burrow thank you okay thank you moving on to subcommittee reports the first two are the personnel negotiations committees which met on the 27th and 29th of March and with those we entered right into executive to discuss unaffiliated personnel and salaries so the next one we have is facilities okay Dan stole my thunder pretty much he did a better job that I could do danny has and um you know his support staff has been working with us and monthly and they have worked very hard and as this presentation showed everything that we had down on our list that we needed to have done during spring break happened it happened under budget if I did the math correctly it was about twenty-six thousand dollars in savings and that is just terrific because that is how we should be working we should be putting things out to bid we should be reviewing the specs and we should be choosing the best qualified vendors at the best possible price because that's part of our job as as board members also to be respectful of the the prices and the taxpayers so thank you again Dan there you are um he's doing an awesome job and so is his staff and I just can't wait for summer because we have a lot of good good things on the horizon that we're planning so he kind of stole my thunder but the huckleberry hill portables are down it's so excited and then I'm just gonna go right into facilities if you know my gesture go ahead the portables was there anything inside them before it and maybe this is no question there is nothing no we actually had walked through them and anything that was salvageable that we could use we did do you know we put aside we did recycle it anything that was at the Giammetti that determined what was I know actually it was Dan and staff ok bomb and we really left it up to them because that's their expertise you know waste wat not what not but so anything that was salvageable they they did put aside they will be using it you know another cost-saving you know benefit to the town but pretty much I was reading comments online it was kind of funny they have not been used in two years and I keep saying this they have not been hooked up there you can't use them they're 27 years old Dave actually they're 27 years old at huckleberry they were used from the high school when huckleberry saved them some people forget to that okay I know you know a soul diseases um so you know they were just they had served more than their life for Brookfield so we could not reuse them and it was you know it was time for them to go and and now they're just a memory for prevailed and but you did that answer your question yeah yeah okay I was just not what I'm talking about I'm just really excited that they're gone and if you haven't been there you have to go and just walk it in the parking lot I was there Sunday but you know taking pictures walking on it was like wow you can breathe I mean there's just so much room that we didn't even know existed so you know brightness you feel the c---eight that comes through exactly light light at the end of the portables right light at the end of the pole there we go so any other questions about that amazing jobs if I could just make a comment sure he never wants to take credit but we all want to thank mark Mulvaney for taking the initiative two years ago when the budget to force that into the budget he doesn't wanna he doesn't want to take credit for it but writers are not about that thank you for the 60,000 and we save 12,000 mark I appreciate it okay going right on to facilities we had our first public forum on March 27th 52 people attended it 51 we're live-streaming it we also had placed to the residents in Brookfield surveys we have had over 600 surveys returned to us mr.
superintendent dr. Burrell and Eric Conklin are going through the surveys right now and they will be reporting back the findings to the next strategic steering committee meeting on May 1st so I anxiously await that as dr. brill fed we have a meeting with the senior center on May 22nd at 1 p.m.
to go over our findings and just kind of talk with them and you know update them what's going on with the committee and you know what we're looking at and get their feedback we're also looking to meet with the PTO s the library and there's something else I'm forgetting which I think we're evil they did that thank you Thank You Debbie so we're gonna be working on that you know continuing to spread the word continuing to get feedback from the community because that's what we really want is the feedback from the community and you know what they envision you know this is a whole time project it's just not our project so our next meeting is May 1st we are going to be reviewing the surveys I'm going to see what members of the committee can be present at what days of the library and the PTO etc so again continue to spread the word and Tecton Associates will be there with their findings of weird they feel they're going to make their recommendations to us you know should we add on should we build a new school should we you know combine different age groups they have been very very busy meeting with different staff members going back to the schools doing their research so it's it's exciting the whole thing is very exciting you know for the town so we will be having that on May first and then our next big community meeting is June 7th and again we're inviting the entire public to come meet with us come with your questions come with your comments again it's a form of forum means a dialogue between us in the community so that's where we stand I mean all exciting yes and then Eve I just wanted to add two pieces that the other piece of wind touching base with Jeff from Tecton Oh as part of presenting those options to those initial options and thoughts to the committee next week they'll really be talking about cost estimated costs again at Apple to Apple comparison so when people talk renovate or add-on or build new really compare pros cons of all the different options with costs and so that'll be a good piece there thank you yeah the other thing I did want to say is when we talk about the different focus groups I know Eve you're talking about we need to still need to we have the senior centers scheduled we're working to schedule PTO and I've folks with the library in what Daniel talked about earlier with the I was able to have to double up essentially on focus groups so we ran four focus groups before the break and we broke them in half and so part of it was for security and the other part was for facilities and having them look back what would they want if their younger brother or sister or they were coming through the schools again what would they like to see and so Eric was with me and we we took copious notes so we'll have that to put up is also part of internal focus groups so we ran four focus groups for the kids and we already got a jump on the security task force as well so available Thank You fabulous everybody's working very hard it's it's exciting times for Barfield anybody have any questions okay June 7th please come thank you thank you and last we have the finance subcommittee so finance subcommittee met on April 9th we talked about a lot of different things so I'll kind of skate through at a top level on each of those we went we went through the March financial report and the check registers with with the misterpost and there was nothing dramatic in there I will tell the board with our continuing pressures on special ed costs we talked a little bit about that in terms of evaluation costs and things like that that are beyond what we actually got additional funding for so while we continue to scramble they're not anywhere near the magnitude of what we were talking about but at this point given some gives and takes that we've got we think we can still land a budget according to mr. post which is good despite the you know the continuing discoveries that we have on special ed there were no other major findings in that discussion we did talk about munis at a couple of times where we're actually doing Report Writer training and doing a lot of work around doing bank reconciliations in in munis taking what we've learned so far and expanding on it and also implementing the balance sheet accounts there are different timelines on each of those the bank reconciliations actually will start the next fiscal year as opposed to this fiscal year just because of some of the internet engagement with town side so on how that works our job talk about everything see actually came [Music] okay recommend a motion that the word along we all sign in and said I really want with us and and well thank you should you be missed and any other malicious host I'm in attacks and the Boyar in regards to change women are nice notice are original and any day of June 13th has a turn which is into the Tuesday of that week we have 182 days your student days the state 100 days day and move image to June 2nd the reason to behave as community our malt amenity may actually one is C because of camps the delicate answer is hurry and other session of students going into a tanning doses are pretty much encapsulating the number of other parents mentioned children I have an extended school year this is what would give you about them really not much at all between and anything regularly year starting here so right after a little with right so we amended the discussion we start arguing with this and then we can actually remember this go forward and decide we do have to take a look at this is a year I guess I'm we dedicated at first and the engine of the world was - based on some of your CV which is you and if we were to the direction the real feed for teachers we would eat and there's a lot of films do do the room that we wouldn't work as well so this is a fact that people there's going to be a lot on the high school and we managed the one thing that is very difficult to plan in advance the way things are right now we just get into a plan at the same time we don't have to do but what we'll do we have many many many many more many many more that are all right and we although we are you know there are people that have an occasion for differences maybe but he truly did maybe we're past it because maybe hpn work generalize that is a production we have gravity the eating and regulation in the I just had one question is there anything outside for extended school year just say sure you can Christine I think you didn't have plans for sources that are really important and educational continuity so you're gonna be just so critical and then they're gonna you know play that you need so you didn't hear and not something they push back and in her because it's families know and her staff promised that acting mom I'll just lose time there's no way to win thank you we received that were in favor continue waiting always just one I thought it would be I'd welcome that opportunity to because I think we'll be shortchanging our children by not you know keeping them till Tuesday we can use up as an opportunity to get them outside do stem activities utilize the garden play board games you know they have peer interactions I think both be neglecting being neglectful if we and school on the Friday and I think that's the people that wrote in it was very personal for them you know they have vacation plans but in that this was already determined and it was voted on the calendar with the expectation that any additional days will be added on to the end of the school year so you'd have to keep that in mind when you're scheduling vacations camps I know for my children their extended knowing the circumstances of the surrounding schools so I'm not in favor of ending school on Friday I think it's we're shortchanging our children and it's kind of isn't excuse by saying they'll be checked out I think that we have wonderful teachers and are innovative and creative and we can really really utilize that time to you know do positive things with the children schools are a safe haven for a lot of children they you know that's really a safe place for them it's you know a place that a lot of children look forward to going and they thrive on structure and routine and I feel like if we take that away from them that's being neglectful and if parents are really adamant about their children not going then don't send them I agree with joy I've actually sat and thought about this a lot my daughter was in center school the year that we had the whole mess with the SSS and the kids had to go to special school and she went right through school until June 30th and I always taught her my job is to go to work your job is to go to school and I just sit back and think thirteen hours of instruction that those kids are going to be missing 13 hours that they can be benefiting from education that they're going to be missing we receive a lot of letters we receive comments how important education is and how parents feel that we don't have enough instructional time but all of a sudden it just seems ironic to me that it's okay now by taking away these 13 hours because we're going Monday and Tuesday that's told to you at the beginning of the year you know do not schedule your vacations based upon the school year because we may have snow days and unfortunately this year was an awful year for snow days and I think as a board if we do not have the two days not only are we doing a disservice to the students because again they're going to be missing that 13 hours of educational time that is going to be benefiting them for a lifetime but also bear in mind we're going to be paying approximately a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars per day of taxpayer dollars for teachers to be working at the school educating our children and our children are not receiving the benefit so I have to disagree with stopping school on Friday for those two reasons everybody knew about it I'm sorry I know it stinks but you know I just think that those two days are so precious to our children and to take them away it just we're going to be doing them a disservice as far as their education goes and we're we're also doing a disservice to the taxpayers and and that are two things that we're supposed to always be looking at thank you can I ask her just a question to the doctor Borel if we're gonna have the teachers work on curriculum and professional development can we use some savings that we had put in the budget for summertime hours to help solve the budget issues you know that's a is a creative thought I suppose if we you know have some structure at work time we might be able to best time we would get that those two days so we could work with dr.
