001Uh, I'm going to call the meeting to order and start with roll call this evening. Mike here, >> Kirsten Erson. And over here, Pam Fington. Uh Carrie Folino >> Carrie Folino Marorrow here. >> Drew Golin Drew Gin Marorrow here. >> Jessica Hall >> Romanuk >> Scotty Summer. Uh Brianna Adu. >> Uh Yousef Amed. >> Yousef. and Avery. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. So, we uh do have the elections that are going to be coming up button, but we have a special treat before we have elections. Uh like to introduce Mr. Kokus who is our band teacher up the high school students and we are fortunate enough to have them perform. >> Thank you Dr.
002Thank you everybody for having us. Um I as said I'm Cocus. band director and I brought along three of my very best senior instrumentalists to play some music for you tonight. Um the the little bit of music makes the rest of your meeting flow nice and smooth. So I'll turn it over to them to introduce themselves and music they have selected and prepared for. >> Hello, I'm Finn Blake. I play a fair saxophone which is the barone voicing of the saxophone octave below the alto. And tonight we're going to start with Rudolph and Green. Earth to the blue. Next one is the world. Hallelujah. Hi, I'm Gio. I play the clarinet. And for our last piece, White. Hello. Hallelujah. Thank you very much. Uh if you'd like that, please come to our concert on Thursday
003night, uh 7 o'clock in the high school auditorium. Good luck with the rest of your meeting. >> Thank you so much for being here. So our next agenda item is the election of officers where we'll elect the board chair, vice chair, secretary, treasur board policy 91. We're going to first start off with opening up the floor for any nominations for the election of the board chair. Do we have any nominations for board chair? All right. And it's seconded by Scott. Uh are there any other nominations for board chair? Not not hearing any. Uh is there any discussion? discuss. >> Um, all right. So, we when we do these votes, they are roll call votes. Uh, so I'm just going to go through our list of members. Mike >> Oh, yeah. So, I'm sorry. Just go
004either say yes. Yes, >> Pam. >> Yes, >> Carrie. >> Yes. >> Drew >> Gin. >> Yes. >> Jessica Hall. >> Yes. >> Amy Rowenchuk. >> Yes. >> Scottette. >> Yes. >> Summer. >> Yes. Yes. >> All right. It is unanimous. We have a chair off to whatever. >> Okay. So that brings us to vice chair. Um do we have >> Okay. So um I don't even remember what I asked for. So the role of the vice chair is to assume and carry out the duties and responsibility of the board chair in their absence. Um are there any nominations for the position of vice >> chair? Is there a second? >> I second. Second. >> All right. Any other nominations for >> I would like to nominate Mike. >> I'll seconded. All right. So, we
005have Drew and Mike nominated. Is there any other nominations for vice chair? Not hearing any for. So since we have two people who have been nominated for this position, board members will cast a voice vote for one of the nominees. So by naming the nominee of their choice or abstaining from the vote. The nominee with a majority of the votes is elected to the position. Um, >> okay. Um, so uh Ruby Del Fury Kirstston Erlandson >> Drew Buffin >> Pam Barington. >> Can you repeat that? >> Drew. >> Yes. >> Carina. >> Mike. >> Drew Goffin. >> Drew. >> Jessica Hall. >> Uh Amy Romanuk. Hi. Scottyette, >> other so Mike and Lisa m. So um Drew carried that vote. So Drew will be the next um vice chair. >> Congratulations again. Condolences. All right.
006So that brings us to the treasurer. The role of the of the board treasurer is to assume carry on the duties and responsibility of the chair in their absence and in the absence of the vice chair. Uh do we have any nominations for the treasurer? I'd like to nominate Carrie second. I I really can't. >> No, I >> I'm a registered rep for an investment firm and I the treasurer I have to get amount of stuff I would have to draw nomination. >> Yes. But I appreciate >> any other nominations for treasurer. >> Okay. So, we'll do the roll call vote. Mike Buller. >> Oh, Kirsten Berlinson. Yes. >> Bington >> stain. >> Ship stained. >> Uh Carrie Fino. >> Yes. >> Drew Golfing. >> Yes. >> Jessica Hall. >> Yes. >> Amy Romanchuck. >>
007Yes. >> Scott Soyette. >> Yes. >> Heather Summer. Yes. >> And Lisa Tout. >> Yes. >> Lisa T. >> Towi. Sorry. kind of that last name. It's all kind of funny. Now I get to >> I got it. >> Rowdy. >> All right. Um any discussion? >> Oh, we just had the vote. Sorry. Um so the election of secretary, the role of the board of secretary is to assume carry out the duties and responsibilities of the chair in their absence as well as in the absence of the vice chair and the treasurer. We have nominations for secretary. >> I'd like to second. >> Any other nominations for secretary? Okay. Any other discussion? >> I'm sorry. I couldn't hear who was nominated. >> Amy Robach. >> All right. Mike Holier. Yay. >> Rudy Deliori. >> Yay.
008>> Kirsten Erinson. >> Yes. >> Pam Harington. >> Yes. >> Carrie Folina. >> Yes. >> Drew Goffin. >> Yes. >> Jessica Hall. >> Yes. >> Amy Romanuk. >> Yes. >> Scott SE. >> Yes. >> Heather Summer. Yes. Lisa Tabby. >> Yes. >> Good job. Oh yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. So that brings us to public comment. There's nothing else we have to do. >> We are we are good. Congratulations. >> Okay. He Andover and Barbaro community engagement and attendance at BOE public meetings is welcome. Public comment segment of the meeting agenda is set aside so the BOE may receive public comments. Procedurally, public remarks will be limited to three minutes and citizens will be asked to identify themselves. Because the BOE is limited by the Freedom of Information Act to discussing only matters on
009the agenda, the BOE is not permitted to engage in the discussion of the comments presented. We have anybody here would like to make public comment again. My name is Kane and I represent the Rand teachers as their union president. I want to welcome our new members to the board of education and our reelected members. Thank you for coming back. Uh I thank you all for volunteering your time and for your commitment to ensuring the needs of RAM are effectively represented and acted upon. The REA has appreciated the support for the board over the years most recently with our contract negotiations. As many of you know from your experiences as ran on the board or as a parent or your own experiences as teachers perhaps you have we have experience we have experienced thoughtful educators who
010believe in our schools and they're providing the best educational experiences for our students for the highlighted programs we've seen so many different talents that we have in our students and they're supported by what we offer here. No matter what path a student chooses after high school, uh we have appropriate educational opportunities for them here at RAM so that anyone will be successful post high school. I hope as budget season approaches that we can continue funding these educational opportunities for students. When I ask teachers what is going well at RAM, they remark on the collaborative environment they work in and how generally it is a happy place to work. When I ask them what is difficult, what I hear most often is they are struggling with the ethical use of AI in the classroom. It's getting
011harder and harder to distinguish student work with AI and we're looking for stronger policies at the high school level. Mostly cell phone use continues to be an issue with a need for stronger policies for student accountability. The REA continues to work with the administration to develop stronger policies around these issues and I hope we have your support as well. Again, welcome to the new members and thank you for dedicating your time, all of you, to ensuring RAM has all the support. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anybody else who would like to make public comments? >> Michael Susi, middle school principal. Just on behalf of the administrative association, we want to welcome new members. Um, and also welcome to our returning members. We look forward to working with all of you this coming year.
