted I mean obviously we've saved substantial money predominantly through transportation but you know we're gonna be making that request tomorrow too at the same time we're telling them take your forty two thousand dollars so let's not be surprised when two hundred becomes 109 you know 1 million you have 100,000 you know 80 whatever whatever the number is 160 so my math is 158 thank your little jammed up here you know I've got 40 hours of working this week it's Wednesday so you know I'm just pointing that out I don't I absolutely agree with everything that everybody said about process you know at the end of the day is that is that worth it and I it maybe that's that's absolutely your decision you know is this a tit for tat over $42,000 and yeah I mean I I get that I'm thinking of that English position right now I'm gonna do everything I absolutely can to save that position and so you know we're continuing to hunt for ways with $42,000 help you bet and so I think you know I just want to provide full context and if we want to go down that road we go down that road we have the conversation with them um so I would like to comment at this point so firstly and I thought that you had added this in one of your correspondence is with us the special IDI positions that we had approved in our budget it looks to me as if they are remaining right that one and a half which ends up being point five four three so those remain correct okay so those could also be up for consideration I know that you had made the case that because of what we may be facing in the fall that having that extra support in special education was more important is that correct yes okay so that's the if you could go over those positions again those though those are three positions correct three part-time I guess or spell those out hold on one second I'll pull up exactly what they were so we're increasing a board certified behavior analyst if you recall the presentation that was made at Highland school back in the fall those services are critical for students who are particularly on the autism spectrum and need intensive special ed services we're finding you know that the demand certainly is there for that point five transition services is that post 18 to 20 it's at 1821 group that generally works through Quinnipiac either in North Haven or in the Mount Carmel campus the demand for 0.5 special education position at Darcy so that's what you know you're talking about add on those three halftime positions there we did add six point seven IAS into the budget because we were carrying them over but we're reading you know two positions that we just haven't been able to fill and trying to see how we eliminate those positions I'm working with the special ed team to do that okay so then so so what's the value of the the three special that was that is that twenty thousand per I forget what we were calculating about forty per forty per okay yeah and then and maybe mr.
Graham Lee and I'll work on that tomorrow we'll get that out to families and teachers and the rest of the staff as soon as possible hopefully tomorrow afternoon ellipses smiling again I must have done something right all right okay so moving on we're getting into old business and we just have an update for the new school building project i doubt i talked to paul Traco today just just that you guys are aware in case you hear it sort of out in the in the community the NBC had just reported to the Board of Selectmen that the the project is a little over budget that's mostly due to the additional classrooms that we've had we've had to add to reflect the newer enrollment projections that we had and that was that really happened after this project had gone to referendum have been approved it's not a huge problem at the moment you know there are some there are contingencies that are built into projects of this size that need to sort of be sort of flushed out and you know mr.
Martelli could shed some light if I recall the council appropriated to us a hundred fifty thousand for what now as Collier's if I if I'm remembering correctly and if if I'm in paint you know I've missed a couple of the modernization meetings but so far their cost was estimated to be at about 70 thousand am i incorrect in that assumption it's about that ven do you remember off the top of your head with the final negotiation track tomorrow yeah I want to say it was closer to eighty I could check but you know I just want to it was it was not just for Colliers necessarily that one hundred fifty thousand was for the school modernization plan which you know one portion of the expenditure you know that's been committed to is to pay Colliers as owners rep but that doesn't mean that there aren't going to be additional consultants hired the one talking about right now hiring is someone a demographer to do an enrollment study so that would come out of that 150 as well okay so then that rely so can we dock the budget we do we have to go not line item by line in it but section by section or can we just adopt a 900,000 sorry yeah yeah sorry I just wanted to to jump in on the on the overall budget but I'll hold a second okay so we get there okay so we so we would have what is that eighty we're not eighty seventy thousand left basically but we're and is that does that line item get rolled over with the other two hundred thousand or how does that work exactly for that appropriation is that what line items that hang out in all right so the Colliers commitment is eighty five thousand four hundred so I just wanted to answer that and this is Adam this was 150 thousand was capital it was appropriated as part of budget so nice try yeah great funding okay let's see okay yeah so my last question so we were just talking about the two hundred thousand rollover but I thought we had total savings of over a million dollars so where's the rest of the money do we have to do something about rolling the rest of that over or or is that something we're waiting on 4 June 30 or to make sure that we have all of the bases covered there I'm shaking my head in it because yes that that we will have all that ready for the June 30th fiscal meeting we until we get to June 30th we won't have the exact dollar amount okay so first so right now we're working on an assumed savings number of what was it was a 1.1 1.2 million just use 1.2 okay that's not including the 200 that's being rolled over no that does include the 200 it does yes okay so then we're looking to roll over an additional million so are you saying that potentially there could be additional savings or potentially that the number could be lower by the time we get to June 30 um well it can change but I'm you know we'll do everything possible to bring it in at that 1.2 million dollars so you know just to be clear what what that means exactly is there you know there are things that we know we want to commit to that we can't commit to until we get through the next couple of payrolls and know exactly what what funding is available so you know I the 1.2 million is a solid number at this point and will continue to work you know through it until you know June 30th comes and on that day or the day before we'll give you the final the final number but to the extent that there is any availability above the 1.2 million you know will likely use that to fund some of the things that are gonna be prioritized whether it's textbooks or instructional supplies or maintenance items and Adam froze up so oh I'm still here you go they okay and so looking at the I don't this one that's maybe want to go off the screen I want to looking at instructional and spent expense and the reductions that you've made already um you know we normally uh when I you know when I give the finance report you're saying that you know we spend we restrict to 60% expenditure up until X date and then we move on to to spend a little more and spend a little more so with the reductions that you have proposed currently um assuming if we start at the starting point of what our budget would have been what is the percentage of what our instructional expenses at right now before we did any additional reduction from an instructional expense so we okay so the Board of Ed approved budget did reflect an increase of five percent on that line so we were adding twenty five thousand six sixty-six now we're we're moving at 25 in I'm sorry I did not mean the actual instructional supply line not six a lot I meant the the total line unstruck instructional cements looks like we had approved four point seven million it looks like okay yeah four point seven five yeah point and so and so we have a reduction of whatever whatever that is there it looks like I have two hundred thousand yeah so that's what's that like was it yeah it's taking us under flat so it's a negative you know cuz the increase was 176 way and the reductions we're recommending are two hundred thousand it's not level funding sure little south of where we were right this current year but what I what I'm getting at is so that you know like for this year when you incurred when we got to you know million dollar number which is you know a huge number what was the what was the actual expenditures from from that section did we reach that sound like we had we had approached sixty and maybe pushing to 70% of the total allocator we've released up to we told the administrators that they can spend up to eighty percent right now before we put the cap on it right now to Ben's point if you know again there's there's still several weeks left here if we were to find savings in excess of 1.2 right you're not gonna come up with another you know $400,000 but if we're finding any savings in excess of 1.2 this is where we would probably spend it along those line items to try and purchase materials that we otherwise would have purchased out of next year's budget this year right that's pretty common practice that we do on an annual basis by the way so I guess what I'm getting at is if my math is correct another 80,000 is 1% that right eighty thousand would be almost two let's say one in three quarters percent of that particular line item right so what I'm saying if we reduced you know weighted in a weighted fashion whatever whatever comes out to be so that eighty thousand out of all the line items here to save that English teacher is that still possible could we cuz that's something that could be done without you know yeah okay rather bold pain yeah I see what you're getting at you know I am very anxious about reducing that down I hear though from the group and I don't disagree I think that the English position is really important and that's kind of what I was jumping in at a little bit earlier was you know if we make adopt a budget tonight that is that this number I don't know what you want to do with the 42,000 definitively but if we make this we adopt this budget you know tomorrow I could have a proposed budget that includes that position back in the English position with some other line-item reductions and you know that point we could amend the the motion that comes out of tonight to reflect that if P if that's the preference and I could probably send you that by 11:00 a.m.