Ruby and see you know what that actually quantifies and what that might work I don't feel I'm right I'd like to miss a sturdevant's comment that we're spending taxpayer money right we put a big bubble of money in for writing curriculum into our budgets or if it wasn't that we have a big challenge ahead of us so not commenting one way or the other educational comment and we haven't I saw yeah that one strikes me as an opportunity sure sure you still have some you know reductions to tackle but I don't know that we would be able to use money from the 1819 budget not a thing just actually do the work with this years with the time right and I can cut the budget next year I understand this later in the summer and you know it's just to piggyback on okay we sit and we argue over $10,000 in our budget but we'll be giving up about two hundred and thirty thousand dollars in our budget and it just doesn't need good fiscal sense to me um at the high school would students have to come back and take this is a question for but invite us for I know but um what students have to come back and take finals on the day music so in the current schedule was the 26 being the last day I would I have to create a schedule already for seniors to take exams early so they could be done well before the 23rd so they'll be an alter scheduled for finals for seniors underclassmen at this point would take a final finals on Friday take finals again on Monday and Tuesday so it does extend that eat can can you just clarify the last point you made about two hundred and thirty four thousand dollars what is that number actually I did a quick calculation were to pay for the teachers and for working that Monday and Tuesday and the limited staff that goes with them for having them in the buildings it's approximately a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars a day we pay if you take our budget divided by X amount of days that everybody works it's an approximate number it's pretty darn close but it is an approximate number so that's per day so that's two hundred and thirty thousand dollars that were they you know they would be working anyway they would be working but their main job is to be teaching the students on those two days and I mean mr.
Blandon just brought up and I'm thinking oh my gosh so these kids that are taking finals you know if we get rid of Monday and Tuesday talk about crunch time on studying for them also they're going to be missing a weekend of studying too get the exams down before Friday that's a lot of stress for our students they wouldn't be crunching the finals yeah yes but the thing is without those two days of education what are they missing and what do teachers have to quickly teach in their curriculum because it's going to be on the final so now the students have to crunch with their studying because they're missing two days of instructional period that they need and that's what makes Brookfield so great yeah I know the state says 180 days but we take pride in a hundred and eighty-two days and how well our students do I think there was at least one letter that I remember from from a teacher who said given that we would be providing so much notice that they felt they had ample time to get in all their instruction and exams and prepare the students and enough time well and on the other hand I didn't see any letters from teachers saying the last two days of school are a waste of time don't worry about it we don't do anything anyway no but you know I mean I think I don't know how many letters we got in total but as we said before if we got 25 letters only one of them was in favor of keeping the schedule the way it is but again the squeaky wheel gets fixed and anybody willing to you know it's all up to you this is just my point of view as a Board of Education member when I took my oath of office what I promised to do and this is why I'm being vocal on it because this is not what I promised to do for our children on our staff so a 20 people right in mm-hmm supporting Friday being the last 8:20 being right that's a pretty low number I didn't see anything from a teacher I just feel like if we're valuing education we shouldn't accept 180 days as being acceptable you know we're really we have to look at everybody and the whole staff and all the workers and the children and if we want a value education we have to approve that and I think that if we make Friday the last day that we're not really truly valuing education and what the schools bring to our children enjoy me I appreciate both your point you carefully through that I think though this year was unusual you know that's the thing I would say I would agree with you on a normal year but this was such an unusual year in terms of weather you know it sort of reminds me of the year of Hurricane sandy I don't know if we were close for a whole week here but where I worked we were close for a whole week and sometimes you have just really unusual years and yeah I wouldn't want to lose two days of instruction but I think there's a there's validity to ending the school year within a reasonable amount of time if we meet you know the legal 180 days I'm concerned that that those are would be too productive days and I agree with your point though joy that parents could choose not to send their kids of course they have that choice but I think if our staff were given enough notice they could bring closure to school that Friday and graduation would have some more finality I think there's some you know some importance to that as well I think for me as it stands right now I think I would be in favor of ending on Friday and not because of the overwhelming public opinion about it but because I do think that those are personal and not as important because they can make that choice but you know I think in terms of like educating kids on those last two days and Eve to your point about it you know the cost aspect of that but then I think if these teachers are working those last two days doing professional development curriculum writing those are CDs during the school year the next school year where we don't have to find subs we can have our actual teachers teaching the students and that will save money and between the transportation and the other curriculum writing piece that was those hours in the summer that can negate a lot of those costs so I think from a cost standpoint it's actually perhaps more responsible to and early dr.
Berube can guarantee that savings I don't know if that was an IEP and Monday and Tuesday I think over promise that yeah I don't even want to go out on that limb because the the way that we've been rolling this out we've been working with a specific team of 40 some people that have been working with Murray Alcock and they've been bringing it the professional learning back to teams of people in the school and we're not in our roll out at the point where everybody it's not till next year that everybody is going to be have a Rubicon Atlas license we did we haven't perty should be prudent we haven't purchased licenses for all the teachers because they haven't been trained on engagement that's part of next year so I think that it would be a misconception to say that everybody would be doing curriculum writing because that's not how the plan is rolled out it just and that won't happen just because we have two days I so that I Det so they thought that you brought up was a great thought Bob but it's not it's not really gonna work I don't think you can find $200,000 certainly we could contribute toward the budget challenges that we have it and is there any crash on development that you think could be done on those days or is it really up in here well I'm gonna be really honest with you if we if we don't have children in classrooms I would wonder how many people would do sick days okay so I would also be wouldn't want to be more careful in thinking about bringing in professional development and then having not everybody be there I mean I can't predict that but I would I think all of us who are engaged in this business which is everybody at this table at some level there's your board members and we're faculty members and administrators people could call in sick those last two days and so so then in fact that would be costing us more money because we would have to pay them for their sick time plus hire subs well we wouldn't hire subs if there were any kids no I mean if I'm saying if we if there are no kids in school right it's possible that people would could call in sick those last two days so I wouldn't I really wouldn't be in a position to be able to predict what exactly is going to happen on them obviously we had planned for it but sorry for coming in late today but did I miss John and Maureen did you give your thoughts on the on the two days wait we went through some of the thoughts okay yeah like and I didn't get numbers but people be talking about some dollar values the savings are not significant but there didn't have to be look you know poorly upon their savings paraprofessionals would not work because they only work on days when kids are in school on that savings is about 6500 dollars that per day or is that total that would be total for both days and transportation savings on the labor because we have a hundred eighty-two day transportation contract but they wouldn't be bringing their bus drivers in so that'd be about seven thousand dollars okay about seven thousand dollars so thirteen thousand dollars something like that it was it from an instructional standpoint howdy how do you feel about having those extra two days for kids well I think there's an argument to be made for if you give people enough notice but it's two days that we've planned for and there are activities and things that can be going on on on Monday and Tuesday of course as I always say to people at some point you have to have the last day so there will always be a last day whether the last day is Friday and we're gonna have some feel-good things going on that also could be educational or if it's Tuesday I think joy really summarized it quite nicely some of the things that could be done especially with a lot of lead time for folks to know and when it's health concerns and some other things in temperature and we'd also be neglecting peeps out like a pair of professionals that wouldn't be working you know they may be relying on that salary your wage for that day we'd be taking that opportunity away from them and I saw mr.
