RHAM Board of Education Meeting; December 19, 2022 Part I

001all right so we are going to call the meeting to order at 6 30. we're going to start with the Roll Call Mary kachefski Joe Coletti Mike Sharon Mike Sharon Kirsten erwinson Terry for Lina yes Mike Morris here Eric Church Heather Heather summer thanks um what's up all right the first item on our agenda for tonight's meeting is the election of board officers in accordance to policy 9130 we will start with the election of the board chair I will now open the floor for nominations Mike Morris another nominations for chair all right any discussion not seeing any other nominations and not seeing any other uh that's happening in the discussion uh we do a a roll call vote um Mary here Joe Mike Sharon yes Kirsten erlinson yes Jerry yes Gabe yes uh Eric yes

002Sue yes Heather yes and Mike Morris abstained it's abstaining about it uh all right Mike Worster is our chair and I will pass the meeting off to you sir thank you I appreciate it I appreciate you and I appreciate your problem um all right that being said I think one of the things that I remember being productive in some of these elections in the past is to especially with some of the with the the secretary and the treasury but it's much low for the vice chair too I'm aware of at least one one member who's interested is there any are there any other members that are interested in serving so I'll accept um not medications for vice chair and with that I'll nominating Sue is our vice chair sorry I'm sorry Kerry uh is that

003somebody chatting in or is that a Oh yes any second okay we got you thank you are there any other nominations hearing none will do a roll call vote I'm sorry any any other discussion actually I'm going to throw a piece of discussion out my nomination is based on one very key piece uh over the course of my last year serving as the superintendent I think it's important to point out that we've had to make some difficult decisions there's been some times where there were very different opposing opposing views and a couple of key circumstances one of the things you would hope from a very seasoned board member is for them to be the voice of uh of well experience but also of of compromise which is what we needed and I think that is

004a extremely important part of being the vice chairs to be that voice of compromise and be able to help lead in that circumstance and Sue definitely did that over the course of last year so I'm very happy to be able to nominate her and I'm glad that I'm hopeful that everybody else will see that as well as well so with that being the case is there any other discussion all right uh roll call vote uh Carey yes thank you Joe yes Mary's not here soon Heather yes Mike yes okay yes Eric yes I vote Yes and Kirsten yes great thank you all right so that carries you now congratulations and thank you for volunteering uh nominations for secretary anybody interested in serving as a secretary okay that being said uh I knew there was at

005least one uh person available um so I nominate Mike Sharon as our secretary in a second let's who got that one all right is there any other nominations for secretary law any discussion on the nomination for secretary Mike show hearing no discussion we'll have a Voice vote I'm sorry uh a roll call vote Gary yes Joe yes mayor's not here soon yeah Heather yes yes Eric I thought yes person great thank you all right that motion carries unanimously Mike is our secretary we'll move on to Treasurer again I'm aware of at least one interested party is there any other anybody else that is in you're the party I was aware of uh all right I would like to nominate Joe uh colletti as our treasury so awesome Gabe got that one was there any other

006nominations for Treasury Treasurer sorry any discussion on Joe coletti's nomination as the treasurer hearing no exceptional level Kerry Joe Mary not here sorry Sue yes Heather yes yes okay yes Karen yes I vote Yes Kirsten great thank you all right that carries me honestly as well congratulations and I appreciate all three of you who have a volunteering to serve in that capacity thanks appreciate that all right uh that is uh our uh first order of business um there are electrons move out a public comment item number four you'll bear with me for a moment even Andover on Marlboro Community engagement and attendance at Board of Education public meetings as welcome the public comments segment of the meeting agenda is set aside for the Board of Education May received public comments procedurally public remarks they'll be

007limited in three minutes and citizens will be asked to identify themselves because the board of education is limited by the Freedom of Information Act to discussing only matters on the agenda the board of education is not permitted to engage in the discussion of the comments presented so in anticipation of potentially a number of people wanting to present tonight just refresh everybody to generally we hold the comments to three minutes but it is within the terrorist authority to extend a discussion and uh I guess what I would really like to just maybe get a feel for is within the room how many people plan on presenting power to okay and then online could you show us what a digital hand anybody that's interested in presenting comment this one okay all right look so good I think

008we have a significant reasonable amount of time to be able to accommodate everybody so great so uh what I'll first do is open it up I'm sorry do you think I should close the door okay okay uh you know what it's a public meeting and unless it gets real noisy um so I'm going to ask you within the report within the room if you could please identify yourself and then step up the podium and uh sorry could you play to go first sure my name's David 37 atawanda Trail I've lived in the ram district for 33 years out of the house and I teach at the University of Connecticut and I'm in the first year writing program there and I'm very passionate about education as a means for growth for students too often I think

009though an explicit act receives more public attention such as this racist news than the underlying problems some of them is neither adequately or fully aggressed whether justices applies my heart breaks students color their families is a deal not only the specific app the ongoing the sensitive Justice I understand your faculty is filled the talented and motivated teachers and I urge you to unleash their experience to address these students needs one teacher in the district told me recently look at what we accomplished when we've pivoted into the pandemic imagine what we can do and pivot into this your teachers are professional practitioners and they are ready to partner and we as a board you too have tools to address the problem of Injustice one you may direct your superintendent to immediately Empower and engage your talented

010I'm concerned though about an effective partner I'd like to say this in the kindest way possible I believe we mean nice to each other I believe and listen to each other and we need to speak our truths and we need to collaborate in ways to promote equitable uh and civilizers but I'm deeply concerned the superintendent does not conceptualize teachers and even holds hostility towards conversation about social as Ford's aware of the superintendent's professional experience is rooted in personnel by ways this framework of teachers as an employee of South Windsor High School 19 years rather than seeing teachers as partners who are practitioners the expertise in their academic disciplines in which they have earned degrees certifications and building experience I'd like to share a specific personal experience that informs my concern they lacks commitment and capacity

011to critical conversation about inclusion 2015 at South Windsor I had a conversation with him about a poem by Alan Ginsberg which had themes of sexual identity at its core I offered multiple interpretations which included Harvard's literary credit Helen Mendler's reading all of which challenged common knowledge he replied in a quote I don't understand hidden meaning he was either unwilling or unable at the time to process multiple perspectives about identity and literature maybe you remember this incident when I was teaching in South Windsor in 2015 I allowed reading and Alan Ginsburg poem student had brought to our AP dance place on Yukon ECE senior literature class two parents complain about parents my request was denied you have a conversation no interesting conversation indeed in his administration said to me and quote this won't be at this

012point so we moved the fire I negotiated separation package instead of going to arbitration what would be the point really of teaching under such hostility towards inclusion a rejection of conversation about reverse person literature and the lack of good faith and discussion about teaching the Lord immediately after that in Yukon and hired I've taught this same course many iterations for the past seven years the ECE program early college education program which I'm sure the board is familiar with um addresses immediately issues of inequity and in fact I include anti-racism teaching statements from UConn ECE and the National Council of teachers of English and my written remarks that I shared with the board of Fire Department in conclusion I stand before you with a professional and personal experience to respectfully ask for an honest rendering I

013asked he respond to the needs of the students of color and those whose identity in some way has been marginalized I call for us to be kind to those who've historically been made to feel other I asked this board commissions teaching staff to partner and collaborate with their administrative colleagues to do the difficult work of addressing the challenges of equity essential to democratic instead of life thank you is there anyone else for color comment that's present please sir my name is earlier this year's presentation during the discussions to discuss the budget this presentation foreign I did not understand the operations I was pretty much there sorry as a citizen this is I want to understand what we're bringing to this line and extract practically obligated and to the stature as caught whatever this is next

014year that you do so in a manner of understanding tonight have you said that I appreciate everything thank you sir is anyone else present I'm looking for sexual public comments you hear another move on to online if you could raise a digital hand I'll ask Eric to let me know who's online I would like to present thank you Joanne Hubert please hello thank you for um hearing this opportunity to just make a quick statement um [Music] I do foreign you know the student has been located and that's a whole separate issue that would be that would you know and some personal situation but I am including that brand will take this opportunity as a learning and teaching event as a gentlemania um I had I work for a school district that has undertaken this work

015for the last couple of years don't begin after the you know the social injustice events that happened in our country um I feel like our district has really been a model for others um I don't want to mention them I will send a letter to all of you um but they do a terrific job I find that it seems like where is defensive and I could be wrong this is you know very defensive to you know put things aside or you know defend different things and that things aren't happening foreign [Music] school system all doing excellent academically I've been growing this up before I'd like to see some of these to make well-rounded students to you know talk about things head on and [Music] if you want to raise the world that says that they

016sometimes have been so again so you can can block babies saying that they don't want to undertake any kind of any kind of lessons or what should they have isolated incident that's really not looking forward to when you can make yourself some learning and and having open workshops there are conversations to have I mean it's not something you want to do and you never want to take a lot of things but you really need to be able to position those people who it has offended you know we're not taking the majority of Marina this drama of that so this is important so we need to open ourselves to all community members so everybody that comes forward and I don't believe the opportunity and it's include the students I think I read in the minutes are

017left out and your students are the brightest ones there so why not involved as well thank you thank you is anyone else online that would like to present public of it there's a digital hand for Eric and we'll let me know nope okay thank you very much everyone all right that uh moves us on to item five you know that your uh so the there's one uh piece that would like to um entertain a motion to add uh to our letter of intent to retire um portion of the agenda which is item uh 9.2 um if we could add the letter of intent to retire from Linda Thurber Lund uh to the consent agenda she uh we got that notice uh just a little bit later than uh when we had sent out the initial

