East Windsor, CT BOE Meeting - 2/26/25

00167 and we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance indivisible with liy and justice for all attendance we have all the board members here and do have some from CSG on all right um we do want to get a couple business things out of the way first little about the budget Workshop schedule do you want to speak to that Patrick or um yeah I can I'll so as I indicated um in a correspon bo uh based on consensus we are meeting on Monday uh for our budget Workshop in preparation with that uh Ryan has uh this my apparently I hit 500 steps um uh so Ryan has updated um the budget this it's in munus form um it's pretty much what was provided in uh the budget booklet but it does have the most

002up updates uh most recent updates uh to special education salaries and um metap so when we do meet on Monday uh we will be focusing our time on those updates um but that's where the vast majority of the updates uh exist um I miss anything there Ryan that is there yeah so we just wanted you to have it in time um to review as I indicated in the email too if you have any questions ahead of time to help streamline the process you can email it so we you know will help us with our own preparation um and we just ask that you email those by the end of the day Friday Friday now okay I know you're coming out Thursday yeah we have a Friday we can still do it I the earlier the

003better um but if you could do it by Friday great just have one question with the two different um two different which is good and we we kind of were working on cost Centers before as far as some of the budgetary kinds of things we're going to go through the booklet by cost centers like it's set up the booklet that Patrick have provideed prev okay so Monday okay on Monday and we're going to try to get through as much of it as we can okay um and then if we need Thursday but if people who can't attend can send in questions ahead so we can cover those um and then if we need if some people can't be there Monday who want to be there Thursday um we can try and accommodate that but we

004are going to try to get through it yeah and um what you have in the mun sheets that were provided is broken down by those cost centers too um so it's a quick way to review obviously the budget booklet that was provided um a couple weeks ago gives the narrative behind it so the rationale behind uh the numbers or any the changes um and like I indicated there's been updates since then to a special ed medical and salaries um but the intent is not to use Monday to go uh line by line so if there's as a board member um uh certainly there's an area where you want us to prioritize um having that information ahead of time will help us prep um and ensure that like uh the discussions are are spending the time

005where the priority should be if that makes sense all right are there any further questions about that all right so next on the agenda um under new business for discussion is the new school facilities obviously there's a lot that we were just given I know some of this information kind of came in yesterday I will admit I reviewed some of it um but not all of the um longer aspect drafts um I don't know if you want to like speak to a little bit introductory to what we need to tonight or how what we're trying to yeah I mean I can speak a little bit um um uh to tonight's meeting I mean um it was was the board that really requested uh to have a special meeting uh to ensure that they as a

006as a group um were informed as far as the work um now that much of the the decision making which is um highly represented by our board as well is uh taking place through the ad hoc uh uh committee um uh through the towns side um so it was requested that CSG also be available as far as answering questions I know there were some questions that were um um asked in writing um there is a Q&A that they' provided to those um answers they are on this call with us so I see Samantha I know I believe Jim was planning on oh he's there so I see both Samantha and uh Jim are here as well um certainly I mean um they're the experts in the area they can probably summarize um um where we

007are uh with the Ed specs and some of the important decisions and process much better than I can um it's my understanding and I know Denise has been part of the uh many of the conversations as far as the ad hoc uh chair so certainly she can jump in if um her understanding is different um the board um does have to make a decision regarding uh fifth grade so I know um it's been part of uh past communication I know it's been part of my understanding along with some other board members that fifth grade was maintaining um as part of uh the middle school but um uh based on just uh traditional models uh csg1 confirmation on that and that's an important step as far as um U moving forward and finalizing the head spense

008uh document no go ahead um just with if CSG is on the phone I had a question um just about there was a packet which I don't believe actually got sent to to every Bo here but had three scenarios listed out one of scenario one which says there would be no fifth grade um and maintains the original proposed room scenario two no fifth grade and then scenario three is actually the only one that does have fifth grade involved in it um and in this p it it appears if we went with scenario three we would be unable to have a second cafeteria but in the base Matrix that was sent to us it appears we would be able to have cafeterias if we had the combined school so that would help me greatly if I

009knew that we could have the two cafeterias while maintaining fifth grade in the middle school if that could be someh answer or if we have to have fifth grade there then we only have one cafeteria you're saying because I didn't see that plan is that if fifth grade moved to the broad school then at the Middle High School there would just be one cafeteria plan so I don't it's this packet that I'm looking I got it in an email can I can I interrupt for a second I'm sorry guys it's Sam sure Sam can everyone hear me y um I I apologize my my plan was to be there in person tonight um but I came down with the flu so I will not I not be an attendance in person but um so I

010have a presentation that I can go through if you guys want me to go through that I know I sent it around yesterday um or if you need me to answer if you need me to answer like specific questions I can do that as well whatever anyone would feels more comfortable doing so I can just ask it in more black and white like will we be able to maintain two cafeterias with having a five through 12 combined middle school high school I can take that Sam it really all depends on what you want to do and what's important to you um you know the state has limited or uh they have space standards we're trying to get down as close as we can to those space standards for two reasons one is so it doesn't

011jeopardize your reimbursement because if you go over those space standards the state will penalize your reimbursement rate and the other thing is um we want to try to um contain cost overall cost now can you have two cafeterias I think in the if I'm not mistaken and Sam correct me if I'm wrong that yes you can in the combined middle high school and what we did was you're going to have one kitchen with two serveries one for the middle school and one for the high school at least that's how we have it explained in the Ed spcs yes so I saw that correct too I I think I just got confused by scenario three which says it would eliminate a cafeteria I think is that document from the ad hoc yeah okay yeah it's not

012it's not essentially eliminating well I guess it technically is so there would be one cafeteria but obviously it would have to be go back to scheduling to figure out how the lunch waves would go um so you would have like one servery one Cafe could you hold have here this could be everybody do the full packet not just no no just the one page page the space Matrix has down by so yes okay Ryan SC that can I ask a general cafeteria question um in what I've read what I've looked at there are two cafeterias with one kitchen are those cafeterias going to be near each other or is who going to be prepared in a kitchen somewhere and then brought to one of the cafeterias or the other cafeteria how's that going to work

013yeah no it would be one kitchen with two serving lines one for the middle school and one for the high school I believe that's how we have it set up right now in the Ed specs okay two serving sorry go ahead so two serving lines to that one kitchen which means the the middle school kids and the high school kids will be in proximity to each other but in separate cafeteria I I mean I can tell you so Burlington had this model and it was one kitchen and it was like essentially like separate like you could not cross over to one cafeteria the other the kitchen the only way you could get was like through the kitchen which was Private to the Sur and I like that idea I'm trying to figure out so part

014of the design would have to be centered around that kitchen to a degree if we're going to be separated from right yeah I would think though if we want them on separate sides go ahead Fran I'm uh Sam you were just saying something other than that you were saying with scenario three we would have to have one kitchen and do it by one servery and do it by wave lunch waves I apologize I I think what Jim is saying is correct that the way that we have it broken out but you will have to schedule lunch waves obviously for for each grade level I don't think that you guys would typically have fifth sixth seventh and eighth grade all eating together but um but what Jim said is correct okay because yeah just to clarify

015I thought you were saying that we would only have the one servery and the one kitchen with the fifth grade as Courtney said but I G reporting has been consistent with all the meetings uh conversations I've had so there hasn't been any conversations as far as restricting it to one cafeteria being shared everything's been the cafeteria for um uh for each school but the one kitchen obviously because they you know you can generate and uh make enough food for both right yes um Jim Mrs Heather I have a question can you speak to the safeguards that might be or can be in place for just designating separation between the Middle School students in high school students like what would that look like um and specifically I guess um I mean we're all talking about fifth

016grade but I I think in general parents are going to want to make sure that there's not a ton of or not any integration between the two yeah I mean you can have total separation between the two um you know in terms of staff I I can't answer that that has to be a Patrick or or an administrator I mean like visually looking like what's the goal here are we talking like two different rings I unfortunately with me go on any other tours I mean I I could I've been to some of the schools that um just uh having to do with sports and stuff but um is the goal here that the two groups will be completely separated so I believe go ahead Sam no I was just going to say um so I