Landis stepped out but I was wondering if we have any plans as far as managing funnels look that you think the grad party he's he's he knew this would be part of the discussion this evening so while he's got plans kind of either way I mean okay the plan is 182 days I mean so that's the plan right now so he's planning for that as he described when he was up at the podium but you know you need to get the seniors done before a graduation but the other students would have to come back for Monday Tuesday for exams so if there was change then you know those those plans up accordingly so what do we know about neighboring districts they're the only neighboring district that I know of that you know in that when I've done any research on this it's just that I know is that Bethel prior to they are scheduled for 181 they actually held school on Good Friday and the in and that's because there was a snow D before a Good Friday that they weren't hoping that wouldn't happen but it did happen but if they made it past Good Friday they were still going to go down from 181 to 180 or they there anything on what they believe there I don't know what the day they're ending on maybe move that up maybe but I believe there and they end up ending at 180 on the Friday we're on the Thursday even you know but I think their own doing way I hope I'm not miss speaking do we know if any neighboring districts are going to school on Monday Tuesday there are other districts are going longer yeah the ones going right to the end yeah they had more snow days than we do well I will admit that as we were receiving all the letters just before it ran out right around Good Friday I was sitting there in the snowstorm listening but reading letters about how hot it was gonna be and I kept saying I can't wait but it is hot in the schools look I'm married to a schoolteacher I posed the question to her I said so you'll get your teacher what would you do she says this is a no-brainer she says I don't get much educational value out of thing you know the last week in the month of June and the kids attentions not there the kids attention has moved on you're spending all your time trying to focus them in she says I'd ended on Friday and move on she says it's been a crazy year and and on this sort of matter I take her input to the bank so I am in favor of ending on Friday for the kids for the heat in the schools and I have heard everything that everybody said I still think it's this is a odd year and we just move on so he's an odd year when you have to call your assistant 16 mornings during a winter to tell her there's an early dismissal or there's something at 4:00 yeah yeah yeah so I said you locating those tacks don't you there you go we've heard from you certain thing you wanted to mention about I think I have to echo what Jen said I feel like you know we do actually what everybody has said we have a very strong commitment to the education we give our kids here in Brookfield and I don't think anybody is suggesting that going forward we shorten the school year in future years but I think this year was you know an exceptional case and it's late in a year to have still had snow days in late March early April so by the time we got to March April and people started making plans for camp or vacations or whatever else they kind of thought we were in the clear and lo and behold we weren't in the clear so I think you know I I feel very comfortable saying this year I think we can safely make an exception and end on Friday without any detriment to our students I think the teachers can get a lot done with two days without kids in the classroom and from what I've seen from the letters we've gotten from parents and from what I've seen online and heard in the community to me the overwhelming feeling is that parents think we should end on Friday so I'm okay with that I'm good with any good addressed everything all my concerns so and I have to say that I I toss this one for what because I said I want that we shouldn't be at taking away days based on convenience and at first thought this is convenience but then I think if you dig deeper into it it's it goes beyond convenience to logistics to student education to delivering it to it very unusual here so I think I would probably be in favor of ending it on Friday as well but if no one has anything else we can call about so the if we recommended motion joy we wanted get up we can't I'm sorry you're uncomfortable reading it because you took your position recommended motion that the board approved moving the last day of school for the 2017-2018 school year to Friday June 22nd keep me in alignment with the state law which requires students to attend school over 180 days second any further comment I'm sorry real I just I just jeez they neither comment all in favor aye opposed near five to two in favor of school ending right for 20 seconds thank you everyone I know that wasn't we'll either tonight or tomorrow we'll get a communication out to everyone about this okay I'd like to since the action was to discuss it moving forward as well I'd like to take a moment to start the discussion about next year and the following year so this doesn't happen again because we say this is an unusual year but if there are then other unusual years we wouldn't want it to um we should definitely use it as a learning experience sure we should take this and move forward with it and to that extent I know we have approved next year's calendar it can also be revised if we need to I did spend some time because you know I always love to look online and see things two three four five I took a look at the surrounding school districts to see what they actually do in constructing their calendars I have enough here first how many days they have in their calendar their first day that they start the days in session difference are actually days that they meet when we don't with the exception of the asterisks of New Fairfield in Monroe and that's actually a day that they have off that we do meet underneath I describe what those days are the last day without snow days and then under comments some of these districts actually have a last day built in with five or seven snow days that they will use and then and earlier than that and you see that in there interestingly enough if you see Bethel and Danbury actually state on their school calendar that they have 186 185 days respectively really does with their built in snow days but what they can do with that is actually set to their graduation date early because per state law if you start the school year with more than 108 185 days or more you can set your graduation day and not have to change it and so because it's my understanding school calendar even though they have 181 and 180 days actually when do you have the built-in snow days that's how they can kind of get around the graduation so what happens if they have more than five snow days I might put that in the comments as well some of them are added to the end of it like let's say Newtown their last day with their official last day is the fourteenth but with the five built-in snow days if they're not used they can finish as early as the 7th if they have more than the five snow days they add them on until the twentieth and then they take that spring break actually going past the twentieth or twenty seconds is the exception versus the rule even though the state says we have to end by the end of June many school districts have a firm date well before that and then after the 20th 21st et cetera start taking it off of their Presidents Day if they have excellent for spring break but it's just food for thought going forward it's not to say that any any way is perfect but I think we do need to take this year and use it as a learning experience going forward I like the idea of building in snow days but I still don't think you still can't really predict the last day of school because if you have like in the case of Newtown if you have more than five than the last day of school is not the 14th exactly exactly it then it's full you can't be a building like our last day is always the last day and we have six built in snow days and then you know they start with morale day weekend you go backwards from there so those specific days right so you're not - right now they do here which is I had to write another point that needs to be added in my first year here though the board talked with me when we were developing the calendar was that they wanted to keep the board at that time wanted to keep April vacation sacred they didn't want any days taken off April break no matter what so everyone community could Bank on a vacation and if they're planning vacation day vacation time away they're not scrambling at them out last-minute looking for special permissions - well I already have plane tickets and I've already done this and booked this I can't get out of it so we also I think as part of this Thank You Claire for doing this is building in those days in you know whatever order it might be that we might take away first yeah but we also have to say we should come to consensus if we're gonna go down this road over the spring and summers talk about this what are we gonna hold sacred and not much exactly we have to formally come back and talk about if it was considered you know those are those are big big things I mean my first year here there the April break wasn't sacred and in my former district coming here the April break wasn't hadn't been sacred and that caused a lot of problems with employees who are taking time off that was a time that was off but we're gonna be kids in the building was a perfect time slow time it's not just teachers talking about it's all of our employees who are necessary and in vacation has been a good time for everyone to take take the time off and it caused a lot of problems and a lot of headaches and a lot of bad feelings because you have to say - no I can't grant you that permission and they lose out on plane tickets and hotels and stuff so we just need to be mindful of that as well for our parents they don't want to miss school if all of a sudden we're having school during the entire April break because of so many days off they plan a vacation and how kids missed a few days of school so it that can be awkward as well you should definitely consider and I do want to note in this if we were to make any significant changes we would probably have to find extra days within the school year as well would you see most of these schools do yeah exactly two of them are professional development days that we have and that's per contract that we have X amount of professional development days there are a lot of though that do not take home on this day off and by state law we can do that we have to have some educate any day that that we hold school that is a state holiday we have to have some sort of lesson plan surrounding why that is our which is why on Thursday we go to school but there is some sort of educational piece regarding Veterans Day we'd have to do the same thing with Columbus Day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is one in many schools also don't have the three-day presidency you know again we use that as one professional development day but we could still have two days off instead of a three-day we don't have a teacher that profession they still there so if we were to effect any significant changes when where the other we would probably also have to take a look at that meaning the other thing we're going to do to mitigate some of this cancellations is I've asked the principal's to start thinking about schedules for a 3-hour delay some of our districts locally have BeagleBone from a two-hour - in addition having a rare but a call of a three-hour delay so that's something that considered as well so there were two or three times we if we had another hour we probably could've got the roads into the safe conditions as well as the parking lots of got the kids in and so and that may have got us from you know ninety eight nine ten to seven or nine to six days or something like that so and something else that we could also think about that I have asked we couldn't do it going for or looking at next year scheduled because there are contractual issues as well we brought this up and that would be as after X amount of snow days say five snow days we have in a remote learning day where even though the kids aren't in school teachers are in school there are lesson plans that's something that's probably something we would be likely if we were able to plan and get all the clearances on and so forth and all the hurdles would be looking at the year probably I think it would be we'd be lucky if it was 1928 more the 2021 year but it is something that we can think forward planners absolutely great idea is education delivered as well as education delivered better remotely on February 6 than it is on January 26 probably I'm sorry like June 46 yes messed up there so what should our process be for focus on the agenda raishin comeback insurance policies I think it deserves a look for next year so this certainly was just meant to start the discussion and started pushing the ball forward it's something that we certainly come to conclusion now but I think the next step would be perhaps you know I can promise you this that can't be ready for next week what's the April 11th Monday many districts have off the Monday after spring break um the 22nd well in the charge of the 22nd but on the bottom you have the alas that's what it should be there are two districts now New Fairfield Monroe that have that date off that is literally out of all of the difference in the districts that is the only day in the only two districts that have a day off that we don't every other time we have day off days off even other districts at least the ones that I