012Thank you. >> There anybody online that wants to comment? >> Okay. Um, We need to add and delete any agenda items tonight. >> And that brings us to the student representative reports. You guys, it's going to be hard for them to pick the last I for a fact you could be >> around this time for our students. We've got a few recent and upcoming events. Last week had fors starting to next Tuesday and we've got some new and we have also Christmas and we're finally starting our Christmas. Some of the other things that happened um through the DECA toy draft that was like organized by operation there 100 toys collected and ended last Friday and they came picked it up also the NHS induction there was like lots of students that got and finally the
013winter sports starting again like include sports like basketball track wrestling hockey and swimming >> um over Thanksgiving Eighth grade had popcorn fundraiser for our upcoming trip to Boston um which is in May I believe. Um on Friday the middle school raised $855 for CCMC on our pajama day. Um this week is the spirit week which started Monday. And some of the themes tomorrow is ugly sweater day. We also have um like Christmas vacation so we're like Hawaiian and stuff. Um the middle school raised 100 or 1,47349 cents to distribute to am Andover Marorrow um food banks um which means $491 with each town. Um we also are starting spirit tickets which are um well which is something like the uh middle school student council is doing to get students more active in spirit weeks. So
014they win a prize like it's a raffle. So if you uh participate in as like a spirit week, you get like a ticket and you get called at the end of the weekends. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay, that brings us to the board chair report. Um they spoke about the National Honor Society. I had the pleasure of doing remarks there. It was a great event. 40 to 50 students get inducted into the National Honor Society every year, which I I think is a pretty impressive number. It was a very nice night. Um, some of us went to the K Caps conference right before Thanksgiving. Um, Scott Soyette was there, Drew was there, Colin and I went. Um, it's series of sessions. Um, you get to pick your area of interest. I think we
015pretty much most part >> divided and we're in different sessions but it's really it's great to meet some of the other board members from other towns hear what's going on for me I did the the nutmeg is what's it called the nutmeg >> board the nutmeg board meeting which is kind of this spoof that's done by the by a lawyer um just a lot of fun really kind of brings some of the issues that that we're challenged with into focus and you know where you can get into trouble and and how you should be handling things. Um, I was also told last week that some new board members attended the KB forward board member orientation. All three of you. So, thank you for that. That was really jumping in with both feet and getting that
016done. We really appreciate that. Um, and finally, I just want to wish the administration um, a happy holidays. It's time welld deserved off um, away from the advance of the school. So, we hope you have a wonderful break and come back rested and ready to go. Oh, yes. I'm supposed to talk about subs. That's right. Yes. So, over Thank you. over the um rest of this week, we would like everybody to kind of think about what subcommittees they would like to be on. So the committees are policy, program, communication and technology, negotiations, facilities, safety and transportation, and finance. So there's a total of five committees. We ask that you um sign up for two. If we end up with a committee that doesn't have any representation or doesn't have enough people, I will start calling
017and begging and asking folks to kind of switch committees. Um the student representatives, if you are interested in joining committee and sitting in on a committee, we'd love to have you. Um the only one that probably would be uh available to you would be the negotiations committee, but the rest of the committees if you had an interest, we would love to have you have you join that. Um so if you just give it some thought, you can uh send me a note, text me, um you can tell me tonight if you're so excited and you're ready to go and sign up tonight. But we'd like to have this done uh before the end of the week before the holidays really because we've got appropriate committee. >> Uh we have we have a finance and facilities
018meeting and we have a policy committee policy first then finance. I don't know if >> so and and Colin brings up something finance and facilities lots of times go together um just because they're so you know tied with each other. So you may find that um they may kind of blend them. Also if we don't have anything that month say on a program communications subcommittee we may cancel it. Once the committees are formed, the group themselves will decide who will chair that Okay. All right. So, that will bring us to the superintendent report. >> All right. And we have uh Eric, thank you for solving our technological difficulties. We appreciate your due diligence getting that fixed. And thank you uh Dr. Dr. You double very well as a technology aid in uh besides being a
019middle school principal. So, thank you for that. Um, so a lot of the things that I just had notes about um were were covered by our students. So, I appreciate you guys doing that. I I need to go in front of them so I can get some stuff out, but I just want to welcome and congratulate our new board members, Rudy, Lisa, Jessica. Uh I had the opportunity to meet individually with each one of our board members. um talk a little bit about what their interest in being on the board is, what they, you know, what they're looking to accomplish and I just really appreciate you guys taking the time to meet with me. I know you've got a lot of stuff going on in your lives. So, uh but I felt it was a
020really productive conversations. Um and obviously congratulations to our newly elected board officers. I look forward to working closely with all of you. Uh I'll just highlight a couple of things that I didn't uh that I don't believe were mentioned. Um uh one of the things that was a a really uh great thing that happened right before our um Thanksgiving vacation is that our medical careers team at the high school hosted a blood drive where 96 pints of blood uh was collected uh for for the American Red Cross which is a huge accomplishment. We have students who donate. Many students donate for the first time um uh at our at one of our blood drives. Uh we have staff members donating and then members of the community are are also able to come in and donate.