018uh agenda so um like I said 100 emotions to add that okay any second all right thank you do a Voice vote all in favor any opposed discipline media do that thank you all right that moves us on is there any other additions or deletions to the agenda item okay hearing none we'll move on to the student representative reports Rowan you are up all right so first I just wanted to ask congratulations great music department for a successful I think this was kind of a I want to say this was that there's one and that's where everybody was in the Fort Worth the episode of music that both records and again and um so yeah and then I also just wanted to uh kind of cover the spirit week that's happened this week because obviously

019with it being the holiday season a lot of excited to especially Spirit or not so we had a successful holiday Edward did today special day is how it's holidays where's your head away my husband hey nope I will be participating just but maybe joined by myself so all right thank you um uh also the winter sports everyone is getting into the winter sports I've heard a lot of you talking about your track 17 probably um also I also like to think that there are a lot of tests happening a lot of students are feeling very anxious about that uh definitely terms um are back and I was definitely feeling that good point okay thank you very much all right an included super representative reports we'll move on to the chair report so our last meeting

020included some clear feedback from a variety of stakeholders as part of the public comment regarding concerns of the culture here at Raymond that carries through this evening you know concerns have been voiced publicly both in the you know the River East and I think in just in general conversations that I've heard about you know the potentially the events being swept under the rug our superintendent can provide you all and I'm confidently well with a much more detailed accounting of the action items and next steps that have been taken to date but what I can tell you is that Mr McNamara the administration take this very seriously they've engaged with multiple resources and organizations at every opportunity in the very short time since the events have unfold they met with the town leaders and organized to

021strategize community-based approaches and will pursue the facts and follow through on the needs of our students and staff this is not a small task and it will take time that they are committed to doing what is necessary as is the whole today we also held our Board of Education officers elections and as a parent of his kids in this school system I'd like to thank the members who selflessly volunteered to accept additional duties on top of the significant time and energy sacrifices all of our members already make between regular meetings additional budget meetings professional development subcommittee meetings what we've come to understand is something called a non-meeting which we've also participated in um volunteering to be on the board is not a small commitment and I'm very honored to serve all the members of this

022board while there's always work to do it's also important that we take time to recognize and applaud a team and so it's my pleasure on behalf of the board and we're on almost all some of my clutter but I think I have a little bit of info I can throw out there to kind of capitalize on what he was saying but to congratulate the 11 Ram middle school students who are recently accepted into the Eastern Connecticut honors and music ensemble students were selected for the Ensemble after auditioning for a judge and one of the students and I'm just going to apologize because names I am terrible with him I've embarrassed by it but I'm going to try my best I believe her the name is Amaya Ramos attended the high honor attain the high honor

023achievement of a perfect score it was just incredible so uh leading the way for random music as usual and I think you know there's a Sydney all over the place just uh attesting to the awesome music program we have here I'm really glad to see that it's carrying on um it's also my honor to on behalf of the board to applaud our grand music department Ram has been recognized again as a district that is one of the best communities from music education in 2022. this Ward recognizes outstanding efforts by teachers administrators parents students Community leaders who have made music part of a well-rounded education Ram is just one of 738 districts across the country across the country to receive the recognition issue last week's winter contest concert is Roland alluded to showcased the talents of

024our high school musicians and we look forward to the middle school concert which I anticipate is in January is that right let's hope everybody gets a chance to participate in that as well uh RAM football hit a milestone this year and that they qualified for the State Playoff competition for the first time in a ram football history it's pretty uh significant achievement especially for school our size exceptional hard work and I was congratulate the coaching staff on the team on their hard work and their Stellar performance on the football field this year finally it's also my honor on behalf of the board of recognizing congratulate the ram volleyball team for winning their second consecutive state championship we wanted to recognize the team tonight at the board meeting but uh all those as Stellar athletes are

025all involved in other Athletics towns so there was enough of a conflict that we wouldn't have had the majority of the team here so it wasn't a very good option we'd hope to have them join us on our January meeting and hopefully that'll work out so that we can recognize and applaud them in person and finally I'd be remiss is a retired army officer if I didn't uh include a safety brief it's just something we do as the holiday season and the winter break is upon us the rail Board of Education asks the students staff and the community to have a safe restful happy holidays and come back to us in the new year are ready to get after it all right uh that is item seven which moves us on to item eight the

026report of the superintendent thank you very much uh just in the theme of music recognition one thing that was Friday night was I think it was the first a karaoke fundraiser I think by the music Honor Society well you know it's done right yeah and um so I was here there was it was a busy evening so there was the karaoke karaoke for students in the cafeteria and staff as well um we had a dance at the middle school which was always it brought me down memory lane going back to a middle school dance and maybe not in a good place down every lane we also had a girls basketball game that night but growing not once Taylor Swift song not two three great job great job it was fantastic thank you yeah he I

027think he really appreciate you bringing it up I warned him I told him I said GoPro that's why I kind of did it works so it was uh it was it was a great night to be here there's a lot of activity and it's just it's great to have the energy in the building but um in it's all serious because I want to begin tonight by providing Insight um Jim Morris to the to the work that's been happening in response to the incident on November 18th there's this has been in an extremely challenging time for the ram community and I want to be sure that the board and the community are aware of what has been taking place over there in the wake of the incident there have been several reports of other things experienced

028by Ram students that have been investigated using the lens of the board's non-discrimination policy in each case School administration is Thoroughly investigated what has been reported and taken appropriate action based on their findings this will continue to be the response if new information is brought to the attention of the administration what we are experiencing here at Rim is not uncommon as significant widely publicized events also often serve as a catalyst for others to come forward and share their experiences we have also been considering a long-term response that will help ensure Ram is a place where all students and families feel welcome accepted and valued to that end I've engaged with several organizations and individuals who focus on this work have participated in meetings with representatives from the State Department of Education leaders from local and

029state organizations and other Consultants to discuss a well-planned thoughtful and appropriate approach to responding one consistent recommendation stemming from these meetings has been to engage both students and staff and focus groups that will help better identify areas of need information from these conversations will enable the district to make more informed decisions and develop long-term plans the other recommendation I've consistently heard is to implement a program for students that focuses on the importance of an inclusive School environment to that end an agenda item for tonight's meeting is to introduce you all emergency Miss Murchison has been a tremendous resource for the district over the Passover weeks she has a wealth of experience helping small districts and organizations navigate the challenges that can be associated with recognizing and valuing the diverse perspectives in creating a more inclusive

030School environment I look forward to having this merchants and speak later this evening with the board about the work that she does and can do for us today I had the Good Fortune to attend the high school staff meeting Dr Brazil invited me to come to the staff meeting this afternoon and it was it could have been one of the best experiences I've had here at Ram it was alumni I was 12 11 I believe was 12. who who spoke about their experiences here in the district and how their experiences have prepared them for Life Beyond High School and while each School while each student had their own or well each alumni I should say had their own unique experiences as students there were consistent themes the alumni spoke about how their experiences at ran

031prepared them for Life After High School they explained how they learned the value of hard work while being students here at Ram and that they knew their teachers care about them one thing that I'll mention just based off your comment about the anxious anxiety you're feeling about midterms a couple of them said they wished early on when during their High School career they had just relaxed a little bit because they realized that they've brought too much stress and too much anxiety and too much tension on them so take those words of advice um I know the teachers and staff and attendants appreciated hearing from these alumni as much as I did and I appreciate it and this concludes metaphor we decide that item number nine That Could set the agenda approval of the minutes from

032the November 21st 2022 meeting which is uh labeled as a closure number of 9.1 is there a motion to accrue the minutes from the November voting first meeting is there a second thank you is there any discussion regarding the uh and it's hearing none do a Voice vote all in favor of a motion to approve the minutes from the November 21st meeting uh all in favor any imposed Okay so thank you all right that brings us to item nine point I'm sorry that the vote carries um the news is on at item 9.2 the retirement notifications and this is where uh we'll add to you based on the the item four sorry five Edition that was voted out by the board we will add to the names of Linda Thurber Lund okay so uh as

033part of item 9.2 uh is there a motion to accept the upcoming retirements of joy and I apologize for things again Joyce left lack of Valley and Paul Bancroft and Linda Thurber London thank you is there a second okay thank you uh is there any discussion yes that is correct so Mr grancroft was high enough to give us handful of Education out here he's required to give it to us over a very unique program and I will tell the board it's going to be challenging to replace Mr Bancroft because of unique certifications he has and the programs that he teaches so he's been communicating with Dr Bradshaw and I about Big Boss 2024 is at here correct any other stuff I'll just take this opportunity as I read through those notes to identify that those

034are 20 plus year veteran Educators that have spent the majority or all of their career here we're in and uh I can't thank them enough I've I've had got three kids now and one's already gone through so I'm sure as had been the beneficiary of one of those three or all three and uh I think that you know hitting that 20-year Mark and assets especially being able to provide all that time here to rim can't thank you enough and really appreciate all of your service to our community um all right that being said uh if there's no other discussion do a Voice vote uh motion to accept the upcoming requirements of Joyce [Music] Linda Thurber love all in favor uh any opposed hearing none that carries unanimously which moves us on to item 10 old