Chuck I was saying that he had wanted to wait to see how things go on bid day because right now the market is really sort of favorable and we might be able to sort of negate some of these overages before we sort of explore other options or things that we have to do but the big picture is that everyone agrees the Board of Selectmen in the MBC that the building really should be built using the current enrollment projections not the ones that we had originally communicated to the public when this project originally went out to referendum so so that that's pretty much it you know there's will as a board be receiving a presentation from Tecton on the 16th so that'll be during the MBC meeting and then we will vote on the culmination of design development phase at our meeting the following night so that's pretty much it Rose if I could add we the it's getting very real the building project in a exciting one I'll be meeting with mr.
I mean I think it's at least reasonable to look at yeah I don't know what anyone else feels about that but I mean if it's if you know like I said we're talking what's our number 7070 for jail austere or total numbers or 593 926 okay I see it right here okay well no that is that our approve now that's our approved number from the council approved total number yeah okay all right so the 75 five Adela's our original approved that went to them right gotcha gotcha okay I mean for me I think that would be something to look at does anyone else have any feelings about that all right here's silence what are you exactly consider reframed here let me just refrain I thought there real quick and so the idea is we know we need to get down $980,000 if we make the Board of Ed or if we make the finance committee recommendation tonight night I think this is a bit of a procedural question I may want to defer to to actually Carol or Benna if we make a recommendation salom to reduce our budget as it's drafted here tomorrow by 11:00 a.m.
post and it's called one of the architects and the logistical folks to really walk the property with a principal lab Rochon Oh an assistant principal peps auskey next Tuesday morning to look at the the back of the property look at the bus drop-off area look at the playground where they're going to put in that second access road which will be the construction road during construction for all the equipment to be moved in now and really start to have those conversations up there eighteen months of construction what will the site look like how will we accommodate plus pick up the drop off parent pick-up and drop-off play areas safety so that really gets very real beginning on Tuesday mornings we're pretty excited about that and really looking forward to coming up with a with a plan that's going to be as least disruptive as possible to the site and exciting for the kids to see the project being developed over that year and a half I knew there are questions comments all right so on to three main points I was thinking about the top ten students and teacher recognition school start times will start and presentation and the revised school calendar yeah yeah the easiest three main points ever truly okay have any upcoming events we do ioke tomorrow first center elementary school we have tomorrow night sweet dreams with mrs.
I can get you another option that includes that teacher that the English position it may I may by that time know that with special ed that we're okay to reduce position or alternative leans Adam is suggesting we can either look at different line items for a cumulative $80,000 to offset what we had decided with the English teacher so what we're saying is let's we can adopt this tonight and tomorrow morning I'll send you another proposal if there's a link its to Finance tomorrow and we you know the motion on the floor would be to adopt what came out of the meeting then you would propose a second motion to adopt an alternative plan and have discussion on that plan and adopt which one that you prefer okay does that make sense the people make sense to me now I have a question go ahead so I'm a little confused when you're talking about the English teacher at the high school you keep going back between the teacher and the position am I correct that we have to keep the dog teachers also if we want to keep the teachers that are okay so you had mentioned earlier that there was that little bit of a concern about a teacher jumping levels I will moving moving teachers around yeah when I was dad principal it broke my heart and I really avoided talking about individual teachers here but we had a teacher who went from Dodd to CH s English teacher and it killed me she's a phenomenal English teacher at Cheshire high school so you know the certification runs seven through 12 and I knowing the individual have full confidence that she will do a bang-up job wherever she is I feel like you could throw her in a tent in the middle of nowhere with no supply and she would make it work and so that's not so much of a for me um but when we talk about reducing the position we're talking about reducing a position from our English team at treasure high school which you know I appreciate absolutely and I understand that that's not [Music] preferable so what I'm suggesting is we adopt what we have here and either tomorrow I can you know propose a new option or we could have a special meeting of the board 15 minutes before a Finance Committee meeting in the whole 15 minutes before I could throw it out we could discuss a little bit and then you know make a revised division of motion it's up to you guys how you want to how you want to do it just to be clear I don't have concerns about the middle school teacher hopping up to the high school I have concerns about firing in it in a sense a teacher that we have put our resources into that's doing really well at the high school do we really want to let that person go and that may mean that we have to keep all three teaching positions the two at Dodd and the one at the high school yeah you know in order for me to get down there I mean you're asking to come up with a quarter of a million dollars and that was my question how much money are we looking for I mean a 240 thousand and it's you know do I want to keep every teacher yeah but I think I'm down as low as I can go on things like staff training at a time when we definitely need staff training you know the what we're doing now is unlike anything we've ever done before so you know if you you want I guess we could not adopt a budget tonight like out of this committee hold off till tomorrow and either have a special meeting before looking at this versus other options real quick you know it's seven o'clock or something and that or you know just make a motion right I think it should come out of committee so I'd prefer a Finance Committee meeting of the whole at 7:00 tomorrow if you want to look at a couple of different options I I think and I would you know my preference would be to try and add that English teacher back in that position and how do we do that I you know let's look at some of the options tomorrow I hear with that and I'm not they had an another half hour to you know I'm sure along me anyway do Toria but I think that's probably from a way to go so I haven't followed that but I just referred to the finance today so you know let me just ask Carol in terms of posting it am i okay with doing that at seven o'clock tomorrow would be meeting the 24 hours so I don't know if things are have changed now because of ovid but we would we wouldn't be making the 24-hour deadline of posting before a meeting so could make it an illegal meeting yeah so alternatively what we would do when we did some spraying in the board meeting tomorrow would be you know really to break into what we're doing right now which is reviewing you know somebody would just have to put forth a motion for either the budgets right Carol sure you could do that do you have to do you have to approve it by tomorrow or could it get pushed off to next week and have a special have a Finance Committee meeting and then a special board meeting you know for me the sooner we can do this I can't really issue contracts to people I can't make assignments it's the further we push this off logistically the more challenging it becomes for our staff but you know so my preference would be to try and resolve it tomorrow so if we can sum up tomorrow if you I think what we do now is make a motion to adopt this budget like to move this forward for tomorrow I will send you a revised option by 11:00 a.m.