021So, we appreciate Kathy Green's efforts to uh do her three blood drives that she does every year. Um it it obviously does a does a huge uh makes a really positive uh impact on our communities um around us. Um and the yeah, I guess the only thing I'll say is we did uh we do have the winter concert coming up on Thursday night. I know Mr. Kokus mentioned it and a couple of other students. If you've never had a chance to come to one of our uh concerts, the the concerts will highlight uh the skills and talents of both middle school and high school uh musicians. I know Drew will probably be there with his music shirt uh or hope hope to see you there. Drew came uh and won a won a prize once.
022So, you never know what you can get when I come to a concert. Um and I I uh I am very excited that we do have uh our winter vacation coming up as our one of our students mentioned. U we're we're all excited to get some some well-deserved downtime. I know teachers and staff are definitely um ready for some downtime and I can certainly say that I am uh looking for that as well. So um a week and a half until we are there. Um and that concludes my report. >> Um so that will bring us to item 10 is the consent agenda. You want to >> Yeah. So there are meeting minutes of uh from a few meetings that we've had that would be approved as a part of the consent agenda and then
023we also would be approving policies for revision or deletion. Um these uh the the four policies came as a first read to the board uh at our last meeting. Um and there was no questions, comments or concerns with any of the language with the policy language. Um and so my recommendation is to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Okay. Hey, do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So move. >> That was Drew Goffin. >> I'll second. >> Mike Buller. Any other discussion on that? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? >> Anyone abstain? Okay, >> that brings us to new and unfinished business. >> So, we just have a few things to go over with new and unfinished business. The first one is the review and approval
024of the 26 of the 2026 2027 school year calendar. It is enclosure um 11.1 in your board packet. Um so I work with the other superintendents in the region to work on developing the um the calendar. Uh it's it's we follow the a pretty standard formula for putting it together. Um the only difference between um next year's calendar and really what we typically see is actually we're going to actually have a full week of school prior to uh Labor Day. So, typically we start um but just the way that Labor Day is a little later this year, a later start um this year is that we're going to actually have the two days on Thursday and Friday with with students returning on the 27th and then we have a full week of school the following
025that and then get into Labor Day. There is a difference with Hein Elementary School. That's the one district that I'm aware of that's doing a different start time, but that's due to some construction work that they're going to be anticipating happening to um their their schools. So, they're actually starting about a week after we are starting. But other than that, it's again, it's a it's a fairly standard um uh calendar that we've been following the same uh way of of putting it together over the past several years. Um I can certainly entertain any questions. Um and if there are not any questions, I would recommend that the board approve the calendar as presented. >> Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the 2026 uh BOE school year calendar? >> So move, >> Scott. Soette
026first, the second. >> Amy Romanuk is second. Any other discussion on it? All in favor? >> I >> Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? >> Thank you. >> All right. The next item for doing unfinished business is enclosure 11.2, which is the uh board of education meeting dates. So what we do per our board policy is during the December meeting we actually set the board meeting dates for the upcoming year and then we also we always establish it for the following January as well. So we know that when we have the the January one in 2027 um again we're following the the typical process that we use which is the third Monday of each month. There are some um there are some Mondays where uh that does not work. Um and uh for for instance having the
027meeting on January 26th uh it enable provides us the additional time that we need to actually get the budget put put together because the Monday before that is actually Martin Luther King's birthday. Um so we can't have a meeting on that date. So it's better to move it and give us that additional time to get the budget put together. And again if you just go down through the through the each of the month you'll see when we've identified the dates for our different meetings. Um, again, uh, if I can answer any questions, I will certainly do my best to do that. For new board members, we again, if there are, if you know that you have a conflict and you can't attend a certain meeting, that's fine. We we typically don't move a meeting date
028just based off of one board member's availability. Um, you know, as long as we have a quorum, we're good to go with with meetings. But uh again, if if there are no questions or concerns with the um with the calendar uh for board meetings, then uh my recommendation would be to approve it as presented. >> We have a motion to approve the 2026 BOE meeting dates. So move >> Jessica Hall. Second Amy Roman. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. Anyone? Anyone abstain? Thank you. All right. The overview of items likely to impact the 2026 2027 uh budget. There's going to be extra rose. There's gonna be extra coming down. if you want to grab any extras just to make them available for people who are here and would like a copy of the power.
029Thank you. >> Thank you. We'll make sure that this is made available on our website tomorrow. So, if we don't have enough copies to give to everybody in the audience, um again, they they will be put up and uh board members who are attending from home, I'll make sure that I email this document to you as well um tomorrow morning. So in accordance with board policy uh 3110 um at a at at the meeting that is prior to our January meeting when I present the um recommend um the proposed uh budget is uh at this meeting we are supposed to uh discuss any new or uh major items to be considered in the proposed budget. We also talk about factors that are impacting the budget. Um and uh basically that's the purpose of this presentation
030I'm going to go over with you today. So, so new board members, just so you know, I don't get into a lot of detail. The budget actually is still being developed. So, I I don't have a number to give. Um that Eva is working um with her uh with her team to to develop the budget and put it together. Um but I'll go I'll go through the process that we've utilized so far and where we are at now in the process. Uh if we go to slide three, the priorities in budget planning. I always like to review these to to support the implementation of the goals identified in the district strategic plan, the board's strategic plan which those four areas uh we have goals in the areas of instruction, talent management, culture, climate and organizational
031systems. Certainly a priority is to support both the academic and social emotional learning needs of students to maintain a program of studies with a wide variety of course offerings and career pathways that ensure graduates are college and career ready upon graduation and certainly we are always working to improve or maintain our facilities and grounds. Next slide. So, one of the things that I always do uh when I present um is talk about our enrollment projections. Um so, last year we had uh on October 1st and um for those of you that again might not know this, our October one enrollment is what we use as kind of like a number moving forward through the rest of the year, it's when we report our enrollment to the state. So, even though our our enrollment might fluctuate