017think the idea and this will like half answer your question I think I think the idea of where we are tonight is we need to kind of determine where the Board of Ed feels comfortable housing fifth grade if it's the middle school high school then yes there will need to be some sort of separation and we've talked about um utilizing some shared spaces amongst the two um grade levels essentially because that'll help you with containment of space and maintaining um the the Connecticut space standard so I think to a degree there does have to be some level of Separation but I think the point that we're at now is that we need to kind of figure out where fifth grade is going and then we can utilize gwwo to who's the architect to put together

018some conceptual designs and figure out how that actually would work okay all right and I will just say that um just as I was going back through some of these things when we discussed this kind of like in back in August and September and originally asked for the edcs there was discussion among the board that about whether fifth grade would um maintain in the middle school as it has for what do we say about 20 years now the fifth grade has been it's been part of the middle school since I've been District I've been district for 22 years years now I think at one point it was a 3 to6 school I want to say that was um somewhere um shy of 25 years ago so somewhere around like between 4 six 4 through six

019yeah 3 K through three here four through six the middle 7 through 12 the high school because um I did find a packet that our our Board of Ed special meeting in September where we talked about you know again updating on the fac facility sub commmittee looking at this and at that time um the superintendent had recommended under this scenario we' renovate the existing building to new and expand the building footprint to a create separate space to house all students in grade 5 through 12 so I know we were looking at whether we're building to new or new building that we're still trying to determine that but I think we had as a board had these discussions kind of in August and September to move forward with these plans but if we need to you

020know make that clearer to I I guess I would want to hear from the board in terms of if there's been a change in that and if we need to clarify that for um CSG and the and the architect or I mean I just can't piggyback off I mean that's what the expectation that you would have a separate entrance for both the middle school and high school although it's a combined campus um they are still like separate entities although like using the kitchen for example you may have a shared kitchen but the each will have the cafeteria space certainly there'd be some shared spaces like Samantha uh stated like so for like the easy example is the auditorium um you don't need each school to have an auditorium it's not used as frequently you can

021make accommodations as far as you know um who's accessing the auditorium uh when uh certainly we would have each uh uh facility running on their own um um uh start times and dismissal times um uh certainly um we would not be you know putting fifth graders on the bus with uh 12th graders and such so certainly we would have those safeguards and the F physical space of each um uh would be um designed uh to keep them as separate entities but then also allow like I know the Staffing came up it does provide the opportunity to um um maximize our capacity with staff which we are already doing a cross District but they're traveling from building to building as well Bandon music is a perfect example so can I just give an example am I

022allowed to share my screen uh Liam can um can you give know if she has permission to do so yeah go ahead and ask your a question while well I was actually going to make a motion that we include fifth grade with the Middle School in um to propos new building there's a motion well I wanted to ask a question regarding that so I'm not ready to vote on it there motion okay yeah all right so we do have a motion from Fran do we have a second at all this time Sam you have access to okay um do you want me to share you guys hang on just a second all right so we don't have a second at this time all right so I mean I'll second it for for the discussion because

023I think it's important for us to talk about so I'll second it for that all right so we have a motion on the floor from FR and a second from Heather so further discussion Carrie did you have a question to I'm pretty sure I just wanted double check when we did talk about this P said like this the staff and the teachers thought it was a benefit for the fifth grade being correct that wasn't just yeah yeah that wasn't just me like saying like trying to remember that conversation like this was about that that was he made that recation on top of SP it's been an asset for us to have that right and there was information included in the package that went out earlier with some pros and cons and there was discussion at

024that time yes that Patrick talked to and as part of the edcs we talked to administrators teachers other Educators in the building about you know some of these pros and cons that were listed Betsy thanks um Kate um one of the things I just I think you started to go down that road as far as discussion and clarification and I just wanted to I just wanted to add a comment in at our meeting um on August 29th I believe which was recorded I did bring up the question whether we should actually vote on this make a motion and vote on we decided at that meeting not to move forward so just just that clarification we did not vote on it it was not a consensus at that point yeah no I I don't think that

025anybody's saying that we did vote I would agree we did um I think we didn't know we we had to do that we didn't know what we need I think the general discussion as I went was we needed more information nor um okay my recollection was that the conversations were going on we had conversations in the facility committee and I remember the conversation about voting on it and it not happening because it was way too early process and there was lock going around um during that time frame um the conversations then were about we were dealing with the bigger elephant in the wing the high school needed to be the project that we were focusing on Brad school has its issues and needs to be done but it's not the one who the mo is

026going to cave in so we got to go there um and for me this is for me personally um based on going on the doors and having that in the back of my mind it was like okay so if we have to go there it needs to be five through 12 because they can't come here unless we renovate this building um personally I'm not real comfortable with having my fifth grader go up there eventually but part of being at this table is to put away what's good for your kid and think about the greater of everybody and so at that point there was no option they have to go um when I realized months a couple months later that the bid went out including Brad FL I was completely surprised by the fact that we

027were biding inspects for broadb school because that was not there so over the course of time and all of this going on um for me personally it's um brought back the idea that maybe the fifth graders should go back to the elementary school um and and trying to get information to help make that decision um for me personally um I had sent in a couple of questions about how do we do things and they are answered in this question and answer sheet that I just got yesterday so I haven't been able to read it but since this has become more public just in the whispering part and more specifically in the past couple of weeks or week and a half that the survey went out I have talked to 15 to 18 people have reached

028out to me or I've run into them um prior to that when it was kind of just in the whisper stes being here at the holiday store and whatnot you talk to people I have had not had a single person say anything to me other than do not send my fifth grader to that school no nobody has said I think that's a great idea they have concerns about that you're putting 10 year olds with 18y olds and yes there will be a separation of space um all the parents are not some that I've talked to are not particularly we Bond of the fifth graders being at the middle school because there still is that age difference um and so my concern now is that I'm hearing from enough people to tell me they don't want

029the fifth graders going up there and I'm really concerned that we're going to make a decision the nine of us without having given the public either parents however any opportunity to give us an an opinion on it so I'm kind of at a place where I I personally I am not comfortable tonight to say to vote Yes to move the fifth grade to there without having gotten any input from any of the parents who are the major stakeholders in this decision so that's where I am right now okay no thank you for sharing that Sam did you have a presentation or a part of a presentation that you did want to show I can but you guys can just keep talk talking through your comments that's fine the discussion I just didn't know if that

030was part of the discussion in terms it's really about the whole process but I wonder if um I I know we Jim on the call I mean to norine's point I think what would be helpful to the board too is to understanding maybe some of the pros and cons to um um to the space of like you know with fifth grade um staying with the middle school and the combined campus um what does that do as far as uh um like helping or hurting with uh space considerations and same thing with the elementary project is that something you could speak to Jim well I mean it's pretty Elementary Jim hold on I just want to yeah I think if we want to go off into another conversation that adds to the discussion that we've already

031started and made motions about we need to table this motion right if we want to start bringing in and and I don't have a problem bringing it in I think we just need to discussion motion so just table then we'll pick it up again okay so do we need I'm sorry a motion to table motion I just table I'll make a motion to table a motion all right so Denise made the motion and Heather second all favor all in favor any opposed thank you um so Jim if you want to speak to Patrick's question about the size in terms of I guess some of the concerns are if we do move the fifth grade down to the elementary school what would that mean in terms of the size of the Middle School uh obviously the

032Middle High School will get um smaller by the enrollment of the fifth grade um and the elementary school broadbrook will get need to get a little bit bigger but quite honestly when we looked at the space standards um I think we were 1,400 square feet off if the fifth grade moved to broadbrook um so I'm I'm sorry which way uh increase here in this building we would need to increase increase it by 14400 square feet however that's you know that's just based off of um the uh State space standards um you know we'd have to have the architect take a look at how he can be creative um and provide uh the programming and the spaces that um you know that you you need and you have uh within broadbrook um obviously that's going to