035business I don't have anything in the agenda is there anything that we did okay this moves assigned to item number 11 new business at 11.1 um Joelle Murchison consultant EMP sure so I would again like to thank Joel Richardson for joining us tonight she is the founder of the EMG a Consulting Group in business education and nonprofits Ms Martinson as I said has proven to be a valuable resource to myself and administrative team in the district over the past several weeks and I feel that she can help us navigate the challenges that we're currently face it's interesting as I shared with Dr McNamara probably 20-ish years ago as much as a linger person I actually came to where I am to facilitate a program called names and really part of and I understand that rayon

036adapted that program and created something very similar to allow students the opportunity to really have their voices heard around school Community um so it's a little ironic that 20 plus years later I stand here in front of you again as we as a society sort of reimagine some of these issues that are in front of us in a very different way and the way where we communicate across social media lines without sitting in front of one another we learn a lot about people or what we think we know about people and we use that to inform the way we behave or we don't know enough about people and we act and respond in ways that may not be accurate we have a real opportunity certainly here in this District more broadly in society to begin

037talking to one another so take opportunities to learn from one another here are individuals from their voices I've been in this work for most of my career was not intended in fact I was in high school I said I want to be the Secretary of Education in the United States because at that time our high school was about half the size of land at 520 students so it was made up of similar similarities around three using communities two communities who were predominantly white and one community that was about black at the time of New York state it was considered the most racially balanced School District in the state and yet it's interesting because as I reflect back many of my classmates will speak to the fact that we had deep intentional engagement with one another

038visiting each other's homes I understand each other's cultures and so let's improved into adults we oftentimes reflect on those experiences things are different now right we don't necessarily visit people in their homes we visit people on social media we visit people through articles of that nature you don't have the capacity to be really engage in the dialogue that's where I think some of the work that I've done over time with a number of different districts District private and public sector institutions and higher education would really be helpful here at Ram you heard earlier Dr McNamara talk about the importance of and I think one of the public comments talk about leveraging the teachers the students the school Community here what we've seen right even in those painful moments that they're supposed to have something to

039say right um and so had it not been for this incident which I know I'm sure none of you would have liked to have the um the the public um Monument the way that it had we just created an opportunity to leverage those here who have a voice we want something you want to see Community impacted both students and teachers so we're really really suggesting an opportunity to conduct some focus groups with students and teachers to understand get a better understanding some of what Dr McNamara is how is it in hearing from students because they're not coming forward or you know the teachers coming forward about different incidents that they've either been a part of or that they've witnessed to really get a sense of what's going on whether not only the challenges but what

040are those things within this district and she used that information to really help shape a plan to allow the district to move forward really intentionally creating space for everyone within the school Community to be involved we also would recommend self-programming for students right because I think there are students and teachers and families who are saying so what's happening what are you going to tell us what's going to happen there you know will there be another incident how do we have a headache so really creating a space for students to begin to learn that we've talked about actually even how might we make that available to the broader Community right um we want to be deliberate and start very intentionally one step at a time and so there are organizations fortunately in the community that have

041stepped governments that they want to partner and that they can provide some of those Community spaces but as we talk about this district and ramp and what you'll do within this particular School Community to provide opportunities for folks to learn one another I've been doing since um 2020 uh really the result of George Floyd and all of the sort of awareness around Injustice in this country a series of sessions that are entitled a courageous conversation on Race what have I learned in the past two months but what I wanted is that many of us actually have no idea what race really needs most of us don't even know what diversity Equity or inclusion be instead we respond based upon what we think they need and we fill in the blanks based upon what we've heard

042or what we all know as opposed to really taking the opportunity to uncover some of the facts how do we get here why is it that we don't know much about individuals who might have a different skin complexion than us or other dimensions of diversity that have impacted in our society and certainly within our district so really beginning with the concept of what are the facts what do we need to know where are there opportunities for us to learn and then let's talk about our feelings because not everybody feels the same not everyone has the same experiences and foreign partner with them to understand what makes sense here I said to another the other day oh you know when we try to you know put photos on our website with people who you know look

043different than us and I said well why for something if that's not who you are let's uncover the diversity that exists Within your community right so let's begin to talk about that and think about what um that session really has created a space where people this is a launching pad right then how to create more and more opportunities for the Iowa this is not really something that can happen overnight oftentimes as someone who has sent most of my career as Chief diversity outside Travelers for a decade I was the inaugural Chief diversity officer at Uconn and oftentimes also you can wave a magic wand and everything will be fixed overnight we'll all be friends and it doesn't work that way because we all have spent some time in this game and it takes some time

044what we have finished on or what we've embraced on our own in many instances because we just don't know what we don't know and so it really is I think personally about one-on-one relationships dialogue between individuals and literally ones at a time so that's really what I would suggest for Ram I don't think that in terms of you know there are clearly others out there who are telling you that if you do this and check the box that this will you know sort of make this the most diverse and inclusive District on Earth I don't know that I can promise you that right by tomorrow or by next year even by you know um a semester next week next year right um but I think the important piece is really being delivered by starting and

045starting somewhere and acknowledging that you don't know everything and then guess what along the way you actually might even make some mistakes but that's all a part of the learning process we talk about that Indonesian statement um so I'm really pleased that actually um Dr McNamara and I got to know each other on a Saturday morning really really early when I answered the phone not realizing that it was Saturday and I didn't have to answer my business line because that is when we talked and engage for the first time and so when I made the connection to Graham to me it was really worth the the work and being able to challenge you've had you know some conversations where I say no I don't know and he'll say to me well I'm like I don't

046know let's push a little further and I think that's what this is about so I'm happy to answer many questions that you might have there is a proposal that um Dr McNamara received from us it's really is a um there are lots of other things that we could do but for me at this point I think it really does make sense really get some information from folks or any school and then take delivery services so I'm happy to answer any questions you might have I'm starting something you could probably do with me for this so if there's anything I can answer you that's it um you brought up feelings and I think the key is really to ensure that everyone is allowed to share their feelings in a space houses groups together or you know

047the safety because everyone's feelings are different on this time so one of the things that we do in all of our sessions is we start out in two ways one doing the check-in just getting a sense of how people have been one work how are you feeling in this moment right because realistically even as you walk into this one whatever was happening before you came into some sort of present in your mind so whatever you're hearing you're hearing through the lens of whatever you're feeling so again in the sense of how people looking on it initially then we also lead with a set of group guidelines or ground views which that really set the framework for how the discussion will operate one of those things is about using I statements now one of the things

048that I think is really kind of disarms a lot of when people will assess a feeling they'll talk about it as we always or this is what we've always done in this is what I mean and really encouraging people believe you have right one that means you have to think about do you really feel that as you're saying but also allowing others to really make them reflect on how they feel right so I'm not speaking for everyone so you can just do all right um and sometimes that's harder but it also means that you can only talk about these messages you've had an app where you've heard right so that brings it down to how you're doing it again um with those ground rules we'll constantly with our vaccine and then should we particularly in

049the relatively small really well fact when we do a broader student assembly there will always be a partnership with you which probably will look something like if you've done um that's out of the middle school where there are points the students can active staff had an exit um be able to take a moment right and have someone there to sort of help them process through something that might eventually thankful for them at that time um so we really need to try to work very intentionally certainly we will look to to have students who partner um with their cotton and their peers opponent um but that's really important is really ensuring under safety and really saying that an expectation toward in the market itself thank you but the execution you're talking primarily about focus groups but

050they're going to create a callback open discussion of honest discussion are you talking about students and staff our teachers mixed in together the students get an opportunity maybe just to draw groups there mostly just students so for some reason yes we actually taught me about several groups of students um you know recognizing that there are some staffers had some either their own experiences with this work or as they've you know had a long tenure here in the district who want to hear from them we're hoping that there's some students that may have responded to the note that went out from the principal saying you know hey we're working on this and raise their hands and you know our company um but certainly getting opportunities okay person Eric so the only thing I would say is

051I don't want to embarrass uh uh this person but I didn't take an opportunity to read through your your website and uh your education is uh is intimidating to say the least um but the so the one thing I would just say is that as listening to what you presented one of the things that I think I've heard in our community is uh you know people are certainly concerned about an under reaction and uh I think you know there's also people are worried about an overreaction and I thought some of what you discussed about tailored approaches and doing factual assessments and I think that all is very important to you know kind of number one is swaging everybody's kind of concerns and fears and you'd be remiss if we didn't look around the country and

052say that these are some subjects that are important dedication and communities in general are facing you know everywhere and so there's and there's you know there's some fight between boards of Education who maybe don't recognize parents you know rights to the extent that the communities expect them to and they're you know suspicious of anybody that frankly wants to talk about diversity equity and inclusion because if they're in some circumstances are trigger words and like I said it would just be disingenuous not to not to open that you know add that to the discussion but I I do appreciate you coming here and talking to us about you know the proposal that you've provided and your approach to it and I think as one individual board member I feel I feel I feel I feel better

053anyway thank you very much thank you all right that takes us to item 11.2 the strategic planning presentation by this time uh Diane dicks so as the board knows the district must engage in the strategic planning process this year to have a three-year plan for the start of the 23-24 school year uh there are individuals and organizations that help districts with this process with the process of developing a strategic plan and I met with the finance subcommittee meeting last week to receive some of these options that I've explored ultimately the subcommittee felt that the best option for Ram was to work directly with our local rest Easton on this process and we are joined tonight by Diamond Dugas director of K-12 and leading and learning for East Coast we will briefly explain the process econ