032throughout the remainder of the the school year, we always utilize the October one uh enrollment numbers when doing things like determining the town levies and um and and looking ahead as well. Uh so, last year we had uh 178 students across the district. This year on October 21, October 1st uh we had uh 1,021 students enrolled. And you'll note that that asterric uh indicates that it does not include the 11 tuition students that we have uh through the new partnership with Columbia Public Schools. Um those numbers are exclusively students that reside in Andover, Hein or Marorrow. Um the reason that we have the two post-graduate students is that the school district is required to provide educational programming and a transition program for students between um 18 uh who are graduates of high school up to
033age 22. Um and this is a new way that we're reporting information to the state, which is why it didn't exist in last year's report that I'm sure. So, we have a couple of students here at uh RAM who are uh technically high school graduates, but again, still getting an education through us uh as they work to transition into adulthood. Um and again, the breakdown by sending town for the budget has shifted again. Um it's trended in this direction for a while. We've seen an increase in the percentage from Hebrin and we've seen decreases in percentages from Andover and Marorrow and that trend has continued. Um, and then you could also see what our enrollment projections based off of the chart. Uh, I' I'd encourage people to look at the column with um, that has
034been highlighted in yellow that shows basically the the projections have changed. Um, initially over the past couple of years, we've been projected to increase our enrollment by about 200 students over the next 10 years. Um, and you can see obviously that is not uh, what the current projections are. When I reached out to the demographers who work on putting the projections together for us, basically the answer that I was met with, uh, I said, you know, talk to me a little bit about the shift. Why why are we seeing a shift in and a change in enrollment? Um and essentially what they said to me was was not very reassuring but essent but essentially it was well our enrollment projections are from for about five years out have a high degree of reliability which actually
035is the case if you compare the projections from last year to these projections but beyond five years they're talking about that they they become less and less reliable and they adjust those projections based off of new information that they'll get each year. So as you can see our enrollment is projected I would just say it's projected to remain relatively steady. I I think the one thing that is going to impact the the numbers is again the projections are only inclusive of students from Andover and Marorrow. It is not inclusive of students from Colombia. And obviously uh the hope is that as we continue to grow and develop the relationship uh and partnership that we have now with Colombia public schools is that we see more students choosing RAM as their high school of choice. We
036go to slide five just goes over the budget timeline to date. So back uh believe it or not we are very early in the school year when we start to work on developing next year's budget. So Eva meets with um uh attends a fact meeting which is department coordinators and administrators. Uh she distributes the budget manual and guide at a meeting and reviews the processes the process that's going to be used in developing the the the budget. Um the the budget those people I I I call them budget owners and then for a period of about a month the budget owners work to put together their specific budget for their specific department. And then Eva and myself, building administration, meet with all of the department coordinators to review the department budget and discuss individual department
037needs. And then during that same window of time, Eva and I meet with different budget owners such as the athletic director, director of pupil services, facilities director, and director of technology communication, and as well as the director of curriculum and instruction to review their specific department budgets uh needs um as well. And then we work to update the personnel budget and that is an ongoing process. And then finally we are where we are right now which is um our meeting in December. We go to the next slide slide six. Um factors I always like to discuss factors that we are experiencing or expecting to have an influence on our budget uh for for next year. inflation uh is certainly uh going to have an impact as it has over the past several years. So, we're
038seeing an increased good uh increased cost for goods, materials, and services. We're seeing an uh an anticipated increase for utility costs. Uh once again, we're expecting uh a decrease in excess cost funding. And excess cost funding is essentially um uh funding that comes from the state for um special for high cost special education services that we provide to students. Um so if if we have students who reach a certain threshold for a cost uh who are special education students, we do get money back from the state um for for those additional costs. Um, another factor that's influencing the budget is we are there's a minimal debt payment increase for C that was for our campus renovation or the bonding that was done approximately 20 years ago. Um, we've had years where the bonding payment, the
039debt service payment has decreased by fairly substantial amounts a couple years ago. It went there was a $600,000 decrease in our bond payment. Um, it's pretty steady from last year to this year and it remains steady for next year as well. The good news is is that our is it is it is our last year of of paying on that debt service. Um and and as I've discussed with the board um already at an earlier meeting, you know, we see this as an opportunity to look to um you know, potentially go through the referendum process and and and bond out some projects that we uh need to to take care of to um maintain our our facilities and grounds in a manner which um really keeps things going the way they should be going. Um,
040health insurance premium costs are currently, and currently is a key word, budgeted for a 15% increase, which is approximately $630,000. Um, the reason I say currently is because we meet on a monthly basis. Even uh we'll we'll have a meeting before or January um to establish that there could be a reduction to what the uh percentage increase is. When we first started uh to look at costs for next year, um it was 16 and a half percent was the anticipated projection um or the I'm sorry, the anticipated increase for next year and we decreased it to 15% and obviously we hope that the trend is as that we get more data about claims that we are able to make um minor adjustments moving down so that our percentage increase is not as high as what
041it currently is budgeted for 15%. That's what we've historically done and we're we're hoping that obviously that continues. Um but again that will change over time. Um contractual increases um are are certainly factors is a is a factor increasing uh I'm sorry influencing the budget. Um this this board knows that I've advocated very um very much for u making sure that our wages and benefits for our employees are competitive. Um we want to make sure that we are a desirable district to work in. Uh there we are at a time where there is a a shortage of teachers. There is a shortage of para educators. There's a shortage of just about everybody that works in school districts. And certainly uh not being competitive in our general area um is is something that can negatively impact
042our ability to attract and retain staff. And this board uh the board that I've worked with over the past three years has responded wonderfully and and and I appreciate that. And as uh as as Miss Kate mentioned when she spoke at public comment, the the the the employees appreciate the efforts that we've made to make market adjustments. um we still could make work in that area and I and I know that this board has has heard me say that in the past that we still need to continue to make sure that we um remain competitive because uh we know that other districts are doing their best to make sure that they are um competitive as well. And and the last thing that I just indicated as far as a factor influencing our budget is the