033make your space um requirements for the Middle High School smaller um you know it's it's really just simple math if you take a class out of the middle high school and put it into the elementary school the elementary school is allowed to get a little bit bigger and the uh Middle High School gets a little bit smaller can I ask a question Jim about that, 1400 sare ft does that include the F FRC part of the situation that I know hadn't been quite resolved to if we if we are allowed to count the F FRC space or are we not allowed to count the FRC yeah we still haven't heard back from the state on that but the statute I think um ident uh states that you that these uh the F FRC is to

034be located into a school um but we just wanted to get confirmation of that yeah the the statute for FC states that it needs to be in a public school um but it doesn't talk about how that gets applied to school construction projects um I do have a question into the state and they are looking into it and G to respond to me um I just don't have an answer right now Jim I have a question uh with respect to the elementary school and bringing fifth care have we when you guys came through the school knowing that our what our current layout is where our parking lots and stuff are is there space to do that I mean without you know yeah it's it's tough for me to um comment on that because I'm not

035an architect um you know we have to get you know we have to get this decision over to the architect so they can uh evaluate what you have for existing space um you know I've seen you know we've built um we're in the process of building a brand new high school down in Norwalk that's uh 15,000 square feet under the space uh Connecticut space standards and it has a pool so you know Architects are very um creative um and I have a spot for ours Wai for yeah so I mean we would have to have uh architect do an analysis of what you have and and how we can make that work I just think that some of this is there's so much cart before the horse we need to know where the fifth grade

036is going before we can right give it to the architect but you need to give it to the architect to be able to know where the fifth grade is going correct and and we talked about having um kind of public forum forums once we have like plans but we can't show the plans to the public till we have the plans so it's kind of a again C before the horce Catch 22 situation because at one point I had you know we had talked about whether we could have you know Community input and we were advised to kind of wait till we got a little further down the road so but now we're questioning whether we should have you know asked for some of that earlier so I guess that just puts us in a hard

037spot because part of me wants to be able to have something to show them but if we're saying we need to get information before we can even have something to show them I'm just kind of caught there I have a question for Jim Jim this is bety laborious my my question and I don't know if you can answer it at this point but my question is it sounds like you know Spa you know comparable space we're kind of moving right um numbers around a little bit is there a is there a a an even estimated cost if we looked at you know Elementary versus the elementary with the fifth grade as opposed to um you know that 612 configuration Middle High School would there be do you think it would be kind of almost the

038same as far as uh renovation I'm sorry the is the question a new school yes C so so if we moved so my question is you know I'm just kind of thinking in terms of in terms of budget if in fact you know there there are there's different scenario say we decided to move fifth grade to the elementary school and then we looked at in the renovate T new that model and then we looked at um 6 through 12 at the Middle High School renovate to new do you think there are um there advantages with the state as far as reimbursement and would there you know what I part of the issu is whether we to this or not like that's one of the things we're determining if we have our farc here and we

039don't have enough room for fifth grade as it you know is right now then that would obviously impact the price if we well I want to hear from Jim is that is that true I'm kind of asking if you if you and there was some talking going on so I'm not exactly sure um but are you ask is the question and I apologize because I have the flu as well sure so I'm a little foggy um is it less expensive to is it less expensive to move fifth grade to the middle school is that what the question is fifth grade to the Elementary School fifth grade to I'm sorry yes fifth grade to the elementary school so that would be a change and then um the whole concept of 6 through 12 right at the

040Middle High School yeah again that will reduce your um your State uh space standards at the middle high school and would that be and that would be um that would um hurt us in terms of not hurt us but an issue with the state in terms of space would that be an issue it is an issue they they're not going to Grant a space waiver you're GNA have to we're GNA have to get it legislatively I see okay so the students the fifth grade students that go to the high school really have imp on the old ra space issue and um and it will have some impact um yes it will have some impact on the space correct okay thank you yeah and and how does how does that translate into dollars I don't know

041yet we you know I mean if you right siiz the and one thing that we all have to be aware of is if the state's going to want a comparison between a renovate is new and a new school and if it's less um costly to build a new school they're going to make you build a new school but it's going to be right sized yeah so much smaller right so um you know we that's part of the that's part of the Grant application is we have to show yeah a renovate as new at the Middle High School compared to what it would be to build a new Middle High scho school um and just based on the space standards you know you you're talking a significant you know amount of space that's going to be

042uh yet you're not going to have to pay to to renovate I mean again we haven't done the analysis yet um you know I you know it's kind of difficult again we we need to work with the architect to understand what we're looking at um but you know that that is a possibility that you know and also one thing too is if the new school um is less expensive um uh to to build than a renovate is new then um you will get a higher reimbursement rate for that new school so I and I don't have it here in front of me and I apologize I left it at the office but um I believe your reimbursement rate is 63% for a regular project and a renovate is new um I'm not and then so

043that that means if you do a new school it's 53% however if your new school costs less than to renovate as new then um you will get bumped up to the 63% uh for a new school okay does that I'm not sure if I answered the question or not no you you thank you thank you very much Jim just to um just for clarification um like for understanding so um like if that was done um like you said it might incentivize getting a new building um but you would um also lose um the option really um to renovate to new and um you would also lose um the opportunity maybe having um additional flexibility with that square footage with the renovate to new model correct yeah um yeah you're you're right um but again everything

044has to be done legislatively so we'd have to take a look at it see what the town can um you know afford and move forward in that direction um you know if it's you know you're you're like you said Patrick if you're renovating as new more square foot area right um you're going to get ding I don't know if the state's going to allow you to do that if we have to prove out that a new school is less expensive and you can say well I need 20,000 square feet more space um and as a result it doesn't make it less expensive they're going to say well that's not our issue based on the space standards you're under uh you know the cost of a renovate as new doing a new school therefore we'll reimburse

045you for a new school um and I don't know how they would uh approach reimbursing and renovate as new when they know it's going to cost more again that is more of a legislative um issue that would have to be approached and the other thing just to keep in mind uh just as we had talked about this in addition to the other pros and cons on here um broadbrook school is our largest school right now in terms of in terms of population is our what our largest school we have the most kids in this school at this time so if we were to move another grade into the school that already has the most kids it's just going to increase that rather than can I ask my question so Jim um the high school currently

046has if I remember correctly 126,000 square feet I think it's 123 is that right Samantha um I believe so let yeah it's 244 and and the the paper I'm looking at says the Connecticut standard for a school that if if we're I I think if we're building to new would be 991,00 so we'd be losing like 30,000 square feet if we built a new correct so it could make it more affordable to build you then yes because it's quite a bit smaller but correct we lose the flexibility of maybe the auto shop and the you know you know and again you you it would I would just say that we need you know if if we're going to have to show that we did due diligence between the existing School renovate as new and a

047new um you know I I would highly recommend that we get the architect involved and you know he can demonstrate how some of these programs can fit in the new school um I don't believe so did anybody else have any other questions for I'm just wondering if Sam's presentation that you wanted to put on that's anything is it something that help us Sam talk about fifth grade or um I mean we basically went over most of what's in that presentation okay um so if there's any other questions let us know um I did include a link uh for you guys to uh submit questions um the link closes on Friday at 5: um so if I get a list of questions I I'll compile them and try to get a response for you some point

048next week um but yeah pretty much yeah sorry um just the um the link was part of the email that was forward with your packet materials yesterday so if you click in that link through your email you can access it if you haven't already also not printed but in the information that was sent to All of Us number nine was a timetable that I know a lot of us were were looking for so um I just have I just been thinking something so I'm just going to say it out loud see if anybody else is thinking the same thing so we're talking about fifth grade and moving Elementary to high school do we think parents are gonna be okay with sixth grade I mean I would hate that us I don't want to open up