054utilizes and can use with the district in an anticipated timeline of the work of work thank you Diane for joining us thank you thank you thank you Journey with you and it really is an inner process in terms of taking a look at um grams current or values your mission your vision of The Graduate that really is the foundational work from moving forward and grounding every decision that's made as you grow well as a board really the purpose of a strategic plan is to serve as a road analysis said in terms of moving forward it should guide your decisions as a board goals as a board to moving forward that night do you want to go so in that process we do a variety of activities it really starts first of all with working collaboratively

055for the superintendent to think about a steering committee a small representative in that guiding a part of that is planning on what data will be looked at very similar to what we just heard we take a look at what voices need to be heard um foreign strategic plan team actually then utilizes that so A broader group of stakeholders anywhere from 18 to 25 folks folks broad representation are brought together over the course again whether that's Saturday or several evenings coming together really of strikes part of the weaknesses what are the threats what are the opportunities through those protocols and analyzing data both internal or external we embarrassing from draft holes and then it really results in an action plan what is the timeline for those goals small chunks we really look at 30 60 90

056days it should be a really workable document not something else on the show we do something a little bit unique and create a communication who needs to be communicated with how and for what purpose there's a difference we just need to know what parents what community members and their role in the plan because everyone does have to stay so our timeline for those activities [Music] so just to Circle back because I think again just to refresh the board my memory so we're operating off of what is now a three-year plan that uh landed for renewal in the middle of covet and we extended that strategic plan for two additional years just to get us on the other side so it's really somewhat of a elongated three-year plan that is stretched into a five-year plan and

057so you know as part of our our uh edit when hiring our new superintendent was at the same time coming on board with the responsibility of of working towards developing our next three years to teach a plan centered on what uh thank you to talk to us about and if the a lot of the vocal network from practice in the next four or five months yes so um I think I had a couple other comments but I'll just kind of go around the room first just to give the board opportunity to ask me questions anybody works very well communities what we did and what we're doing what we're going to do so one of the pieces will be is out of your last strategic but then the community and stakeholders will be determined by the

058body will be comprising can you choose that to be that as well as a strategic team s larger group that begins that's based on the Dynamics that's great to believe everyone felt heard when we went to these classes and that's really important just to pick up on a question you asked of the previous presenters these protocols around consensus building and we also use codes of collaboration so when we start the process we identify our working new arms together and then also do again that reward system anybody asks questions so I don't necessarily have a question but more of a comment and just kind of piggybacking off let's see what's talking about stakeholders uh I have a you know what one of my backgrounds is planning and I think the best plans that I ever put

059together was responsible for executing were um centered in developing buy-in from the and we say stakeholders but frankly the key stakeholders I'm really glad that Mr Spinelli is here as the teachers rather because I you know I know that we talk about all the stakeholders the community the parents board administrators but in in my opinion The Faculty will be probably is in almost all circumstances carrying a line share of the load of actually making or breaking any strategic plan that we might put together and so I think what I would just ask you and also Mr smelly I know I know this is something you wouldn't want to do but to really encourage the teachers to dig in not only to you know volunteer participate but also hold your ground I mean come in and

060say because what I the tragedy of it would be for us to go through this effort frankly spend the money because it's always in the back of my mind and uh and then and they come out with a plan that doesn't necessarily it you know we don't have you know the majority or a consensus of those key stakeholders specifically The Faculty really walking into first year one year two year three feeling really good about not only what are we supposed to accomplish but but how can we continuously improve it and things of that nature if we don't have that buy-in then it's it's almost a waste of exercise and I would hate for that to be the case so uh I'm really looking forward to all the community members participating but specifically the fact any

061other questions comments I think you love the communication plan right look yes I can feel that coming from that side of the table it's our resident Communications expert so I'm sure she'll be able to provide some some feedback on that thank you very much for your time be happy holidays all right so as part of um that is that we did appreciation so as part of that uh presentation and uh our strategic planning um uh preparation we need to entertain a motion to have a superintendent enter into a contract with each time to facilitate the development of the region AIDS through strategic plan yeah a second okay assume you're recognized for questions sure a little over seventeen thousand dollars I had sent uh in my week um it's okay I I sent out the different

062contracts that were these pieces won the two yeah that's okay the uh finding this being available and also coming in you know it was kind of the trifecta any other questions any other discussion here or not do a Voice vote all a favor uh any post hearing none that motion carries unanimously uh yeah all right 11.3 uh review and approve the 2023 2024 school year calendar and close in 11 and closer 11.3 yeah so just the proposed calendar of your board packet as a result of a collaborative effort between each other districts that compromise the comprised region 8. we'll explicit with the superintendency of the district and I would recommend the adoption of this County I can certainly entertain any questions important questions I'll just I'll say it pretty much mirrors that it does if

063there is a calendar that we've used in fact in speaking with um the superintendent in Hebrew and he said this is probably the most insane calendar that we've had we try to do that for you know that there's a lot of families who you know you know children in multiple districts we know that their staff members that live within the community that this has an impact on really made a concentrated effort to think about economics okay any other discussion curiosity yeah go back to go to school for two days and then we hit and then it's a one it's a question that I've had for you it's just that's that's the way that generally the calendars meet in the states in this area start is starting prior to Labor Day and then having that home

064it's just the county what we're trying to do is we try to sync up with the other districts that are within our community and that's just in storage not just in this area across it's a very typical way of approaching anecdotally I think that there's a lot of people that appreciate having a couple of days in having as a student I think is acknowledging it too you start off with a couple of days and then you have and did some research and I think I brought up this was years ago held or is isn't the same in the state of Connecticut but in our area it is the same but I always felt like why do we do this some districts outside of our area start in Africa but you know um and Scott tells

065me soon I try to think of my head yes and this is this isn't one that I try to take further but I work in research this and our area sits with this and if we were if we were to say as a board to change this it all of our three hundred yeah it's not something I would call The Sword right I mean I just I find it completely irritating but I agree you know it's fine again it's not something I was just curious if there was some sort of Urban War behind it or the the thing the thing that I will say is some districts have actually gone down when we were starting actually earlier so they ended up just this past year I think the last two areas of District president there

066and some other districts I believe more so in the Hartford area actually started they did a full week so they did their professional development days in a week leading up to the week before Labor Day weekend and then they get a full day of full week of school in then they have a few Day weekend and there's a big part of it too I think for that for the movement in that direction is because of the fact that there have been some years where we've had so much snow and so much cancellation so I think the idea of starting at that weekend before Labor Day is also to accomplish the idea of not eating into you know getting up to the end of June if you have substantial snow days and I'll say this I

067have no problem saying this in a public reporter meeting the state doesn't waver on their 180-day requirement in any Nation we've actually had I know of districts that have literally gone to June 30th had not accomplished their 180 days and their school districts have been forced it doesn't nope that's only 179 you've got to do another day in order for it to count as a school year the state is archaic in their thinking with regards to their requirement to like oh 180 days into this magical number I'm not saying there's not a value to having obviously a set number of school days but respectfully there's not a lot of work being done in schools on June 30th if school is actually still in session there just is not you know because there are there are

068more options today have an experience you know if we were ever getting down to that down to the wire you know we could think about oh the snow day could we do it before you know I know none of the parents I think we were up against one year possibly eating into April vacation in fact you didn't have to do that if that was a discussion that I had we had a face as a board too as well but there are other options but it's not a story a good healthy wow I I and I what you're saying the idea of saying Hey listen we did hybrid and we did this that was oh you should be the commissioner of Education nwl talked about asking but that is not permissible that is they have said

069to us that word out it needs to be days in school so after doing virtual learning for uh yeah and I'm not saying virtual learning is an ideal platform but after doing virtual learning for a four month period at the end of 2020 and then doing it in a hybrid fashion for a substantial portion of the year for 20 20 21 school year that's not permissible it's which just is my help and I would I wouldn't want that no of course anyway but if we were getting down to the end of June that's great I'll just say the Morris boys it's not the worst thing in the world for them to get a taste of two days and then have a weekend is there any other questions or concerns about the schedule um oh I'm

070sorry uh December 6th pays off yeah that's that's a great question and I'm going to be honest with you in the first iteration of of this we actually had it on a Friday one of the things that I was really trying to accomplish was to have it be as aligned as possible with the elementary schools and so the elementary schools um for that particular month had it on the sixth I spoke with the administrative team and it realized they said you know we've done them before I'm not on a Friday um and there's actually if if the elementary school has a early closing on a day where we do don't have nerve closing and vice versa it creates um a transportation issue on both of those days so to me a Friday versus doing it

071on Wednesday but it negates that transportation no sense to do it on that way I think some of those professional days teachers travel across different schools and are they particularism sometimes for a particular professional in certain subjects some topics I think there's been some discussion about but I thought that came up last year okay um sorry Chris versus important what's that backstory discussion regarding flooding today's Friday news if any Research into um those days I can't answer the backstory portion of it I can tell you that I certainly can understand somebody expressing that a concerned I haven't looked at the data from this year to see what the level of absence is because afraid of some cities though it's a holiday I'm sure okay so 11.3 if there is there any other discussion about them

