So we had drafted it the way I'm with standard decisions have been drafted. So that's why it is different. It's not that any of the intent has changed. It just makes it a more manageable document for everybody that has to work with it afterward because to go through each line item and say yes, this criteria was met and this is how is not typical to a decision and that's not what's held up in it. So you the conditions are what's viable and what then the building department and the DPW and everybody else works with after. So it just makes it from like a 27page document to a 12 to 15 page document is the intent of it. >> Yeah. And I I understand I understand that thought process, but having been um >> I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I was just explaining how we got there.
And then when I came here, I was finally passing. I got the full help that I need. Now I am really good with my cane and I would try to go and use my cane publicly even though I am still scared. But I am more proud to be visually impaired than I was at public school. This school isn't just a school. These teachers aren't just teachers. These students aren't just students. They are a family. This school is a home. I learned sign language and I talked to um dev students here and staffs. Um so yeah um I am I was happy when I came here. I go home and I tell my mom everything and I tell my mom I'm excited to go back to school and I'm ready to go back to the dorm. Every single summer I'm like, "When are we going to school?
So it forced me to look at at our positions in the district. So, we have a secretarial position in the district office that I'm recommending is one of these positions to go away. Um, I think I've covered all of those. And then you also notice at the bottom of page one, um, you could you could have had this up this page, please, for the audience. Yeah. Um, I think people in the audience could pick up a copy in the back, but people in streaming might want to see it. And then at the bottom you see um okay so that list at the top where it's the the 20 plus positions um uh that will reduce uh our M budget by about $700,000. Okay. Then I have listed at the bottom other items uh that uh will will take uh cuts uh this the uh amount we pay for substitutes.
Yeah, I I I appreciate that explanation because it was a little bit of a surprise to me and just um just knowing the history of the board and how we got there >> and it was really about um over years it was a thought about being accountable to the residents and to the public about the bylaws that we were intended to uphold >> and that we did specifically think about every criteria that the bylaw >> um mandates that we think about and so that's how we came into that format. So that's why I that's why I don't take it that change lightly. Um and um while we'll have to take another another look at it. >> So I I will say I appreciate the applicant's involvement and energy. Matt Ekko would be the attorney representing them who who I'm sure is excellent, great firm. >> Um but I I do have to say like it's our decision, not the applicants to draft >> for certain.
When are we going to school? I'm ready." But now this summer, I can't really say that no more. Now I have to go to a private school because my mama refused to take Well, my parents, both for my mom and my dad, refuses to take me back to p public school because it was not for me. I did not get the help whatsoever. >> Crystal, I'm sorry. We're >> Well, I was done anyway, so Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. Next I have Monroe Stockton. >> What's up, girl? You got it? >> Yeah. Thank you. right in front of it. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, hi. Uh, I'm Monroe Stockton. I'm a junior here at ASB. Public school has failed me my whole life and and until now ASDB has not. Here I have support and accommodations all day long. My service time was to meet with a TVI once a week for maybe 50 minutes, but I was lucky enough to meet with them once a month.
We contract that out. Currently in that in that budget is u a teacher who's been uh who was retire who retired at uh at the end of last year and is back with us being paid through that contract. that teacher will be back with us on salary and so we can reduce that part of the uh substitute um substitute budget by that amount of money. Um our uh our contract with instructional empowerment um I'm reducing that by $91,000. Um uh that budget line uh it's 101,000 this year and and and that all went to IE. I'm reducing it by 91,000. I want to leave 10,000 in there, not for IE necessarily, but for if we need some professional development that we need to pay for um that we can't pay for maybe out of because, you know, we braid our budget. So, uh our grant budgets pay a lot of professional development.