049a bigger hand of but I'm just saying like I don't want to fight that I even go what's the difference between fifth and sixth grade but um I realize if you're comparing fourth to fifth and then fifth to sixth I I know there's maturity change there so I just um us making making a decision to bring fifth to Elementary because um we think that that's the best for a lot of different reasons one of them being our community members my concern is then sixth grade's going to be asked when we start to have forums so I think like maybe we look at it as a whole like middle school together I don't know I'm just saying it out loud I'm not yeah yeah advocating one not one another I'm advocating for the fifth grade to

050go with the high school and I got a bunch of reasons one reason is I grew up in Waterbury and I went to um Crosby High School one of the largest high schools um in the town which was adjoined with Wallace Middle School one of the largest middle schools in the town and it was never the toy and Sh me and if we can build I mean I'm not advocating to to send the fifth graders graders to the high school and let them all co-mingle in any way I'm saying that we send the fifth graders to the to the building that also houses the high school and we come up with a plan inor our our own people our Educators have pulled up this list of these are all the cons of keeping the fifth

051grade with the elementary school we lose out on a lot of academics what's the job the school department of the board of education is to provide a great education as good of an education as we can for the kids in this town and it this sounds to me that the fifth graders are going to lose out by coming to the elementary school the high school would also lose out by coming to the by the fifth grade coming to the elementary school because we l out lose out on square footage I want to provide I I know that we are capable of giving at least as good an education to the kids in our town as the CCT schools and the magnet schools that our kids go to every year because they don't think they can

052get it here I don't want to short our kids because we don't feel comfortable sending them to the fifth grade when it's at the high school when what we need to do is create a solid plan with good reasoning as to why the fifth grade's going to the high school and then sell that to the people we talk to there are four parents here who currently have children in the school district you me you and you I am comfortable with my child being in fifth grade through the rest fifth through eth it will be the same thing when they get to the high school they will be they will be in the same building but they will be in fifth through 8th I got elected as a representative of the people in this town and

053if we have to stop and I I'm not saying that people's voices are not important but I think what we need to do here is move forward because we're getting bed down on this question and it's the same it's fifth through eth at the same attached building as the high school but they're two separate schools physically divided and not able to get from one side to the other so I if I if I'm I may just just to kind of to respond I appreciate I appreciate what you're saying I that went to the i i attended and I'm not going to tell you one 7 at the high school I walked around all the corridors I was what 14 years old I loved to being with the 16 year old boys let me tell you

054but but it didn't hurt it didn't hurt me in in terms but they're not going to be with the 16y old please let me just okay H I don't but just but just let me finish to answer your question just to kind of go back to um to um to your question have I think that the model in most of the sayate is 678 so I think parents in their minds are thinking 678 that that that's what I think that's kind of standard right so I appreciate your opinion I was elected just like you were everybody here and I appreciate the fact that you have children in the school and there are people that that is invaluable information but you represent you represent a parent and your perspective Courtney does Carrie does and and I

055think that um you know uh Norine does I don't I don't I don't you know I don't have that but what I'm and you right but what I'm saying is that I'm okay I'm really okay with whatever we decide because you know why we have an educationally sound superintendent we have talented staff and whatever we decide is going to be okay I know it will be as far as configuration no matter what my concern is that when we go so you know I'm always I'm this family engagement person right so the thing is that we never we never really went out to say to uh parents in elementary middle high school what if right what would you do so a lot of us on here are saying it's okay by me but what about someone

056else and I think having that information right gives us and and and we can say you know we get a 100 100 responses but when we then go to the community and there will be people there believe me right especially from you know whatever they they're going to say why didn't you come why didn't you ask and if we didn't have the survey what's going to happen if we ask and we put it out there people respond we've done our part as far as opening it up and I feel comfortable saying it went out there you could have seen it right we we did it but we did do that because I'll tell you something else and then I'll stop I um I met with folks in South Windsor you know just kind of exploring

057the um the pack uh uh opportunity for us which I think we're going to do and the biggest thing that uh Daria said to me when they their first referendum fails and it failed because they didn't ask enough they didn't involve the community enough now we're going to have Community forums but we've already decided some things so that's my that is my passionate plea and I'll go down on that as far as just do a survey did you get that information sorry just to know if you had a comment to them in terms of a survey what um I I mean as far just to uh I mean we can absolutely do a survey I mean I will say to and Samantha and Jim can speak to this I mean the people that are on

058ad hoc um it is important to come to a decision because and I know uh Denise as chair has been part of these conversations um because um like it is like this is like a important step as far as moving the work forward so it can't be something like where we're mauling over for the next four to six weeks I would say if you do want to engage the community then that needs to be you know that decision needs to be made like now today and needs to be like done in a short amount of time so like whether that's a survey you want to like um hold a meeting and schedule it next week and get comment on it and then you know make a decision immediately after um but I would uh I

059would say you know based on the feedback um you know like so like there are options but if you're going to do that then that that needs to be decided like now and then that needs to be scheduled for really next week yeah and un forun I think some of these discussions and again I I I understand where you're coming from I do and I feel like we had at points had tried to push to get more specific questions in the survey that just went out and we're advised not to ask some of those specific questions to kind of get a pulse or get initial things so I I also feel that frustration because I wish that that that question had been included in the survey that just went out and I feel like some

060of us kind of said we need to ask and these things and we're kind of encouraged to keep it more generalized or to keep it just you know we want to get see what people know about whether we're talking about this or not well the unfortunate thing was that that survey was supposed to go out in early January we went had Resorts that that could have been but now like you know we we haven't gotten the survey results but we will get them soon um but then you know obviously there's this important decision I you know I don't necessarily think you can wait to see the survey results plus nor are they related it was basically just to get a p like how how are people aware and how do they want to be involved

061and how do they want to get their information right yeah so I'm until I just heard Betsy what Betsy was saying um my only concern is that we haven't gotten exp um and um Andrea said that at the PTO that every parent said that they didn't want the fifth grade with the Junior Senior High is that what she said she Al I I mean I was at the last PTO um U meeting I that wasn't that's what she said here at at our meeting at the ad hoc meeting can I just interject that she said that and then she said after she heard after they heard that it would be two separate buildings that they were all they didn't have I think part that is the education of explaining what multiple conversations with people and

062that is that they're like oh oh oh and then say it's it's it's literally the same that we have here it's just a campus it's just that you know there'll be one shared Auditorium that's locked on two sides there's it so I think that people just aren't understanding it's really the same exact concept of what we have now they're just on the same property and that people are not understanding just because I want to I want to finish my point before I forget it because I'm 73 and I forget stuff um so so um see now I forgot um so so I think if if we don't have the luxury of time my qu my bigger question is if we go to a meeting for Community input and we've made the decision to have the

063fifth grade with the fifth sixth seventh and E and um we have an outcry at this community forum that says um I just don't like the idea whatever is there are we so far down the road then Jim or Sam or do we have an arch one of the architects in the on the call Superman maybe no none of the Architects yeah we be too would we be too far down the road then to say listen after we've gotten this community Forum where so many people said it's a great idea let's keep on going or is there a way that we can readdress the fifth grade situation at that point without H we're almost we're we're getting to that point where we're almost too far down the road um yeah any um any any more

064time would be pretty would be detrimental to the overall um submission of a gr application by June 30th all right um I was going to let Jason uh Andre for a while slightly unusual but as a member of the adoc committee no I'm ex official every board and Commission in town CH so there there there have a number of good points raised uh first of all on the question of wishing this had been included in the survey I think I came in late but I also heard that you all thought you had done this already in August so I'm not sure why that would have been included to begin with um in the in the survey that went out we are running out of time U and and that will that will have a a

065detrimental impact on the project in total but we are not out of time um there are two pieces that that need to be squared away before this project can really move forward to the architect piece the first is the question of of which building does fifth grade go and that that is something that you all will have to decide um and and I'm going to come back to that in a second but the second question is how much are we able to pay for um and Amy and I are looking at that number and we'll have a presentation for the ad hoc committee next week what that means is you guys don't have to decide the fifth gr question right now but you do have to decide it at probably your next meeting um in

