001We're going to call the meeting to order. Before we get started, I just want to give everybody kind of an overview of what how this is going to go tonight. Um we are going to have um Dr. McNamara do an overview of the budget where it stands right now. Um and then we are going to go into public comment. Prior to public comment, I'm going to make a few remarks um about the past 2 weeks. So, that's going to be, you know, the process for this evening. So, we'll start with the um roll call. Mike Bullier. Mike Bullier, Hebron. Rudy DellaFlora. Rudy DellaFlora, Hebron. >> [clears throat] >> Kirsten Erlingson. Kirsten Erlingson, Andover. Pam Barrington. Pam Barrington, Marlborough. Carrie Parlin. Drew Goffin. Drew Goffin, Marlborough. Jessica Hall. Jessica Hall, Hebron. Amy Romanchek. Amy Romanchek, Marlborough.
002Scott Soyer. >> Scott Soyer, Andover. Lisa Toudy. And Heather Summer for Hebron. We can all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat and cough] [snorts] >> Okay. Dr. McNamara, if you want to Absolutely. Eric, if you would mind putting up the presentation, it'd be great. All right. You good, Eric? Is that All right. I am pleased to present the updated proposed administrative budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to the board and members of the Region 8 community. The proposed budget will support the district's mission and vision of partnering with families and the community to provide our students with a high-quality education
003in a welcoming, safe, and equitable environment. It is critical that we keep these factors in mind as we move through the budget process over the next several weeks. It also supports the work of all district staff focused on ensuring that RAM graduates have the skills and dispositions necessary to be successful in life beyond high school. These skills and dispositions include critical thinking, innovation, communication, integrity, and collaboration. This budget was built with several priorities in mind. First, the budget supports the implementation of the goals identified in the district's strategic plan. These goals focus on improving in the areas of instruction, talent management, climate and culture, and organizational systems. The budget also supports the academic and social-emotional needs of students. It enables us to maintain a program of studies with a variety of course offerings and career
004pathways that ensure RAM students are college and career ready upon graduation. Finally, it enables us to improve and maintain the district's facilities and grounds. Uh the proposed uh the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 is $33,661,483 and represents a budget increase of 3.19%. This is a reduction from a budget that reflected a 4.77% increase that had initially been proposed to the Board of Education in January. This amount is a combination of a net operating budget of $33,161,483 and a capital budget of $500,000. I do feel that it is important to note that the average budget increase presented to Boards of Education across the state is 5.23%. [clears throat] With a proposed budget increase of 3.19%, proposed administrative budget is lower than 89% of school districts across the state of Connecticut that have reported information. Slide,
005Eric. The proposed uh reflects the removal reflected the removal of approximately $1.4 million personnel and services initially requested from budget holders, including the reduction of uh a number of positions, a science teacher, a business teacher, a school counseling position, a social studies teaching position, and three paraeducator positions. Um it it All of these uh staff reductions were made through attrition. Staff members that were in positions All but two of these positions were were through attrition and reductions were through attrition. Staff members in positions that were not eliminated through attrition are being assigned to other positions. Uh we do have other reductions that include uh reduction of our summer schools uh credit recovery staffing, reduction of six assignments, and equipment, furniture, and facilities maintenance and up maintenance and upgrades. Um without that $1.4 million in reductions,
006the proposed budget increase would be uh 7.42%. [snorts] >> [clears throat] >> This table provides the financial impact to each of our three member towns. As you can see, both Andover I'm sorry. Uh and uh Marlborough will realize a reduction in their member town levy. Uh both Andover and Hebron are going to see increases in their member um have slight increases to their member town levies um due to uh the the shift with regards to Hebron uh has increased because of the percentage of students attending RAM from Hebron it uh continued has increased and continues to increase. Go to the next slide, please, Eric. As the board knows, we recently discovered that the district unintentionally held onto funds that should have been applied as a credit offset to our member towns beginning in 2020. In
007that year, when determining the credit offset, the amount being applied as was understated by $260 by approximately $216,000 due to a calculation error. In subsequent years, the credit offset was not calculated correctly, and as a result, the fund balance was never fully drawn down and eventually increased to the current balance of just over $1.7 million. It is important to note that our finances are audited annually. The audit process is intended to identify issues related to district funds and or make recommendations to strengthen RAM's accounting practices and reporting. Completed audit reports are presented to the board each year and available for review on the district's website. Unfortunately, the audit reports did not provide any indication that the credit offset was being calculated incorrectly or that available funds were being uh unintentionally withheld of instead of being