043Colombia partnership. So, the revenue that we anticipate for this year from the Columbia Partnership is is $184,000. Um, the base tuition price is about $154,000 and then there's an additional $30,000 for special education costs and related services. Um, and again, that was with uh 10 students from Colombia. We obviously hope to grow that partnership over time. Um we have um recently sent out a survey to Colombia families who did choose Ram as their high school of choice for this year to get their feedback and the feedback that we've gotten is is very positive. The they're the responses that I've seen describe a very positive experience for their children, a very positive experience for their family. Um really again it's it's information that I will certainly share with the board when when I've gotten it all
044in. Um, but again, we're we're excited about the partnership and and as it grows over time, obviously the revenue that we get from Colombia tuition will hopefully obviously increase as well. So, it's it's it's all good stuff. Um, if we go to the next slide, please, slide seven. So, just some anticipated program changes from from our current year to next year. There are going to be five new classes that we offer in the RAM high school program of studies or educational opportunities handbook. Um the program subcommittee heard about these classes um about a month ago when we had our last meeting. Uh a firefighter course which is going to um be great. It's going to be part of our public safety academy um and coincide really well with with the EMT class that is already
045being offered. We are um looking to offer AP business principles, AP cyber security, introduction to marine science and music sampler. And music sampler just it basically is um is a class that they're going to try to design that would be an attractive option for students who maybe aren't going the traditional music route as far as being the band or being a chorus, but just exposing them to different genres of music and different types of of music. Um, so again, it's we have a really strong fine performing arts uh program. Um, and again, this is for kids who who might not just be part of that traditional kids who want to be in a band or chorus. Uh, the other thing that I'll mention, it's not on here because it's not new. Um, but we're excited
046to be able to reintroduce our foods classes. Um, starting, I think we start with foods one next year. Yes, food and nutrition. So, uh, in order to teach that class, you have to have a very specific, uh, certification from the state of Connecticut. And quite simply, we haven't had anybody for the past several years who's held that certification, but we have a current staff member who worked to get cross-certified so that they can teach uh, that class and and we can reintroduce it into our program of studies. Um, and it's great it's a great opportunity for us to be able to do that. Um, so again, very excited because I vividly remember taking those classes in high school and they've paid dividends down the line. Um, but I can vend for myself if I need
047to. >> Uh, the next slide, Eric, please, is anticipated personnel changes from uh from the current year to next year. Um so one of the positions that we are looking to build into our budget is the an addition of an instructional technology integration specialistcoach. Um this would be a teaching position and I it it actually is I'm really glad that Miss Kaine said what she did in public comment where she talked about the challenges associated with the implementation and use of AI um in schools. Um I I concur with what she said. Um we certainly are having conversations about that and and and trying to figure out um you know what policy changes are going to be put into place. Uh but one thing that we know is definitely missing is a a staff member
048who is really focused in on working with staff across the district in the use of and integration of technology in the educational program. Um there's really not too many times, not not too many moments in a day that students aren't engaging in some way, shape, or form with technology. Um and just as I'm assuming people who are in the workforce, you're engaging with technology as well. And and um we had a position that was a instructional technology integration specialist. Um, that position actually then kind of fell into the the the the lap of the person who was our library media specialist for a number of years. Um, and when that person uh left the district, um, we just it it was a position that we didn't replace. Um, but it is a void that currently
049exists and and I'm excited about bringing that position back in into the district. It would be again a teaching position. It would fall under the teachers bargaining teachers bargaining unit. So, it would be uh following the teacher schedule with with likely some additional days built in as well during the summer. And the second one is an addition of a second outdoor grounds maintainer. Um, currently the district has one outdoor maintainer who uh really manages and oversees a lot of work that is done outside on our on our grounds. Um, and it is, uh, I will just simply say it is a lot of work that goes into maintaining our grounds, when it comes to mowing, when it comes to caring for our athletic fields and the lining that needs to be done. It is it
050is a huge undertaking and we've taken on more responsibility um, over the past couple years where um, the town had some work that was done. I think it was parks and rack had some some work that was done and and as they've had personnel changes in those departments, we've absorbed the workload. Um, and the town has still been a great partner to us. Um, but again, that need is is one that exists. Uh, because if we only have one person in that position and that person is absent for a period of time, we've incurred significant additional costs because we have to actually then contract out somebody to do that work for us. Um, so really having the capacity inhouse to um get the work done that needs to be done and obviously um you know
051it it enables us to to make sure that all of our needs are going to be covered no matter what our personnel challenges might be. Um >> do we plow ourselves or we contract? >> We do not. We we contract with EA Quinn. So we contract with EA Quinn for a lot of the grounds work but the but the a lot of the mowing is done um by our outdoor maintainer. Like I said, the lining of the fields. Our outdoor outdoor maintainer does things like they'll drop trees for us in some situations. Not not all the time. Sometimes they're too big and they they don't do that, but um they've done a significant amount of work um and and continue to do so. Um if we go to slide nine, please. So, just a a
052brief overview of the capital budget. So, we've always tried to keep our capital budget for the past several years right around the $500,000 mark. Um, and and last year was was not an exception to that. It was uh we were a little above that at $565,000. Uh our our capital budget last year addressed um sidewalk repairs to the tune of $40,000. that has been a part of our capital budget for for for the past several years because we are constantly having to just address sidewalk, you know, cracks and um crumbling and whatnot. And really, that's it's essentially one of those that's a an ongoing maintenance issue that we need to really keep in the capital budget. And then uh last year, obviously, the track replacement was a significant um project. The total cost of the
053track project was uh 1,585,000 and $525,000 of that came from our um CIP budget. uh the remaining balance of that came from our reserve fund that we had uh monies available for that and and we've historically used the reserve fund to address significance needs that we have with athletic um fields and and areas and and again the the track project was a was a big undertaking but we're glad to have that done. Um we have anticipated uh to include at least two things in our capital uh budget for next year, but again we will have a finance and facility subcommittee meeting um I think it is January 13th when we return to finalize our capital budget. Loading dock replacement is one that the board I brought to the board's attention. Um our our our loading