066the meantime next meeting two weeks from now yeah um in the mean time you have enough time to put together a public forum explain what has been done so far where we are and what the outstanding question is and at least straw pull the people who attend um make them put their their name their address and and their response of fifth grade should go in this building or this and then at least you have some Benchmark to work against um it's not necessarily going to be a scientifically based you know margin of error level poll but at least gives you eight pulse um and it gives you a sense of like the parents are concerned about the opportunity to offer quality programming at the high school level or I don't want my fifth grade daughter

067hanging out with the high school boys cly I'm I'm in one Camp over the other however you got to make a pit and I think you still have an opportunity to engage the public in at least some uh some meaningful way if not an outright survey and then we need to take a look and say like what can what is the price tag that we can get to those are the two questions that need to be answered in the next 15 days morning thank you for the opportunity um finally get my thought back up but something I remember when we went to South Windsor and um they had had a failed referendum I think correct me if I'm wrong one of the major things that they did that second time was not give choices um

068and they had their super to the board of ed actually asked the superintendent and their Administration to be like what is the plan brought it back to the board and it was their job or our job to sell what is decided what is decided and I think for me because I also had really big concerns about fifth grade when I went on that tour to Burlington and I got to see a campus and I think that's going to be our job is we're going to have to take those fears away from parents because their fifth grader isn't going to be sharing a hallway with a 18-year-old they're not going to even be entering a building the same door and I think that's the message that we need to be giving parents to take some of

069that anxiety away you know their fifth graders are with eighth graders currently and that's who they're going to be with still yeah I like that idea because I think like parents whether we do to get a lot of people are say we don't want to I agree I think if we have a public forum or how hall or whatever next week whether it be before Wednesday or maybe Wednesday before the ad hoc facilities meeting whatever I think there needs to be some type of formal presentation to the community or at least something posted on Facebook through the schools at least outlining the plan and I know I think the uncertainties that a lot of people are in the dark and I know we're feeling that because we're in the dark a lot of times with

070things but I think if we did a presentation outlining like this is not 100% set in stone but the plan would be to separate the schools and like have concrete bullet points and also like outline the length of like the pros and cons and because we keep referring to this things with just bural I think I mean even just looking at this myself like I've heard Patrick read off this meetings but I think it has a different impact when you look at the list and you see there's four potential bullets for the pros and like two pages worth of cons I think that has a lot of weight and just seeing that too side by side with like you know trying to demystify some of the safety concerns I think that's going to sway people

071um in a direction that you know maybe some of us are kind of hoping to go in um and also you know like I think my con my concern with bringing the fifth grade down to the elementary school and this is my personal bias but like as somebody who has somewhat recently gone through our school system right like I I would feel really disappointed for the students not just the fifth grade students who wouldn't be able to reap the benefits of all of the extracurriculars that we have to offer and like educational programming that we have to offer but if that also means like taking away some of the space from the high school like you know talking about the um the mechanic the shop yeah right those are it's ultimately the extracurriculars and the

072and the elective programming that's going to be at a deficit so it's not just affecting the fifth graders when they're in fifth grade it's going to affect the educational attainment as they move through the middle school and high school they're not going to have access to a lot of these opportunities so I think this needs to be you know before we open it to just a general conversation where everyone's you know spilling out ideas because we don't want that to lead us astray too I think it needs to be very intentional messaging of like all of the things that we've been talking about like we commit to it yes we bring it we do this soon so that we can keep moving forward with it they we can release them to do what they need

073to do and then if we get real strong resistance or something else happens then we'll have to sense deal with that but I think that we need to message I think yeah I appreciate that it has to be like next week yeah I like 100% agree with everything cabby just said and I think that our job is that it needs to be communicated as much and as we can communicate to people but it is our job to make sure that the students in this District are getting the best opportunities and the most opportunities and everybody's getting those opportunities and then it is our job to then make sure that the community knows that that's our reasoning behind doing this regardless like regardless and I I just don't think moving grade to that I think that's

074going backwards and that's hurting our population in the Long Haul and it's not just the fifth grader Turing like I was to everybody I'm sorry very strongly about that but like it's also like I know this is the work that the board has strategically trying to tackle for a number of years now like even just the curriculum meeting we had before talking about expanding our music and arts programs and things like that like it's you know I think our board has done a lot of really good things in terms of the portrait of The Graduate and adhering to our strategic plan and I think that is our mission overall and I would I would really hate to see all of the progress that we've made be reversed because you know some parents rightfully so rightfully

075so have valid concerns about the safety of their children but you know to um to everyone else's point that is our job as the board to provide this education and awareness I'm sorry I think Norine had her hand up and then you yeah I agree to a lot of this um I'm not sure how successful we will be with pulling together some kind of in-person forum and getting people to come to it I'm not sure maybe like when we sent out the survey about broadb school after school activities stuff I we got like 120 responses in 3 days that might be a better way I'm not going to make that choice I think it's important though that whatever happens in whatever conversations we have they have to be real because right just now I'm not

076sure who said it the first time but losing the space and losing the tech ed thing and then Gabby just said it that's nowhere on a list there's nowhere does it say if we move the fifth graders we're getting rid of the auto body shop and people hear this stuff and they and I'm not saying you it was said I'm not sure who said it earlier need to be if we're going to go out to anybody and talk about stuff it's got to be real we got to talk about if you want to go down this road and say if we move the fifth graders you're going to lose these we need to really talk about what we're going to lose maybe maybe a health room not a program not a well my concern would

077be if we do move the fifth graders do we Mo lose the second cafeteria do we lose a second gym like what does happen in terms of those spaces if we were going to have a gym like and that you know high school students so I think those are all really valid conversations I just think we we're getting to a point where we can't be having things that aren't real being put out there because people hear one thing and they run with it and um I'm not sure how we will accomplish it my main as I said earlier my main part in this is that I have had no one come to me and say this is great I only heard people come to me and say no way do not move my fifth grader

078over there with those high schoolers don't do it have you responded back to them though explaining that they won't be with the high schoolers I'm just curious in the con but we don't we haven't really decided that but I go for it if if if we don't get that separation then it's not going forward can I answer car's question yeah I've had people and I said to them they're they're going to be separated they're you know as much as we can and I've had two people say to me well okay I can get that during the day but at dismissal time when my children are getting off out of school my middle school kids and there's High School B uh baseball games or soccer games or whatever going on who's going to stop them from

079going out there because now my fifth grader very well pnb and I said well I'm not sure but I guess we have to make sure that they get on but that kind of rolls through people's brains yeah and rightfully so I will say like at the elementary middle school level so like just just typical practice regardless of where the kids are U the staff like I mean I mean you have Zone mil and uh cranny of the elementary school like pointing them they I mean they watch the kids get on the bus those School the same watching you get on the bus people are saying to and I'm um I I think my biggest concern is that people need to feel that they're HT and and and to Gabby's point I agree with what she

080said I agree with just about everything that's been said here that that if they can be heard and they know the whole story they know what we're talking about um what we're thinking about what we're being told by the by the people that brought up the whole idea of whether we should have fifth grade where that all seemed to have come from they're trying to configure the space it's not any of us that were saying um Gee let's think about moving fifth grade it wasn't the board that decided to have that issue at all um so I think for the parents to hear that there has been discussion about it but not have a chance to weigh in on it um I would I would feel much more comfortable if if we could as a

081as a the Board of Ed member not not the ad hoc committee there a whole separate process more related to the you know the logistics of how we're going to get it done and and not those kinds of decisions that need to be done by the board so as a board member I would feel much more comfortable if the um the public could be heard do you think it would matter pleas I'm sorry no goad and ask a question I was goingon to say do you think it would matter if the motion was instead of just fifth grade going to the high school it was provided their separate like would you has to se language of that so people would know strong and concise and it's understood of what our message is that's that's what