008[clears throat] included in the credit offsets that were being applied to each of the member towns. These funds were maintained by the district, however, and not used for any other purpose. >> [snorts] >> The fund balance amounts that our member towns should have received since 2020 based on each year's enrollment will be applied to each town levy for for next year. The division of those funds will be as follows. Andover will receive a credit offset of $255,234. Hebron will receive $849,497. And Marlborough $600,000 and two $600,205. Additionally, we worked with representatives from our bank who calculated interest earned on those funds to the amount of $23,676. That money will also be applied as a credit offset based on the enrollment for each of the member towns in the years the funds were held. The table
009on our next slide shows the impact of the credit offset on the levy for each member town. As you can see from the table, um Andover is going to have a reduction in their member town levy of $238,046. Um Hebron is going to have an increase to their member town levy of $211,745. And Marlborough is going to have a reduction of of $660,900. Next slide, please Eric. There are a number of factors that can contribute to a budget surplus. Changes in staff and benefits associated with staff can be a primary one. Also, costs associated with special education can fluctuate as we are required to educate identified students in their least restrictive environment and work to bring students who have been outplaced back to district. We also realize savings with transportation when bus runs are combined
010on days when drivers are unavailable. The district may keep up to 2% of a previous year's total budget in a non-lapsing account. Any surplus beyond that amount must be applied as a credit offset to member town levies. Over the years, the district has strategically invested funds from the non-lapsing account to pay for capital projects and equipment including but not limited to the replacement of the track which was just completed this past year. Repairs and improvements to our athletic fields. We've made our middle school baseball field ADA [clears throat] compliant. Uh we had to replace our irrigation wells because the water was no longer producing enough uh the wells were not producing enough water for field irrigation. We had a mandatory uh review of our HVAC. Uh we had high school roof repairs done and we
011certainly made safety and security improvements as well. By investing these funds from the non-lapsing account in in this me we are able to address critical needs while our annual budget increases are are comparatively low. Over the past 10 years, our average budget percentage increase was 1.54%. We understand that this miscalculation should have been discovered sooner as a part of the annual audit project process. However, we cannot go back in time and change something that started 6 years ago. Now that we have discovered this error, we recognize that we need to take proactive steps to ensure that issues like this do not happen moving forward. One step being taken is to calculate our surplus and credit offset in conjunction with the closing of the current fiscal year as opposed to after the completion of the audit.
012This will enable the calculation to be reviewed as a part of the annual audit to ensure the proper formula is being used. Also, we are currently working to secure the services of another accounting firm to review the audit reports going back to 2020. Their feedback will be shared at a public board meeting including any recommendations or corrective actions that need to be made. And the information will also be shared with the boards of of our member towns. This chart shows the percentage distribution of the proposed budget by each object category in relation to the total budget. As you can see, approximately 73% of the proposed operating budget is allocated to employee salaries and benefits. These are fixed costs associated with staffing our schools. Some of our drivers that our budget, uh we have both increases
013and decreases. Obviously, as I just noted, contractual salary increases. Employee benefits, we're budgeting our health insurance increase at 21%. Repair and maintenance that is done to our facilities and grounds, special education outplacement tuition, transportation costs, and just overall equipment and uh supplies are are seeing increases. Decreases are coming in the area of magnet school tuition, special education transportation, special education purchase services, and utilities. And we are also helping offset the budget even more with uh because we've increased the amount of base tuition revenue for students from Columbia. The development of the capital budget was a collaborative effort [snorts] between district administration and members of the facilities and finance subcommittees. [cough] The proposed capital budget is $500,000. This budget will enable the district to address timely issues. The loading dock attached to the high school replaced.
