001[applause] My second student, I don't I don't see him here. Um, Stephen A. >> Yeah, there he is. >> Is he Oh, I didn't see you over there. He must have snuck in on me. Come on up, Stephen. Stephen A. So, Stephen um is a leader in the classroom. He sets a strong example through his participation and his diligence in his work in both the seventh and the eighth grade. Um he's maintained strong grades in all of his classes with nearly all A's and set goals of keeping those strong grades through the eighth grade. Um his team of teachers tells me that they believe Steven will meet that goal and has already demonstrated his planning skills, his willingness to problem solve in the classroom. He demonstrates empathy as he participates in classroom discussions and interacts
002with his school community. He works well with his peers and is able to collaborate with other students and lead his group um through class learning activities. He often um uh Steven communicates a positive attitude in his classes in a curiosity for learning that supports the overall environment of his classes that he's in. Outside of school, Steven enjoys playing on the football and baseball teams in the community. He's also a student um who implements our portrait of the graduate characteristics in everyday activities. Um, so we're delighted to recognize um, Stephen for all of his great work and to offer him to award him the CAPS award. [applause] This time I'll call Kathy Burke, the principal of Orange Middle School. Come on up. [clears throat] >> Hi, good evening. Nice to see everyone. Um, I'd like to
003introduce two students that really stand out. um not only for all the characteristics mentioned for uh the superintendence award but also um for being outstanding models for their peers. Um and they're not necessarily the students that stand out that you see all the time but uh often the quiet role models that other students would aspire to be. The first student I'd like to call up is Quinn Smith. [applause] So Quinn is a standout member of the eighth grade class whose impact reaches far beyond the classroom. Known for his kindness, energy, and willingness to help anyone, students and staff alike, Quinn leads with heart and humility. He's a motivator in class, a team player on group projects, and someone who isn't afraid to take risks for himself and other to advocate for himself and others. Outside
004of the classroom, he's a multis-port athlete and a devoted Bruins fan. Quinn plays hockey, lacrosse, golf, and baseball, and enjoys biking and pickle ball during his free time. His teachers describe him as intrinsically motivated, outgoing, and always willing to lend a hand. Quinn's leadership, compassion, and joyful spirit make him a true asset to his school community and a deserving recipient of this recognition. I met with Quinn earlier today and we had a conversation and I said, "So, what's so great about middle school?" And he replied that working with his friends is fun. And one of the things that I can take away is that Quinn has that balance of understanding the importance work to be done in school but the social aspect as well. So he puts the two together very well. Congratulations. Thank you.
005[applause] >> The next recipient uh is Elizabeth Skates. Can you please come up to the podium? [applause] So, Elizabeth is a kind and creative eighth grade student who embodies service, leadership, and growth. Elizabeth serves on student council, participates in track, and is part of the peer network group, helping create a welcoming environment for all students at AMSO. She also volunteers daily in the AMSO sales classroom, offering support and kindness to students who need it most. As a matter of fact, today at lunch, I was taken aback because Elizabeth welcomed a student who had been out and a out uh absent for several weeks for an extended period of time. And it was heartwarming to see how thrilled and how happy uh the student was to see her welcome back from Elizabeth. Academically, Elizabeth enjoys math,
006science, and thrives in technology classes where she can design, program, and build interesting projects. Outside of school, she loves working with her dad to build robots and rockets, babysitting, and participating in gymnastics. Elizabeth also enjoys skiing, skating, rock climbing, drawing, and crafting. crafting. Her enthusiasm and commitment to helping others truly make her a role model and a true asset to our school community. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] NOW, MR. Hower for the high school. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. It's my pleasure to introduce six awesome members of the high school community. Now the criteria for this award, community service, academics, and leadership service to the school and community could not be better represented than by the six Spartans you're about to meet. Um academics first. I'm not going to talk about each one academically because here's
007what you need to know about all of them. They're all taking multiple advanced placement or dual enrollment college credit earning courses. They've been phenomenal students throughout high school. If I was to try to list all those APs and Yukon ECE courses, we'd be here for quite some time. Um, so just trust me that they're all stellar scholars for the most part. They're also what I'd call quiet leaders in our school. There are those people who are going out there, getting things done, leading by example, but not really going out of their way to make a lot of noise in doing so. Remarkable role models for their peers. Now, we're going to get to meet each of them individually, starting with Remy Smrell. [applause] We have a very detailed 9th grade orientation program called Link Crew.
008And Remy is one of our link crew leaders. She's had um she's also a member of our creative writing society for all four years of high school. Currently serving as the vice president or formerly serving as the vice president, currently serving as the president. She's been a participant in the Yale Pathways to the Arts and Humanities and is a member of our National Honor Society, National French Honor Society, and National English Honor Society. She spent four years as a member of our cross country team and multiple seasons on our track and field team. She's the co-founder, the content manager, and an executive board member of the resolution roundtable. This is something that she and some peers for [laughter] founded outside of school. She also serves as the co-host, producer, editor, and social media manager of
009the meddling aunties podcast. I haven't listened to it yet. I'm going to have to now. and she's active in her church's youth group and its Appalachian service project. And she co-founded and co-chares Assist, a student aid club at the high school that provides resources for peers in need. Congratulations, Ry. [applause] Now, our next honore is not able to be here this evening, but as you'd expect from a really organized young leader, he [clears throat] sent a representative. So, in standing in for Daniel Delprit, in our senior class, could I have Sarah Delp Preit in our eighth grade at Bethany? Come on out. [applause] Do this to you, isn't it? Um, Dan is also a late crew leader in our ninth grade orientation program, which is a natural role for him as the oldest of seven
010siblings. He's also a very active member of our student government. And what most students know about him is that he is a natural entertainer. I know I said quiet leaders. Dan's the one exception to that. He's not that quiet. He's one of those voices that literally every single student and faculty member at the high school recognizes because he's one of our morning announcement announcers. And if anyone's not sure who he is, he's the one with the joke of the day. Um they're awesome sort of dad joke specialties from a high school senior. It's pretty cool. He's also a very active member of Amity Creative Theater and a member of our choir. and outside of school, he's working hard towards finishing up his Eagle in in scouting, which is a tremendous accomplishment. So, congratulations to Dan
011and wish him the best. [applause] [applause] Next up, we've got Aroku Evo Amay. Come on up, Arku. [applause] You're going to notice a service trend here with the fact that Aroku is also a link crew leader. Um, she's additionally been an informal mentor for students in our open choice program throughout her time in high school. And this year she served as a student representative on our climate committee. She in fact was one of the students who helped develop the school climate improvement plan that was presented to all of you in December. She's got a deep interest in the arts. She's a member of our national art honor society. She leads our fashion club and she works on the costume crew for Emity Creative Theater. She also plays on our tennis team. She has throughout high
012school where she's admired for her work ethic, her talent, and her team spirit. Outside of school, she volunteers at Yale New Haven Hospital, gaining hands-on experience with leadership and patient engagement. and she has taken an outof school course on NASA bioinformatics. I'm not sure what that is. I hope she'll explain it to me later. CONGRATULATIONS EVERY [applause] sit down. WILL YOU [applause] Will is yet another leader in our link crew freshman orientation program and I know he's one that the students the ninth graders really do look up to. He's a member of our student government where he currently serves as the treasurer for the class of 2026. He's the goalie for our boys soccer team and he's really known for his passion for music. He's played both trumpet and violin for years and is a