082we intend so yeah there's nothing so that way sorry that way we're not so I think the communication that way we're not telling people there's two different things here if we decide now we're telling people what we're doing if we have some kind of a surveyor with exactly what you're talking about and maybe it's some place where parents can you know parents are you know we know who they are and there's even contact come or something that we could do but but that is not telling them it's what we're planning out doing listening to them it's listening and then responding to what we really enjoy think is in the best interest my only concern is like Gabby said if we were actually able to get up you know have a forum and get people here

083and get people to show up then we can present as we've said the pros and cons why we're moving forward this way if we just send out a survey that has a couple questions or people aren't going to get the impact of it and even if it has an introduction they may not read that closely so I feel like it has to be in person even if we run the risk of not that many people showing up but then was talking I was just gonna say we could we could it or you know do something depending on where it is but I was just going to say that I was having an aside with Patrick just as whether it could be done that quickly if it's something we think we could stand up um in

084a certain period of time we don't we don't have a lot of available B but we workshops Board of assessment fsom I think I have one evening in the next two weeks um I could cancel something if I have two but home so my only other concern is that whether it really could happen in the next it's not about you guys know it's about the public when can the public be there and when can the representation make presentation no but that's what I mean to have a presentation ready to let the public know you know to get enough out there so that they would respond and get there you know what I mean like if you tell somebody hey this is in a week are you telling them just one time and hoping they'll show

085up or you letting them know like three different times through three different way you know what I mean it's just like letting people know in a way that they will actually see the important show just as a comment again and I know we all say this we have public meetings the ad hoc meetings people can come to these things so it's not like we've shut this down it's just a matter of trying to get input in different ways as well so I would like to just point that out go ahead Fran to your point um this meeting tonight was advertised yesterday and again today it was pushed all over every time I opened my Facebook I saw it everywhere and we have thank you all for coming but we have one two three is it

086maybe four no two people are I suspect they're husband and wife same last name whatever but five people that are not us five people so I'm I am of the camp that we as with Gabby decide that we are going to say that the fifth grade's going to go with the middle schools up to the high up to the campus and the reasons why and then we present that and say this is and we need your help so that your child can get all of these benefits by your fifth grader being at the high school on the high school I got to stop saying that but at the campus that houses the middle school and the high school and I think if we're all careful way the way we speak about it I have a

087fifth grade daughter and I would be considering if you know let's change the wording of the motion if the campus is set up the way we want it to I have no problem with my daughter going to that campus none I went to a campus the same way with thousands of students never the shall meet and that needs to be the point that gets sure what classes do you want but do you want your kid to have opportunities that they wouldn't have because we don't have the space because we move the middle the the fifth grade to the elementary school and the fifth graders get you know looking at this the fifth graders get penalized because they don't get the same activities they don't get sports sports is gone for the fifth grader and my

088daughter is taking advantage of that as well as a whole bunch of other kids it's not just about my kid and I get that yes and we could talk about this I wasna say we talk about there's thing there I I suggest that you take the motion that was made off back onto the table I'm not sure how you do that and see what happens if if there's enough people here comfortable enough to vote in that way or a certain way then that's what it is well I think rather than just we yeah we're going to keep try to get a date we're going to try to get them whatever and and I love the idea of getting a date I'm just thinking how when and where was so I mean you could do it

089Wednesday before the ad hoc it takes about an hour I mean typically I mean been enough of these Town meetings beginning to end about an hour I think that's isn't isn't next week uh parent teacher conferences yes isn't that an ideal time to get parents to do building actually may alth who whoever's in my room so again the point the we may not get a lot of people F I agree with you the point is this is important enough for us to want to consider because we have heard that there are parents that are very concerned about this fth grade the point is that we're reaching out in some way to hear you right and just to kind of just just to say we are going to respond to your things we're not saying to

090them this is what we're going to do and now we'll tell you how it'll be okay for you it's it's two different it's two different approaches I think you could still say I we hear you and we hear your concerns we want to know we hear your concerns we also want you to know that we thought about this so much and these are the benefits that you and your family and your children will be missing out on if we would make that decision the children are already in this situation in their town if we do not redo our schools their children are still going to be in the same exact situation it's still going to be 5 to8 we're not going if we get no referendum passed guess what their child is still in 5

091to8 it is zero different zero different just people are just thinking that these fifth graders are with high schoolers it was not that's not it and and I think that's the problem can I ask a question rather than a than a form which would be difficult what what would be the problem of putting out a a survey 50 people could respond are they gonna read it all are they gon does it I'm not concerned about what I'm saying is we've done it Justin how long so yeah Justin what I mean I I guess my question was like you said at least if maybe not that many people came but if we could do a short presentation it makes more sense to me to get info do you think with a survey that people I can

092get a survey out tomorrow and blast it Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday wouldn't have the background but they wouldn't have the background of put a few things in there couldn't we are they gonna read everything are they gonna read this are we gonna have a surve not to US list you could put together um a really succinct one to two paragraph bits of information about the importance of this question and I'm pretty confident that I can pres I can create something tonight or tomorrow morning and send it to you all to to review that would be that you know the almost almost something that says along the lines of the board of education is considering its school facilities you know Futures that one of the driving one of the deciding questions they want to they

093want public inut on is whether it include the fifth grade as part of a fifth through eighth grade when you put it that way because what's that so you have to somebody has to make the motion to take it off the table to vote and then if you want to amend it to include what you somebody said earlier separate make a motion to amend the motion then you can vote on the motion so we at this point we'll need three motions make a motion to bring back to the table yeah take it off the it off it off right so M motion made by Heather and second invite Fran to take the original motion off the table now if there's a motion to am the motion I'll make a motion wait wait wait you got

094to vote Sor all in favor to taking out the table I any opposed okay so that passes yeah then a motion to amend I want amend my motion to say to make a motion to amend I want to make a motion to my motion so I want to amend my motion to say that keep to include the fifth grade with the middle school on the new proposed middle school high school campus provided that we keep safeguards to ensure no intermingling between the Middle School and the high school I'll second that second from Heather all in favor all right discussion of the amendment and it's a motion to amend and then it would be voting yeah so you're all you're doing is accepting the amended Mo aren voting to approve the motion can we change the

095specific separation because I feel like saf guard I get your the intent but I think it's very vague I think just saying like provided there's a clear separation between Middle School and High School clear physical separation between well you're gonna have a hard time because you got cafet you got library and you have areas that will require the kids to go back and forth so I think uh the intention is to is to have de designated areas so that the or what make it specific yeah will you please read back what I said yes thank you uh to include the fifth grade with the middle school on the new proposed middle school high school campus provided that we keep safeguards to ensure no intermingling between the Middle School and the high school students yeah I

096I think that's structural may I make a suggestion keep this simple the if you're starting to in include conditions into your motion and the conditions aren't met then the approval isn't met and you have no project so make the motion keep it simple keep fifth grade Co co-mingled with the Middle High vote on that and in the discussion State for the record what your intention is don't make it part of the motion just keep it simple so are you happy with the motion as you amended it in terms of does it say what you you like make suggestion we need to we need to vote on the amendment we need to take all of that off right now and start over because these are too confusing if you're going to go to simple it's better

097to have Fran withdraw for Amendment withdraw for motion withw all the seconds and start over again and then that thinks said if you're going to go with what Jason just said and make it a simple people think it is too complicated and then start again then You' got clear just one clear Mo I'll withdraw it then you're withdrawing your amendment I am withdrawing my Amendment I'm also withdrawing my original motion if she withdraws it it's we're good we're so then we need to decide if we have to do no to make another motion well we have to does anybody want to the second my withraw there was a second on your motion on your Amendment I'm sorry if she withdraws it do we have to vote in terms of that or if it's withdrawn uh

098I think I think it's hang on I'm lost um I'm not sure I don't think so but hang on he's withdrawing it yeah I I don't you don't need to if she withdraws it there is no motion okay so there's no motion so then you can start fresh I make a motion that we keep the fifth grade with the middle school at the new middle school high school campus oh than and then for the record hang on hang on hang on hang on all right so I'll say any discussion and then you can say for the record for the record being said would be to implement visible barriers safeguards to limit interaction between Middle School and High School barrier do limit what interaction between middle school and high school students students middle school students got