014Last spring, I shared images with the board that showed the current condition [cough] of the loading dock and I included two images which demonstrate the significant need for its replacement. Furthermore, catch basins that are located throughout campus to collect storm water and help mitigate the likelihood of flooding are in need of repair or replacement. And finally, parking and staffing pavement markings throughout campus need to be repainted to ensure the safety of students, staff, and visitors. It is important to note that next year will be the final year of paying debt related to the renovation of the RAM campus. Final payment is $416,163, essentially the same as our current year's payment. However, our school district has significant capital needs. While the buildings and grounds have been both maintained and improved in many ways, it is imperative
015that we continue to ensure that the needs of our buildings and grounds are addressed in a timeframe where we are not forced to play catch-up. It is important to note that we are now faced with numerous high-cost projects in the very near future that will require bonding. The facilities subcommittee working with district administration prioritized bonding projects to include when going to referendum next year. These projects include but are definitely not limited to roof replacement, schools' HVAC systems and controls, life safety, security, and communications, flooring and stair treads. Uh we're looking at fully powering the middle school and the high school uh with the new generator. Tennis courts and fencing, additional parking, and a new wireless system uh for our technology. We are currently working with an architectural firm, Silver and Associates, to gain a better
016understanding of the financial impact of the capital projects that need to be completed. Once this is done, we do anticipate having a special board meeting to discuss these projects in greater detail and develop a plan for moving forward. The district utilizes the service of net services of NESDEC to provide enrollment projections. This chart shows Region 8's October 1st enrollment from the 2019-2020 school year to the current school year as well as projections through 203 2035 and 2036 school year. Current projections indicate that district enrollment remains relatively stable over the next 10 years. The October 1st, 2025 enrollment at RAM Middle School was 344 students. Enrollment at the middle school is currently projected to increase by approximately 50 students in the next 10 years. The October 1st, 2025 enrollment at RAM High School was 675 students.
017High school enrollment is currently projected to remain relatively stable over the next 10 years. These projections do not include potential future students living in Columbia who may choose to attend RAM High School. We are optimistic that as our partnership grows and develops with Columbia, we will continue to be an attractive high school option for their eighth grade students and draw more interest from Columbia families. Current projections for for the three elementary districts indicate that our pre-K to grade six enrollment will remain relatively stable over the next 10 years as well. As noted earlier, the proposed budget does eliminate seven full-time positions. However, it does include the addition of two new positions that are necessary to address current needs. The first is a buildings and grounds maintainer. The facilities department currently has one outdoor maintainer responsible
018for all grounds across our 52-acre campus including parking lots, common areas, and 10 acres of athletic fields. These fields require mowing multiple times per week, regular painting, seeding, and fertilizing to meet safety and turf standards along with year-round exterior maintenance. As our campus and maintenance uh demands continue to grow, this workload can no longer be sustained by one individual. Adding a buildings and grounds maintainer would provide consistent coverage, reduce the need to pull custodial staff from their core duties, and ensure our buildings and grounds are properly maintained year-round. This position would for interior maintenance needs, improving safety, efficiency, and overall care of district facilities. >> [clears throat] >> The second position is an instructional technology specialist. Technology is woven into nearly every part of the school day for students and staff from instruction and assessment
019to communication and data analysis. As these tools continue to grow, our district's need our district's needs consistent high-quality support to ensure technology is used effectively to enhance teaching and learning. At the same time, artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how students will learn, work, and think in the future. Colleges and employers now expect graduates to understand AI and use it responsibly and ethically. Creating this position would provide a dedicated in-house expertise to support teachers and students with technology, digital citizenship, academic integrity, and ethical AI use. This is a full-time position that would add significant value across the entire district and better prepare our students for what comes next. It is important to note that the needs of students can shift significantly and the administration always may need to hire additional unbudgeted staff to adequately meet student
020needs. It is important to highlight the return on the community's investment into our district as RHAM Middle and High School provide tremendous opportunities for our students. Hope we have We offer over 250 courses and 38 concurrent enrollment opportunities at the high school. We had 356 advanced placement test taken with 96% of students taking test scoring at a three power a level three, four, or five. Our current eighth grade students who will earn a total of 300 high school credits in math, world language, and art. Earning high school credits during middle school enables our students to explore a higher number of electives from the high school's program of studies. RHAM also provides a high-quality experience for students beyond academic achievement as it has been recognized as a best community for music education for nine consecutive years.