013member or was a member of both our school's band and orchestra until this year. He had to step away from orchestra due to some of those very challenging courses he's taking, but he is still playing in our band. And he's also playing outside of school where he's a member of the Greater New Haven Youth Ensemble. Congratulations, Will. [applause] Next up, we've got Sarayu Ra. [applause] And what do you think I'm going to mention first about Sarayu? She's a late career leader at our nth grade orientation program. She's also a member of our National Honor Society. She's been she's participated in the Yale Pathways to Science where she has attended neuroscience workshops and classes. She's also a talented musician and performer. She studies guitar at the Shankar Music Academy and has studied multiple Indian dance forms
014and plays she plays flute in our symphonic band. She works at the Eli Whitney Museum and she has achieved an exceptional milestone for a high school student by conducting independent research and authoring a scientific paper soon to be published in the American Journal of the Health System Pharmacy where she is listed as the first author. That's pretty amazing. Congratulations, SIR. [applause] And our final honore is Clyde Staltzman. [applause] And in case you were wondering, yes, we're going to go six for six. Clyde is also a link crew leader in our 9th grade orientation program. He's a member of our National Honor Society and since his junior year, we've really recognized this incredible leadership potential that Clyde has. In his junior year, he was selected to participate in the excellence and leadership conference. And last summer,
015he was AMD's representative to Boy State, which is a statewide youth leadership development program that each high school is allowed to select only one boy for. Um he's a member of our basketball and volleyball teams and he keeps pretty busy outside of school as well. He's been a camp counselor for the last three summers at Holiday Hill Day Camp where he earned the recognition of being the counselor of the week. He has served as an instructor at the Autism Health and Fitness Center. He's got a leadership role in directing a two-day youth basketball camp through Dribble Drive volunteers. Oh, sorry, through Dribble Drive. He volunteers regularly at the Woodbridge Town Library um where he has organized materials and run ran a youth chess club and he serves as a teen board member at the Ronald
016McDonald House. Congratulations Clyde. [applause] [applause] >> Wow, Mr. I am at a loss for for how impressive uh the students are and and the accomplishments that they've already achieved. And uh I'd love for us to give them one more round of applause and then uh we're going to do them a huge favor for them making us look good and we're going to let you all sneak out so that you don't have to endure the rest of the board meeting with them. Um so if we can have one more round of applause. [applause] So, if you want to grab, we're going to take a two-minute recess so that we can get out and take some quick pictures if you'd like. >> How are you? Good to see you. I'll talk to you later. Congratulations, >> Carol.
017You can squeeze in between us or if you want if you want to if you want to spread out, there is room down there. >> Move down to a place with more space. Can you just hand her her name tag, please? >> There's an extra iPad down there. >> Thank you. time. So, our next item is public comment. And I will read the statement that Mr. Davis reads. At this time, the board would like to invite members of the public up to the lect turn for public comment. Please state your full name and address. If you are a student or under the age of 18, please state only your first name. Each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes for public comment. Also, the board reserves its right to limit the public comment comment
018on any one subject to 20 minutes. Please note that as a matter of board policy, the board does not respond to public comments or questions, but may discuss the subject and response if appropriate at a future time. Uh, at this time if anybody has public comment. My >> name is Liam Rosel. I'm from Bethany, Connecticut. Uh, I'm a senior at AMD Regional High School and I watched the budget presentation. I thought it was a I have I have no notes except uh the introduction of two programs, Magic School AI and Class Companion. Impartial grading is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of a teacher. It measures whether the students understand the material, whether they're progressing, and in many cases, what opportunities they're going to have after they graduate. When we outsource that responsibility to an
019automated system, the consequences aren't hypotheticals. They turn into immediate and personal consequences. And in my own experience, this was piloted in my psychology class. This platform has incorrectly marked several of my correct responses on uh assignments as undeserving of credit. and upon appeal to a teacher, I meet the threshold for full credit on all questions. And that should raise serious concerns to every member of the board. A grading system that regularly requires uh human correction should not be issuing grades to students in the first place. Students don't have to challenge a prompt in order to get their grades. There's also an ethical problem here. Students at AMD are explicitly instructed not to use AI and doing so is a violation of academic integrity and gives you disciplinary action. But at the same time, teachers are
020using AI to evaluate student work. I moved here from Baltimore, Maryland from the for the sole reason of the education is because my parents wanted me to have a very great upbringing. The use of AI to grade my assignments is incredibly horribly unethical and I have a personal objection to it. When the school is prioritizing efficiency over accountability, it we're undermining trust in the entire system. And then we get to the environmental impact of using AI. We require students to complete coursework on climate change and the dangers of greenhouse gases. And we're enabling the use of technology that is deteriorating the environment. Uh in my letter to the board, uh experts conclude that kilowatt a 1 kilowatt hour from an AI data center will take 2 liters of water to cool it. Open AI specific
021servers use 39 million kilowatt hours every day. And if you do the math, that's 20 million gallons of water spent on cooling these server farms. These represent actual environmental harm that we are contributing to and it directly conflicts with the principles that AMD seeks to embody. I'm not opposed to innovation and education. I am opposed to experimentation that risks fairness and ethics and environmental responsibility without student consent or adequate safeguards. IBM would say in presentations to companies when they were first pitching the idea of the internet that a computer can never be held accountable and should never make a managerial decision. And I couldn't agree more in this instance. I respectfully ask the board of education to reconsider the use of AI powered grading tools and to affirm that the evaluation at AMD is human,
022accountable, and ethical. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other comments? >> Hello. I don't know how to follow that. I don't know how to follow both the awards and uh what you just said is excellent. Uh, Jen Sulo, 497 Ridge Road, uh, in Orange, Connecticut. I have three sons. Um, >> Kim Wilson, 414 Cold Spring Lane in Orange, Connecticut, and I have two children. >> So, uh, I'm the treasurer of AMD basketball, travel basketball. This is the vice president of AMD travel basketball. Uh, we're here representing 113 AMD youth participants in our program. They span all three towns from grades four all the way up through seven. Um, this rep represents about 80 AMD families. We've been operating for about five years as a nonprofit organization that continues to
023grow and we'd like to partner for increased efficiency. So, consistent indoor practice space at the middle school gym is critical for safety and skills development. We really need your help to ensure gym space is available for our kids in Orange Wood and Company. [clears throat] Our families that we're representing today are growing increasingly frustrated with a process that we would be delighted to help refine. In prior years, gym space has been limited. Our teams have had to practice in other towns as priority and amity was given to non-resident teams and individuals, not organizations like ours. Last year, we began formal coordination with the Orange Parks and Recreck to secure gym time, and we got limited access to the middle school gym. Today, middle school booking is limited to six weeks at a time, requiring repeat
024requests. We put our requests in in July. We go back and forth, and we can't get approval till November. Approval often comes months after making requests. Because we can only request six weeks in advance and our season is four months, we're constantly changing the days of practices and families are going increasingly frustrated, citing that they're paying tax dollars and should have access to local gyms. Our major concerns are three-fold. One is delayed communication. The approval process is currently broken and we would love to partner to help fix it. Two is scheduling conflicts. Gyms are often given to out of season or out of town programs over our own youth in the community. and three, game access. Surrounding towns allow use of their middle school and high school gyms for youth games on weekends. We currently