diamond to zoom story time with mrs. diamond their children that's at 7 p.m. the alphabet countdown to the year is ongoing students are sharing pictures and videos on flipgrid the links for those can be found in their Google classroom or mrs. diamonds announcements on Monday June 15th Tuesday June 16th and Wednesday June 17th our student belonging pick up there's a schedule that's been staggered by teachers and it was shared with families through email on Monday Monday June 15th is the art show Tuesday June 16th is the first grade play these are all virtual events obviously Wednesday June 17th is play date Thursday June 18th is the summer reading kickoff campout and Friday June 19th is the reverse parade dry and a schedule for that was shared with families on Monday through email as well huckleberry we also have the ABC countdown ongoing keep sharing on flipgrid the links are in the Google classroom streams Wednesday June 10th is the virtual science fair Thursday June 11th is the virtual Art Fair Monday June 15th Tuesday the 16th and Wednesday the 17th is student belonging pick up the schedule specific to classroom teachers was shared with families on Monday through email and on Thursday June 18th is huckleberries reverse parade from 10:00 to 12:00 that schedule is also shared with families on Mondays at whisk and here we have student belonging pickup starting next week with the 8th grade I'm Tuesday June 9th 7th grade on Wednesday June 10th 6th grade on Thursday June 11th and 5th grade on Friday June 12th specific details were shared with families on Monday through principal rundas email Friday June 12th we have the a 3d virtual dinner dance and Wednesday June 17th is the eighth grade moving up ceremony the specific specific details for that was shared with the eighth-grade families last Friday and at Brookfield High School we have the undergraduate Awards tomorrow night at 7 senior scholarship night Monday June 8th at 7 and senior athletic awards night Tuesday June 9th at 7 these events are all virtual and reliable live streamed and graduation is Saturday June 20th starting with a car parade meeting at whiskey near middle school beginning at 10:15 and starting at 11 they will head to BHS and graduation begins at 11:30 the specific details of that was shared with families last week and that ceremony will also be live streamed that's it I have a question for mark is there any information going out to the community about the the parade for the seniors like is there I mean other than like this you know I'm like I don't know if they live on whisk in here they can sort of come out on their front lawns or something yeah so you know the the parade route was really developed with chief Purcell obviously and Johnna minds dr.
tomorrow at that time you know you can review it out independently at the board meeting when we discuss the Finance Committee motion if there seems to be interest an alternative motion can be presented for that budget well yeah well the the motion will be on the table whatever path out tonight and once that motion has made someone can make a motion to amend the motion and then we could talk about this detail does he agree but yeah again I know I wish formalizes Laurie less than 20 frame you know it's past 8:30 that seems logical I know it's a little bit more working so he apologized for it seeing that to go through that but this I think it's worth it you know this will add this to the list of extraordinary experiences in Kovac you know I mean this is obviously like I said to you at the outset this is certainly a typical and I think we're all doing the best we can to to make make it work before I get the questions and comments I just wanted to say from my point of view it would be no different than when we originally put our motion out from Finance the first time and that we had alternate alternate amendments to the motion at the business meeting the next night or whatever it was so I would I would think that that that works just fine and then we don't violate the the notification requirement so yeah I think that's fine because at the end of the day it's still gonna be 908 whatever it is and we're just we're just haggling over the line items to see what we can make work so but now all faiths you had a question okay just to what if what if we don't pass this tonight and we a we that means we have to go back do special committee this is what you were talking about Jeff right you yeah I think it just makes sense to have something come out of committee and then amend that motion in terms of just working through it and I see some head nodding you know so I think that's probably the way to go all right bobble head hangman head nodding okay I know that is 3:30 through eight ten have relatively sacrosanct it seems but I do look at other professional services and I raised this today with you Jeff I mean it seems the only ones who are not taking a hit in this are the professionals you know the the attorneys in the CPAs I is there any way we can get even some concessions from them likewise take percentages from some of these you know rentals and leases and because it does it it will add up and yeah contribute toward that funding of the teacher especially we have to pick if we do have to pick up that forty two thousand dollars I don't know yeah other professional services the predominantly what that covers faith is mentioning is our attorney fees in you know even if we were to get a reduced fee all right and our fees are super competitive by the way with the firm that we use the the other issue is that there is a forecast for a more litigious fall giving given Co vid and so I think I I'm really I'm a little anxious about that line item where it is so I really don't I don't know that we could touch that I know you're asking is you know can we get a some sort of discount here and I think that's kind of built into the fee structure with our attorney you know there we've looked at competitive firms that are more expensive and perhaps don't deliver the same service so we're that one's a little tougher where I do see potential and again this is tomorrow I'm talking to special education is perhaps in the you know with some special education transportation the the conditions for summer school are prohibitive for face-to-face instruction right now and so we're not providing transportation that could be a particular place that you know again I want to come back to you at 11:00 tomorrow and highlight some opportunities that I really want to try and protect that instructional line I certainly want to prioritize the position thigh school let's see what we can do okay if I can just jump in for one minute because I want to just explain the other professional services we have six hundred twenty four thousand dollars budgeted to that line item but you know of that one hundred eighty four thousand five hundred is what we have budgeted for legal and negotiating three hundred thirty eight thousand six hundred is technology services so that includes the price that we pay apex technology it includes the annual purchase of power school and some other of the key software that's used in the district 32,500 is budgeted for the annual audit which is a requirement so you know I just wanted to clarify that up the 624 thousand about a hundred eighty-five thousand is the legal fees and unfortunately in prior years we've exceeded that particular budget for the legal fees the technology service portion is pretty stable the audits pretty stable but to take the legal fees are the ones that you know like in 1819 we expended 277,000 some of that is for special education and some of it is for just other general attorney fees so what I was explaining to faith was you know because we have teacher negotiations and administrative negotiations next year if they do get extended and we have to go to mediation or arbitration you know that budgets already pretty tight so that's that's the issue I see with that particular line item faith and the request if we want to look at other other places we could do that overnight trade offs then these are naughty decisions they're just trade offs it's the lesser of the evils at this point y'all didn't wanna sleep tonight did you [Laughter] talking to me during the day so I think we're OK ROCK you got a about insurance anyway so you know it sounds like we've kind of come to a resolution in the group to put forth emotion that have dropped the budget as written with the understanding that tomorrow morning I will get you alternatives and for you to consider before tomorrow night's board meeting is that fair well it might be Katherine and Tim you both had comments Katherine did