got here and again this is not a forum exhaustive list I just tried to look regionally all of the towns surrounding our area and I went dirt be a little bit further than the surrounding towns just looking quickly at the numbers I love the structure that says if there's no snow snow days you could end as early as six seven harder snow days at 6:14 and to get a lot of snow days you're up the maximum of 620 that's a nice structure yeah because you've got two weeks of buffer and they're in effect right so I can you tell me Bethel you can see that some of those and I like the thought of declaring officially a hundred eighty five days if you can do that so that you can avoid the second graduation day on that and it was like oh my god why don't we just seven that schedule okay that's something even if that's all we do in the coming year with the us that way that's something we can adjust that see the structure and oh sure we're we're kind of running all out to get to 614 right so exactly sure and I just wanted to dwell on the on the blank with me Milford I did ask a certain former assistant principal and a current teacher because it wasn't very clear as to what they did to add on days they have a last day of classes it almost seems a little arbitrary year this year was the 26th the year before was a 23rd I believe it was and then if they reach that point then they start taking away from Spring Break okay so maybe we can put this on the calendar for our seconds maybe second maybe yeah the sixteenth might have some room may 16th I think has some more if we're going to make changes they probably need to be you know that second jovi yes I mean would like at least to have their parents have some sort of sure planning in advance maybe the calendar can be revised but we need to keep in mind people are making we want to drag it out of two to August or it's like that yeah exactly okay thank you everybody for the discussion okay next we have discussion of possible action concerning the era non-renewals recommended motion that the board move that pursuant to connecticut general statutes section 10 - 151 the book field board of education on renew the teaching contract of the non-tenured teachers listed in exhibit H at the end of the 2017-2018 school year is recommended by the superintendent and further move that the superintendent be directed to communicate this action of the board in writing to the non-tenured teachers listed in exhibit H and that the superintendent be authorized to respond on behalf of the board to any requests for a hearing if required by law or for other data which may be forthcoming from the teacher and/or his or her representative pursuant to applicable provisions of gen Connecticut general statutes section 10 - 151 and that the superintendent be directed that any response to a request for a hearing if a hearing is required by law indicate that such hearing is to be before the board or at the board's discretion a subcommittee of the board yeah [Music] Doctorow did you wanna say anything in regards to that's just it while this is an annual because because of tenure law and the way our collective bargaining works we have to do this because we don't have budget at this point budget likely will be sent next week for referendum on the budget in May and we have to make these decisions prior to May 1st so this has to be done and if there is a major reduction where we do have to engage in reduction in force we have to have told people and these would be or not and your teachers according to the statute here that notify all the pie makers that before May 1st that they've all you know they'd be without a job and then what we would do is whatever reduction we'd have to make difficult decisions if that was ever to come to fruition we would do that and then we would be in compliance with the law the law and those individuals whose positions would be eliminated without me go back and that's basically why we have to do this is unfortunate I've signed each and every letter personally and you look through and I said the same thing last year I mean on tenure folks more than two-thirds maybe three-quarters at this point of the people I brought in so it wrenches the heart when I was a teacher I knew the pink slip was coming my first few years teaching as well for the most part it typically works out we have to see what happens it can't we just can't count any chickens at this point any discussions thank you for that explanation and hiring is extremely expensive and time-consuming you can ask the principal's here and our administrators the time and effort that goes in it is beyond safety of students since that beyond that it is the most important thing that we do as educational leaders is hire the best staff in our school obviously the best instructors teachers so it's it's heart-wrenching every time you think about these kind of things okay no further discussion all in favor aye aye aye opposed we will notify some other principals have the letters they're ready to go you will hand deliver those to their staff and meet in person to talks with the effective that means thank you okay first absolutely pass out that budget flyer ten days all right discussion of the 2018-2019 budget recommended action that the board discuss 2018-2019 budget considerations can we put that in there pretty much as a placeholder and I think Bob you pretty well described a lot of it with the Finance Committee report we do have at this point a hundred and eighty thousand dollar reduction we are hopeful that seventy-nine thousand of that can be addressed via the non lapsing account which is the underground of our 1617 audit we are also looking to use sixteen thousand that has no clear purpose from the transfer over on the Student Activity front platform it's in a miscellaneous file that's been there under counsel there's a ways there are ways that we can transfer this to the principal's account then use it to purchase and books classroom materials so therefore take that away from our 2018-19 budget of purchased books or classrooms that does leave approximately eighty four thousand dollars we had thought because we aren't official yet with an online font that we would wait and make these decisions after the referendum at least after we get them on maps and font established so we know what it is that we're looking forward to further reductions unless anyone has any other discussions at this point for that or does anyone have anything else that they would like to discuss regarding the budget moving forward I'll just make a comment at the Finance Committee meeting we did ask dr.
Borel and mr. post to start working through the options so that they would come with a recommendation it's always the hardest you have cuts and as we all know this is a really tight budget we work hard to make you make it sure it was a tight budget no it looks like a very high percentage increase its algorithm by that special edition I say that sincerely to the people listening on TV this is a tight budget so it will be a heart-wrenching moment but we did ask experts back to the drawing board started thinking about what those options were and we've all we want we'll do that as we find out what the target is and we've had conversations with principals as well so you know it impacts all of us so so they're part of the decision-making process I would take a moment to encourage everybody to attend the town hall or the town meeting on the first where the budget will be reviewed in great detail and they can have the opportunity at that time to make comments in regards to it hearing no other discussion we can move on to the student request for non-resident attendance recommended action that the Board discussed the student request for non-resident attendance there was a request for a non-resident student to attend Brookfield public schools and for a policy while that request came to me I need to bring it before the board because it involves a student and confidentiality I'd recommend that we discussed that in executive session that's okay to the board and then we go to upcoming events okay it's center school the kids are on screen he's on Monday April 30th in the morning huckleberry progress reports will be available on Friday April 27th there's a special ed meet-and-greet on Thursday May 3rd from 9 to 10 and the grade 3 is having a field trip they Connecticut Science Center on Friday May 4th with skinnier on Tuesday May 8th from 8:30 to 30 is the 7th and 8th grade science team field trip to the Eli Whitney Museum it's already mentioned about a repeat at the senior prom will be on Friday April 27th from 6 to 11 at the water view high school and there's a grad party meeting on Monday May 7th from 7 to 9 in the cafeteria ok nothing further we can go into executive session recommend a motion that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing strategy and negotiations unaffiliated salaries and a student request for non-resident attendants all in favor okay so that concludes our public portion of the Board of Education meeting thank you all for being here have a good evening [Music]
but left without smiles dzeko by alex de angelis brains of a smaller boy with one love yes [Music] the author charles hamelin no longer walks and blue spartacus [Music] not the molds work my cape now no longer and explains I was always under fire leisinger arrive in the same in truth of trailers camps every day edward h
could everyone rise please for the Flex loop put your right hand over your heart ready to Republic for which it stands one nation under God [Music] mr. Thompson mr. Rosales is absent and makes a fella okay at this time we will startled wind Denise rising and after Denise [Music] could you stop for a second we'll let you start again your microphone is not working hey thank you my name is Denise rising and I'm a teacher at Magnolia elementary school at our school we have an acronym wild WI LD inspire others lead by doing and develop solutions the children chant this often at our assemblies and even outside school it shows a sense of pride and a sense of community that we have the Magnolia family we are aware they will have their own traditions and values and yearly events that shape their culture this culture is binding to the communities surrounding it it is how we know when a family is in need and who to reach out to it is why we pull together in a time of crisis and we consider this a time of crisis shutting down an elementary school takes away a child's community sense of security and sense of belonging it sends a message in the community that is oosan' unify values money over children please think twice before closing down an elementary school because you cannot repurpose a child's second home which is their school you cannot repurpose the child's friends you cannot repurpose a child's caring teachers and you cannot repurpose a child sense of security please do what Magnolia does why make wise choices inspire others lead by doing and develops solutions schools are not interchangeable especially to a student's sense of well-being we must send a message to the community loud and clear that children come first please put our children first thank you hi my name is Angela and my topic that's our campus 28 years ago when I was looking for a job I did not know much about the city of Azusa and I got off the freeway at citris and headed south I saw magnolia and it was love at first sight I was enamored with the brick buildings that expansive bones the trees and the well-maintained community surrounding the school Magnolia is located on an entire block and it is a center of the community Magnolia is a property that has tremendous curb appeal and it acts as an amazing advertisement for the school district being on such a busy street oftentimes when I tell people from other cities where I work they are familiar with the site and comment on its beauty and the size in realistic location and curb appeal of our pyramid it would be a major deterrent to the district and the community to lose a gentleman like Magnolia Magnolia has also been modernized our classrooms the teachers lounge or workroom or office computer lab parking lot and library have all been remodeled or built new before we were going through this process the teachers were told to make a wish list wishlist and to dream it I teachers without our sight to work at the came back and pointed out to us that we actually got almost everything on our wish list more recently we added a sidewalk and on the front and a higher gate to increase safety first students let a desert landscape was also added to the front a community passed a bond to modernize Magnolia school with all these resources allotted to Magnolia school you would be a disservice to the taxpayers in our community who's our hard-earned dollars were invested in magnolia magnolia is the pride of our community our teachers our staff our students and our close-knit families who have sent generation the students through our school these are the reasons why we are are you questing that monoid his school he withdrawing from the surplus list [Music] good afternoon my name is Sylvia Marquez I have taught at Magnolia school for the last 28 years on behalf of our Magnolia staff parents students and community I would like to share some key community partnerships know the old elementary is located within walking distance of Azusa Pacific University at Citrus College so the Pacific University has a partnership with Magnolia elementary to provide special services to the student body including Pacific physical education classes and individual counseling APU also provides reading literacy and adapted the single education classes throughout the year for our special education the Magnolia partnership with the University [Music] I can announce college life