054dock simply just it's it it needs replaced. It's in rough shape. I shared pictures with board members last year uh for new board members. I can certainly share those pictures with you guys to to show you what it looks like. Uh but it's in it's in rough shape. The cost for that project is is being finalized. We've worked we're working with a a vendor to get an approximate cost for that. Um and then obviously as I said the ongoing work to the sidewalk. We anticipate meeting that to continue as well. So to the $240,000. Um we currently have in uh capital unallocated um or we will have I should say is about $40,000. that money is um uh remaining from the track project which was completed and we just simply need to move the funds
055from the track project uh into CIP unallocated and that'll happen at an upcoming board meeting and we do have approximately $100,000 available in that reserve fund that I talked about earlier. So, the reserve fund is uh we as a as a regional school district can maintain up to 2% of the total budget if that money exists at the end of the year after our audit's been completed. Um and we've done a lot of good work again related to the athletic fields and track. Um using that money, we were able to build that money up over time in the reserve fund. Um and again, as I said, we used about a million dollars to to pay for the from that fund to pay for the track. We currently have about $100,000. It it that money is
056currently invested in our um short-term investment fund. Um and we will know what our if we have any surplus funds left over from last year. We'll know that dollar amount um after the audit is completed in February. Uh, as I said earlier, we can use and maintain and keep up to 2% of that last year's budget, which would be in total, if if the money is available, it could be up to $640,000, it can be allocated towards that reserve fund. Um, and again, uh, the audit will be presented to the board in February, and we'll know how much money, if any, we have for that reserve fund. Um, moving on to the next slide, budget timeline. Just these are some next steps. Uh, as I said, we have a facilities and finance subcommittee meeting to
057finalize the capital budget. Um, uh, it says 1213. That doesn't make sense. That's 113. My apologies. Um, we have, uh, a presentation. I will present the budget, uh, the proposed administrative budget to the board on the 26th of January. We're going to have budget workshops scheduled for uh, the 28th. So, we'll make sure that we get invitations sent out, but we're looking at doing budget workshops on the 28th and January 9th. And we do have an extra or alternative day out of uh February 12th if it is uh necessary, whether it's just more conversation needs to happen or if we end up having a uh a snow day on one of the days that it's going to be scheduled. Um, we have our uh again another budget meeting, I'm sorry, another board meeting on the
05823rd of February where obviously we'll have ongoing budget discussions. And then we I currently have two dates scheduled for town budget workshops where I will go and present to the boards of finance andor boards of selectman in our three sending towns. Um, Marorrow is uh scheduled right now for uh the the 25th of February. Hein is tentatively scheduled for the 17th of March and Andover has not yet been determined. Uh they're having some changes right now with regards to their leadership. So um I'm sure that we will get that scheduled and I'll let people know about it as soon as possible. Um we have our public budget hearing um and special board meeting to set the budget amount and uh to referendum on the 6th and then we have our annual budget meeting on May
0594th. And finally, the budget referendum will uh take place on May 5th. And that concludes my presentation. I can certainly take any questions if anybody has any. So, in a recently concluded legislative session, I thought I had heard including misinterpreted what was going on, but I thought I heard there was some additional funding for special education that was allocated to that. >> So, we discussed that last week >> last meeting and we're unfortunately not getting any the regional school districts. Um, >> oh, this was separate from that issue. Oh, there is something new coming down the pike, but don't know when that is coming. Okay. >> All right. But you're aware of there is something. Okay. But will it will be for the next school year, right? >> Hopefully. Yeah. Passes soon. Legislative body. Yes.
060>> Okay. Well, I thought there was something that was already recently signed for the next school year. Did I not >> I we we could look into it and >> I was just curious if you had heard of it. Okay. Maybe I misunderstood session and it's short session. So maybe it's just that they're going to talk about it as opposed to >> Does anybody online have any questions for Colin in the budget? Okay, >> more of a offer of help if you need to talk to Andover folks because you know we're in disarray right now between town administrator that I a temporary one in place right now but u we have a new board of finance chair who I can I'm close to in Kentucky >> great great I'll yeah I'll talk with you offline
061that I appreciate that >> any other comments okay that brings us to the personnel report it's in closure 11.4 four. >> So, yep, in your packet is 11.4 and there is just one um retirement uh happy to announce for Mr. Landry who is a business teacher at Ram High School is going to retire effective at the end of um the current school year. He's been employed uh by the district since uh 2000. So, he's uh had a great run and um we're excited. I I have spoken to Tim and congratulated him and he's excited to move on to the next phase of his life. So, good news for him. >> All right. And that brings us to financials. >> Excuse me. All right. So, in closure in your handbook 11.5A, um you have uh I
062am projecting for the end of November 30th a net favorable position of $235,295. Um again, we realize some savings from the magnet and aggra science school tuition is the majority of that. Our track replacement project has now been fully completed and paid for. The uh reserve for educational fund is still um has not closed out. The ADA compliance project. We just had some work that was finalized last week if I'm not mistaken. So most likely that will be um finalized at the next board meeting. Um the pupil services department again is monitoring their students and um as IEPs change directions for the students um incumbrances are changed accordingly to ensure that we are tracking them um and the money that is used to spend on them. Are there any questions that I may answer? >>
063So I have a few from Mr. Soyette if no one else has any. So um Mr. Soya had a question regarding miscellaneous revenue and what sort of things are included in there. So I just pulled out a few of them. So we collect student oblig obligations. So that may be debt from last school year that students owe. Um if we have Voya uh freedom of information requests that people pay us that goes in there. We have a Kerma. Kerma is the Connecticut intered member association. and it's our insurance company, so to speak, but it's a it's a member-based insurance company, so we're a member, so we get an equity distribution. Um, usually that is an annual process, but want to say a couple of years ago, we didn't get any. Um, we do sell scrap
064metal, so if chairs or tables are broken, we save the metal, throw away the other components, and sell scraps. So, that it's just little pieces that get thrown in. Um, so that was a revenue question. Um, there was a question in regards to grants. So yes, grants are totally separate. It's a total separate fund. So revenue and expenditures for grants are tracked separately. They are not allowed to be coming with your operating and we just talk about operating here. Um the advisors get paid in January and June. Um whereas coaches get paid um after each season that they stop working. So if they get paid at the end of it. Um and that for the most part are the questions that you had asked. Oh yes wait there is one more. Um unallocated personnel excuse