072I'm sorry but the last day explosions and then also I remember from last year what day is graduation so there's little things I'm sorry I gave you a question oh no okay all right if there's no other special about the calendar are there any concerns uh entertain a motion to improve the 20-23-2024 school year calendar as it closed in 11.3 thank you mother is there a second thank you Joe any other discussion hearing none we'll do a Voice vote all in favor any opposed to hear none that motion cares thank you very much all right which brings us to 11.5 the annual review of policy 4180 so I'm sorry 11.4 uh proposed 2023 Board of Education meeting dates so uh staying in the team of calendars uh the in your packing that is the proposed

0732023 board meeting dates uh uh and essentially what we've done is we follow the same format that we in 2010 and so uh I just know last year when we came to this discussion it was I think a couple of the old old school board members came up and said hey pushing to June meeting as early as it can be and pushing the August meeting as far back as could be and obviously we don't have a July meeting it was uh something that was beneficial the many supporting especially supporting people's uh vacation plans and things of that nature so I did mention to Colin that as part of the framework that I would like to try and especially do to accomplish that so any other questions or concerns let's do I think frankly it's almost

074the exact same footprint as they do before all right so yeah with the exception of the District budget meeting for May 1st June 19th it's it's Juneteenth was identified as a state holiday it was not the board would have to make a decision if it's not identified as a day that we wouldn't have school it's ultimately up to districts sort of making determination whether they want GP to be something that would be recognized thank you everyone was recognized as a holiday I wouldn't necessarily prevent us from having a board meeting went to school correct yeah yeah okay I don't know is there is there a concern for the June 19th meeting I think it's appropriate I think it's a reasonable discussion I mean what's the what's the previous founder I mean I'm sorry the previous

075Monday I mean some previous Monday would be well about that it would be the wait that's not even the 19th yeah 2024 I'm sorry that's why so we um we have to be cautious about foreign in our Middle School we have Middle School ceremony so you know it's just that's what I agree with you and I think as we're going into the into the whole experience you know what are we gonna look like a community yeah I mean look I'm all for the earlier in June does anybody have any significant emotion about moving it back or moving it up I guess the right way what's the what is the previous thing I mean yeah the fifth or the dwells which I you're saying from the 12th perspective that would complicate things at the school just

076depends when we end up having a graduation would we do it on a Monday yeah what is it expected to be great I have I have met as well I have a 13 pieces right so please sing because I don't want to go into about the financials especially heading into a summer where we're going to skip a meeting right okay so we'll maybe make the adjustments so let's adjust the motion then uh motion to um approve the 2023 meeting dates for the Board of Education with the one for Visio that we moved to January of the June 19th meeting to the date of June 12. is there a motion for that he was very interesting thank you Dave thanks for further discussion here not with your voice vote all in favor any opposed you're not

077in that motion carries all right great thanks all right 11.5 the annual review of policy 4180 plan for minority staff Recruitment and closer 11.5 so policy 4180 focuses on minority staff recruitment and one aspect of the policy is it is it reviewed annually by the board each year there is no action that needs to be taken tonight regarding this policy we did have a policy supplemented meeting we went through this policy to discussed this policy there was no recommended changes that were made for this policy but again it's a provision of the policies taking questions one thing I would throw in there is that while we're engaging potentially EMT with some feedback that certainly wouldn't be the worst in the world has to take a look at that provide them to be better without any

078additional terms [Music] any other questions interesting yeah we post their job fairs that you come up and they're certainly um so there's something called the rest Alliance which specifically focuses on they have a minority well pre-pandemic they have very robust uh minority jobs which I attend to be doing in the previous position and certainly if they bring them back to life a post-pandemic and I actually doing this but now it's basically it would be myself other administrators going out to recruiting opportunity okay there's no item no action item on that so if there's any other discussion on it we'll move on to 11.6 the first reading of policy 6156 is addressing enrollment in an advanced course or program and challenging curriculums so as chairman Morrison alluded to so there's a policy 6156 for a first

079read this is one something good we wouldn't take any action on this evening as a first read of a policy it's just an opportunity to review it see if there's any questions any concerns about it this policy is another new requirement resulting from recent legislative changes and follows the model policy provided to us by shipping and Goodwin it was reviewed by the middle school and high school administration as well as the guidance Department's coordinators and this is a policy that what other Newton discussed by the board's policy subcommittee meeting in its Lab subcommittee at its last meeting and I can certainly take any questions that I'll just say anecdotally this is a this is really kind of uh setting in place and things that were already in existence here within the district we're very fortunate

080to be so interconnected that our students at all levels middle school students have opportunities to take very challenging courses both in the middle school and if if the needs arise high school and take some take some challenging courseworks if it's within their um you know within their aptitude and and this just really memorializes something that again was in existence here in the district probably wasn't existed it was not in existence in other school districts but it's legislatively required enough any comments from the policy tuning in the team up with okay great um okay so there is no um action on that tonight either uh so we'll move on to 11.7 the ratification of the administrator's Union contract so earlier this evening the board had a chance to review and discuss the tentative agreement reach through

081the negotiations process between the Board of Education how to reception the negotiation subcommittee and the ram administrators Association the agreement has been ratified by the administrators group and I recommended uh okay so uh who just asked is there an opportunity would somebody entertain a motion to approve the administrative Union contract Eric thank you is there a second thank you uh is there any discussion yeah I just want to make sure to open up the opportunity I'll get the equalizing soon uh hearing no none the uh we'll have a Boy Scout all in favor any opposed hearing none that motion carries an atmosphere which brings us to item 11.8 the overview of items likely to impact the 2023-2024 FY budget closure 11.8 I'm just going to give Eric a moment to pull it up from the

082screen for those virtually so I'll just say I'll start by saying that this has been an educational experience going through the budget process in my first years as superintendent and I want to thank um Eva who has been incredibly patient with a myriad of really really um probably stupid questions that I've asked her on almost the other basis for the past several months I also want to thank the administrative team for for showing the same patients on many many occasions and spending lots of time with me and discussing but the budget process um you know this is obviously a big undertaking and I think my first year I want to make sure that I do it to the standard that the board is used to and the district deserves you go to the next slide

083please so just a set of context we do have a board of education policy that identifies that at this meeting um the board and superintendent child will go over uh some budget uh some of the things that are going to impact the budget and discuss any new programs of items to be included to be included in a proposed budget as well as items that may be deleted so this just provides the mission the vision and creative actions identified in our currents strategic plan go to the next slide please similarly these are just the commitments as a part of this two-digit plan we kind of delete history Eric can you go to the next slide for me please this I I will just take a moment to highlight um so this uh I wanted to provide

084our enrollment projections kind of where we were historically and I didn't do a significant look back I would anticipate sharing if you go with that when I do the presentation to board members in January but I wanted to provide people with the context of where it was where we were last October of 2021 where our enrollment October October 1st of each year is a big enrollment number it's when the state we provide the state with our enrollment enrollment numbers for the current year we're at 1 200 4 of 2021 and then October 1st of 2022 we were down to 1188 students I I provide this context to people because I know that there is a long-standing narrative that Ren has Decline and grow in and I'm certainly not arguing that that is not I just

085think it's important for the public to know that that enrollment is not a significant drop off in our current uh the current fund I also want to point out the enrollment projections these are provided to us annually by NASDAQ and it's I think it's important to note that while we will continue to see declining enrollment over the next few years the upswing does start back up or is projected uh to start back up in 20 in the 2027-2028 school year um we get as low as 1070 students and then the projections start to swing back up and you can see that over the course of the next five to six years it goes back to number of where we will get higher than where we are current I just think that's a really important context

086for us to keep in mind as we go through this budget process and also future budget processes over the next several years that slide from here so just um the budget timeline today again Eve has just been fantastic you know she's done a lot to develop the timeline the time the Timeless year of I know that I'm coming to you with it in the middle of December but please understand that our our staff our department coordinators our building Administration our District administration special education have been living this budget for the past several months um and and certainly something that has been on the Forefront of their minds we started this process back in October when we just uh when the budget manual is given out at a fact meeting which is our department coordinator administrative

087team we review the process and go through that process one of the things um that I did here uh when I came in new to the district is was that the the process was the department coordinators would sit and collaborate with building Administration where they would discuss the needs and the wants of individual departments and I think that's an excellent process the one thing that I wanted to do was I actually wanted not not in an effort to micromanage but just to be as educated as I can about the process I want to be a part of those meetings conference Commerce and so I had those meetings with a building Administration and the department of coordinators scheduled with Eva and I we sat down as a collective group and I got to hear from each

088one of the department quarters so I I was hearing firsthand what their needs what their wants what their desires were um for their particular Department uh at a similar time period I was having conversations with athletic director the director of people Services director of tech college and communication our facilities director to review their Department budget and discuss these Etc we worked on updating the Personnel budget um and then we got us to the point where we are to the point where we are right now which is uh share new or major items to be considered for the proposed budget so that's current where we are that's what we've done of David moving forward we do have some next steps uh this coming Wednesday we do have a facility sub committee meeting so that we can