021Our wide variety of fine and performing arts programs and classes enable students to achieve at high levels and be recognized statewide and nationally for their hard work and talents. RHAM students are also provided with opportunities to demonstrate their skills and excel as student athletes. Our 13 middle school student teams provide a strong foundation in skill development and teamwork. RHAM High School's 31 teams and and the athletes on them are competitively both regionally and statewide winning recognition, accolades, and championships. Numerous student athletes earn individual acclaim as state, all-conference, and triple threat athletes. Finally, the proposed budget represents a collaborative month-long effort by district leadership and staff to balance fiscal responsibility with the high standard of excellence expected by the RHAM community. It is designed to offer the Board of Education and the public a transparent view
022of our strategic priorities and educational programming. We remain deeply grateful to the families in our community who serve uh we serve for their continued partnership in preparing our students to become impactful members of a global society. As the quote on this slide states, education is not a cost, it is an investment. The 2026-2027 Region 8 proposed budget reflects a 3.19% increase over the current year is amongst the lowest increases in the state, and it is a strategic investment that helps to ensure that our students continue to receive a high-quality education families in this community have come to expect. That concludes my presentation. Okay. Did you grab the sign-in sheet? Yeah. All right. I would like to take a few minutes to reflect on the past 2 [clears throat] weeks. Um I I think it's important
023that this goes on the record. It will also clarify the timeline for folks. On Monday, March 16th, there was a regular board meeting. There were some questions regarding the annual audit by board members, so we invited the auditor to attend the meeting and receive questions. You can see in the minutes that were posted following that meeting that a board member asked about the specific line item in question identified as the assigned fund. This means the funds are assigned to the towns. There should always be money in that account. However, it appeared as if it was growing too large. The auditor didn't provide a strong enough explanation. We agreed to take the discussion offline with the auditor, and we moved on with the meeting. On Wednesday, March 18th, Dr. McNamara called me to share that he
024did he did believe there was an issue with the audit. They were still doing research to see if there were any other concerns, and I could expect a follow-up call the next day. On Thursday, March 19th, Dr. McNamara called me to explain the extent of the mistake, and that he believed that they didn't have any additional issues. On Friday, March 20th, Dr. McNamara and I met the auditor together as well as the chair of our finance committee, Drew Galpin, to hear from the audit firm and have the opportunity ask questions directly to them. On Monday, March 23rd, we posted public notice of the RHAM Board of Education hosting an executive session. It was our intent to notify the board of the situation and allow them to ask questions directly to the audit firm. On Wednesday,
025March 25th, we held the executive session. On Thursday, March 26th, a letter from Dr. McNamara and myself was sent to the three member towns. That happened at 1:06 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., Chairwoman Tilly emailed stating that this was concerning that they were just learning of the situation on the eve of their budget meeting, and requested that we attend the meeting that night. At 3:49 p.m., Dr. McNamara communicated he wouldn't make the meeting that night as he was traveling out of state, and I had a previous commitment. We offered to meet with representatives of the council and the Board of Finance. Chairwoman Tilly at 4:15 declined stating that she wouldn't meet on important matters without her council present. I think what you meant to say was Hebron's Town Council. On Friday, March 27th, the board it's
026the chair of the Board of Finance sent 14 questions with a deliverable deadline. We had already answered 12 other questions on March 17th during our regular budget process. On March 30th, I declined to answer those questions and asked that the council and the Board of Finance attend the RHAM budget meeting tonight. Some of the questions were doing nothing but causing a distraction and taking the administration's attention away from determining the root cause and the corrective action. I made the decision that the administration needed to focus on the meetings with the original auditor, the prospective new auditors, and the bank. Questions about an agreement between the town and the school that was written in 1954 could wait. March 31st, the Board of Finance responded with three pertinent questions, and they were answered that day. That is
027the timeline that Chairwoman Tilly claims is convenient and suspect. We prioritized this situation and communicated as quickly as responsible given the information we had, the research that was happening, and the required 24-hour meeting posting requirement. To infer that our management of this situation is suspect is a direct attack on our ethics and integrity. There are 11 volunteers on this board who thought they could add something positive to the RHAM school system. As a board, we don't always agree on matters, but I have never seen any of these board members do anything as it relates to this board that would call their ethics or integrity into question. And what happened next shocked me. Let me start with the second DTC budget hearing meeting that I did not attend. The DTC stated it was a scheduling conflict.