065me. Um unallocated personnel is a line that we track um salaries and or benefits that are savings. So, anytime there's an enrollment change, um, so there might be a life event, um, a person may have left to cost us more money. If there's savings, we roll it into that account if we know it's freed up. So, if um, person resigns and we hire a person at a lower dollar amount, the difference gets put into that. That was >> kind of what I guessed, but I wasn't sure about. >> Yeah, it's just somewhere to it's easier to identify there and just easier to track, right? um about grants. Should we see them on occasion as a board? Should we see um you know, we don't need them every month, but occasionally see what we're spending money
066on, what we're getting, and what we're spending it on? >> Feels like we should. >> Yeah. Um I mean, >> is that an annual grants come in just annually or do they come in throughout the year? >> So, they're annually they're annual renew renewals. most of our grants. So, we have Consolidated, which is a two-year grant. Um, adult ed is a one-year grant. Um, Perkins is a one-year grant. Um, IDA is a carryover, so it's two years. Um, our HBAC, that's just ongoing because it was reimbursed to us. Um, that was title five or the title four. That's a car. It's a carryover. So, it's a two-year grant. Yeah. So, can it be shown as an attachment when we're doing a budget process? >> Well, it is. It's in the budget. They're in the budget
067binder. >> Budget binder. >> The request I made, which may be sort of in line with what you're getting at, Scott, is the grants are listed, but exactly how we spend them, the intention of the grants there. So, there is some information, but exactly how we spend them isn't there as well. Right? So, it doesn't look like it's balanced like there is a a revenue and an expense sort of if you will. And so I I know I had asked about getting a little more detail around that in the budget book for this year. >> Yeah, the budget booklet is is maybe that's enough just to have everything >> in there. But I I just realized that I'm looking at this, I'm like, wait a sec, there's grants, too. And they're not they're nowhere in
068here. And of course they're not because you don't want intermole because they are >> um supplement not supplant kind of grants. I think we're >> and their their use is bespoke to the particular cost for those items, right? >> Yeah. I mean, they're they're very prescriptive as far as what you can use the funds for, right? So, you know, in some cases money can only be used for, you know, professional development. In some cases, it can be used for, you know, the ID grid grant has a degree of flexibility of how you can use it. Um, but I can certainly include in the budget book like just a very brief bulleted lines that say here's what we are budgeting the money for. That's >> I think I think that that would be useful. I don't
069I don't I was just realizing I didn't see it and didn't know how often we should see it. I feel like we should at least at some point. So the budget book sounds like a good place for it. >> No problem. Does the tuition public service loan include for special as well? Not just that. >> Correct. >> Yes. Sorry. >> I didn't hear the answer. >> Correct. Yes. >> Includes inclusive. >> But most of this savings is the vote that you have. >> Um, that's what I thought. >> I'm going to say yes to that because um, yes, we're we're watching um, specialized costs at the moment. So, the last thing I had in mind was a suggestion that maybe we could I have a hell of time going through the the budget, you know,
070this this document every every month because it's there's so much stuff in there and I don't know what to look at. I'm wondering if we could get a summary at the object level. Maybe we still get the detail, but just here here's here's the object level things. I know the lines are in there, but they're intermingled. are hard to see, hard to distinguish. Um I it seems silly to have another document, but I'm just wondering if that's something the software generates easily if you wanted it to. >> So basically what you receive is what the software generates. That's as summarized as as as a gift. >> The the and even I based off of your email had some conversation about this. I think the concern with taking the data as the system spits it out
071and basically moving it around and manipulating it is uh the potential for errors to take place right like that that's something that and and I the more you manipulate data the more that that's being spit out by you know a program um we're concerned about that um and and again I mean if I'm not mistaken this is how we're presenting the information for how the how it spits it out and how >> right I mean can I call and see if there's a tighter summary I suppose but um the way when we set it up was the way that they basically um they created this report to try to get it as summarized in in the way that we need it >> yeah I I just I do find that it's very hard to get
072through and uh because there's a lot and >> there's a lot >> um and if they can't supply that I wouldn't suggest we try to extract it and do something ourselves. But if they could if you know they did have a report that just said here's object object 111 here's object 112 here's object 115 you know here's you know the same numbers that we've got in this document just reduced and I I did this myself manually from the PDF but it was you know I probably made a mistake in doing it in my in my you know by quick thing there and anything you did manually would be ugly but if they generated something >> so that's basically what Excel spreadsheet is that I do my projection on. So that's basically the same information that
073you're looking for in a title project. >> Okay, >> that help. >> So that's at what level? Is it in the packet already? It's >> in the packet. It's the second page after the memo. >> Yeah. Yeah, that that's Yeah, that's a nice one, too. I was looking for the one in between, you know, where if if you go down here, there's a summary at the object 110 and then further down there's a subject summary at object 111. Further down there's >> it's because the accounts are in there and they they summarize the accounts. So they don't have it where we can. So again, like I said, they helped create this as it is and they help the um Excel spreadsheet to be created that way. So I'm not sure if there's something that they
074have that they can do, but they are limited in that regard. >> Right. Yeah, if they don't have it, I don't think we want to pursue it. But if they have it, I just don't know, you know, what reports they they offer. I mean, >> we have to create them. >> So, yeah. So, I basically have to create reports. And so, so like your um CIP or your reserve fund because they're smaller in stature, meaning accountwise, that's why you don't see as much in that regard. But because they're you're operating as so many accounts, that's what you're getting is is that that is the summary of it. So they lump all to all the 100s together, all the 200s together. So that >> Yeah. Well, like I said, I would love to see another thing,
075but if they don't have it, they don't have >> reach out. Yeah, I was gonna say I can reach out to them and see if there's a way to try to get something, but if there is not, then I mean I love the first summary that the the hundreds 200 level, but there's there's a level in between that and the and the details that we get, which I know is already a summary and I understand that's not, you know, line by line of every every expense, but there's there's a level between I think. So for the three of you, I've been playing the new guy card for for two years. I can't really do it anymore, but I sometimes get to be a pain in your neck. >> You keep you keep us on our
076toes. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other questions? >> Meaning anything from >> hearing none, we'll go to enclosure 11.5b, which is the food service monthly sales and expenditure. >> I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. I did have a question between food services. >> So on the capital improvement budget so it's >> it's way at the end of all that stuff but in between. So where the CIP unallocated from the track can I see that somewhere in here? >> Oh you can see. So the director of facilities tracks it by project. I I track it by account code structure. >> Okay. So that's that's the other limitation that we have. Um so but for the most part track was um so you're looking at your B BOE capital improvement um sheet is the account 1095826207300