025have to use Laurel Hall and pay for that. Youth football is able to use the fields for free. Can we somehow establish a similar partnership for our youth basketball teams if the space is available? So, our request is three-fold. Our goal here is really to provide the kids and their families with a positive consistent experience. [clears throat] We are looking for formal recognition and support of our league as a community youth sports program. We represent 113 kids and over 80 families and we expect 20% growth next year with the addition of third and eighth grade teams. We're looking for a consistent seasonlong approval process and access for our boys and girls participants [snorts] as well as access to the middle school and high school gyms on weekends as reasonably available to play games so we
026don't have to go to Laurel for all of our games. We respectfully request a followup at your earliest convenience. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Any words? All right. So, if there is no other public comment, uh we will move on to item six, correspondence. >> Dana's not here. >> He's not here. Okay. So then we will move on to chairman reports. Start with aces. >> Um just a quick update on ACES. I've been um as our representative to that board uh part of the process to um part of the sort of hiring [clears throat] process outlining the um job description um for the new after search. So that's >> um ad hoc school start time. >> Donna, can you hear us? >> Hi Patrick. Yes. >> Hi. Yes. Sorry. Yes, I can
027hear you. Um we are planning a meeting in February. I'm working to uh have a a date hopefully by I would say midweek to the end of the week and to Jen and then we will have our next meeting. >> Could you hear me? >> Uh yes, thank you. >> Okay. Uh Kab >> can I just ask a question? >> Yeah, sure. So, have you received any feedback from the meeting that we >> Yes, that's the purpose of the February meeting is to share it with the committee and figure out. >> So, you do get feedback. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right, Cab. I was sick most of the month, so no. >> All right. >> Um the only thing I'll point out from CABE, if you haven't received it, is they
028do have a series of three um webinars. They run from noon to 1:15 um on budget development and adoption. and then financial oversight. So, if this is something that you have an interest in, um if you there if you struggle to register, um just and you would like to attend, let me know and I can get you registered. Um but, uh the first one is actually January 13th and then they have one February 25th and March 19th. >> All right. Uh communications, >> we'll meet tomorrow. >> Curriculum, >> no report at this time. The next meeting is February 9th. >> Uh district health and safety. >> We met December 10th. The next meeting is March 25th. >> Uh district technology, there is a report in the packet. So it looks like some Prometheium boards installed.
029Um work on the service look at operational life. And we also have a technology meeting which Mr. Kay is now a part of that comes up this Wednesday this week. >> Excellent. >> All right. Uh facilities we do have a uh report in the packet. Uh a lot of a lot in there. uh some of the some of the big hits uh we have not gone over before the bell bell and paging system upgrades for middle school is getting pushed uh just so that we can do that uh safely. Um we did award a contract for the fire pump replacement at AMSB. Uh Silver Petraelli is working on the middle school plans looking at the upgrades to the library media centers. We do have a meeting and I'm off the top of my head I
030cannot remember the day for the high school building committee >> which is the 21st uh >> yes >> the 21st and then another zoom meeting on the 27th to approve our minutes from the 21st so that we can meet some state deadlines. Uh if you have any other questions, feel free. Uh and to the meat of the meeting, finance. >> So we have uh representative Sor Mahoney Sable here tonight to present the audit report for the board for uh your approval. Uh Samantha Thomas and Mike Van Deventor. Thank you very much. Again, my name is Mike Van Dementer. I'm a partner in the Honey Sable, ultimately responsible for overseeing the audit and listening with reports on behalf of the firm. Again, Samantha Thomas is joining me. She's the senior manager at the firm and she
031was really responsible for the day-to-day execution of our of our audit procedure. So um again everyone should have received uh the actual financial statement and compliance reports. Um again from our perspective we audit them very well. I'm not going to go through those reports in detail. I'll go through my presentation again have to answer any questions as we go along. Um but if you can turn to slide two of the presentation in terms of scope of work again from prior year we did do an audit of the district's financial statements. that audit was performed in accordance with both the auditing standards issued by the AICPA as well as the government auditing standards issued by the government accountability office. Uh in addition based on a level of federal and state funding that was received and expended
032by the district, we did also perform both federal and state audits. Uh we also perform an agreed upon procedures uh report on the end of school year reports that are filed by the school district with the uh state of Connecticut Department of Education. In addition to those test services, we do perform some non- audit services from the district. So we do assist in the preparation of the financial statements for scheduling expenditures of federal awards, the schedule expenditures of state financial assistance and related notes. We also assist in converting the district's governmental fund financial statements to governmentwide financial statements. uh in order for our firm to perform these non- audit services and remain independent of the district uh management is required to oversee those services and ultimately accept responsibility for [clears throat] them. Again, Terry is
033the director of finance and administration uh has accepted responsibility for those services. Uh we do issue several reports in connection with our work. Uh in terms of a report on the financial statements, we issued unmodified clean opinions. Again, an unmodified opinion is expressed when we've concluded that the financial statements are fairly presented uh in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. [snorts] Um I do like to point out that our opinion does provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from a material misstatement whether due to error or fraud. Again, we do not provide absolute assurance. We do not test every transaction utilize sampling in our methodology. Um the financial statements do include some estimates and therefore we cannot provide absolute assurance. Um again reasonable assurance is still a
034very high level of insurance. Uh in addition to report on the financial statements we issue a report on compliance and on internal control [clears throat] with financial reporting. Again if you read this report we do not actually express an opinion on the district's compliance with laws and regulations or on the effectiveness of the district's uh internal controls. Essentially during the course of performing the financial statement and compliance audits, if we become aware of a material non-compliance with laws and regulations or what we consider to be a significant deficiency or material weakness in internal control, we're required to recruit you. Again, we do not report on uh in connection with the federal civil audit. We issue report on compliance and on internal control at the federal award level. Uh again in this report we do actually
035express an opinion on the district's uh compliance uh with its major federal programs for fiscal year 2025. The total federal awards that were expended were approximately 1.1 million. Uh the major program was the special education cluster. Again we issued unmodified clean opinions on compliance over that program and we did not report any deficiencies over grant compliance. issue a similar report in connection with the state single audit fiscal year 2025. The total state financial assistance that was expended was about 1.2 million. Uh the majority of that is considered exempt. Uh the portion that was not was 264,000. The major program was the open choice uh grant program. Again, we issued unmodified clean opinions on compliance over that program. and we did not report any deficiencies in in control. Um so again very clean report from an
036audit perspective. Next section goes over our financial highlights. Um the first slide goes over your general fund budgetary highlights. Again no no amounts were um utilized to balance your your original budget. Uh your final budget did include use of the district's prior year budgetary surplus in the amount of just over a million to reduce your number of time assessments. Uh the current year budgetary surplus totaled just over two million. Um that was driven by a surplus on revenues and other financing sources of about 234,000. Uh and then expenditures were under budget by approximately 1.8 million. Uh subsequent to year end the district did authorize the transfer of about 1.1 million of the current year budgetary surplus to the reserve for educational expenditure fund with the remaining available to reduce your future member town assessments. Oh