APU students benefit by completing their service hours at our school I know Lee Elementary has a partnership with the district until health services the district recently renovated part of our facility to relocate their mental health services on our campus the adult transition program is housed and our former sixth grade academy location an expensive specially designed facility was created for the program specific needs which includes a fully operational apartment for the students for these reasons we are requesting Magnolia elementary to been withdrawn from the surplus [Applause] afternoon my name is Eugenia Vannevar and I have been part of the Azusa unified family for the past 16 years have been very lucky to be part of both Mountain View and Magnolia today I am honored to be speaking on behalf of Magnolia elementary and my focus will be my safety first of all Magnolia is surrounded by three residential streets making Waukee ideal for parents and students because of our location on citrus which is a commuters route we know our school does not interfere with their flow of traffic this allows for an efficient pick-up and drop-off routine that keeps our community safe also Magnolia provides easy access for transportation such as buses and student pickup zones should ours will be closed there is significant concern for our independent student waffles because they wouldn't risk the danger of a crossing over the 210 freeway additionally last o Street is a high traffic area making it not safe for children to cross easily another safety benefit of Magnolia Elementary is the access for emergencies due to the multiple entrances and exits for emergency responders parents and students and so these are some of the reasons why we had Magnolia Elementary are requesting to be withdrawn from the surplus list thank you good afternoon my name is Ed whenever my Maria Elementary School has been in the heart of this middle class single home community for over 60 years when the community was established in the mid fifties the school was built with the purpose of educating their children in a safe and friendly environment it is the only school in the district on a megacity Avenue running north to south this property may be worth a very high price in today's market however it is priceless for our students our community selling Magnolia school might provide a short-term solution for the district but he will not resolve the core financial problem it would be extremely detrimental for our students in our community closure of a school on a prime location creates a negative perception of a Sousa Unified School District if my Gloria is lost the district will never be able to recuperate such a prime location normal the trust of this community sousta is a vibrant growing community and we want to make sure the Magnolia continues to serve this community for future generations that is why we are requesting 7/11 committee to withdraw our school from the current surplus least our petition is backed with over 1,000 signatures from students start in our community which I will now get to tell committee and soonest our school as the presentations thank you very much [Applause] [Music] my teacher being Miss with Trez I have been a magnet at Magnolia for five years magnolias great school I know because I've been there since kindergarten the teachers there are caring and kind and dedicated there are always available for us to make learning fun they even use their money to buy school supplies help us learn my little brother comes to Magnolia - and my friends and their little brothers and sisters we all love Magnolia and we don't understand why you would want to take the school away from us our fine teachers will be out of a job as well as the janitor the cafeteria ladies and the office staff it is if it is true that children are our future by limiting our school education and sending us to crowd explore will not help I'm Magno Elementary I have learn to read write critical thinking and research use music much more we all remember our favorite elementary school and memories we made a magnolia must be the best years of our life middle school high school and college don't have playgrounds [Applause] [Music] good afternoon my name is Benson for us and I am the student council president out of known Elementary School located in the city of Azusa Elementary School has been a year for as long as I remember this school has posed as a home for several students including myself it serves as a healthy learning environment but by removing this school from the district you are taking away jobs from teachers that have been there for several years there are many other ways to save this school teachers give up their time for the sake of a child's future and you want to take all of that away this will really help students in lots of ways these teachers and staff make you feel welcome more honest to myself from the beginning of kindergarten to the end has been great I have prospered immensely look at the position where I am now I don't believe that if I were attending another elementary school I would have built up the courage to seek a high position in a school this school has become my family most of my classmates I have known since kindergarten the teachers here made me feel comfortable and very self confident and most of all taught me self-discipline the school itself has taught me leadership skills I am now a well-rounded scholar and I have expanded my social background that type of communication is going to help me all throughout my life and seeking colleges and seeking jobs I have developed that at this precisely I wouldn't have been able to grow these abilities elsewhere why because the teachers they had encouraged me non-stop they saw the potential and they motivate and they motivated me from day one and those teachers they're not gonna be found elsewhere and look at me now and the president of derringer school so please do us a favor and take our school obvious list that we are not desired to be on [Applause] in a middle area and residential street when my niece would to microampere very happy that we chose to live here now I have two children of my own my oldest is in the seventh grade and he attends Foothill middle school he is a straight-a student he doesn't have a class he reads at a college level thanks to the wonderful teachers at Magnolia Elementary I volunteer at Magnolia almost every morning I see how the teachers are with their students parents head staff they are very welcoming Magnolia is a huge part of our community this is why I never thought I would ever want to leave as you said to invite school district to tell now I have talked to many parents and they you say the same thing because the district [Music] [Applause] good afternoon my name is Angelina zawari I am 40 years old and the first elementary school was born let me tell you how magnolia changed my life I came to the United States at the age of 7 sewing very little English I was in a completely different country not understanding the language or culture now thinking back to a seven-year-old and the completely different environment could be a bit scary or intimidating luckily for me my grandparents lived right across this and Magnolia was going to be a new school my first teacher was which I'll never forget miss Walter she took me in our class as her own and taught me everything I needed to know the love and support was incredible as she is still appreciated Thank You magnet school for giving me the opportunity to grow and learn I hope that madness continues to provide for our community for the sake of our future please keep magnolias school open for future generations I'm sure the committee leaders know the advantages and disadvantages of shutting down the school for example advantages a better-educated committee creates jobs for teachers and other school officials less crowded classrooms more individual attention in classrooms the elementary school attracts family or individuals to purchase property in the city disadvantages unemployed teachers and school officials of course the opposite overcrowded classrooms less individual attention relocating the school will put too much strain on children and other schools conclusion I have never in my life ever experienced school being closed that alarm makes me sick to my stomach Magnolia school gave me a chance and I will not we will not allow you to take that open an opportunity away from any deserving children [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Jony de montagne the only school my sons know is Magnolia elementary my son Leo has Down syndrome he attended Magnolia the past five years its first year he would run around campus to avoid classwork we got to know every classroom restroom and broom closet Leo has thrived at Magnolia this year we enjoyed learning about the gold rush he is reading and writing and watching kids kid burns the West I'm wearing a tool that I use to help Leo understand the importance of being on the group plan to help Leo succeed we use social stories and many other strategies such as this throughout the seven-eleven process people have said that kids are resilient my son is resilient that doesn't mean it will be easy for him to navigate school closure it will take a long time for him to adapt to a new environment kids with disability and requires structure and consistency more than their peers there are many students with disabilities at Magnolia Elementary and they will have a hard time adjusting please remove us from the shortlist [Applause] good afternoon I'm Tony from Montevideo the first time I stood here I gather with the parents and teachers stayed at all the facts about our school technique let me refresh everyone's memory regarding this committee and February 28th the committee voted the following schools to be declared a service club Stonestreet altitude in favor to close but no you seven to zero favourite to close Parma seven to zero in favor to close Seattle high 61 in favor to close and the schools which they did not recommend to close the three to four and favorite not too close Mountain View our school six to one in favor not home my question now my question right now is how did the committee came up with a new list of schools in less than 35 minutes on April 18th we expect so much from the committee to look into the schools thoroughly because as you have said you needed to reassess them with 35 minutes suffice all the questions that you needed to reconsider our school what is your basis in reconsidering our school and how did the schools that you voted a surplus before I know what happened to them and if you are considering our risk all mountain meaning to have a higher market value where did you get that number did you hire a real estate Assessor to assess our land or it's just a perception and if our school is more valuable than any other schools it doesn't mean to say that you're going to sell or at least our land to have a quick fix of the district's financial struggles education is not a business schools as if there is a dollar sign on and look at the value of the teachers of the students and appearance why are the students paying the price of the mistakes devastated of the mismanagement that the district committed without why us why not [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hello my name is Lukas I'm a first grader at Mountain View and I'm here to ask why I want to close our school I love my school because that's the only place one student of the Moose AR point and there are prizes when you achieve goals I have 187 point and I'm a classic me already my teacher encourages me to read a lot my school taught me how to read write and speak in Spanish I have my best friend there too I thought that as I said when I was just like a captain up with these don't close my school my your so Lucas this time to America either enough school a mountain view is dirty but a brigand por que tiene el maestro Spooner when come to meet you miss Puna okay is it único lugar donde los ninos didn't mass puntos they are eat ambient noise dumb play music when the company mascot monstrous metals go yet then go see and or chip I see people dozed in a poodle email hey DiNozzo now certificado deliver a classical meet my smn1 diva mucho miss winner a pendejo [Applause] [Music] come to us with their questions and their worries and expect to hear information from us that is factual but in this situation have by myself I'm just as confused as they all right now maybe so saying I don't know more often than I wish I did I understand and appreciate the fact that you have taken a very difficult task and then no matter what you decide there will be many disappointments because it goes without saying no one wants their school to close however it would help all of us the committee would spell out the criteria used when a bonus made last week elementary schools were evaluated again and some of the schools were left out from being reevaluated without a clearance nation as to why it was mentioned that the ones they had already been ruled out before would not be looked at again my concern is that the minutes from previous meetings don't reflect the choices that were being at the last meeting the criteria that was used to make the current list was simply not clear and leaving some schools out made the process seem unfair please help us understand the reason behind the decisions that were made in the last week so that we are not left to speculate [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we declared surplus and who moved to a middle school to accommodate the student needs and leave elementary for open to sixth grade for 18 I attended and one of the committee members that the job had not been fulfilled as a committee why wasn't that slave in fact when mr.