099it all right is there any further discussion also for the record Okay the reason being is that I want to be able to provide with this configuration the best possible education for our kids this isn't for the record but under discussion I still feel that we should have some interaction with parents some kind of something and I'm not going to be helpful because I don't know what it should be but I think we need to they need to be heard and also for the record I'm going to kind of defer to again Justin what Justin can do in a very short period of time as far as as far as a quick survey because I think the process our process of doing that is incredibly important in terms of just saying that we we actually

100reached out in that way um when we start to explain what's What's um what our proposal um to move forward is and honestly I want this to move forward I really do I really do I want to the thing that I'm why I'm saying this and why I'm so passionate is because I do not want this to fail yeah and if there are people out there grumbling didn't ask me I don't want it to fail that's how passionate I feel all right so a motion has been made and seconded hang on hang on okay she said for the record did you want all of that on the record you don't need the passion apart all you need to say is that is that you're deferring to I totally agree with a with a a survey

101too in two four parents okay all right you can I think do we have a motion in a second yes yes we have in a second so all in favor I any opposed I okay Norine is opposed everybody else is in favor just for clarity so we do not have a survey is that what I'm saying can I make a motion afterwards we with this with this Mo and just have a question there was voted grade on the motion that was on the floor on fifth grade you could make a motion that no it won't make any difference on this point okay no but I do want it to be known that I thinku that we made a m stuff here so there will not be a a survey no the motion that we just

102voted on we voted on the motion so that part is done I we can discuss whether we want to have a short I mean just I think that I don't see why we can't or or shouldn't do a survey necessary I do think it's good that we move forward as we can't get answers from Architects or structurers or anything to give people answers on where things are going to go how they're going I mean don't want people I don't I would never want people to think I'm not interested in the that they want their child and so I do think the information would be helpful and if we can have that survey done I wouldn't be a HST to it I was going to say I wouldn't be opposed to putting something out there saying

103you know that we're having these meetings and asking people thatan yeah ch's point you made the decision I mean if you want to have a form before the ad hoc and say hey we've made some decisions and things this is where we're going with it if people would like to come and be a part of this uh we would love to hear from you and we want to let you know that this is where we we are with things that I think is a that's what I was going to yeah but putting a survey out now after we made a decision is kind of like I agree with car's point I think it would be good you know potentially to either do and granted I don't know that the scheduling is right for the next

104ad hoc committee meeting but at a soon upcoming ad hoc to really kind of push it and say we would love to hear from the public as part of this I agree I just wanted to you go you ask question um I think when we were talking on the ad hoc we were talking about like how we're going to get this message out part of it was like websites and then also well that's part of the survey too that went out so like that would be helpful because on that survey it said how do people want to get their information because I think that we should like on a at least Bally or weekly basis we should either I if we want to use our our actual schools um like Facebook P or whatever the

105communication is I think we need to be updating everybody all the time on what's going on when we have an ad we need to give an update I think when we have a a Board of Ed or the architect starts to give us information we need to get that information out because I think people people want to know what's going on and the only way we're going to get everybody to agree with it is if we start giving more information out there and Patrick where are we you had said some surveys had gone there you waiting for someone to get them or uh so I defer to um Samantha and Jim 're oh are they they fell off they needed both to leave gotta Jo do you know as far as uh when they plan

106to like essentially do the analysis on the survey results by any chance there was discussion of that in an email that we got yeah I I think she was hoping to have it by Friday but yeah with that whole office basically shut down I don't know and were we able to send the ones that we got physically I was going to say that's what they were're waiting yeah no I answered said um because they were sent to the um uh the Boe office have they been picked up CSG hasn't picked them all yet I can pick them up and scan them and send them to them if you want I think they need proactive how many were there last I checked um proactive it was uh 41 they could have just been scaned emailed yeah

107they have't in 20 minutes your point about um information and yours about putting things out I think that at this point we could uh put something out on Facebook in an upbeat fashion because I'm kind of excited about it and I think the rest of us should be that decisions are starting to be made and the um the shape of the new campus is starting to form and that the fifth grade maybe will be uh do we want to put the fifth grade will be included or will we just say keeping things being able to keep our students keep the model keep the model the same with the with the opportunities that they currently have I think that the the more forthright we are now that we made the decision I agree with you and

108to say we're keeping the model fifth grade will be and they need to St fifth grade will be going to you know going to the middle high school campus I don't think we need I don't think we need to say it in that way because it's already there likeed us I understand that byy but the way you word it is fifth grade is already a part of our Middle School we don't need to like point it out that it's a like I think we need to say we're working on a combined you know campus campus that includes our Middle School to maximize the opportun for and we can say our Middle School is fifth through 8th grade and our high school is 9th through 12 but if you purposely say hey the fifth grade is

109going up there that makes it sound like it's a different thing why are we afraid to say this I'm not afraid to say it bety but it's about the messaging and I will say we took this vote and you know I think we're moving forward on this we do have a few other things on our short agenda tonight but it's about the messaging and it's about the way you say it and if we say it's a combined middle and high school campus that includes fifth through eth grade okay then that's fine but if you say hey the fifth grade's going to be there that makes it sound like it's something different and I have I will say through some discussion with this board it's made it sound like the fifth grade isn't in the middle

110school and our fifth grade has been in our middle school for more than 15 years and so I just I just want to clarify that how we word it is very important the messaging is very important I'm not trying to hide anything I'm not trying to you know put anything aside but the way it's worded and that it's a middle and high school campus that will have separate you know and our goal is to have separate entrances separate spaces is is very important so can just to go back to the public engagement if we approach even before the adop committee meeting of next week with a informational session for par parents telling them that we've we we've determined that we're putting the middle school on the same campus as the high school and blah blah

111blah and does anybody have any comments or questions and leave it at something like that at least I just I feel very uncomfortable that we have not engaged the public to be able to come to the table and say I don't want my sixth grader in with whatever I have a suggestion why don't we like we seem to like every other week is the major AOC maybe at that meeting allow for 20 minutes beforeand to have public conversation they can stay for the at and then and then stay for the meeting but maybe have them come and see if there's any kind of you know talk to the board of ed talk to the ad hoc committee um and you have coffee or yeah or something because yeah and the website that's specifically about this

112project is up and live and that was in the survey that was in the brochure that was sent out to people so they have been able to go online and look at have you looked at it since they it yeah the the websites I've looked at it a little bit and it was useless to me so I I just don't want us getting off track and and saying that's there and people should be looking at it what's was out there when I looked at it was not and and I'm not trying to to do anything I think at this point we made a vote the ABAC committee is the group who are going to be engaging the public if we put out something for one day here's your 20 minutes to come talk to the

113Board of Education if they show up they show up if they don't show up they don't show up when we move on yeah we can go around this 45 different ways we can all be having different opinions we can be saying something in a sarcastic tone or we could be saying something in a non-sarcastic tone we're getting nowhere I want to move on to what we have on our I agree that um we need to move along I was just trying to check with Patrick if that was feasible to do that absolutely so next on the agenda we have new business for vote we have our 2526 school calendar is there anything specific that you want to highlight that was different or changing for next year might explain it his explanation I've got a couple

114people approach me about all of these half days that we have for staff development like every month we have one and people have said to me you know what can we have foldings so that I don't have to take a half a day off I get a full day off with my kids and when the teachers get more done in a full day um and I said I don't really know why we do half days versus full days it may have to do with calendar counts I don't no actually has to do with the contract because the teachers are um their contract is 185 days so you'd have to add um days um to their teacher contract okay because essentially like you know it's a school day and like a work day what we do