037yeah, one thing that I want to point out is we did not have any significant audit adjustments that affected the information that was would be provided to you as a board during the course of the year. Next slide goes over your governmental fund financial highlights. So this includes the general fund as well as the reserve for educational expenditures, your capital project funds, um your student activities and other special revenue funds. Uh the district will reported combined ending fund balances of approximately 6.8 8 million. Uh that was an increase of about 606,000 from the prior year. Of the 6.8 million, 3.4 million is in your general fund. Um that consisted of about 338,000 that have been assigned for uh outstanding purchase commitments. Uh approximately 898,000 that was restricted to reduce future member town assessments and then
0382.2 million that is included in the uh reserve for educational uh expenditures fund. uh you're still reporting your reserve for capital non-recurring fund that had a restricted fund balance of approximately 2 million. Um that was a decrease of about 216,000 from the private and then all the other funds in the district had fund balance of approximately 1.4 million. Uh those amounts either restricted or committed for specific programs again including student activities, food services and scholarships. Again no deficits and fund balances were reported. Uh the district does also uh report a internal service fund which accounts for the self-insured health insurance activity. Uh that had an ending net position of approximately 1.4 million. That was an increase of about 425,000 from the prior year. Um again the ending net position represents approximately 3.2 months of your
039fiscal year 2025 [clears throat] claims expense. Again, we typically look for that to be between three and six months. Last slide on financial highlights goes over your governmentwide financial uh statements. Again, the governmentwide financial statements are your governmental fund financial statements converted to a full acral basis of accounting. So, it includes all of your capital assets and long-term liabilities. Uh from a user perspective, uh the focus on the governmentwide financial statements is typically on your long-term liabilities. Um the district is reporting a negative unrestricted net position of approximately 3.4 million. um that primarily reflects the funded status of your pension and other post-employment benefit plans. Uh that will be funded over time. Uh in terms of the net pension liability, that total approximately 2.9 million. Um that was a decrease in the liability of about
040628,000 from the prior year and again that was really driven by your current year investment gains on plan assets. Uh that fund is well funded at about 87%. Um again that's using utilizing a discount rate of about 6.875%. The district also reports a net other post-employment benefit liability. That liability total approximately 986,000 as a year end. Uh that was a decrease of about 524,000 from the prior year. Again, also driven by the current year investment gains on those plan assets. Uh that plan is also well funded at about 81% and that's utilizing a discount rate of 6.5%. And then the last section just goes over our required communications. And again, these communications are really geared towards whether the auditor uh runs into issues during the course of the audit, we have certain communications that we
041we are required to make. Uh the first item here talks about our responsibility under the auditing standards. Although we do assist in the preparation of the financial statements, they are the responsibility of the district. Again, it's our responsibility to perform our audit procedures and express our opinions on those statements. Uh in terms of the plan scope and timing of the audit, again happy to report there were no changes in the overall scope of work or the timing of the audit that was agreed upon. Uh all the reports were filed by the December 34 statutory filing deadline. In terms of uh significant uh accounting practices, uh the district was required to implement a new accounting standard gap statement number 101 on compensated absences. Um the implementation of that statement did result in a decrease in the
042beginning net position of the district's governmental activities of about 1.6 million. Um the financial statements do include some significant estimates and judgments. Uh those consist of estimated useful lives that have been assigned to capital assets, estimated amount of vacation and sick leave that employees will use in future years and discount rates that are utilized to determine that pension road liabilities. Again, we did review those estimates. We did deem them to be reasonable and consistent with industry practices. Um happy to request there were no significant disments encountered in performing the audit. Again, everything that we requested from the district was provided to us in a timely manner. Um we had no uncorrected misstatements. We had no disagreements. Uh we did obtain a management representation letter. Again, there were no unusual representations that we requested from management.
043Um and we're not aware of any consultations by management with any other independent accounts. Um so with that that concludes the the overall presentation. Uh really summarizes uh the reports that were issued in connection with the audit. Happy to answer any questions that other board members may have. Very comprehensive. I guess no questions from the board. Thank you. >> So you have a memo that I left it at at the uh at your place to make take action on the audit report and return uh the reduction in the membertown allocations. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. So, uh, looks like the AMD board of education needs to move to accept the annual financial statement for the period ending June 30th, 2025. >> We get a motion. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second.
044>> Any discussion? >> It was also approved at finance. >> It was funded by finance. >> I was here for that. [laughter] >> All right. Uh, no discussion. We call the role. >> Yes, Miss Bradley. Yes, >> Miss Shet. >> Yes, >> Dr. Chronicron. >> Yes, >> Mr. McDonald. >> Yes, >> Mr. Reed. >> Yes, >> Muse. >> Yes, >> Dr. Ollet. >> Yes, >> Miss Schustster. >> Yes. >> All right. And so then >> I just have one question. >> Yes. >> Do we do we do a midterm or we just do end of >> just the end of the year? >> Just end of Okay. >> And they come out two or three times. They come out in the May before the end of the year and then they come out in the
045summer and they come out in September. >> Do they support the new accounting system you had to transition to? Does that imagine the GS GB or G? >> Well, we all had to do it. Nobody [laughter] to do it to be honest. >> Okay. Okay. >> All right. >> And that was that required by the [clears throat] state >> by the accounting standards. Okay. >> Thank you. So then the the next motion that we need would be to move to authorize the superintendent of schools to reduce the March allocation payment of the member towns by a total of $898,65 as follows. The town of Bethany uh reduced by $147,479.35. [clears throat] Uh the town of Orange $446,6123 and the town of Woodbridge $35,64 uh and50 for a total of $898,658. Can I get a motion?
046Mr. Sudir, thank you. >> A second. >> And the finance committee recommend >> the finance. >> All right. >> Can I just ask a quick question? Sure. >> And maybe it's not we can't cover it here if it if it's too long of a answer, but returning the monies to the towns um when we're planning on bonding for 5 years. What is the kind of reasoning behind that versus keeping that money for what we would bond for? >> So statutoily, we can only keep up to 2% of the prior year's budget and then >> the towns must vote on bonding >> and Yeah. Well, and then we just whatever is beyond that 2% we return to the towns. We can't keep it. We're not allowed to have that big of a reserve each year. >>
047Okay. And bonding versus putting those things in the budgets each of those five years. >> So having the money come from the towns versus bonding for it. >> I can talk as a finance person. Um you're typically when you go out to bond it's sort of like the concept of the present value of money, right? like a dollar today is always worth more than a dollar in the future. And so you're trying to align your debt service payments with the useful life of what you're paying for, right? So if we're putting a new roof on the middle school that has a useful life of >> 30 years, >> like that allows you to match your expenses with that useful life over the 30 years as opposed to expending it all today. Okay, >> that is
048technically at a much higher present value than stretching it out over the life of the >> Okay, so what you choose are the things that you know will have that useful. >> So generally from a financial perspective, [cough and clears throat] it makes it makes sense to go out and bond for large capital projects that have long useful lives because it you're better aligning like your payments with the use of those things. That's really helpful. Thank you. And it aligns the costs to the people who are receiving the services. Right. So today we don't want to pay for everybody in the future. >> Who's going to pay? Yeah. Who's going to be in the school in 20 years? Got it. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. >> No. Good question. >> Don't be sorry. >> Thank you.