I always work with the applicants with their decisions though. So that way we're not nobody's surprised and everybody's clear. That's very common practice to work with the applicant. >> Somewhat unusual for us as a board. I don't recall us ever doing that with the applicant's attorney ever in my time at the board. >> Um so that also gives me pause because it creates a precedent where obviously this is a very unique special exciting project. Um but once we start treating a project with sort of special attention where we're like well with this project we're going to work directly with council to >> common practice for me >> and and it might be for you and but this this town this board has a lot of pride in transparency and I for one would be extremely cautious to create a precedent where um our planner sits down with t with a council excellent attorney by the way >> or an applicant to draft something >> um without a lot of caution.
All my teachers here support my visual condition through lesson accommodations. In public school, the general class teachers who do not know how to accom do not know how to accommodate my condition. Here I get working experiences. I have orientation and mobility once a week. I have braille and um sorry um for maybe an hour and a half um which is more than public school could ever give me. I use my skills every day and I'm doing really well. This is like a second home for me. And now you're going to close and send me back to the same district that failed to provide me equal services. Um, I'm disturbed that you guys are separating us not only from the school but from our peers, firing most of our teachers and M instructors and saying that we're going to get the same amount of accommodations there when we aren't because our teachers will be gone and we won't get the services that we get all day every day making it seem like you have tried everything when you haven't thinking this is going to benefit us.
Uh but sometimes when Jen's working her magic, um you know, it gets to be, okay, I need $4,222. Um I need to have a little I need to have a little cushion there to help out to finish some of those things. Currently we pay leadership addendums. So we pay for team leads um you know like grade level leaders at every site. Um, one of the recommendations from uh from the leadership team and the and the um uh directors was um a whole lot of what the leadership team uh the leadership people do is during the school day when they're having those meetings and u uh during the school day. And so the recommendation was to eliminate those addendums for uh team leads. I'm recommending that we eliminate all except two at each site. And those two being the TAT team leader. So the TAT team is the group of people who review whether uh who review students who are having trouble in school and um and their committee members vary.
I'm just going to underline that. >> I I am going to say that um given that uh that for the past five years before Jasmine came on board, I did work closely with the town planner. And I I can't speak for all, but I know many of those decisions were sent to the applicant and to the applicant's attorney so that they could review. >> Absolutely. >> And if that's what happened, if Jasmine drafted this and she just showed them a draft, that's one thing. But what I heard was that the format is completely different from what we've done before. So that pause. >> Yes, that was my that was my >> in that case I'll take what I say back. If Jasmine was the one who takes responsibility for changing our format that we had developed over decades and the applicant had no idea and just went along with it, then I take what I say back.
You have no consideration for what this is what this is like for us and to go through this and we are people and we have feelings and it sucks that some of us are going to have to leave our homes and move to other states in order to get the education that we need the way we need it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next I have Max Davalos. your mic. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Hello. Hello.
But we need the one leader, the one person who coordinates all of that and then uh the tech the technology um uh rep at each campus because they do the initial uh uh troubleshooting when any of our technology is not working at our sites. So that would reduce uh that would reduce our budget by about $95,000. Okay. Um and then district committees, we have some that you that are required by law. Meet and confer is required by law. The wellness committee is required by law. Um and uh the curriculum committee is required. I'm recommending that we uh that we discontinue the grading committee and the um district staff events committee that we added a couple of years ago uh as one of our frankly as one of our things to improve uh staff morale and those kinds of things. Uh but those are not required committees.
>> That's sorry I missed. So, and that gives me a different kind of concern, which is ultimately that prior format, like Trisha said, is due to our really hard work and transparency with our bylaws and being super clear with our people that >> we are really following the bylaws. Exactly. >> Yeah. And and and that said, I don't want this to turn into a discussion with the Y because it's like that's not it's a discussion with the board, but it is something that I have actually even before Jasmine came on board that said, you know, and maybe it's because of me dealing with decisions that I know about in other towns that we really should look at ours to see if our decisions um if if if they're reading the way we want them to read and that that it's something that we should look at in a board, that kind of format.
and good evening members of the board. My name is Max and I am a senior with an asterisk. We'll get to that. Um um I well first off I was not born with a visual impairment. I became visually impaired when I was 14 in my freshman year of high school. And obviously um for that would be traumatic for any person, but particularly for someone like me who at that point was fairly late in my traditional education, that being K through 12. Um and my my teachers at my public school, try as they might to accommodate me, um just weren't um providing adequate enough services for someone who had such a massive uh life shakeup in that sense. So, when I first heard about ASDB in the end of my sophomore year and finally came here during my senior year in 2024, I was uh I didn't realize how being visually impaired could uh um go, what's the word?