115do is um contractually um they do an hour um um after school um for professional development staff meetings and such so typically what we do is we pay back um um essentially that hour on top so even though school gets out like two hours early we get like three hours of U uh PD because like I used the middle school schedule like school's dismissed at like 2:45 um and uh and uh like teachers work till 4 o' that day so so they essentially get from 1 to 4 so all are the planning for and all of these half days that parents have to deal with has everything to do with the teacher contract and nothing to do with getting in our 181 days for kids or it's it's getting in the days for kids too

116he just said it was getting in 185 to the teachers but it still counts in like a half day still counts yeah so like like if you have let's say like I'll take an example let's say at um uh um the 29th so that's a October 29th is a shortened uh professional day if you took that full day and um and said okay um we're we're just going to take the uh students have the day off teachers have a full day uh professional let's say you want to good buying a couple so you reduce it you take the December 10th and you say Okay um that'll just be a normal school day um but like the 29th will be a full day off you're still pushing the calendar out one day so you're adding so

117who needs to stay in school long oh yeah oh yeah so it it's not solely about accommodating the teacher no it's no it's it's fa and do the teachers in those half day segments like and you said times we had the hour on is that really sufficient time for them to get the I'm assuming we arrange the professional development around the time frame okay yeah I mean I mean there's quite a bit work done during the the summer to plan that out for the entire year now it gets adjusted as the needs as you imagine individual schools of the district change but for the most um part it serves kind of like as the foundation for the year for planning um it's not unique I will say that um um um some years ago they

118were on Fridays and as you can imagine like you know anyone in any work situation their mind like just naturally shuts down like if you're trying to do professional development like a Friday at noon um and so by doing in the middle week and then payb backing it off the extended day uh time that we already have um we've seen greater benefits and the people who approached me about it few of them there it was more they would prefer to have a whole day off on Friday take their whole day off spend a whole day with their kids on a long weekend rather than having to take these half days on Wednesdays um but I mean there's a practical reason for it all right so we do need to vote on the calendar so do

119I have a motion for the approval of the 2526 calendar so I'd make a motion to approve the 2526 calendar as proposed by our superintendent I have a second second sry a lot of people all right so a motion by Betsy and a second by Carrie on approving the 2526 calendar as presented is there anything else you want no I appreciate it thank you Allen favor any opposed all right motion passes and then we do have a high school field trip in here um field trips come before us when they are overnight and out of state this is overnight out of state yeah so the would have to um so it looks like this is is um State and I'm sorry it's for is it model how many students 18 students and what grades that

120for like Juniors or usually Juniors and seniors I believe all right do I have a motion for the field trip I'll make a motion to approve the field request all is a motion made by Carrie second of by Courtney any further discussion um just one question um on the second page the oneway bus transportation saying about one bus maybe they're getting picked up I just saw in the back it says oneway bus trans Transportation the amount is to be determined which is what yeah I can I mean I can get clarification um I think it's because the bus isn't like staying overnight so it has to go back and forth versus like saying round trip okay as far as the High School general fund we're fine with like whatever cost was going to end up

121being yeah okay I mean the bus was spent spending the night we it be very expensive okay um but it's going back so drop off and pick off nor did you have a question um just technical issue I suppose it's not signed by anybody um and then my only thing I I want them to go um but I mean it says it's right on the front page for that approval required for an overnight submit completed form at least 30 days in advance I mean we're getting this 10 days before the shrimp um so I'm not sure if it with an oversight no the issue was we didn't have the date and um and so the information came out late and so that's why we put it out as soon as uh um it became available

122um so I mean in the future if the board would prefer um like they do know Advance are doing the trip but they don't have the information um so like I mean I we could put it out every year but we're going to have um really like no dates times um can we take that off the form is that based on a policy or is that uh in your I don't know about like the 30 days in ADV um I'd have to look at the policy to see if the 30 days is specified um uh Jessica saying it's not so we could take that off the form I don't know it should it's just kind of right there saying to what you need there 30 days in advance in 10 days yeah and at the

123top it says to get it in two weeks advance so obviously that wouldn't match the 30 days either and I believe it's usually Mr Masters who is the um well so I so I can tell you where it came from so one it is our our typical procedure to have it at central office no less than two weeks in advance because just to make sure it's cleared it's cleared so I'm sure we put 30 days in advance uh to the board of ed so that we have the time under normal circumstances this is not an issue um but in this particular field trip the information came out late so um um so unfortunately our hands were tied based on when the information would became available any further discussion all in favor any opposed right motion

124passes did you have mellane um sat Saturday Friday and Saturday correct then go on Friday come back on Saturday yes yeah and I believe one year I brought some kids so I don't know if it's always a bus or it depends on how many kids are going I'm checking my email real quick I was just going to say at our um previous meeting we did talk about something that's coming up relatively quickly but on March 13th there's going to be an East Winds or all Town Pops concert so just in terms of miscellaneous I just wanted to put that out there that the music teachers mentioned that um that it's going to include all the grades that have been or for us it's going to be um at six o'clock at the look at the

125thing ter does it do you know at the high school school okay I believe it's at the high school but it's saying the first annual East one are all Town Pops concert and they're just kind of the different groups are doing different pop songs and it's just kind of a way for all the kids who are involved in music to see the older and younger kids and get involved um so that was shared with us by the music teacher so I just wanted to let you know we can get those on the calendar but that was March 13th and I believe in April 1th and fth they have the musical clue coming up so we'll look for more information about that thanks happy good news on a good note I know I had mentioned uh

126that the TR Town cocky teing was Raising for Last Friday where they raised over $2,500 in one night more than dou what they did the previous year there was a lot of students there it was a great so keeps putting our Sports in town they really do do good things as you know for the yeah that's awesome thank you for that J so ping back on what Kate was talking about um with the meeting before this we had the curriculum meeting and um Fran was there and um Gabby was there we I Ian I'm alternate on that buty Courtney um but anyways it was uh very exciting to just talk to the the music teachers uh band um and just like how they partner together at the two schools and the excitement that they J

127and just all the different stuff that's going on you can see the two of them really collaborate well and it was just it was really exciting U meeting and just to talk about a couple of the different classes that they're proposing which I think is just fantastic it's just moving that art through the schools and and high I'm looking forward to the future with that so all right do we have any other disl uh too quick that I'll catch up more next meeting Terri and I had a a meeting the other night with people who were interested in cheerleading our kill um we had I believe six parents and about 10 students both from the Middle School and High School came um it was a very good conversation um I also had met last went

128and did the what is the Board of Education in the grade classroom um and I tell you that according to the entire second grade classroom when I all 80 of them broadb school is awesome their teachers are awesome they love coming to school and the second graders are so proud because they win the attendance award more than anybody else it was it was quite a um a visit they now know that Dr Tan is the really tall man sometimes in the hallway they weren't quite sure who you were and then when I said sometimes you wear the suit and he's really thought oh I just want to say that this Friday upcoming at the middle school is career day and I was selected to be a person to speak as a person with some form

129of crazy career but um no I'm totally looking forward to that U just so that the kids there get ideas as to where to go and that life is a path take follows or follow what it do so looking forward to that I think it's pretty cool if they get that people actually come in show them things and tell them things about jobs that they do it's a great idea Just One Last pitch are we going to do something before the atop meeting as a board I would like to that was my understanding so that was the feedback that I from the board so the two you will figure that out and let us all know or yeah we can definitely uh put that information out and the ad meeting then good thank you all

130right now I can make a motion to attourney there you go second did you have anything I I did sorry I'll be um well um the events came up I just wanted to recognize um uh uh yesterday with Jamie Foster these ones are high school I know a number of people were intendant um although I think everyone wish there was more in attendence I mean um obviously several counil Representatives um um or um but like the entire attendance was these Windsor um um U essentially area and I think um as far as U like U setting it up and food service and US hosting uh went very well although again we wish there was more people attendance um so kudos to like our staff as far as the syst setting it up and and putting

131on a good showing we appreciate that thank you all right so I think we had a motion did we have a second all right a motion on floor from a second from to adjourn all in favor any further okay