049>> I didn't know if it was a larger conversation, but I figured since it's related, it's good to have that at least background to understand. [cough] >> Any other questions or discussion? >> Miss Bradley. Yes, >> Miss Jet. >> Yes, >> Dr. Kunron. >> Yes, >> Mr. McDonald. >> Yes, >> Mr. Reed. >> Yes, >> Mr. Reviews. >> Yes, >> Dr. Ollet. >> Yes, >> Miss Schustster. >> Yeah. >> One thing I'll just add to your the last question. You also want when you go out to bond, like you don't want to do oneoffs like a million dollars here and $10 million there because there is a cost to going out to do the bonding. So it helps to kind of aggregate in like a lump sum >> and there's also a town if we
050have a referendum vote for it too, right? >> That's part of the cost too because you have to >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> So the next item would be the discussion of monthly financial statements on page 133. >> So not a lot of changes from last month. Um the highlights are that um the special ed excess cost grant, we got the first estimate from the state. It's higher than anticipated uh by 67,000 um roughly $300. And then some changes in the special ed um transportation and tuition line um overall put us in a better position by $164,80 compared to last month. Um the health insurance claims are still running high. They're 105.2% of the budget, but fortunately they are offset by um fees, mainly um pharmaceutical rebates. Uh that is making
051up for most of that overage at this point. Uh we're still seeing receiving some virtual net metering credits, but they are dis diminishing at this time of year just due to the decreased sunlight. um that is really the highlight of the financial report. >> And then on page 165, the approved transfers under $2,000. >> And and the new ones actually are on page 166, more recent ones. [clears throat] and then discussion and possible action on transfers over $3,000. So, we have three transfers. Uh two are related to special education. Um one for homebound instruction to students that we have to contract outside for when our teachers are not available. And the second is for special ed transportation, just a change in wrership uh that we were splitting with the elementary districts. And then the last
052one is for a router for the tech ed course in um the high school. Most of it is going to be covered by Carl Perkins, but the actual cost was was more than the grant could support. So between the art department, which also uses this router, and department, there's a transfer request for about $4,000. >> Okay. Finance. >> Yes. Uh, all right. So, can we have a motion to approve the transfer of special education services to cover homebound services, uh, $5,000 from professional technical services to certified salaries? >> The other way around. >> What's on the paper is the other way around. >> Oh, you're right. You are one. >> Sorry. I know that was wrong one time. No, that's that's it. That's [laughter] that's right. >> I'll make a motion from certified salaries to
053professional technical services. >> I'll second it. >> All right, >> M. Bradley, >> yes. >> Miss Shak, >> yes. >> Dr. Kronicron, >> yes. >> Mr. McDonald, >> yes. >> Mr. Reid, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Dr. Ollay, >> yes. >> Miss Schustster, >> yes. >> All right. And then we need to motion to move the move to approve the transfer for special education services to cover transportation services transportation public out 7500 to transportation public out from tuition public out >> anyone question. >> Oh I have a question. >> I have a question about this motion. >> Okay. Um, >> can you tell me a little bit more about like sharing transportation services with the elementary district? >> Sure. So, we try to combine bus runs when feasible with the other elementary district.
054So, if I have a student who lives in Woodbridge and they might be going to a school in Milford and Orange might have a student going to that same school, we try uh to put them on the same bus. >> Ah, okay. uh when feasible, when it's the same bus company, when there's a couple other factors, when it's developmentally appropriate. Uh sometimes though when we do that, changes happen. So when in this case, a change happened with one of our elementary districts. So So thus now we're reduc uh reducing the number of students on the bus. So it changes how the total cost of the run is divided. Um so we end up paying uh more the full cost of the transportation when other towns don't share with us. And it's not just the Boa
055district. Sometimes we'll share with other districts depending on if we're literally going through their towns to get to wherever the school. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> I make a motion. >> I'll second. >> All right. >> Miss Bradley, >> yes. >> Miss Shak, yes. >> Dr. Kron, >> yes. >> Mr. Mcdana, >> yes. >> Mr. Reed, >> yes. >> Mr. Vuse, >> yes. >> Dr. Ollet, >> yes. >> Miss Schustster, >> yes. Excellent. Then the last one, uh, we need a motion to move, uh, to approve this transfer for a [cough] maker fab router, uh, to the equipment replacement from, uh, well, $4,36 to equipment replacement with 2,000 coming from equipment new and $2,36 coming from instructional supplies. >> I'll make a motion. Thank you. I'll >> second it. Second. Miss Bradley, >> yes.
056>> Miss Shay, >> yes. >> Dr. Kronicron, >> yes. >> Mr. McDonald, >> yes. >> Mr. Reed, yes. >> Mr. Reviews, >> yes. >> Dr. Ollet, >> yes. >> Miss Schustster, >> yes. >> What do we have on the other one? There's threeformational reports on the capital non-reoccurring fund, the educational expenditure reserve, and the grant fund. I have a question. Um the second to last row that says um undesated is that $5,724 [snorts] that's undesated in that fund like not um assigned to any particular project >> project that >> it's it's interest that's coming in. So at at the end of the year, we'll have the board when they designate any other funds, we'll have them designated for >> because I was going to say I thought we we had to designate it for something.