della Torre suggested that and many members that she wanted to add to elementary school I witness there is no that the go matters due to committee morning fingers at each other I wish [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my name is make a correction from something I said at the last meeting at that meeting I said that Systema lab at center was $250,000 come to learn that it was actually more than $300,000 with that lab that's not why I'm here today I don't have a dog in this fight my children are out of school years ago this group from here Villar Kellen all went to Valley Gale Ellington was having declining enrollment or the building took our old trap is full track tear and we went over to Ellington somehow we lived through it because the students that walk from here to Valley Dale we're now walking with their same friends over to Ellington I also got the impression that one school thinks their teachers are are better than another or they their teachers contributed more than another I'm here to say that the teachers from all schools [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but their programming is for their school or got a em to school program be at that school we took small underutilized schools those with fewer than 200 students those with fewer than 11 or 12 teachers and combined to those schools you could bring your program a to this school they would have their program be more students would be affected by two special programs not just one safety is an important factor I Drive to Arcadia for work every day I go down a burden that's mounted you get on the 210 freeway it is scary those cars coming off the freeway those cars getting on the freeway and watching these little ones trying to go to school very poor parking area in there okay Mike my last statement is just I think when you decide you've got to combine school or two it should be those that are the least disruptive the fewest numbers of students you could take [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello members of the board my name is Fabian Hernandez I'm currently a sophomore at Azusa High School I promoted from Mountain View to the year 2012 to 2013 my older sis off my older sister also attended Mountain View and I was currently a younger sister in the third grade never in a million years I would have guessed that I would have been in this position giving this message and protesting with many others so that they won't close down listen being in school I'm here today to give you the inside stories and memories created every day at Mountain View what we have here at Mountain View is not just a school it's a community it's the community the parents students staff to the alumni are also making my everlasting friendships at this school with my best friends I make here in kindergarten yeah kindergarten as this day after 11 years I still continue friends this is the story for many other students not only this isn't business wonderful school bring me good friendships but also amazing relationships with the teachers every teacher I had at the school helped me grow in every way possible from academics to my personal characteristics which teacher that I've had to my school saw the potential and me had work to help me become a better student one teacher specially influenced me the most his name mr.
Stamatis he only development of the person that I am today the 5th grade my dream was to become an astronaut - he went out of his way to support his dream for me for one thing he made in a class project to make the Mars rover which was solar-powered I gave life camera footage this this also grew my curiosity and engineering another time he gave me an acid bath this also I sorry if I'd started to cry when he showed me the fact that one teacher would would go out of his way been caring about my future so a piece of inspiration to this day I still have another reason how this school is so fantastic is that new things that they are implementing into it be honest have jealous of the things that they that they now have that I didn't have all the new activities and events that they now have so just as Saturday sessions they have to practice for the state Tennessee I never had that when I was attending there now I hope to see my younger sister achieve a higher score just as I managed to board a perfect more of the math section of course with the Jewish bring you their wall and also I'm glad to see that my mother is really the community of the school well all my other friends might have stay-at-home moms makes in the PTO community the PTO parent committee my mom is really involved in in all the school activities with all these changes I can proudly say that mountain views on the road to becoming that sensational school again I asked some members of the board to reconsider this decision and keep the school lab apart from is housing a whole community that we have built a month amongst ourselves it is that's how me what makes not to be unique from all villages student to all those boys you might ask I remember a conversation that I had with the same teacher mr.
Samanas we were discussing an incident that happened he told us that the fact that next partner he told us at the academics is not the only thing that the teachers at this moment sportsmanship responsibility and other important life lessons that other schools don't teach your kid as much but these stories and information I presented this fool has brought me many great memories and overall came the path of my future [Applause] [Music] [Applause] mr. Donnell I have got out of those of my daughter's you think I'm on about so I'm just very concerned about what's going on with my what the school I see those two she was going to Montebello and I see over here looking at all the young kids today I'm wondering what's going on with the kids I come from and I feel special it's they kept up all the way around how to read oh my god don't give up on these kids they're hoping they could to not there's money in the federal government but if I went I do work for the Sheriff Department so we're going to give kids a helping hand at derivative very early age at 14 years old and have a minor so do you know so if you can [Applause] [Music] they definitely took away our from center middle school and I'm here although we're not on the recommend recommendation list we're still on the consideration ways and I'm here not only representing myself saying I'm also representing Boston as cutting either one of those schools are recommending it for closing what effect those communities where the students go to us I know money's important but that's not important I just just just got our presentation with stats money something I want to remind the committee that sometimes money when it goes it's gonna affect people's lives which also costs money I have to get to school a big city settling us I hope the committee reconsiders school once again notice was her soul spread apart that it would affect those students having to watch so whether he's lost in is they would have to come to the Southside Center the district put it or standard ice person or cycle or the middle foot us again I believe that I hope that committee they stopped to consider a surface as well as ads on Elementary's to the consideration is that maybe not these but others because that's just us but just Middle School competes at racialism and if you don't recommend in the other school any of us on the list you're leaving us by ourselves thus I hope that you also take into consideration other schools that are that lady mentioned the votes the last time that had a high goal percentage make happen on the consider a service as well with us again I hope that the committee takes lives and people's children's safety into consideration because again someone said earlier no one's going to be happy at the end but there is a solution to where you have the beast damage and effect I hope you guys [Applause] [Music] oh yeah and this is dolar said mostly what I wanted to say if you close a middle school when door I'll probably get into some of our kids and up and saucer can't close that because it's just logistically difficult our school center has just been going through a whole revamping we do have a three thousand dollar lab where is that going to go but I'm wondering if we saved one school is Rosedale part of our property ownership we own that did that be considered taking off allele is Burke let our analysts because I don't think there's anybody going here do we own is it ours and Doris I might want to have it I think you guys might want to consider Rosedale as part of a surplus property and that might save one school [Applause] [Music] [Applause] if that is me and moving on to the next section of the edge of that which is the committee's discussion of the priorities when any of the committee members would like to make any statements at this time prior to discussing the priority use list in response to the community and have their comments I'll go ahead and start since I wasn't here last week and I do apologize that I had a scheduling conflict you couldn't have anybody watch my kids and they both wore this district and so I'm part of all this kind of a little disgusted that some of the things I heard of what happened in our meeting I think everybody at this table was pretty confident in themselves we're all adults we don't make our own decisions there should be a anybody here at the same time I'd make a perfectly clear from mr.
McLaughlin that we are not as a committee here to close make school we're simply here to advise but we have considered what we think would be surplus to gain some funds for the school district I appreciate everybody here in the audience that's here but at the same time the board makes that decision and I understand that you're concerned about your school but as a committee I don't see why we're trying to close schools that should be the board's job they get paid for that not us okay so if you're going to single out schools then either take them all off or put them all let them make that decision [Applause] just looking at all this paperwork known as surplus property school close your community we're not close the schools why it's on the paperwork I don't know I'm just it just doesn't seem big in the sense to me what we're doing here at food is not going to come together as a group they go out individuals and all this other stuff we're going to be here for weeks maybe months and the borders at that time for that they didn't make a decision [Applause] [Music] something needs to be done he said so the Russians asked one of the community members what was the criteria and we would give it a very specific set of I'm gonna say limitations or criteria that we were supposed to look at we weren't given every school as an option we weren't given they didn't even have all the elementary schools on there or and we were tolerable to look at traffic patterns we were told to look at where students lived in relationship to the traffic we were told to look at how many classrooms their work with the school capacity was and so within that limitation of the information we've been given that's how we've made that choice how we may give and all the information and I'm not saying you're not that's the information we're requesting that's not the statement I'm making but we're not really two things have been discussed in closed session with the board we don't know why Valle del was left off the list or the middle schools were left off the list we don't know that I'm also going to say that all of you here today and especially a lot of people parents who came from Center last time and the teachers at spoke from Center gave us information that we weren't doing and I'll give you an example it was the sixth grade credentialing issue that you know we had talked about that the parents had expressed an interest in keeping sixth grade at elementary well okay we didn't understand as a committee that credentialing could really be my stuff and teacher assignments and things like that because we weren't given that information so when you ask how are you making this decision or making a decision on which schools to recommend as possibilities to the board based on that information that we've been given and so we all watch and understand that we're listening to you and I know there are board members that are here listening to you and taking your information that you're giving into consideration as well I'm so sorry there's going to be a little bit later in the session right so the voltaire question please with all due respect okay you will be able to ask again does anybody else have something they want to say I hope that that adds up that much the criteria question because I'm trying to make sure we're valuing what you say then responding I didn't know about the $350,000 down low I didn't know that so you know I have a new piece of information at this time I guess then we need to review the current priority news list what revisions to that mr.