you self comment I know I think I forgot emotion though okay Tim you have additional comment yeah so just I know it's it's not exactly what Jeff was suggesting but based on Bates comment I mean we could go rebid attorney services right we could yeah all right and then also we could as an alternative to that at $185,000 we could prop whoa but have you ever considered hiring an in-house attorney yeah the the skill set required for our work spanning from labor through special education the demand far exceeds what one person could provide yeah so what goes through my mind is not that you would have somebody who's gonna take on that entire role but at least for certain vanilla recurring issues that come up you might be able to find somebody who would work thirty percent fifty percent something like that keeping in mind the high unemployment that we're facing right now that person may be out there say this as a part-time and also take that back to the the construction project manager if the Board of Ed does not want to fund this fifty percent I I'm thinking that with unemployment the way it is it's entirely possible that the council could go find a part-time a construction project manager a half-time I'm gonna still go with Jeff on that which is tomorrow you're going to ask them for two hundred thousand and we're talking about forty thousand I so I support the recommendation you gave us but there are a number of different things that we could do here not necessarily tonight we wouldn't be great I don't think we should be discussing an in-house attorney like with finality and the budget per se but I think we do have options going forward that exists yeah you're right I mean we wouldn't we wouldn't bid anything and get responses I've he's saying anything that's suggesting this by tomorrow but no you know we would evaluate all these ongoing yeah so I just I'd love to see a Finance Committee vote and move the Sutton to tomorrow awesome okay so is there any further comment on the discussion of the budget currently okay seeing none seeing nothing in the comments do we have a written motion or we're gonna wing this thing I think we're gonna wing it Catherine would you like to make the motion I'll make a motion I move that the Finance Committee move to the full Board of Education the revised budget presented to the board this evening by superintendent Solon and mr.
Breeland myself I'm talking about where we could go and what we could do in terms of publicity and letting getting it out in the community I haven't talked to the chief Percell about or the health department necessarily about marketing a parade i think part of the reason that the morale day parade was canceled obviously was because they're concerned about people gathering and too large of groups so i think they we have to err on the side of caution there would be my my guess about publicizing you know who comes out and then celebrates with the kids at the same time the routes gonna be published right it's it's out there because they're going right through the center through town so at 11:30 on at 11 o'clock on a Saturday so it'd be quite busy so you know cheaper sells talked about those things but I have a meeting with him end of the week which is coming sooner than I thought but we'll talk more about some of those things so and the other thing marks you and I haven't had a chance to connect keep yourself through whatever his means of communication is to residents he makes sure when there's parades and roads are gonna be blocked he does get that communication out there in terms of the encouragement piece in publicizing definitely we need to err on the side of caution I think between the chief the house opponent and mr.
Massey Anna reflecting a reduction to our originally originally of nine hundred and eight thousand six hundred and twenty-eight dollars second okay so in this instance only Finance Committee can vote is that correct just so I'm yeah correct okay right is there any discussion on this within the committee seeing none all in favor aye aye is unanimous move move the motion to the full board at the next business meeting for me well firstly uh Jeff is there any public comment from the check okay for me I guess under other and this would fall under old business so I don't know if I need to make an amendment to the agenda or if we need to make an agenda for me to discuss all businesses anyone have a thought on that I would say yes just to follow our rules excuse me signing agenda I'm sorry I just think of something started coughing I got apologize for it I wanted you there from me is there another business section and it's see it I don't see it on here I'd usually like assume the but I don't know if it's not there it's not assumed yeah I do a quick motion to modify the agenda okay do I need to be specific as to old business area we just add old business I guess we'll just that you say you want a motion to add an agenda item old business - yes okay all right I move to amend the current agenda to the existing agenda to add old business to the agenda that makes sense yes that's a nice second thank you okay all in there any discussion on the amendment to the agenda all right all in favor okay thank you thank you for this indulgence so my old business honor but a lot of things happen that night but on the March 12th meeting that we had when we I guess officially shut down the schools we had a was left to me as part of the discussion to meet with town officials about establishing scope for the audit of the Student Activity accounts and so finally last week I met with Rob Horace Sean Kimball and Jim jaska to discuss what the scope would look like and it just happened at that time that the the talents putting out the RFP for I guess to to bid out for their audit services for the year anyhow so we we crafted a professional I guess request inside the RFP so what I would like to do is to to make a motion that encompasses the I guess what the town will be asking for just so that we have a or at least I would like to to see a show of support come out of the Finance Committee since it was since the original idea since the idea originated here so that it could be discussed for the full board and in addition the the actual cost of the audit is unknown at this time but it will be part of the bid that's going to be or part of the RFP that the audit firms will be bidding on so the the motion and this is crafted out of Jim's ascots addition to the RFP it's a and this is the the scope that we that with that both I and the town agreed upon saying you know figuring that that it's also good for the town so I would like to move that the Cheshire Board of Education Finance Committee submit for approval to the full board that in an internal and internal control and operational review of Student Activity funds including the high school middle school and five elementary schools the turf and educational program special revenue funds excluding grants adult education and summer school activities and board of education general fund expenditure credits to determine if internal controls are adequate and that activity is being properly reported the review should include identification of all sources of revenue and testing of expenditures focusing on but not limited to larger transactions to determine if policies and procedures are being adhered to upon completion a formal report should be issued detailing results of the procedures performs is the very long motion so just for to begin discussion Katherine go ahead I saw your hand go up sorry so I I feel like this is something that probably requires more discussion unless you're telling me that there's a real time factor here like you know the reason why we have to deal with this you know right now tomorrow night or whenever yeah it was just a matter of they the RFP this I mean it's a it's as ceremonial I suppose because it's it's part of the it's gonna be part of the RFP for the for the town but since that we requested it I thought it would be good for us to actually support a motion since we asked them to do it so did we have ever actually vote on asking somebody to do this on it I know that there was discussion about well not it was you know a good idea or not but I don't remember actually voting on that or really making it a decision I'm just trying to remember what we've done it nothing yeah be honest that meeting seemed like it's so long ago I know I know we talked about talked about it yeah the good of it but I I'm sorry I don't remember off to review the minutes - all I remember is that we are going to that I was going to talk to town officials to establish a scope oh we didn't know the scope