057Okay. So it's interest to policy second reads. Uh school calendar page 173. So, you would have had the first read at the last meeting. It was very colorful. It was red and it was blue and it had strikeouts and it was black and it had all the changes that we've made. Um, but this is the clean copy of um the proposed school calendar policy. Uh, there is an accompanying regulation that gives us a little bit more guidance that will also be published um should this be approved tonight. Can we have discussion or >> can we do we have to have a motion motion first? We have a motion and then >> you want to discuss. Can you make the motion? >> Sure. I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. Sorry. >> I'll second. >> When
058Paul's here, I'll make a lot of motions. So, don't worry. >> There's only seven of us. >> Okay. I'm just trying to keep it moving. >> Go for it. >> Uh, so what was your question? >> So, I guess I have a couple questions. One, I think adding the holidays last year in some regards has opened up the floodgates a bit. Like we've already seen a couple requests for adding additional holidays. We had someone come in public comment and ask to add Chinese New Year. We got an email with somebody asking to add Three Kings Day. And I'm a little concerned that there is nothing kind of hard and fast about exactly what the policy is for adding holidays to the calendar. And as part of that process, I feel like there needs to be
059some discussion of like what the economic and financial impact is because, you know, as of this like this year for example, I know we go a full week longer than like orange schools for example. So when we're not sharing those buses, what is the financial impact? So every day that we take off that they don't um there is a financial impact to the school. Um, and I think there's a financial impact to the broader community too when we are adding schools that are or adding holidays that are not state and federal holidays where parents now have kids at home unattended because they still have to go to work. Um, and I know for older kids it's not like a child care thing per se, but I mean I now have teenagers that I don't necessarily
060want home all day unattended by themselves either. So, I'm just not sure that either a can we just say like as dictated by the state or like I just feel like this is very general and I'm worried that we're going to continue to get like how many more holidays are we going to add I guess is sort of the >> regulation is more specific has a date when a [snorts] holiday has to be requested. It talks about the holidays that we have traditionally recognized in this district which includes some of the Christian holidays, some of the Jewish holidays and then some of the state and federal holidays and sort of the idea of preserving our traditional holidays but then also considering the impact has a requirement that um I would present it along with attendance
061data for both students and staff. So the regulation has >> there's regulations behind this. >> Well, there are regulations but our regulation has kind of what we would look at >> as a board to cons when a holiday is requested for consideration. >> Okay. So >> So are you saying that's in the state regulations? >> There's no state it's our regulation. It's the regulation that would go behind the policy. So a policy is sort of the broad umbrella and the regulation is how we're going to enact that policy. So where is that regulations? >> So I I developed those. So we share. So I I think and again if you're there's interest if you go back to I don't know four policy meetings ago. I will sometimes bring those to the policy committee so that
062they can see what we're already sort of thinking about. So I know it was in a policy packet from a couple months ago. Um but I also know we didn't move this through policy without knowledge that that regulation with some guidance was there. I and regulations are nice because I can change [clears throat] them easily without bringing them to the board. So if it doesn't have language around financial impact that can certainly be added as another piece of information to consider. >> Um I think the biggest thing driving it though is continuity of instruction and that sort of comes as our first consideration. So I you know I think there are a couple things that um we should consider as a board in thinking about this policy. Um one is that the composition though we
063have like same families right where we have schools with kids at different developmental stages at the high school. Kids are like developing independence and like their own opinions, perspectives, right? And so the requests for the holidays that were approved last year came to us from our own student body. this is what they wanted. And it wasn't just kids who celebrated um Dvali and um Eid. It there were lots of kids that came in support of their friends, right? And my my assumption is that's um a a way to sort of show value for others, right? Um and for other cultures um and respect. So I think we have to consider that you know things may be different because of sort of the different developmental stages of kids across our schools. The second thing is that
064you know it's really hard. I appreciate um the desire to have sort of hard and fast rules but this isn't one of those topics where I think we can have hard and fast rules. I think we need some guard rails to guide us, which is what we try to do with this policy, but hard and fast for something like this really just doesn't work, right? Like the demographics of the student body is, you know, it changes. Um, and so I think having hard and fast really like makes the whole like process of considering addition additions to the or changes to the calendar like really rigid. Um, and and not considering sort of the needs, the desires, the perspectives of our students and I was actually I was proud that they came they lobbied and that
065wasn't their first time. They came the year before. So that's just wanted to [music] share that. >> Did we have a regulation and policy on this? Previously >> we had a policy there was no regulation behind it and and the the original well the existing policy that we still have is is um much shorter. It doesn't it it just kind of says that the board is going to set a calendar and when possible align it to the elementary districts. doesn't really give consideration for adding holidays, taking them away, having a periodic review or or anything like that. >> For the new board members, if I remember correctly, there's no way to determine how many people of which faith of whoever. It's we can't >> general absent data. So yeah, we're not we're and we're not
066Yeah, we don't have that data and aren't allowed to ask for >> because I think the other aspect coming off of your side is yes, we had people that came in support of it, but I mean there was 15 or 20 maybe on that big night of the holiday bet out of a school of 1500. I mean, how it's it's a moral dilemma and I don't have an answer for it of how much of a minority does the majority, you know, when do you cross that line of if a hundred people show up and want a new holiday but 1400 people aren't? >> So, >> you make that decision. >> So, when I look at that policy, I don't know how we respond to the letter we just got around another holiday, >> right? That's
067asking for your criteria. >> It helps me work my way through. >> There won't be never will be. And again, that's your job as board members. You listen to your community and you represent your community. And I mean, and that's how the original policy was written that you as representatives of the community will make the decision that is in the best interest of the kids first of all, and then that reflects your community, your three communities values. Um and and again because holidays tend to be tied to at least as right now some sort of religious observance. You will never have that data. It will never be hard and fast data. >> I I understand that. All right. But so we get this request and you say you have the regulation. >> Yes. >> To
068work through that. >> Yes. >> So So what is that? So again, I refer you back to the policy committee meetings from maybe three or four months ago. I don't have [clears throat] the regulations right here, but it's the I there are things that you will take into account when you make that decision. It is not databased, but there are things that you should think about before you say yes or no. >> Being the board, >> ultimately at the I'm trying to make sure that I understand you. Ultimately, at the end of the day, people are going to come and make requests. They can request whatever holiday they want and it comes down to us making a decision. >> Yes. >> Based on what we feel and and there are some guidelines for recommendations. But
069>> and the big the one the only data point I have is how many kids are absent on that holiday versus another normal day >> and how many teachers >> there's nothing that requires us to make a decision one way or the other. >> Yeah. >> I mean technically we're making a decision once a year when we approve the calendar. >> Yes. and and and and and that's the the structure of when the request comes should be aligned to that. Um so >> and I guess the other thing to consider is that once we add things because of how this is written that becomes the customary what is the wording in here something about um may include additional days that have customarily been recognized by the district. So I think we need to be cognizant
070of the fact that every time we add something it is going to be very difficult even with changes in demographics and population and evolving of our towns to ever go backwards. So, the regulation um does, excuse me, have sort of a five-year checkpoint where you where as a board you are supposed to stop and say, "Okay, are all these dates still appropriate?" Um, you know, and I mean certainly in our time, Veterans Day has come and gone. Um, so we have seen holidays change. Um, the president's days have come and gone. So I I don't think that it necessarily is going to lock us in to pretty soon the entire year is just holiday and no school. Um and you know and again I think um I think the ide the the there are sort
071of three points that where you would want to where I think you would have better guidance the absence data the continuity of the instructional year. Um, so how many times are, you know, how many times are there four day weeks versus five day weeks? Um, and when are they occurring and then what the other three elementary districts are doing because it also still requires you to have some alignment to them. Um, so I think those three give you some guidance so that you're not just randomly making the decision. And like I said, I'll if the language isn't there and I can't remember if it is or not, add financial impact in. >> Right. I I just wanted to add three points that I think came up last year and then some of those didn't come
072up today. Right? So one of the things is the absence data is not good in any way because if a community feels that they should be at school, they will show up. It does not reflect the importance of the holiday. So that data is not very useful at all. The second thing that we did think of talk about was the financial issue. But the financial issue is join especially because it's a regional school district is tied into what our other districts do to the extent that Woodbridge and Bethany now decided to follow Amit right now the financial costs are very different than what it might have looked if one did not move ahead or uh so it's something that we really need to think a little bit about like you know who moves first what
073causes the wood bridge moved first last year and then so these changes are there The third thing is the Chinese New Year was accommodated already, right? Like you know, even though it was not technically put in because last year it was not a holiday. Uh the important thing to think about is that when you put five holidays, it doesn't mean five things get added up because there is always weekends, there is spring breaks. Uh so someday the Chinese New Year didn't come up last year because it coincided with the spring break. So the more days we put in, it doesn't necessarily mean our five days are going to go through. It actually averages about three or it's like taking the Jewish holidays as well like it averages about 3 to four days no matter what.