McLaughlin maybe right so at this point we have the prettiest list that was published so we can review that and make any revisions give any camera at once or I have learned a new piece of information that I want to share the P and I'd like to ask mr. McLaughlin to elaborate on it and that is ask the question outside of this table that how long does the school board or is the school board allowed to refer back to whatever recommendations we make do they only have six months so there are there a time clock to to make their choices by September or how long is this good for and what does that mean right so the there's no law that limits the amount of time that the district can use this report we recommend that it lasts between two and three years so the board can take your report take it under consideration and essentially table the decision up to two to three years and then even after that they can do what they can they can decide to revisit it we adopt it so just because you submit a report to the board doesn't mean there's any time constraints on to what they can do what they can do they can take it into consideration and just put it in the file and we consider the next year two years from now there's no deadline and the board hasn't established any deadline so that's important to keep in mind this could be a recommendation that they can look at and say based on the community feedback we're gonna take this into consideration but we're gonna revisit it a year down the road get maybe get more information so that's important is there an expiration so in other words if they don't do anything in three four five years process no what the board can do is they can either decide that they want to we keep it keep it and use it or they can decide that they think too much time that's gone by and then they want to assign another surplus property committee but they're not required to do that and we've had districts to three years say we're just going to we got revisited and based on that report so as I think you've mentioned it's important to keep in mind for everybody this is just one component that the board is going to be considering when they're making their decision this committee is making their comments based on the input that they get and their specific personal experiences but the board understands that there's a lot of other information that they're gonna consider when they make a decision so this is simply a part of the process and it's a recommendation of the board the board will make that decision you explained to us in one of our very first meetings and when there were about the fact that if we wouldn't schools on a list a recommendation list and the board decides to actually sell one or lease one you have to by law notify certain state agencies first about the sale or lease correct and the concern of charter schools came up and that a lot of us here recognized that that was not necessarily a good thing and if I'm speaking out of turn you can correct me and so the issue was what is the timetable and then you had expressed that there was some legislation that came down with Mike can you please explain at times to believe right so in summary there was a law that was enacted four years ago that gave charter schools priority meaning if the school district decides to sell her Lisa property before they offer it to the public they have to offer it to certain charter schools and negotiate with those charter schools if they show interest that law sunsetted last year meaning it cancelled and no longer valid but somebody in the legislature passed another law that would basically reenact that it's up in the Senate right now so it's not a law but it's pending in the Senate basically it's going through the process so it is possible at any time that if that law got to the governor and you signed it the charter schools would have a priority what we call as the laws written now it wouldn't apply to any property is declared surplus before that law passes so in other words if the district decided to clear up property surplus now and the law passed the law would apply to it but the law had changed because again it's circulating in committee as it's ready now it will only apply after the first of the year so any property that's declared surplus after January first would first have to go to the charter schools but again Allah is circulating in the legislature there's a lot of conjecture as to whether or not it'll ever see the light of day or it might go through some fundamental changes but that is pending in the legislature so again but again recommend schools that are still under consideration first are gloves the school board in an interest of protecting themselves against this charter school advantage could declare war schools surplus then we've even recommended correct correct and they can do that for whatever reason so this committee could recommend that no site he declared surplus but the board doesn't have to follow that they could not follow that because of charter schools they can followed not follow that for other reasons but the ultimate decision is with the board the step they need to five follow is to accept the report from this committee that's our job so on the other hand if we decide that no schools get closed the board can come back and say we want all the school interpreters yes they the only thing that they're limited to is the sites that are currently on the list so they will consider they're required to accept the report and read it and consider it but at the end of the day because again this is only a piece of their ultimate decision-making side and the other way this committee could recommend to surplus all the properties and the board can decide the opposite to you they can say we're not going to do that so it's ultimately again sir if you'd like to speak there is a time sort of music we will allow you to do that yeah I have a question I wasn't here last week so I didn't get to partake in immediate festivities but why was to elementary schools put on I throw that elephant on the table for anybody who wants to answer that anybody want to answer why all I said into otherwise you're supposed got throwing other things I think I'll try to answer that and the fact of the matter is we got a list of how many elementary schools were on the list and how many empty classrooms each of those schools have and with that being said we decided that we should put another school on surplus list we have tons of school that have all not time we have eleven but they all have too many empty classrooms to just sit there and erst so all the classrooms were considered as opposed to what empty classrooms they have correct that's what the decision was made for these two particular last week or the last time just like in your own home if you had a six-bedroom home and you lived in it by yourself chances are you're probably going to sell and that's how we came up with this decision that we probably needed to put another school longer list because and my question again was why were these two schools particularly single oh we went around again and we looked at things that we looked at when we first started the committee where how many kids are we going to lose to the surrounding City that Jason that's how we decided that maybe it would be in the best interest to put and it's not really just for one year of saving money this is going to save the district ongoing I'm not going to have substantial cost year after year after year that we're going to have to so we're also under the assumption and I say wait together that there are low enrollment so to stay that level is out cuz I can like that for 14 years now I look up I see a lot of young kids ready to come to school been designing for 14 years I don't see in the next two years or three years or even even the next fourteen years then I just didn't realize we can all see [Applause] [Music] I'm sorry could you share what the projections are and again these are projections for next year of the message yes so this is from our second interim report that is our budget update that we provide the board currently we're at two thousand two hundred and seventy kids next year were projected to go down to seven thousand nine hundred and forty six kids and in nineteen twenty were projected to go down to seven thousand seven hundred and nine kids and that is for a DA earning kids it's not including a preschool kids or our 80k kids which are our early transitional kindergarten aggregates that we have in our classrooms but we're not earning dollars real estate so it's only the eighty-eight earning kids and excludes Adult School as well someone the committee last week pointed something out that was a different lens for me to look through and that was really that this committee is looking at the data data that were given simply you make the board but by law because it's hard to process opening the opportunity for them to have option we're not choosing however we're looking at the schools that potentially where as mrs.
delorca said could it be combined could share could work together could be closed least or sole and we're giving them the more possibilities it's a possibility that could happen within the next recommended three years could it happen in September I suppose I can't imagine it could happen that fast but that's the lens that we have to look through is opening up the opportunity or the possibility for the board to make that decision it doesn't even make me that they're going to make it the other thing is it's not our job to decide where your child is going to go to school or where another school is going to be transplanted to or anything else that's not our job and we shouldn't be looking through that lens and that's true correct that is correct and just another point to belabor the point that this so even if the board tomorrow declared a site surplus there's a lot of other legal hoops that it has to go through it has to give notice to certain agencies it has to engage in negotiations it has to offer it to the public and at any step in that process the board can stop it basically say that they're not going to proceed with selling or leasing so there is a long process involved in this so the idea that the school is going to be closed overnight is not the case there's steps that the board needs to take and again the board is going to make these decisions follow a path and every step of the way the board can stop it they feel like it's not a good idea they're not getting the return on investment that they're assuming that they're gonna get they can stop the process almost every moment you get to go first okay so this next step on the agenda is the review of the current priority use list right so the priority lists is what we published we can make any revisions so the committee can make any revisions that it wants if we change anything we have to republish it and another public hearing if we keep it the way it is and we can move forward with discussing the draft report the draft report will incorporate this priority use list so we need to decide if we're going to keep it the way it is and if we're going to change it what changes we're going to do I also want to point out and maybe I should have done this earlier but I do get a comment from mr.
Rosales it was not this meeting he informed us that he couldn't be at this meeting he'll be at the next one he did express his opinion that his stance still remains that all sites except for Sierra [Applause] and Y be reopened it but again he's not here so he doesn't vote at this time he comes back [Music] okay prior to making any revisions to the list or voting on the rarity use list you may go ahead and speak and I don't have a card so I don't know your name so go ahead to the microphone can you give me yes okay could you state your name please yes my name is Hany I have questions to ask you because I mention the parents I want to know why the state district decides closed down the schools I wanna know if they exist about it from above Governor Jerry Brown decided the schools have to close down he suggests from the specific districts oh he speaks of the the revenue that you receive I researched and found that it was ten thousand and what governor six it is to this I believe Nora two years ago the 98.9 aliens signal is to say unify school instead of a bargain in my opinion because I am a teacher I just went yesterday to Lane mmm I got two baby clothes in the schools I believe it open in the schools I told them the story of for example of the time of the spaniel when they arrived I told look at the story of Junipero Serra and all those people that they came here to educate they came here because they have a vision they can take him Aggie Deering they came here to it okay in the way that made the California I would have now make the only statement about I don't think close in the school because I have one or two students will solve any surplus I'd like to use this very case I live in a free nation unlike the register because I have Congress so I believe that we are put that we have the means to continue here indicate any kids close to the school is not gonna be a solution it was a school and you transfer the kids to another school you're gonna have a lot of popularity school what are you going to do with the building what are you supposed to do with the building sell it Gregory very stakes I have to mean that I don't like it for example the city has the idea and sent down the invitation to the people to the citizens to vote favor against MetroCard the more we should continue to generate the mountains in your mind the things the mountain so far this year amount to him they reacted to our on the who what I a mysterious and he was no need there is no need to close the school maybe time I another like this your suppose one team we do not close what we're gonna be so nasty with many things might be God will do if all of us I'm not exactly the apple of beside well the people be denied their fears white path is this he is in a bad mood no he's just like any other if you like like all of us because we were afraid if that is some image he may be anemic booth at least also being with the same rational thinking that we have you must be so drastic and to destroy thank you very much I don't think miss Felicity said it's a good idea I am mad in debate horribly when you try I don't actually if you're not a reasonable like that makes you talk amazed me is I have what sugar here to you or the she you know teacher mrs.