at a time away yeah because we didn't know the scope so this motion is reflects what the scope will be and cost is unknown but the the thinking behind it was that you know we have a million dollars flowing through those accounts every year and then yeah and that the you know the the policy itself that we have dates back to it was last revised in 1997 and so the accounting principles that support the current internal controls that the schools are using may be out of date and I know during that meeting both faith and Tim had referenced some new Gatsby rules that's the government those are government accounting rules yeah that were supposed to be coming into force in 2020 and so at least it was my thinking at the time that it you know an internal audit review could be conducted so to establish whether or not our policy and procedures are still in fact correct and then so that this would allow an audit to occur so that we could establish that okay and just to clarify it and then can correct me if I'm wrong but those accounts are not already included in the general annual audit that's done there is a review of student activity done as part of the audit what what Adam is suggesting is much more in-depth and it's not a review of the you know of the of the procedures of policies being followed that's part of the scope that Adam just decided okay and just I'm sorry to believe but if there is a cost that's associated with this piece of the audit that's gonna be for the Board of Ed to pay because we're the ones who want it this year and do we do we have you know I'm very cost sensitive right now so I'm gonna be honest that it's unclear as to how that cost would be allocated right now I mean right right now it would be part of the town RFP for audit services that they hire anyway so again it's unclear well I mean for what is the work chimed in to is I I when she's only talked about this remember talking the chairman ORS probably a few weeks ago and yeah I got the impression pounds paying for this audit anyway it was something part of a bigger time why dollars so I had the impression that you know we're not got to pay for it because there were sense you know it's like a flat fee yeah see like VIN might know I'm probably assuming here so the yes we the actual RFP that's issued for audits which we do every few years it is done by the town but you know we pay our prorated portion and this is what I was quoting earlier in the explanation of other professional services we have thirty two thousand five hundred budgeted for the twenty twenty one year for audit and this is why I'm concerned faith because we're already gonna exceed that that should weigh in on your decision but sounds like there's a budgetary actually so there there could be potentially in an additional impact I mean I don't know how much you know what the scope of this would cost I mean a few thousand dollars three thousand that the gas but when their bids cut back well if they're already there they could potentially you'd be adding you know somebody doing the audit processes and pit you know I mean that's a pretty it's gonna be a pretty wide and I appreciate it I'm as sensitive as Katherine is to it it's icy time but you know we haven't updated our own policy since 1997 we haven't done we don't even know what comply if we're in compliance or not it's been a long time I would hate to get in of all years this year or next year to find ourselves in hot water with our activities accounts and if we know things are in order it hasn't been done in ages so I it's an expense I understand but I would rather be safe than sorry I really would Tony I see your hand if anyone else if you have to continues please use the comment thing cuz I can only see like three four people on my screen so yeah I just want to say I it's not about whether were in hot water or things being done wrong it's not about that at all it's I see any issues to be found to be honest you know things ain't wrongdoing if there's any efficiencies we can gain it's gonna be huge we got a visitor policy and I look at the policy and still referencing soda machine sales it's referencing treasure high school audit twice a year which I've never seen so again it's again it's just this clean up clean house a little bit I'm not going after this I wanna support this as it was going after some but it's not the case yeah if I'm not mistaken I think even when the annual audits gone if I'm mistaken then they pick one account or two accounts but they don't know the level of controls and so I don't want this to sound come across as something that's negative it's not healthy we're going in hot water the only thing I'm concerned as I would like to know what the rough idea of the cost is and so anime yeah I forgot that I should ask you is uh do you know when they're gonna put the RFP out there's been already honestly I thought I went out this week okay because Jim when we spoke if it was light it was even the last I think was either last Thursday or what was the hot what was Memorial Day weekend I don't even know because it was the Thursday before I think the long really if if the town councils wait for us to give them the green light smells like that the case there with RFP so if my advisee fans community is if you're not comfortable in outside because you know that's right thing to do but know the cost don't strike one the gun to hold anything up and I think once the cost is known us can be paid for you know you can vote on it then no there's a but that's you guys call I I kinda would like to know that I I agree if then it could be few thousand dollars based on my heard but considering that you know where we are it was like some some clarity on that okay just well we would while you were talking I did check it is the RFP did go out dated May 26 so it's already out there and the bid opening or the RFP opening day is June 9th of 2020 and while we're on this topic you know it's probably worth updating that one of the things that we have talked about during that meeting back in March was that the software that we were using was was rather dated and that we had on a pilot basis Dodd moved over to a new on a web-based software and so during this downtime with Kovac we have been upgrading each of the schools to move on to that new Student Activity platform so you know that that'll be something that I think will help us long term and you know the review if a review occurs and in the next you know fiscal year could actually help us you know with the software as well well that's great news because I remember during the present during the presentation that Dodds reporting records were a lot better than you know offenses dr.
Shaw as mr. Dunn has these plans he's aware of what we're going to do you know he has his way of getting to more residents whereas we have the parent via emails and residents who signed up to do with us so that's the way definitely Rosa we can get the word out but we want to do that through our public health and officials and our authorities to make sure we're being careful how we encourage that considering what Martin talked about understandable I just wanted a comment to my award ceremony is not virtual the kids will come and pick up their awards as a drive through I just wanted to make sure that that was stated we got lawn signs for them that'll be all out on the grass in front of my office and we'll drive through with their parents and pick up their awards and their lawn signs to take home mark I had a question about the graduation will board members and staff be inside the auditorium or are we is it virtual for board members yeah that's something I'm going to follow up with John and with Rosa in terms of what as to there are pretty specific expectations in terms of what I can how many Pillai can actually have in the building you know from the point they enter at the gym through the long processional line that will exist at 15 feet apart you know I can have a maximum of 50 people in the building at that point so you know in terms of support staff and you know we're talking about what that's gonna look like and how many people I know I've had some everyone has volunteered to help which is fantastic I'm just trying to be mindful of putting together the this this not looking to exclude anybody but at the same time you know I want to be mindful of making sure we get we hit those Health Department expectations and limits you know so it's it's a good question Deb but I'm gonna follow up with John and Rosa probably beginning it next week to talk about that grant no Deb I wanted to say to add to what Mark said is you know it's a large school and so sometimes you work with dr.