074So I did this calculation over a 10-year period last year and I found that the variance is much less than what we might think if five you know all five days showed up on a weekday. So those are some things that also we might want to consider and I just wanted to do. So we did this analysis last time and I just wanted to bring everybody up to speed on that. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Just one last question. Um I guess why do we anticipate uh like an influx of additional requests? >> There was a three kings day request this time. >> Okay. So there's we already talked about we already talked about um Chinese New Year last year >> that was already there. >> So it's three kings day. >> Yes. But I
075think the other thing and this is what we're seeing I would say more statewide is that there are communities particularly our urban areas that tend to have a more diverse population. they tend to be the ones who first make the changes for the holidays and then I think um depending on how they respond then surrounding communities start to respond that way. Our population may not look the same as that more urban area. So I I do think we have to be cognizant of that that just because our neighbor in New Haven may be offering a holiday holiday that is not necessarily reflective of what our attendance would be or our student demographics. Um I do remember last year when we considered both Chinese New Year and Diwali, we looked at the percentage of our students
076who actually identify as Asian and use that as a data point because we are extremely high when you compare us to other school districts um in our Asian population of students. um if you look at our population of students who identify as Hispanic, it's extremely low when you look at it compared to other surrounding or other communities. So again, there are a couple places where we could have data, so to speak, but there's a whole lot of bias and assumption that goes behind just using the demographic data, but it could also be helpful for us. Um, but I do think that's why there's a concern is because we do see some holidays added in certain populations, but they do tend to, I believe, in those um, towns or cities actually have a a different racial
077and demographic breakdown than what perhaps we currently have. But somehow because their neighbors are doing it, we share services, we share busing, it starts to catch on. And to your point like you know the the Asian population is higher in the suburbs and so most of the school districts that have had the the has been the suburbs and not the bigger towns right uh whereas three kings day is more in the uh urban uh school districts than in the rural school districts. >> Did you hand go first? >> Yeah. I just wanted to sort of share like sort of an on the ground perspective because Dre and I actually surveyed um at least members of the student gov about their sort of views on the new holidays and we had um a lot of like
078qualitative data of people sharing like sort of how they celebrated that day or you know if they didn't celebrate sort of what they what they did on that day and I think something that really stood out to at least me was the people who said that they were like invited to a friend's Dubali party or that they were encouraged to like you know like or like their friend like gave them like something for Dvali or like they were just sort of part of Dwvali in like a very organic way. Um and I think that because we're currently sort of thinking about how to improve our school climate especially for you know the groups that were identified in the data as like more likely to feel like not part of the community. I think offering opportunities
079for those kinds of organic experiences for people to have that kind of intercultural exchange might be even more meaningful than like whatever like sort of programming that we may try to shove down people's throats. Um, yeah. >> Thank you. Is there anything in either the regulation I don't really see it in the policy but maybe worth putting in the policy about sort of the number of requests that are received that you know that would be a point that we would take into consideration you know if you're saying it's this this and this right it's you know absences blah blah would number of requests be one of those things >> um we did not put that in [clears throat] somewhat to Mr. Mcdana's point, what is is it 200? Is it 500? Is it 10? Like
080>> where's the point? >> Yeah. That that we would have to figure out what is kind of a tipping point of requests. Um I I would certainly say that in the case of of the two that we added, um it was really more the persistent request of the student gov, they actually came to us for three years. Um so sort of outlasted even some of your terms. Um they came um consistently for three years. Same holidays, same requests, same rationale, just different kids every single time. So it was more um not so much volume, but um persistence and and kind of making a very strong argument. >> Okay. So you don't feel like it's worth putting something like that? >> I just I don't I don't I mean on what number would you set? So,
081it kind of leaves an abyss for the requests we got we're getting now. >> Yes. >> Well, I think that we it's it's up to us. It's it's up to this board, however you feel. And like like I said earlier, you know, listening to our community. They were persistent. They kept coming back. I think it's really tricky to think about numbers and setting a number because I mean, if you think about it, like if this school was predominantly full of boys, right? And they're like, "Girls can't run for student government." And if it was based on numbers, they the girls would never, right? And you had to like outnumber you'd never girls would never be student president or whatever. So I think it's, you know, we have to think carefully when we think about sort
082of setting any particular number. Um, this is just one of those areas. I think as a board like there are certain things that are hard and fast and there rules, regulations, and numbers attached to it and percents. This is not one of them. This is one that we are guided by our community. Your gut feeling when people come, when the students come. For me, if it's coming from the students, I pay very close attention. And if it's coming from the students persistently, that's just what leads me. You'll figure out what leads you. But it's really ultimately up to us. I don't think there's any else. We have guidance and you take the guidance and you make the best decision. um whatever the best decision you think is for our community. >> I >> we do
083have to bind it and the requirements the educational [clears throat] requirements we have to manage. >> Yes. Yes. >> But that is partly why I was saying that the average number of days in the school is not as high as we might think right because if it's only averaging about 3 to four days like you know meaning we do have that flexibility and then the question so it really it's not as bad as we might think in the beginning. Uh the other thing is of course in three kings day one issue that might come up is that the state is likely to potentially do this as well as a state holiday and that might you know change the equation as well because once it's a state holiday then the request might come across as even
084stronger. So that's another thing that you might want to think about. >> I really thought when you were saying about if it was predominantly boys that they were going to request that they super [laughter] bowl off. Um >> oh that would have been even better. But that's a but that's a good one. Mike has been waiting to talk. Let's let's ask let's ask your question and then try to >> it's kind of an in-house thing for the request that we got for three kings. Did they request it to all the other towns? >> How does that work? If we get a request and we bring it to a vote and we don't include the three other towns, do we communicate that over and bring them in? Well, so again, by the regulation, the requests that
085came in wouldn't even be for 2627 because of the timeline. It would have to be for 2728 in my development because remember I work with the BOA superintendent before I even bring a calendar to you guys so that we can line up. So I would go to them and say, "Hey, we had this request. Did you what are your thoughts on it? Do we add it?" And I would get feedback from them. And then I when I go to present the calendar if you somebody said well what about three kings and I said it's not on there because the three elementary districts weren't going to put it on there. It happens to come two days after almost two week winter break and our kids are in the middle of preparing for midterm exams which come
086essentially the week later and we don't see a high rate of absenteeism. I'm not recommending that day, but that's the process that I would go through and then you as a board would have to listen to that rationale laid out and decide whether my rationale is accurate or it's not reflective of the community and you decide to add it in. That would be kind of the process. >> All right. Well, at this point, I think we've had a robust discussion and and I will uh see if we can call for a role. >> Miss Bradley? >> No. >> Um Miss Sha? Yes, >> Dr. Kronicron. >> Yes, >> Mr. McDaha. >> Then I abstain. >> Okay, >> Mr. Reed. >> Yes, >> Mr. Rebuse. >> No, >> Dr. Ola Delay. >> Yes, >> Miss Schustster.