077340. Yep. >> Which is CIP systemwide maintenance other professional technical services. >> So that's 3818. So it's close to your number. I don't understand the question. I'm sorry. >> So the budget balance there which I take to be what's sort of left over is the 38. >> Correct. >> And that's close to your 39 something that you had. >> Oh that on this. >> Oh that yes. So >> did this one. So I don't trust it. >> I'm doing consultation. >> Yes. So close to not 100% apparently. So, >> so is and the other 8 n other 9,000 is that is that also an excess from something else that we >> So that's a transfer that's going to be coming up. So during the audit process, we had to do an audit adjustment. So they
078took an expenditure that was budgeted for this fiscal year and they pushed it back to last fiscal year because the >> work in the invoice the invoice was dated June 30th. So the auditors um perceived it as the work got done in last fiscal year. So it hadn't come out of last fiscal year. >> Okay. Y that's coming up. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. That was my question. >> Okay. So now on to food service, right? >> Okay. >> Sorry about that. >> No, you're good. Um, so food service, um, at the moment we have a net loss of $78,964.87. I work with the, um, management for the food service management company to ensure that um, we're doing our best to um, keep our expenditures at bay where we can. Food service costs,
079as everyone knows, um, has hit us hard. Um so schools are not exempt from that unfortunately. Um we do get grants where we can get grants. So we um have called local food local food that stands for uh school partnerships. So it's it's bringing local farmers local farmer in. So it brings local food from farmers into the schools. So, um we have about $10,555 thereabout. Um that we are buying lots of beef. So, um we used up all that money for beef. So, um that's something that we just ordered. It got delivered today and we're going to order again and get delivered next week. Um, and so that's for both the elementary school and program that we're going to um have a local farmer. And I forget the local farmer's name, so I can't help
080by answering that question. So, please don't ask, but I can find it out for you guys. Um, no, Old Springs is the produce. I forget what the local farmer's name is. So, um, we're trying to find creative ways to reduce cost where we can. We're trying to increase participation. We're trying to get kids andor staff excited to try to try the food um and enjoy their meals here at Ranch. So, are there any questions that I might be able to answer? >> Do you anticipate that rate to stay for the rest of the school year? >> What do we rate the decrease? >> Yeah, we're already at 789. >> So, we're gonna be in November. We're gonna have to be dipping into operating. Well, there's a big drop in in revenue in November. So, what
081happens in relative to revenue? >> So, again, it depends on participation and people wanting to eat and or people wanting to put money on their accounts. So, all of that fun jazz. But yeah, we had a shorter month because of the holiday. December will be the same. So, that you're right the way, so to speak. Are you getting a sense that the students like the new food service provider? >> Um, I'm not 100% sure yet. >> Okay. >> They have their pluses. Um, I'll give them that. I'm just not 100% sure that the consistency. >> Man, at the cave conference, the number trying to get us to use their food services. >> All right. Are there any additional questions on foods? Okay, so hearing none, 11.5C is um the RAM high school and middle school
082student activity report. This is basically for the new folks in town. um an uhformational report for the board because um all the funds here are collected through fundraising efforts and they are to um directly benefit the students and the students um direct so to speak through their clubs or organizations how they would like to spend the money and what the money is um and those totals balance out with our bank. Are there any questions that the board may have? I'm hearing none. 11.5D is the stiff account. So, this is the short-term investment fund account that we had set up. Um, so we had lots of money in there, but we had to take money out to pay for the track, but while we had money in there, we were earning lots. Um, this month we
083reinvested $67468. Are there any questions that the board may have on that? Thank you. 11.5e the CIP budget appropriation transfer that will require board action. So as I stated earlier um we had to do an audit adjustment to take an expenditure that was earmarked for this fiscal year and put it back into last fiscal year. Um unfortunately it created an a shortfall in the account. So, we have to make the account whole and that's what this um budget appropriation transfer is for. I'm happy to answer any questions that the board may have on that. If not, it would be lovely to have an recommendation to approve the trans. >> So, this is from the the track for this year to the maintenance for last year. Or is it the other way around? >> No. So,
084this I'm taking it from the track line because there's money available to put into the um where the sidewalks would have been. >> So, it's all the same. They're both the same account. So, I'm sorry. Okay. So, you're taking it from >> Oh, did I do a >> Well, they're both Yeah, they both Oh, no. It's 4304. I'm dyslexic. So So, I'm dyslexic. So I'm I got a card freebie on that one. So So right. Okay. So >> So you're taking it out of this year's 340. >> So it's staying So all this money is staying in this year's. It's not the expenditure was pushed back and because the expenditure was pushed back the uh systemwide repair and maintenance account became in the hole became >> last year. So, we ended it, but because it
085ended that last year's ended, I can't do anything there. I So, I have to roll the negative forward, which we did, and now I have a hole in this year, and now I need to fix it. >> Okay. So, that's the part I didn't get. So, so for the auditing, the auditors just goof and the negative from last year goes away, >> but we stick it in this year and then we move it between our this year's. Okay. Wow. Nice. Uh, there was money there. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just it's tricky. >> We need a motion to approve the transfer as presented. Totally $18,000. >> So moved since I made some golf first. Second. >> I'll second. >> Amy Roman is a second. Any other discussion on that? All in favor? >> Thank you.
086>> Opposed? Anyone abstain? >> Thank you. That is correct. >> All right, that brings us to um your enclosures. 12.1 is the calendar of events. >> Yeah. So, you know, in the immediate future, we've got about, like I said, about a week and a day left of school. We've got the winter concert um coming up on Thursday night. Um, one thing that I didn't mention, but I but I'll mention it now, and it's not a part of the enclosures, but um, I'm really excited. Uh, tomorrow night I'll be going to the Bushnull with Carl Jantis, who is our middle school, uh, social studies teacher on the inquiry team, uh, who is going to be a part of the recognition recognition event for all of the, uh, districts teachers of the year. Uh so as the
087board knows uh this was the first year that we actually did the teacher of the year. I'm super h looking I'm super happy that we did it. Um and uh uh I'm I'll be going to the bushel tomorrow night with Carl because all of the teachers of the year from every district in Connecticut that participates in the program will be recognized. Um and then like I said earlier, vacation is right around corner. >> Okay. It's student discipline report enclosure 12.1B. >> Yep. So 12 uh enclosures. Uh so first is the inschool suspensions for the middle school and the high school and then the second one is the out of school suspensions for the middle school and high school. >> All right. So um do we have a motion to enter into executive session for the
088purpose of discussing the superintendent's evaluation? And I further um request that we invite uh Dr. Colin McNamera into the executive session. Do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Scotty first a second. >> Jessica Hall second. Um any discussion about that? All in favor? I >> anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay. Thank you.