089review uh fire Logic for for next year um I anticipate that the finance subcommittee meeting I'm hoping we can work to maybe have that be a joint Finance slash facility subcommittee needs that we can have a lengthy conversation between the facility subcommittee and the finance upcoming discuss the needs of the capital budget um on the 23rd of course I'll present the uh the administrative budget to the Board of Education for the the next three items in the budget uh timeline are to be determined I know historically that there's been a budget Workshop done obviously for for the brand budget Workshop kind of covers the Hebrew needs or covers presented to the Hebrew Community um but my understanding is there's historically been a take the show on the road and I think that's been done up

090until the pandemic hit and and I I wanted to get an understanding from the board what the desire of the board was because I think last year that those meetings were done virtually and people were allowed to um they were healthier and people were allowed to virtually join those meetings and I just need to get some direction from the board as far as do we want to do those meetings virtually again this year um kind of what we were talking about earlier in regards to you know if you could do it digitally is that something that we're Desiring doing um or is it something that we want to actually say no we want to again go back to the town since we have to have some scheduling conversations which I'm happy to organize a facilitate

091but I just need to get some Direction um again we have our our date identified for our public budget hearing and Region 8 special needing to set the budget amount for referendum and low budget meeting for about per policy 3121 is going to be on May 1st and then the budget referendum will be within the second so priorities of budget planning um you know I when we looked at the prioritization of needs for the district we thought it was important to make sure that we support academic and social social emotional learning needs of all students to maintain a program of studies with a variety of course offerings and career Pathways and ensure Ram graduates or College and Career ready upon graduation that certainly is something that obviously really resonated with me particularly after the presentation

092that I heard today um ensure curriculum and instruction utilizing the districts are current and aligned with best practices you'll see uh and if you have a chance to look through this PowerPoint already when you receive the agenda you'll see that um I'm recommending that a new position be created my biggest concern is that without having somebody in the district with a very uh with a very specific and Hyper focused on curriculum instruction offices that students will have a different experience here around and and different but not a positive way I just think that a district that offers the program of studies that we offer I think it's really important that we have somebody focusing on curriculum and instruction we have that with the Department coordinators but our department coordinators also are teaching a portion of

093their day and so we'll talk more about that but I think that's critically important um another priority is to improve or maintain facilities and grounds and last but certainly not least ensure a safe and secure School environment for student staff um as everyone knows there's there's a lot that is factoring um there's there are many factors that are influencing the budget for 23.24 um this is something that I think that we're going to see in budgets local and Municipal in small District budgets across the state as as other districts still in a budget season just inflation in general I think we're at seven and a half we were talking about this earlier we're around seven and a half percent inflation um and that's that's just gonna have a significant impact you have things of anticipated

094an increase with diesel fuel costs you have anticipated increase for ever Source delivery fees I'm sure that many of you are tracking that in the news and some they're looking to double their charges for deliveries it's not the fee for the electricity itself but just the just the delivery fees we're looking at anticipated increases for natural gas and we know that we already have increases for our software prices that we utilize in the district unfunded legislative mandates it's not uncommon that we get those they um they're coming with a fairly Hefty price Factor good things certainly don't want to negate their importance they're the good that we have them but they're they they have an impact on the budget aging equipment and Technology it's one of the amazing things about coming to this district is

095how often I'm people oh my gosh that building is so beautiful that building is so beautiful it's such a beautiful facility it's so beautiful and you know it's oh it's so brand new and I think that there's a lot of people that think of this building as brand new and in fact it's it's getting on 20 years old and when you get out 20 years old there's aging equipment and Technology we know that capital budget is going to include things like you know boilers Chillers um Roofing projects cooling Fabrics thank you um but but those types of things are obviously significantly Big Ticket items that are going to fall under Capital but there are also things that fall under just a regular operating budget um and I just highlight two of them it sounds so

096silly as this but a baby grand piano the baby the grand piano that we utilize and it's normally in this building is we can move that means I think when it was purchased for the building 20 some odd years ago I think it was already it had been used for 10 years they actually got it used so it's a we're talking 35 year old piano that is aging work and insurance starting to show signs so things like that then we have you know things like smart board technology which again is being out this becoming outdated rather quickly and so we're looking to replace things like that we've touched on the screen so those are just a couple of examples of Aging Equipment Technology special education certainly is always a driver of a budget um and

097and it's no different for for next school year we do know sharing the good news we're looking and anticipating at a decrease in magnet agriscience tuition due to student transfers while we turn into RAM which is fantastic we love it which a lot of students are coming back and we love it even more when our students are returning it has the opportunity to say some some funding uh decreasing and outplacement tuition and Professional Services for students exiting the district but we do we are looking at an increase in transfer increase in transportation costs due to driver shortage and Diesel that's the driver shortage is as real as the teacher shortage or the employee shortage in just about every business in the industry um and so what we're finding we have to do is transportation services

098that we typically utilize whether it's special education or whether it's Athletics we're having to use people that we've never used before because we call one company and say we can't help you so you have to go to companies that are more costly but we don't have a choice matter because if we don't utilize those companies we're not going to be able to transport our students to school on a daily basis or to athletic events and that's just not something we could do so those are things that obviously we're contending with health insurance I will tell you that it said what your PowerPoints shows is currently budgeted for a six percent increase the day after this went to publishing was pushed out to everybody um the insurance Consortium of that and it was actually identified to

099move to a five percent increase that still could go down and likely will go down um uh this this current year that we're working under it was a zero percent increase so so but there's still a a little bit of trepidation with the insurance Consortium to move lower um because it's easier to explain the taxpayers the ability to move down as opposed to hey we budgeted for one percent but guess what it's really going to be three or four so where we are right now is because the Consortium at five percent and just general overall contractual increases um so those are the factors influencing the budget for next year proposed changes for um uh our current school year to next school year for the budget uh we have some grant funding programs or positions that

100we are anticipating moving into the operating budget for next year so we've Run summer school uh summer school or credit recovery program for middle school and high school students over the past couple of Summers that has been covered by grant funding that grant funding is no longer going to be available in districts and we're interested in because the administration is still in support of running those programs for students we had an LPN that we hired I think two years ago who has been under a special education grant that can pristine manages but uh that obviously takes away opportunities for us to utilize that funding in a different way so the idea would be to move that LPN into our operating function as well there's a current leap in our budget there is a family consumer

101science position that field I know that there was one there was a lot around this position with the board it was a position that was advertised was posted it was it was uh basically it was not able to be filled and therefore the current school year doesn't have that position um I I Envision the same challenges moving into next year if we try to fill that position in particularly a part-time position and so to me it just makes the most sense to say Hey listen it's just um with that being said that FTE could utilize for what I was talking about earlier which is the addition of an instructional coach slash curriculum coordinator um it's a position that is titled many different things in different districts it depends on who it is that you talk

102to um or the district that you're in um several years ago this District had somebody who was a director of curriculum and instruction it was an administrative level position I'm not looking for an administrative level position do I think there'd be benefit to a 12-month administrative position absolutely but I think that this is a good first step for us to make to getting somebody back into the district the idea of improving our instructional Professor working directly with our teachers our department coordinators with our building building leadership to talk about what we need to do to stay current and on our approach to utilization and instructional practices the musician would also have a responsibility of having the level of curriculum oversight working very closely with Department coordinators building Administration to make sure that our our curriculum

103is staying current because if we don't have somebody with that Focus to ensure it's staying current that it's just going to become Obsolete and that's not good for anyone most importantly students um the the again that position I would see would be a again a full-time teaching position and similar to the structure of our department coordinators there's a statement associated with it which would bring additional additional responsibilities outside of the contractual workday as well as some summertime some summertime work where they work with uh so those are the proposed changes from this year next year and just real briefly on the next slider if as I said the facility subcommittee uh and myself Ava Ava Michael the building Administration we're going to meet on the Wednesday of this week we'll get a virtual meeting on

104a certainly sent a link to everybody in the board um where uh to discuss and prioritize the capital budget for next year our current capital budget is 540 000 and 690 619 are identified Capital needs for the 10-year plan are currently hovering around 2.7 million dollars so we've got a lot of talking to you um so our Capital non-recurring balance as of November 30th 2022 is just short of 600 000 these are the funds that the board may recall have been specifically earmarked for funding to help improve our athletic fields and again that's another thing that's going to be discussed at a facility subcommittee meeting as well um and our Capital Improvement plan now it's as of November 30th 2022 is is just just above twenty thousand dollars and that money will be available at

105the closeout of the locker room HVAC project without you so she does that for me like all day um so and then finally just regarding the capital Improvement uh funds is the specific amount of the 2122 surplus funds from the operating budget is anticipated that concludes my presentation and I can certainly try to answer any questions let me go around there so to answer your question the touch view screens to replace the smart boards that'll be doing that a lot once or are you just the same that's uh so we I believe that we've used our NetApp just outdated so so initially we purchased what I think two years ago to try the new technology and used operating funds buttons so you see one right over there so we use we use the funds to

106Chrome just to kind of I believe then the following year which was last year we're able to purchase 12 of them from grant funding we're anticipating we're certainly applying for rent funding to try to pick up the cost of another 12 to 15 depending on how much grant funding is made available to the district so hopefully that's going to be more of what we are going to purchased through the grant but we're still looking at the sure by a fairly substantial amount and we were looking at needing some local operating budget in order to move us to the end quicker now the board could ultimately decide hey we'd rather do this in peaceful that's certainly something that people can discuss and give us some guidance and Direction on I will tell you that our director