Guerin I'm sure they do what they can but they're his his reports were better than ten her reports because they were using the new systems yeah so we moved we're migrating you know all the schools are not done they're in the process they'll be ready for the next fiscal you know Student Activity year so that's some good news okay so should I add something pending a cost review what would that right so just to be clear so yeah if the quote or the bids come back and that piece of it is you know really expensive just yeah that's a stir it's some sort of astronomical right well we would not I mean I'm just trying to understand whether we have the ability to say you know no thanks but no thanks you know if the cost is really out there yeah or don't matter I mean now it may be it doesn't even well do well just because they it would be part of their bid doesn't mean necessarily it could if it ended up being too expensive that would be something that you have to talk to the town about yeah okay yeah well you know how about this for now I'm gonna I'm gonna leave the motion out there yeah actually the jects well you didn't really make a motion that paragraph long thing anyway actually discussing the motion I know one second did oh my mistake I thought I thought we had Anthony oh I don't know did you a second in case I didn't I didn't I don't know no one second in it okay so it's just out there right now it's always how about this is there a second for the moat is there a second for the motion a little so and so I am I just want to just recap so I on the oil business and was talking about the motor town council ahead and a little bit discussion now on that but no formal motion has been made by the fans committee and there was no second of it therefore there's no discussion or motion right now if there be folks when I discuss a motion he couldn't certainly do that but though right now then it's just a general discussion of old business so then I would like to make a motion right so that we can either shoot it down or not how's that move that the Cheshire Board of Education Finance Committee submit for approval to the full board that an internal control and operational review of student activity funds including the high school middle school and five elementary schools the turf and educational programs special revenue funds excluding grants adult education in summer school activities and board of education general fund expenditure credits to determine if internal controls are adequate and that activity is being properly reported the review should include identification of all sources of revenue and testing of expenditures focusing on but not limited to larger transactions to determine if policies and procedures are being adhered to upon completion a formal report should be issued detailing results of the procedures performed second so there is a second for the motion is there any discussion on the motion aside from the unofficial person go ahead no I'm just I'm just a bit unclear as to why there what the purpose of the motion I mean I know what the purpose of the motion is but why it's necessary if the RFP has already gone out and yeah I'm not I just don't know what what effect it has to be passed as motion well as I said before from my point of view it was just more a matter of supporting the fact that the Finance Committee had asked the town to add this into the RFP so it could be bid out so it'd be more like a support of their actions for us alright I'm coming out ex-official chair I have no vote here or anything but I just want to add that while these are town accounts in the books these are counts are force to activities these essentially Board of Ed accounts that the schools used a we appropriate that since these are accounts that at least would be on a record say look we're okay with this and you know let's you know I don't want this being perceived negative the other way just uh I think it's more ceremonial than anything else but that's what first committee decide what to deal with the motion okay is there any further discussion all right seeing none all in favor of the motion all right - opposed one against okay the the motion passes two to one and so it'll be referred to the full board for consideration at our next board meeting thank you I have no other business I don't see any new business on here is there any other business to come before the Finance Committee seeing none I would entertain a motion to adjourn Katherine I know again we can agree on that one okay all in favor all right she passes this meeting is adjourned
Sullivan and Paulie every our sanitarian and they have they have some creative ideas to how to approach following the executive order but being accommodating to the needs that we have so mm-hmm you know that's something we continue to do throughout this process while maintaining obviously the utmost safety standards we can so if board members weren't able to be in the gym let's say for the retarder corset processional could they be in the auditorium and watch that putting me outside when kids exit and be waving there so there's a lot of staging areas where we might be able to play though all that's that's what Mark's talking about when he says to kind of talk to dr. Sullivan myself and start to figure that out great and Mark will you send us zoom information about the undergrad Awards and senior awards yes so so those those will be broadcast right on the Brooke via the bps website so you can just go right to the youtube link that you would normally go to watch that I'm really lucky that Eric was able to help me out with that today and get set up so it's actually gonna be really easy to broadcast live so it'll just be me at the auditorium tomorrow night to give some semblance of a similar place that we've been to give the awards and then we'll just go through that way but yeah it'll be available on YouTube yep right starting at 7:00 o'clock so none of those are those aren't interactive in any way with the kids so it's not a it's not a zoom or something like that it's just a YouTube broadcast yeah it's a YouTube broadcast because the number I don't remember the ignitor the undergrad Awards you know I think to put in perspective I have the PowerPoint presentation here and just you know in multiple page multiple students on each page in terms of names I'm at 64 slides right now to get through this tomorrow so it's you know I have included some things that you'll you know if you watch tomorrow it's not just me running the whole thing which is nice there there will be you know voiceovers from the different department heads and people and teachers so that part's included so it's not just me I'm doing a very small portion of it like I usually do and letting you know the people that usually participate be the ones that you know give a lot wouldn't be able to be able to talk if you did the whole thing I know you're right and Mark I know we talked about it offline before this meeting and it's come up in this meeting earlier but really I do want to give you a huge shout out for everything that you've been doing to make this graduation you know a special memorable and unique experience for all the graduating seniors I know last week was particularly rough but we truly appreciate everything you do and we're so grateful to have you so thank you everything you're doing well thank you Deb you know part of the public service piece is you know and and the most everybody's emotional right now and I completely understand where they're coming from this is such a major focus and something that people are really want to have for their kids and you know I'm I've always said that I'm not so arrogant to think that you know my plan is the best plan and nobody else has in the input and so I was glad to be able to change things around you know within guidelines and make sure we're doing things and you know having the support of the board or and central office has been fantastic you know and each one of you either collectively I got a bunch of individual emails I think from every single person to the board so that means the world to me to to know that I have your support I really do appreciate as well so you know we we can continue to thank you you thank me and I'll just keep thanking you we can hang out for the next hour and you know Amy did you have anything else nope that was out anything else for anything tonight any comments questions Thanks all right so that we have an executive session after this so this will conclude our publicly broadcasted portion of the meeting and thanks for everybody for participating and it's been a good year hey Joe hi guys I make the motion Amy yeah we're not gonna you have to make the motion to go into executive session I'll move that the board enter into the executive session for the purpose of discussing superintendents evaluation on affiliated salaries and contracts okay thanks joy okay all in favor all right I okay thanks everyone we'll see you up in a little bit okay you