087>> Yes. [cough] >> Five yeses. >> Carries. >> All right. Yes. >> Two nos, one up stay. >> Five yes. So motion. >> Okay. >> I also know when we do the calendar, we look at professional development as well. And I feel like there might be >> you're trying to squeeze it all in. But there also might be some leeway in that if there's, you know, something that we feel like really affects the community versus the teachers or something that maybe that becomes a professional development day and not a holiday, you know, like um especially if we look at the since I know it's not >> I know struggled with that last year though when we were trying to fit the holidays in and the and the professional development. >> Are we allowed to do
088that? Like I thought like the we have a school called the board declares a holiday the teachers actually you can't make the teachers work more than they're assigned to in their contract. And right now our teachers are allowed four days of professional development. Um and we stack three in the summer because we really need them in August to get ready for the school year. And we use the one for election day um because it aligns with every other school district in Connecticut. That's our four days. So we don't have So unless you want to impact bargain and change the teacher contract um we don't have that type of the rest are half days. >> What about the minimum days for PD that are like once a month? >> So those we set um on our
089own and what we try to do is we look at try to pick times where it's going to be least disruptive. So there's some weeks where there's already like two days already out because of parent teacher conferences. So we're not sending a third day of kids getting out early. So we try to weave it into where we see the other potentially minimum days. >> Uh so with that done, uh any new business announcements? I don't believe so. Um the only thing that I'll do just to remind the board is um at um our January meeting, it is our joint AMD finance committee board of ed um budget workshop. That meeting starts at 6 to help accommodate some of the finance committee members. Um as a result though, it also pushes um policy or any other
090committee that's meeting that night to 5:00 so that there's an hour for the committee and then we can get right into the budget workshop. Um, so if you just um kind of keep that in mind and I'll send it in my weekly reminders, but I wanted to make sure I pointed it out. >> Not to Can I just address the one public comment from the travel basketball? Is that >> um I don't I I don't we typically don't do it during a meeting. Uh >> but if you have questions, >> I make it a new business item. >> Sure. >> Oh yeah. Um so after I was elected I was approached by them. I have full transparency to children who play for the AMD travel basketball program. Um they sent me the policy as it
091exists as it currently stands in terms of how it works for nonprofit requests. Um youth programs that are serving our three towns that are nonprofit are supposed to have priority access after the school has access. And it sounds both by the way the policy is written and their experience in terms of trying to request time to be very difficult and non-transparent. So like when they go to try to get access in other facilities like they can see a calendar of like what's accessible. What they told me is that they're submitting there's like a fee every time they apply. There's no transparency from their end in terms of is it available or not. So like we're collecting the fee and then we may say nope sorry. Um and it's so that you know they're trying to
092plan out a schedule for I think it's 10 or 12 teams at this point for upwards of 130 kids. Um and it becomes very challenging and parents get frustrated and all of that when it's inconsistent across the season. So all of these are teams that are ultimately feeding our schools and the high school. At this point, we have multiple coaches even who work for AMD um and our paid coaches within the program for some of the older teams. So, I think it would be nice if we could either try to amend the policy to make it um not more favorable necessarily, but e like easier to more transparent, easier to navigate. Um you know, they're happy to pay facility charges. So, in that instance, it's potentially a revenue source as well to leverage our existing
093facilities. Um, and they did make the comment to me that like when they go to these travel meetings with these other leagues, like there's a Fairfield league, there's a Melford League, we are the only travel program that does not have access to a school that like that they can offer up for home games. So, we play a lot of games elsewhere. Can can we get I I would assume that this is run by is this a facilities or is this an athletics? >> So it would be facilities um and and and you and I'm happy to look into all of this because what I'm not even clear is if the challenge is the policy which I think it's kind of >> or if it's the system that we use. >> I think it's a little
094bit of both. >> And so it's something Miss Lumis and I can work on. Um, I can certainly say a request in July for November will never be filled until October because we are >> you're waiting on your own schedule. >> Yeah, we're waiting. So, you know, I I know the timeliness. I I certainly heard um but I we're not going to fill >> I will say the other piece of it is like there are for like there are nights where like I'm picking my kids up from practice and like there's a men's league that's coming in to play and it seems like well why wouldn't our youth nonprofit programs have access before a >> so we always give priorities to parks and wreck first and so and more than likely if they have not
095been connected to a park and wreck program, they would be third in the list. >> The men's league is actually through park and wreck, so they get priority over us. Um or over over a a youth group organization. Um you know, and I think the other thing that they're experiencing that's different. I I could be wrong. I don't know how many of the um other locations are regional school districts. >> I mean, that is part >> um because that changes a lot of the access ability. Um but but um I'm I'm gonna guess that [cough] park and wreck is probably perhaps already usurping some of the time that they're they're requesting. But again, we are happy to look into it and um and see if there's anything we can do to improve the the process.
096>> Yeah, their request seem very reasonable and so I think if there is a way to kind of deal with that in a good way, it would be very >> Okay. Can we um at the next board meeting if I'll get a presentation on AI grading? >> Um at this point no because I'm not actually sure what is being used how prevalent it is. It is to my knowledge not um but I think we need to get some more information before um >> so can we get clarity on it then >> I can do some work and send you a response. Yes, at some point >> if if we're using it, can we get a presentation on it? >> Um, >> if it's in the budget for next year, I guess is >> I can
097assure you it's not in the budget for next year. >> Magic School AI is that is a um that is the one student program that is approved for students to use um artificial intelligence. Okay, >> remember [snorts] things like um Gemini and uh uh Chat GPT that they don't actually have the student data privacy rights associated with them. So, Magic School AI is the platform so that kids can use AI. I don't um and we can look and see what else is [snorts] being, you know, it's got a lot of lessons and stuff. >> Plagiarism check. Isn't that like the automated process? >> Well, we we do have that too. So, that's one of our um like our no red ink is, you know, sort of the plagiarism check. So, we definitely have that. Um
098but that's been in existence preAI. that's always been around but um the the particular program he referenced is not something that I am >> might have been an individual teacher doing it right >> part of our budget so we'll follow up on that >> we'll follow great >> we look forward to hearing about it >> great >> all right uh items for the next re regular meeting agenda do the chairperson by January 30th >> hopefully that will be Davis here [laughter] >> uh and Without objection, we're going to adjourn at 8:07.