107of Technology would love to just rip the candidate off and move in that direction because he thinks the technology and I certainly can understand this it's better for students and better for staff are they um how much are they about a pound and um stand on that I don't know and then the instructional approach that's not a 12-month condition s right now here I would be very once I put an educated guess out there if that becomes the number and and we're still trying to you know figure some stuff out okay um important a bunch of workshops I just as a common participate the owner to understand I think I'll be understanding that it's just real but on the other hand particularly with before the finance because I was suicide I used to be the

108findings where too and uh and so they're going to be on your a lot of pressure I'm not sure if it's true so just they're they're all the time and so when we come in with the three times the biggest one or running the entire Channel on that for me mentioned or trying so it's not like we could have some adjustment s and let them know that um you're sincerely feeling the pain and Virginia although for foreign through their pieces and we also went to annual times the library I don't even know what it is the elementary school we switched in there just to go over budget items so I agree how I'm going to all of our free towns to present the entire budget is extremely important but to go over you know just

109budget I don't see why we don't hear anything about college going to the Florida Finance meetings is extremely great thank you okay so that's that's the difference I don't know if anyone here members of State no one has been yeah I think that that's I think that's good to get the clarity around this place my understanding of it is um a couple of departments kind of making this up a couple of departments might go to hand over and present just you know uh Athletics and special education and then a couple of other departments would go to Hebrew I'm sorry not Hebrew Marlboro and present social studies facilities and Science and it just seemed disjointed to me because I never liked it so so I I but see what I'm hearing you say is and I

110agree with I think it's important for each town to get a live presentation of what our District budget is and then afford everybody an opportunity to have a single meeting that could be held here where all of the different departments and coordinators present their particular budget because that way everybody's getting the same message versus Andover is getting one message model is getting another kind of and it's not a single meeting sure sure absolutely absolutely so so yeah I mean I can work to schedule and I can communicate with the Thanksgiving chairs so the sooner the better to get the budget appreciates our together yes hello um history on like what did we do as a matter of process when the budget tasks and when the budget flow like I know everybody's new here but we're

111you know exactly what Zeus is saying historically we've got to be smaller meetings you go um and present to each of the each of the communities you know I'm always going to go back to what's the cops plan that you want to get your story out and you want to tell people why things are changing and there needs to be to me some transparency you know there's you do that but um I think having a plan like that will help support the budget when it does come across and promote because I think a lot of people just have an Egypt reaction oh you increase the budget I mean just so we know on that I'm putting it all together you have to really figure out how to communicate wisely so it wasn't really a questioning

112thing just that to know our history and how we've done this and was it successful and certainly certainly couldn't hurt to pull maybe some of the history and asking things Scott on his yacht wherever he is playing golf for everything yes tomorrow our Facebook pages because I don't have one I don't I don't use it intensely but it's important to share that bunch of prior in the past we have done a workshop where people can join because very different than the comments not well attended at all and now we're going to just drop something just because it wasn't well intended before especially if our budget is going to be higher than normal but a workshop allows us communicate to the community doing the majority of the topic and answering the question so that was another

113you know thing that we've done in the past maybe worth looking into and definitely going to the three towns before itself or Marvel the Marvel Representatives going to come tomorrow they can't can't do locally as well letter strongly recommending that we lower it and that that small people really getting in front of them and then if it fails it's a nightmare it's it's really a nightmare to be able to come back to the table how it presents items that his suggestions it failed we really don't know why it's like only the chatter bought it's not like you writing on the ballot it's not passing this because community members will start company coming out and they'll start localizing some item interesting online wasn't available back in the day we did I think we did something like

114that last year but it wasn't that at this point it was it wasn't well offended but I'm not sure it was well promoted either because eyes A continuing challenge here are a certain family no books that will always show up it's guest hooks that show up and anything that we there is really that get out the vote game kind of comes down to what Sue was saying it's the Marlboro folks really need to motivate the Marlboro folks that had over vote similarly in the Hebrew people yes because school could just providing information I normally don't say vote Yes either I normally just post flyer if you have any questions let me know please remember to vote but those are some other things I'm thinking maybe the workshop is something we shouldn't consider especially if you

115do it hybridly like you said it gives you know we're here some folks are here it gives me more parents oh yeah absolutely the only other thing I would say is it to Collins point about in I think two years or two is that kind of the disjointed presentation in the past I feel like if we frame this properly where we're doing a series of presentations where we break down but people have an opportunity to get a full face of what we're also experiencing um and I think that ball is a little better than it just didn't justify or without the workshop or in doing the workshop before we obviously vote on the budget right because if you do it after it incorporate some feedback right it defeats the purpose people why voice my opinion

116down you're ready there's not a lot of working going on right the supply going forward uh it does not go up on the race it's a front and back flyer I might be important this Frame some some of the most critical talking points to that we we could put a press release I guess in deliveries link to the choir they can see the lake and go out the SlideShare on the website the flyer will be making it easy so I know marvel talk to superintendent and sign into the page the flyer immediately so so you can't fix it all right is it possible to share the capital of homes items yes so I'll Circle back with um with Colin about the kind of the proposals for how we schedule this out and play this out

117and work to try and get us some scheduling options out everybody as quickly one more thing just to add we normally have cut off so say our meeting on Mondays right another day you would tell us well if you have questions you can relate to me each Wednesday before the meeting so we've performed give you all the questions and you would have all the answers for that meeting since that was another thing that worked very well so you pick them okay there's nothing else I don't think there's any other App Store I'm sorry I keep for hitting here do you have any questions sorry I didn't know my hand was raised no it wasn't I'm just checking just making sure we include you an opportunity to ask any questions oh no I'm awesome thank you

118all right that was a good discussion yes thankful but a good one um all right so I moved us on to uh 11.9 in the financials is um the most paperwork position of 243 that's approximately 650 less than reported again in November 14th the operating button you'll know is having some staff general which we're seeing some savings we also had a um in their mandate School tuitions we're still being reviewed because there seems to be a delay in 30 the capital Improvement of fund we're focusing on the retention fund retention fund unfortunate Community is an additional review once that is completed we're gonna have to survey goal and apply for the wetlands commission and to make sure that the project we have the plans the irrigation wall replacement has been approved by an employee committee

119the contractor has completed getting out of the underground tank you will follow absolutely grills and they convert me integrity positive news for the economic current funds the town of Hebron receives some questions indicating that the dot product hopefully processed foreclosure from their skin people Services is doing a great job of monitoring their movements with their students and if any questions okay here we go to 11.9 would be are some so basically the IRS we have flexible spending accounts so every employer through the IRS places where employees can put two tax dollars in either for out-of-packet health philosophy therapy um in this situation the IRS had increased deliver employees to be able to be able to do the calendar year 2023 we work with Progressive that that uh and in order for us to be able

120to offer the higher increased virus limit to our employees of the document and follow the resolution and allow for our um so the time to increase the definition of giving them the opportunity to put more there's really no reason not to do this yeah okay so if that's the case at this point is appropriate then it may be most all right so is there a motion to increase the amount employees are allowed to contribute to their flexible spending accounts from the current limit of 28.50 to the new limit of 35 in 2023. Eric thank you is there a second thank you heather is there any discussion hearing no discussion with Voice vote all in favor any opposed no that motion carries units does that cover yourself so we're still on track for um and we

121have communicated with families to let them know that our free meals will be ending um we've also received the money for our second allotment of the supply chain group so to uh there any questions we're going to make it to the finish line of the 10th with the good one please have to go back and communicate something different any other questions 11.98 is the short-term investment fund it's requested in this month's report I actually went on the website so I didn't have to do the calculation they do a lovely job of providing all that information so um um and as you can see through the month October we reinvested our division so where does that put us for our capital and 10-year Capital plan now we're two million 200 and 69 000 right versus 70

122000. okay 11.9 F no half the proposed funding transfer to allowed for us um to allow us to pay for the Strategic plan um in the cost of seventeen thousand dollars if we develop that in your packet so I'm supposed to take money from the unallocated personnel Personnel line that is that I reported on that there's money available so uh any questions so go ahead and throw our motion so uh is there a motion to move 17 000 from the unallocated Personnel fund to the uh to the system-wide Board of Education purchased professional tech services funnel is there a second Eric thank you is there any discussion we did hearing none on The Voice vote on Fair I thought any opposed hearing Doug that passage unanimously thank you um which moves us to the committee

123reports right yeah so before we go around the room I know there's been some committees have not just rely on the uh committee members to give us some feedback so facility safety and transportation uh Summerwood Associates and the other most important question that discussion consideration with I said one thing we we've had this this capital budget plan has been around for how long yeah so and I know it's a 10-year plan right is there any discussion that wants to the facility that potentially revisiting the items on that or the prioritization yes it's something that we've talked about with uh with some sizable yeah yeah the other thing is I'd hate for us to be any conditions change so some things become more acquiry some may you know fall through the less pay for us to

124continue to work off of that especially since we're sort of sparing me out any money that took a long time to gather you know absolutely yeah all right anyways that was something that I know when I first came into the board was a couple of the previous board members who since wrote the end of Dallas super high priority to maintain that 10-year plan but also keep um okay anything else any questions about the high school you're all set in the fire department and look I mean it's a lot of work so I mean obviously we've got to prioritize them facilities we've got a lot of things going on over there too so yeah it's not a community work or it's a hiring engineering right now so it's a topic for discussion okay um anything for