please stand for the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem performed by our students i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all clifton strong [Music] wow [Music] ah [Music] bye hello can we please continue to stand and have a moment of silence for peace in our country and for all those affected by covid19 officer you can be seated attendance roll call of board members mr daley here mr casper here mr pasenti mr smith here miss danny here would anyone like two of the board members like to read the mission statement dad frank are you can you do it mr casper you there i forgot i was on mute okay the clifton school district in an open and reciprocal community partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a democratic society in an ever-changing world thank you mr casper next order business is the reading of the open public meeting statement the new jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to advance notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the clifton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office clifton public library administration building senior citizen nutrition center on cable tv in the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 next order of business is recognition and awards presentations which we will have later next door of business is the adoption of minutes can i have a motion to adopt the minutes of the regular meeting of may 21st 2020 and the executive meeting of 21 2020 motion by miss basford second by mr smith any revisions concerns roll call mr abby drabo yes miss basford yes mr canova yes mr daley yes mr casper yes mr smith yes danny yes motion carries next order of business is communication and announcements of which there are none next order of business is first reading of policy and we do have a few new jersey school school boards association number 9322 code of conduct for remote meetings coc new jersey school board association number nine three two two public and executive sessions virtual pe sv number 1581 domestic violence number 2422 health and physical education number 5330 administration of medication number 7423 supervision of construction number 8220 school day number 8462 reporting potentially missing or abused children next order of business is the presentation of reports from administration advisory committees and special committees so we have recipients of the 2019-2020 governor's educator of the year award dr robert chozi if you would like to take over at this point thank you madam president it's my honor tonight to recognize some of our outstanding teachers and educational service professionals that we have in the clifton public schools each year the governor has the governor of the governor educator of the year program uh and in its run throughout the entire state in clifton one teacher of the year was nominated from each school and one educational service professional was nominated from each school those individuals are then able to apply to become county teacher of the year um when a county teacher of the year is chosen then they are eligible to become the state teacher of the year and then of course out of all the 50 states the state teacher of the year has an opportunity to become the uh united states teacher of the year so we're very proud of these educators we're very proud to recognize them tonight i ask them to join us so they are live on our meeting i am going to call your name and then i'm going to read something uh that your principal or in some cases your direct supervisor uh said about the reason why you were nominated for your particular school so when i call your name turn your camera on so everybody could see you um and when you're done please turn your camera off first from sila b clifton early well it's actually sila a and b um our teacher of the year is julia kosey miss kosey are you here tonight with us miss cosey is an aba preschool teacher at sila bright she creates an environment that promotes learning and engages her students she is empathetic collaborative and curious she spends time getting to know her students strengths and difficulties and creates goals accordingly congratulations miss cosey the educational services professional of the year from celebi is miss raquel lima raquel are you with us tonight no raquel okay i'm still going to talk to that she's there i'm here oh she's there okay i can't i can i can see their faces i have to do a different layout there we go hi raquel miss lima is a preschool master teacher and preschool intervention and referral specialist that sounds awesome she brings invaluable experience wisdom and strong pedagogical practices to provide and maintain high levels of quality teaching by helping and supporting other preschool teachers she serves as a mentor to many and models best practices she coordinates and provides professional development for early childhood staff and assists with successful and safe transitions between preschool kindergarten and first grade miss lima congratulations on this honor thank you from school number one the nominee for teacher of the year was alyssa stepnesky is elissa with us tonight there she is alyssa is a first grade teacher uh and her principal says always has a smile alyssa where's that smile there it is alyssa's positive attitude and advocacy for all children represents the true spirit of exceptional educators she is an outstanding teacher and an asset to our district congratulations elissa for being the teacher of the year from school one thank you and the educational service professional of the year from school number one robin greengrove robin are you with us hi robin robin is a outstanding school nurse she's uh robin are you at work now i am you are wow she uh robin robin performs her responsibilities in a nurturing and respectful way to assist students staff and families she knows all of the families at school one she makes us extra proud by volunteering in hospitals during the covet 19 pandemic robin is that what you're doing now volunteering that's wonderful congratulations thank you so much for doing that and congratulations on your honor thank you from school number two the teacher of the year nominee is diane jacomic hi diane diane is a self-contained special education teacher at school number two she is a phenomenal educator who's deeply committed to the success of all her students both academically and socially diane has a special bond with each of her students and they often come back to visit and share their accomplishments with her she's a conscientious dedicated and passionate teacher who was a valued and celebrated member of the school 2 family congratulations diane on being teacher of the year from school too thank you the ed service professional of the year from school 2 is the school counselor lisa heiner hi lisa thanks for being with us tonight lisa is a dedicated elementary school counselor who has an excellent rapport with the diverse group of students she serves at school to although lisa has a huge responsibility in her job she never hesitates to help out a student or colleague in need she is consistently reliable dependable and humble during her tenure at school too she is the epitome of what an educator and counselor should be congratulations to you lisa thank you our teacher of the year from school number three is leanne rosado hi leanne thanks for joining us leanne is has been an elementary teacher for the clifton public schools for nine years she is currently a first grade teacher mrs rosado is a compassionate talented and dedicated teacher she's also a teacher leader who works collaboratively with all stakeholders and is loved by parents and students overall mrs rosado embodies all the wonderful characteristics of an exceptional teacher congratulations to you leanne as being teacher of the year from school number three thank you so much and the educational service professional of the year from school number three is anna zuluwaga is anna here tonight there she is mrs zuluwaga has been a speech and language specialist for clifton public schools for nine years she's the preschool and elementary level mrs zuluwaga has a contagious smile with a kind and caring heart to match uh mrs zulawaga collaboratively works with teachers child study team members parents and administration to meet the needs of her students congratulations anna i hope i didn't mispronounce your last name too many times no you said it perfectly thank you very much thank you and congratulations thank you from school number four the nominee for teacher of the year is dana dersukius dana here tonight hi dana mrs desukias is charismatic creative and always willing to go above and beyond for her students she has shown excellent classroom management skills and has developed a rapport with both her students and colleagues that is characterized by mutual respect she embraces the opportunity to prepare her students for success with a positive attitude and tackles the challenge year after year with ease ensuring that her students are successful every step of the way congratulations to you dana i'm being teacher of the year from school