Uh so we would have some savings there. Okay. So, uh, this little group here at the bottom, the additional cuts would save us about $350,000. So, these these cuts um uh would cut our budget by a million18,000. That hits my target of a million dollars for dropping for uh reducing the budget. These were not easy decisions. Um but we tried to make them on with logic and with consideration of maintaining our programs for our students. So um uh and ma and maintaining things that we have to have legally and without thinking about the individuals in those positions as we talked about it uh and and made this this plan was not even finalized until 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon. Been working on it for three months to get it to get it um uh where I felt I could justify the things that I'm recommending to you.
So, I don't think it's um I think it's a little heads up that Jasmine's giving us that, you know, you guys do things a little bit outside the norm, which is okay, but we should be aware of that and make sure it's a conscious decision. But again, not something that's relative that we're going to hang on the wise shoulders or on around the wise neck. Not their problem, our problem. Um, so anyway, I'm thrilled that you all were back here today. You had your team. We got through this GCG report. We went through all the details and then we'll be looking to put that into into the decision um and um and then next time um be looking at that decision um to make sure it says everything that we talked about today, everything we wanted to say. Um does that make sense?
I could still leave an impact on people because when I beforehand when I was incredibly depressed and thought I would just be nothing and no one uh that wouldn't that wasn't even a thought in my mind. So in the 2 years that I've been here it feels like I have grown so much not only in terms of accepting my visual impairment but just as a decent person. I feel like I'm better socially. I have an actual social circle of friends that I don't feel uh self-conscious about going to about anything. It's great. Um, but about that asterisk, I did technically graduate last year in 2025, but um did through a post-graduation program called Lead Your Life that ASB provided, I was able to come back for an extra year and brush up on some more of my skills that I just wouldn't have been able to if I had only come for one year and one year alone.
in the effort to be completely transparent. Um, uh, on the P second page, oh, I also missed the other item that was part of those additional cuts. Um, uh, we're cutting supplies for, uh, in facilities and transportation. So, that's part of that $350,000. So, literally every department, every site is taking a hit. Okay. Then you see some proposed changes in funding. Uh this is where we're moving some folks from one fund uh from maintenance uh from M uh to other funds or into um uh and um it's factored into that million uh change. Um so I already told you about moving the one APA from Life Academy over to preschool um because we're going to need another person and we're going to need another adult. Keep in mind in preschool by law uh by uh no sorry it's not by law by uh by lensure rules we can only have a certain number of students per adult.
Any questions? Anybody? Yeah, thank you to this team for being patient and going through those comments because that's going to help us >> go through that decision faster. >> Yes. >> Than wondering what we talked about six months ago. So, thank you for being patient there. >> Yes. Our our board is famous for not closing uh the public hearing until we are really really really sure we want to close it, which is usually at the very last minute. So, um, don't take don't take the not >> may I just confirm that the only thing I heard that you hear that I heard that we need to get to you is just a a clear representation of uh not only the calculation of the building height as it's an average of a around the perimeter but also what is the view from the street and what is the view from the backyard is that correct >> yes so that we understand those heights and I think deep did you still want some breakdown of the parking numbers if they exist and Um, sure.
alone and I am so grateful for the opportunity that was even presented to me uh in the first place. And I know that for all these other kids that once they are sent back to their public school districts, they're not going to have something like that. They're not It's not a conventional thing for conventional quote unquote public schools to do. Um, so it it really is just something like little and simple like that that leaves a massive impact on someone especially who uh becomes visually impaired through uh un unorthodox circumstances like myself. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next I have Sher Brown.