028The fact is, the invite was sent to a personal email address I have not used in more than 5 years. So, the DTC never received confirmation of my participation, but decided to promote the event with my name and photo photo associated with it. I find this entire situation bizarre as the invite for the first budget meeting went to my BOE email, exactly where BOE business should be sent. The DTC did nothing to correct the situation as people continued to share the graphic on social media. I had to ask them to post that RHAM wouldn't be there. They were entirely comfortable allowing me to look as if I was dodging a public discussion on the budget. The board, the administration, have been accused of stealing money from taxpayers. We've been called thieves. 100% of the funds
029are in the assigned fund and have earned interest. The funds have not been used to cover any other expenses. They are right there. We came to the three member towns as quickly as we could. Marlborough and Andover asked questions, thanked us, and offered their help if we needed it. Hebron proceeded to villainize the board and the administration. The most shocking thing to me was watching the recording of the joint Town Council and Board of Finance meeting. The chairwoman whispering into the mic, "Do we have a lawyer that could send them a letter? Yes, let's send them a letter from a lawyer." And others even joined in, "Well, send them a letter from a lawyer." Another council member complained our answers to questions are too polished. "We need to get them to sit in front of
030us so we can rub some of that polish off of their answers and get to the real answers. Where there is smoke, there is fire." I am confident that I hadn't thought through questions If I hadn't thought through questions that the public would have asked and been ready with answers, you would have complained about that, too. Another council member suggested the state should take over running the district. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Probably goes something like, "Dear state our school district had a mistake in a formula and didn't return the full credit back to the towns. You should take over management of the district." Well, no, no money was stolen. No, the superintendent and the board were not actually with the district when the mistake happened. No,
031the funds weren't used for any other purpose. No, the audit firm never identified any issues in the audit, but the BOE BOE did. Yes, they are crediting the towns and putting corrective action into place and giving them back their interest. That's kind of how that conversation will go. Social media ate this up. The anonymous posters and the AI postings have been a marvel to watch. The Hebron Voice even reached out to me on my personal channels, not my BOE email, to feign genuine interest in facts. I think if you want facts, you ask questions first and you post second. But I guess it's much more fun to fan the flames and let people repost and share information and just sit back and watch. This was a mistake in a formula. The funds are right there.