cominski are you a teacher I'm sorry you use your time at this point sinus okay yes vomiting in order to delete one place you need to have the vocation and you need to know what you're doing if you are not a teacher then you know if you do not know nothing about dialectician you don't know what it's like ecology you don't know what it's pedagogy you don't know the things that we need to know you know you need to do the things with your heart because you have the vocation that if I'm gonna have the biggest paycheck show around no I believe Tracy might believe the things that make change the people I don't want a school closing down okay apologize what we do I do want to just make a couple other points again to drive this home like this committee is just making a recommendation to the board the board is going to make the ultimate decision when this committee adopts the report and sends it to the board that report will be presented in open session so the public will have the rights to the comments directly to the board at that time and then other times too so this isn't your only option and in fact the board does encourage you obviously remember the public to speak there we need to move forward because we do have legal obligations to make this report and this recommendation based on the simulation okay having this interjection by the attorney we need to review the current parody useless and any possible revisions are there any committee members who would like to make a proposal to consider I know he said that at this point we are no longer to keep those and that they would be heard at the either next mini meeting to review the report or so we're following the rules based on the Robert's Rules of Order and the board agenda so are there any committee members who would like to make a revision to the list at this point yeah I'd like to see if I can make a motion to remove or let me rephrase that to make one of two options remove the elementary schools from the list or if we're as a committee going to put elementary schools on the list [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you're gonna have to fight for Kate that I'm gonna say meaning that one under 9 to a boat and then we need to discuss the vote on it listen so ok I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you to clarify it because since we already have an approved list what you would have to do is propose you to he sent her on the list and removed the 200 entries that were out of the last time thank you sorry Sierra what did it I didn't mean that I didn't mean that I really didn't mean that honestly I've been enlightened - thank you very much ok so we keep Sierra on the list the two Elementary's that were put on the list last time you're gonna make the motion wait you're gonna make a motion someone has to second then we have time for discussion [Music] from suppressor his okay since there is no second there will be no discussion related to that but you had a second motion that you wanted to do and I make another motion we continue to keep Sierra high school on the surplus list where we add all the other elementary schools from the previous list given to us to the rest of the surpluses as well as the other 12 hey is there a second okay so I'm in a second only because I think that this warrants some discussion [Music] [Applause] [Music] well you're the one that made the motion would you like to discuss first yeah I just think that as a committee our job was to determine what suppose size with your surplus and since we started day one till today we haven't accomplished at this house how I feel so if we're going to as a committee submitted elementary schools which is I think that's what we all want to do because obviously there's some value in those elementary schools why not just put all over all of us because it's not our decision to focus they can also choose to remove the muscle if that's their decision to but as a committee we're just going to go around them elementary schools on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] randomly through one preschool we discussed various elementary schools and took various elementary schools off because of location we took off because of traffic conditions we put schools on because of their proximity to another school that would make it easier for those to go from one school to the other school I mean there was a discussion of all those factors and I'd say it wasn't randomly done that's true and I the reason why I seconded the motion and wanted us to discuss it is because of this information that I learned about this new legislation that's potentially coming down the pike that could limit the boards of options in the sense that if we don't give them as many open opportunities as possible to choose from then then if this legislation passes and we have to offer it to six charter schools thank you then only the schools that we have really recommended or the board that recommends after us can't be around to bother it to this process because that's what it's about and so I just was thinking that we needed to be made a just consider that because of the fact that we want to give the board as many options as possible we have said we feel like our hands were tied because we didn't get to consider every school well we don't want to do the same thing to them well you know what Ming I'm gonna step in right now because I believe that the middle schools were not put on the list because they are not surplus they don't have all the space I'm not trying to you know what honestly I'm not trying to push me on the middle school I have learned a lot of new information in the last couple of weeks that has made me reconsider where I'm coming from in my mind and so that's not what I'm saying I'm specifically just taught by a mentor a second when he did discuss that law I for a second thought maybe we should declare all of them surplus property so that it doesn't tie our hands down but I think out of this committee we have went through every single school wondering if we were going to lose any school my main concern is if we are going to lose any children to neighboring districts we went down the list and we decided which ones we would so by limiting them then they basically gotta stick to those other two the two that are on the list you so that if they do if we keep them on the list and they decide not to sell these for rent that property then it opens it up to a charter school coming to our district and that is not what we want so by limiting now view and Magnolia to this list it kind of restricts them from looking elsewhere it restricted unless they want a starter school coming into our school district in the future I see what you're saying I see what so any other discussion you know let me just make it crystal clear that this legislation that we're talking about is even happened it could not happen it could change so we don't want to assume that it's gonna pass with a lot of people but it is something that we can consider it is good that this discussion just keep in mind that it's not pending in any way it's basically in the Senate I mean I'm sorry that I'm dominating and keep coming back to this but the charters know the thing is a really huge factor for us and it caught and it costs the district money if a charter school moves in because they take our kids take our money but we still have to provide them with a certain number of services that aren't across to us and I want I want to make that very clear you know we don't I don't want okay or is there other discussion related to his motion to keep sear on the list but then add all the elementary spot okay then we're going to go for a vote and I'm gonna ask you to raise your hands all those in favor of adding all the elementrees to the list say completion all those opposed to really have these it is five to two so your motion is denied okay now we have the same already I'm sorry reberty use list in play that has Sierra magnolia so is there any further discussion or not before we vote to finalize that as the list is on for what we're doing now is making a final vote to move Sierra forward like Magnolia and mountain to recommend them as surplus perdy by doing that hand the next step is that the committee which is mrs.
fields mrs. Davao and mrs. Merlyn will write up a report to reflect on that report and then that would go to put that ends of us and then right and then goes no you don't you get to do it again you know he's great that's why I'm asking you if you have any other comments you want to make on that before we take a look a final bit and just one more point to make it a little bit more confusing so the priorities list as you see we have three sites on there but beyond declaring them surplus we have to recommend the order of sale we already didn't know this but we can change that so maybe so then I'm going to say I'm asking because I'm not interrupt me please if you have comments because I don't see you I don't forget anybody what I the motion would be is to move forward the current priority use list as Sierra high school including Adult Ed and the other things on the campus for as surplus and for sale declaring mountain recommending Mountain View we declared surplus and sale Magnolia recommend Magnolia being declared surplus and sale those were the recommendations that were made the last time as written in this priority useless so is there a motion to move to that priority list as we decided last night this is still no motion is there a second and mrs.
Bruhl a second any further discussion or comments from the committee members I have so at this point with these with these three schools identifying the board could still at some point come back and say we want to identify additional properties as well and form another surplus committee to address the other schools in the district to provide more options for them if they felt like they needed they wanted those options that is perfect any other questions comments aye all those in favor of moving the priority list as needed forward raise your hand and all those against Kate as a five to two in favor of moving the Marie loose to warmer it out of it now I'm assuming we keep the same subcommittee to write the report cracked headed by mrs. doe though yeah yes are you okay with that much this bills this is Merlot this is Davao and gave me the chapters in that committee okay now I have a question at this time to give to the committee any considerations were asking them to make to put into the report or do those have to be voted on as well that discussion was drafted we changed it because it's a new priority list we can look through that if you like me to start from scratch at this point we can have a discussion as to anything that we want to have the subcommittee including the report to review for our next meeting however you want to handle it you want to start the fact report that was originally drafted and review it you just want to make comments that you want the subcommittee to consider and click into the report I have a question at one point when we were discussing things it was in that the board could make a decision to have this happen and you just told us that a whole bunch of things not to happen first but at that point when we started in February it was plausible that when we started in February okay I'm asking because at another point the reason why we met today was because there was a big first deadline for transfers and that's why we pushed for today as a meeting date was to take that into consideration and I'm looking at you know kind of put you on the spot to you because the reason I'm asking is do we want to make the considerations today so that the report is finalized that we meet sometime soon and then finalize it and then we're done and it goes to the board or do we still have two more meetings three more meetings because since we don't I don't know what the process is I wanna I mean I don't want to rush it but I also want to hold that we want to give yeah so what we can do technically is today we could have the report what eventually is going to happen because we can't have we have meetings til the end of time if we had to approve the final report so what we do is in the meeting we say okay here's the report these are all the changes we want see and then we assign three people to give the final approval so the board so this committee will say we approve we approve this report with all these written changes on it subjects to the final subcommittees review and that the district incorporates all those changes submits it to those three people and then they approve it so today we could do that we could I could pass this report around this draft we can mark it up we could vote on the final markup and say this is the report were approving subject to these changes made approved by the side so technically we can finish today we could also have another meeting there's a lot of changes or if we want to decide have more discussion about it technically we can do this today so do we want to do this today do we want to meet again what what what is the committee's thoughts on this I have I I have a couple of things that I would like amended on there you know when it talks about that we chose all the men trees because of the bathrooms in and we kind of looked at things differently than versus now by adding the elementrees I think a couple of those things need to be changed yes or take a home I don't mean take our schools but like like for example you know originally we had discussed making a consideration of asking the board to do another 7-eleven committee to consider other things I don't necessarily I'm in favor of doing that anymore after hearing certain things and understanding that the board has the right to make that decision where people go you know where people go and things like that that's not necessary for us to make a consideration and so and honestly if I didn't read that report line for line because once we had changed the motion I thought that that was another point so I want time just right now and look on it make sure that you know everything okay just cuz I didn't and I don't feel comfortable so I'm willing to do it now and stay but mr.