125finance and audit compliance and insurance okay okay any questions for finance uh negotiations it was clearly a good negotiation from both sides and uh so that's a good good result uh policy Karen immigrant policy oh there you go thanks dude two of them foreign communication um yeah um so facilitators so uh Dr metzen Clark has moved on and so we have vacancies for both our eastbound rep and arcade rep so I didn't really frankly want to appoint a new rep as the previous chair because we're going to have elections in two weeks so I didn't specifically didn't you know provide an appointment to that with all of the Committees and to include the facilitators for those two entities what I would like to do is similar to what we did last year was just you

126know Paul field what are your interests in as far as as far as committees or subcommittees are concerned giving your feedback and then hopefully we can kind of work out something where it entertains everybody's uh ideal circumstance and then certainly talk to everybody if that's not the case but we would throw the East Town and the cape positions into that mix again definitely get your feedback anybody that's interested in participating in that barter serving as our rep or Reps for that for those two entities would also be helpful and I'll send out an email that to the kids or everybody kind of the what I'd like to get from you from feedback and try to get this done pretty quickly and then once we established through those uh those sub those subcommittee leaders are are

127subcommittee members are it'll be incumbent upon you if you're part of your first meeting to identify that's going to be the third the year I believe it or not there's a pretty explicit and extensive policy that explains how you go about that um so is there anything from East County that anybody felt like they want to share that occasionally people participate in style that not everybody does it understand what the application there's really no obligation we use cave as a opportunity to you know they're a resource the Connecticut Association of boards of Education they're actually a great information resource I mean I've certainly gone to a couple of their their uh offerings they sometimes it's theme sometimes it's just a general annual meeting where they present a lot of information and they bring in some

128pretty good speakers and I rely on them for just rude rendering stuff like uh like I think Colin reach out to make sure that we have the process for the board election officers election correct today and uh something for our executive committee I got some feedback from Nick Caruso to specifically make sure how it splits the board what's the K recommendation for how to frame that that discussion that we'll move forward to um so that's really all it is it's not really any requirement I think and it's the same thing with East Chicago we you know we we act as sort of we sent a liaison or a representative to it to provide both our feedback and also kind of bring back what what they are discussing or things that are relevant that you know

129impact us I think with the eastcon Dr Benson Clark served and forgive me I don't essentially what it wasted in there so so they have a they have an organizational framework that's not like order ly rare it's the members of their board are from District s and so Dr Benson Clark was on our Board of Education from their executive order of the board or whatever it's called and so she would attend board meetings much in the same way the board members and you know act in a similar manner so so there's a little bit of a difference with that so there's a probably a bit more of a formal time with these kind of um Erica tools that he's kind of executive director and reached out to me in the wake of the documents of

130Clarkston Mike and said you know we've had a long-standing history of having an active involvement on something from the reading Board of that and we'd love to continue that yeah they specifically reached out and asked us that somebody uh anyway so well like I said I'll throw that out to everybody gather everybody's interest and then try to Circle back with everybody and do the best we can to try and cheat that circumstance that would be great us such okay we get all the same emails so there's much to do with pain I reach Advocate a lot to questions like Caruso is awesome they all are in the city that's the time yeah there's not there's uh there's a bunch of offerings in the division budget within the school to pay for that so if you

131know if you see things that you'd like to participate in you just have to communicate with Colin and he'll work with the staff to make sure that they preserve the spot for you and all that kind of thing so it offers a new board but it's it's very good years might be worth looking into I think I think now is right around the time they offer it is a few board members all right uh why don't we move on to item 13 public comment uh so we have to share with me in the second round of reading Hebron Andover Marvel Community engagement and attendance at Board of Education public meetings is welcome the public comment segment of the meeting agenda is set aside for the Board of Education may receive public comments procedurally public remarks

132will be limited to three minutes and citizens will be asked to identify themselves because the board of education is limited by the Freedom of Information Act discussing only matters on the agenda the board of education is not permitted to engage in the discussion of the conference presented at this time is there anybody present that would like to represent these I don't know how you all do it but I'm exhausted I'm not doing any work part of my classes [Music] thousand dollars and he brought that up knowing that you had a discussion what I learned tonight is that it was a negotiation a citizen I have no idea where that negotiation is sues next year I said earlier that this is a hard Gap s every Financial indication and we know that next year manufacturing population

133the one thing that this board just did that utilities to discuss professional accommodations [Music] three times you talked about the board I'm trying to remember um whereas the contractual obligations I'd be great and over again say it's wrong with that in mind I wonder if I can ask a question do I as a cities are well this for representative negotiations I know this negotiations and that's a question and it is to save the object my research things over there on realize that it is negotiations issues I'm not objecting anything that's done and they don't understand I don't understand what responsibility I have as a citizen feedback I shouldn't the feedback the last question is negotiation High it's just recruiting at this point I apologize but we can engage in a discussion or question and answer

134period as part of the public comment that's part of the uh Speech but thank you we understand we've gathered your feedback okay but it was done before and again that's the case but if it is that a public doctors anyways I have to say I'm tired I also I have calories anyone else present for public holiday please oh good evening 22 Roosevelt Road uh I just want to say it was it was great to have the Seekers here tonight that we had come in talk about some of the things that we're going to work on in the district good to know that teachers will be happy to know that we're moving in a direction and make things better at Ram I did want to mention I was a little disheartened there's there's three more resolutions

135tonight I for personal family reasons I'm not gonna um attenuating reasons for them leaving people retire it's the life cycle of a faculty but I do want to mention it again it just had a spec for years they expect that RAM to a soccer holy has worked forever at Ram she worked at the high sword Middle School I got to work with her at the middle school she's one of the most funniest and creative teachers students have been lucky to have her for a long time and I wanted she should be recognized for that Paul Bancroft is exactly the kind of teacher you want to keep in this district teachers that go out of their way to create new curricula new programs for students Beyond his his educational certificates his professional responsibilities that he had

136he's brought that passion into the high school he's taking kids who didn't know what they wanted to do with their lives and brought them through this program and giving them Avenues and opportunities that that they never thought they had lastly I do want to mention Linda Thurber mom she is probably the biggest unsung hero at Ram she works with some of the most special kids that ran it's one of the most difficult in terms of their special needs she works tirelessly to make them feel included and welcome and just as much as a part of a brand Community as they as they they ought to be she's done after many years tirelessly and with such Grace um she's nothing short of a scene really at Ram um when the board makes comments about you know

137we won't be able to replace them a 2 and I that's the board to start some conversations about how are we going to start tracking teachers period to Grant there seems to be a shortage of teachers if you haven't heard it doesn't seem to be a profession people are willing to stick around or come I know Randy had its own troubles telling positions for people that have left in recent years and I think it would really help the board to start having those conversations now um because we will start losing prospective teachers to other districts their their profession itself is changing what teachers want is changing the types of districts that we're looking at applying to is changing um and I think it would be helpful if the board really started having some conversations about

138what can we do to to start recruiting teachers to rent teachers affected curriculum programming we've heard from recent graduates today the faculty got to hear from UC graduates they talked about their experiences and not just their core classes but all the all the other electives that they get to take at RAM and we've done a great job in providing them with such a wide scope of Education here at Ram but without teachers you won't be able to offer those things anymore that's just the reality of it if you cannot get teachers here you cannot fill a certification program without somebody with the qualifications that it's a bankrupt habit they're just not out there finding someone to do the things other one has done for the past 30 some years it'll be hard just to get

139somebody into that position and just let alone do the job that she did doesn't seem to be people out there that want to come into that position and so I think Ram really needs to look as a community what do we want to do to try to bring teachers into this into this community and keep it keep it expanding programming um curriculum that all takes teachers for those positions and as we lose teachers and we can't fill them that that districts it gets smaller and smaller deeper scheduling do the teachers do the um certain patience and so I think your conversation sooner rather than later it's gonna be really important keeping this issue uh keeping this District's really doing what we're doing right now that's Survival top-notch quality education for all of our kids here

140oh I meant to mention two she was talking about why do we have those meetings in three towns right I believe that was there was some concern from the three communities that the elderly population about being able to get to these meetings that was in the past so we used to do the end of even the model of budget even I think that was one of the reasons why I'm not sure if that's the same sentiment where people have they were trying to get them finding out some of them Albert Rosary Holly I hope you have a wrestle time with your family and friends appreciate the work that you've been doing thank you thank you anyone else president I haven't seen none anybody online for public comment please raise your digital hand be careful let

141us know okay hearing none for the digital Pub the digital hand um move on to informational items anything from the calendar of events or the uh or 4.14.2 the student in the school out of school and actually the only thing I did actually have one question on the 14.2 is um one of the things I guess in my mind is if I look at this and I say to myself I it doesn't even need to be necessarily specific to the report but maybe just feedback it are we trending same like is there been a spider you know some some feedback of whether or not we something's changed and we need to Zone in on that a little bit yeah anyway some some level of work sort of operating in sort of the same Zone that

142we normally are seeing the same things or if there's some sort of significant and again that could just be some verbal feedback whatever it is any other questions before 14.1 or 14.2 okay here none that moves us on to item 15 uh executive session and the discussion of the superintendent's evaluation uh entertain a motion to move to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing the superintendent's evaluation further move to invite the superintendent on the McNamara into the executive session at the uh thank you thank you let's do a voicemail all in favor aye um contract