number four thank you so much our educational services professional of the year from school number four is kristin real a reading recovery teacher kristen is a dedicated reading specialist at school floor and has worked in our district for 18 years she is a driven dedicated teacher who develops inspiring relationships with her students her pleasant and supportive demeanor allows for a positive and productive learning environment geared towards the needs of individual student learners ms real is responsive to her students needs and is always prepared with a variety of different strategies and tools to help her students succeed congratulations to you kristin thank you very much dr robert jose thank you the teacher of the year from school number five is alexandra wisnowski hi alexandra you know i told you when when we met that i love your name because that's my oldest daughter's name i remember that thank you mrs wisnowski is a valued member of the school five family serving as a third and fourth grade special education teacher she demonstrates how caring and dedicated she is in meeting the individual needs of her students through her conscientious planning creative instruction and most importantly the love of her students that that makes me happy alexandra is a valuable member of the school 5pbsis team in addition to leading the school-wide character development program she helped to create congratulations alexandra thank you so much from school number eight the teacher of the year is mrs mata mrs meita are you with us tonight all right there she is mrs mata has worked for the clifton school district for 25 years she first started at the high school as a basic skills instructor and for the past 20 years has been at school eight as a fifth grade teacher mrs maida is known for being a kind caring and compassionate teacher she uses humor and a diversity of programs and techniques to enhance the learning environment in her class students always come first her students are encouraged to be proactive and take a more active role in their educational experience in their school community congratulations mrs maita teacher of the year from school number eight thank you our educational service professional from school number eight is hillary van gaal is hillary with us tonight hi hilary hillary stepped into the new role of elementary math coach coach this year after teaching for over 20 years she rose to the occasion her knowledge of the mathematics standards using data to drive instruction and instructional strategies in order to support instruction help clifton teachers increase student achievement most importantly she used this year to build relationships with teachers and administrators it's these relationships that have enabled teachers to feel comfortable and confident in letting her support student learning in their classrooms congratulations hillary keep up the great work our teacher of the year from school number nine is melissa sternberger hi melissa when it comes to identifying a model of excellence for teaching there is no better example than ms sternberger she is dedicated reliable and consistently goes above and beyond so that our students receive the best educational experience possible she is a trusted colleague and friend to all the clifton school district is very lucky to have her congratulations melissa thank you so much the educational service professional from school number nine is laura lazar laura is a speech therapist laura is a speech therapist who provides the students of clifton exceptional speech therapy throughout the school year she is kind caring and always finds creative ways to motivate and encourage her students she's a true professional and we are fortunate to have her as part of our staff congratulations laura and keep up the great work our teacher of the year from school number 11 you're very welcome our teacher of the year from school number 11 is sophia thank you you you're welcome sophia parmigia sophia are you with us did i mispronounce your last name i feel like i did farmiga farmer oh i just thought it was going to be more exotic than that that's easy thanks for joining us tonight sophia uh mrs farmiga is a art teacher she is truly the definition of what a renaissance person is mr puzo says we have discussed art literature languages etc and she's brought these conversations to her students at school 11 and used them to create works of art with those students this year she collaborated with mrs peasey world language teacher on the artist brito and his pop art students created their own work of pop art from these lessons thank you sophia for being an outstanding teacher and keep up the great work congratulations thank you the educational service professional from school number 11 is nicole zareski school nurse hi nicole nicole is a great source of valuable information more importantly she is knowledgeable of all the students who are enrolled at school 11.
all right good evening good evening Brookfield High School parents students staff family my name is mark Belinda and I am the proud principal of Brookfield High School I'm here watching the livestream to see if it actually works this is probably the most surreal experience that I've ever had and now I can see myself on delay coming across the screen so weird but thank you for joining me tonight I'm really excited to be here and to get to award and recognize some of our students this presentation was put together virtually it was done so with a couple recordings you're going to hear the names read of those people that are recognized those students are going to be read by some of our teachers and administrators and hopefully we won't have any technical issues at least that's my hope I know this isn't an ideal situation watching on a screen from far away and you might not even be able to see me on the side this is not what I will call our new normal this is a temporary solution this is something we're just doing for now I want to make sure we recognize our students for all their achievements they've done such great things this year and we are so proud of them so I figured why not do in the auditorium it's a little weird being in an empty auditorium just me the camera and the screen but let me begin with congratulations you know I want to make sure that the students understand even though I'm not with them today and I haven't seen them in quite some time I am still proud and they deserve a lot of congratulations distance-learning this last several months has not been an easy thing to do in fact it's harder for some than it is for others but everybody's really stepped up I'm quite proud of our students and our staff who've really adapted and done their best to really to a difficult situation one day March 12th it's a normal day of school and the next day the school year essentially ended in so many ways because they didn't get to see their students again and students didn't get to see their teachers so just as learning it's okay it's not the best it's not the best but we're working on it so there are some students that I know are working really hard and I want to recognize those students right now that continue to work hard during distance learning so here are the distance learning Awards like to give them to Belen Aguayo Grady bomba Lucas canibble Alan mathe and Nicolas Santos so congratulations to those five students for their hard work during distance learner well we've been a distance away from each other there's been so many that's really kind of stepped up and we create this award out of thin air really it's called the stem service award so this award goes to a student who has demonstrated an outstanding application of stem principles and processes to solve a problem affecting our community ghovat 19 unexpectedly created an overwhelming need for PPE among health care workers to ease the discomfort of wearing masks for extended periods of time this student suggested producing ear savers using our school's 3d printers since then this student has played an integral role in every part of the 3d printing initiative from distribution to record-keeping to grant writing to 3d printing to purchasing and even the troubleshooting of all associated technology issues they have followed his volunteer they dedicated countless hours almost every day of the last three months to this 3d printing initiative this student has single-handedly printed and donated over 2,000 ear savers to almost 100 different healthcare workers and first responders around Connecticut this stem service award goes to Logan white you are a true leader among your peers in a dedication to our community is both remarkable and greatly appreciated so here's our first test as we move to our departmental awards let's see what happens next hopefully the recordings work the way they're supposed to we're gonna start theoretically hearing from mrs.
near summer day I guess miss slow does not seek to have a call for quorum mr krepo here miss helen here miss ham here miss Harrigan here mr. Martelli yeah mister peres Janie here mr. white here mr.