032They haven't been touched. They have earned interest. Everyone will get the benefit due to them. No one from the board or the school has benefited from this mistake. It was simply a mistake. To have the town council repeatedly state they are trying to work with RAM to be collaborative and a good partner is laughable. The council has been hostile, reckless, and it seems to me that this has given you the opportunity to create a narrative that detracts from the facts that you had an employee who actually did steal money from taxpayers. I am sure you will point to RAM during your re-election campaign to try and convince voters [clears throat] that you are fighting hard to benefit this town. I am not convinced. I will certainly be using my vote to support those that truly
033demonstrate a collaborative and helpful partnership. So, from here, we'll take um public comment. I'll start with the list and then we'll move to the folks that are online. >> [clears throat] >> Jennifer Cossent. >> to mention the pad is still there if someone wants to add. Um thank you. You have to go to the um It doesn't sound like the mic's going to project you, but it's so people on the I got a big voice. >> [clears throat] >> It's the people on the online that hear it from the mic. >> Oh, they do. So, you all hear me? >> Yes, yes. This is online. I when I signed up, I didn't know that I was going to be first to speak. So, um I am happy that I am here to understand some of
034the things that have gone on. Um and I understand that you're kind of a little in a position, but I felt like that was a little That was a lot what you just read to us. That's what happened. I I It did, but the emotion that came from you is going to set all of this a little high. This is my second time and I'm already like I was a little like I was taken back, to be honest. Um there was a big mistake made. It's a 6-year mistake. There was also the person who did steal from the town also. So, the town has taken a lot. And I think we should take that into consideration. I really appreciate that we are going to get our money back and I appreciate that we found it.
035And it can't happen again. One would hope, right? I own a business. I have to run my business with a budget. We all have to run our business like our homes as a budget. So, I hope going forward that we all can work together to make sure that our mill rate is where it needs to be. And of course, number two is going to be our town is where it needs to be and our students are part of our town. And unfortunately, when you talk about education, if you go for cuts or you say anything, it's you're against it. I loved my teachers. I'm so grateful I had them. But that doesn't mean we don't want to see good education. Parks and rec same thing. Everything that is employable by the town, I think is
036important to all of us. But we also need to be able to afford to live here. And sometimes you have to take a little bit of a stop, re-look at things, and make sure we are doing the right. And it's this side, it's the back side. It should be all our sides. And if we can learn anything from it, we should just work together, get this done, and move forward cuz we are talking about school and that's what we can tell our students. Make a budget, go forward, do what's right. So, I don't have numbers. I don't have any of that, but I do know something's a little askew. So, hopefully, we can all come to an agreement. And I'm going to say this, too. There's a lot more people that live in Hebron, Marlborough,
037and Andover that are here. So, whoever's online the way the mics can hear too. But I do think that makes a difference in how we represent our town. So, I want to thank you all and I want to thank you all for being here and doing this and and I hope the next person who goes up like we all just, right? Everybody get to the point of what we have to figure this out. So, hopefully, we can figure it out. Thank you. So, >> And I didn't mean to be number one. So, I just want to I should have said how we're going to manage the Q&A. Due to the the increase in in public interest, we are going to still hold public comment to 3 minutes, but we are going to take questions if
038people have questions, um we will do our best to answer them. If you have questions, we're going to ask you to limit it to two and then give somebody else a chance. And if you're if you have other questions that don't get answered in the course of the evening, you'll be able to come back up at the end and re-ask and ask an additional question. Um and we've asked Amy Romanchek to keep time. So, when you get close to your 3 minutes, um she'll she'll let you know that you're getting to the end. And if you have a Q&A and there's a back and forth, we're going to go to 5 minutes for each one of those. Excuse me. I didn't know there was a 3-minute thing. You were anyway you were 3 minutes. You
039were fine. I need more time. >> [laughter] >> Even in the back again. There's also still a pad in the back if you didn't sign up on this list. Tiffany, I saw that you were up there. I've added you to this one here. So, they all say Um the next person on the list is Ken Ken Yostrom. A lot of people have trouble with that. Uh if you could just pass this down these down. I'll get to where I'm passing that off. Good evening. Ken Yostrom from Marlborough. I'm a member of the Marlborough Board of Finance, but I'm speaking as an individual. Uh when we got this uh news about the mistake, a lot of people were seeing it as a windfall as a blessing. I saw it as a concern. Um the boards of
040finance of three towns put a lot of effort in working on our budgets. And we need to be able to trust the numbers that come in from RAM. Things like this shake that confidence. Um what I passed out uh is an email that came from in March of 2020 from Patricia Law, who was the then superintendent of RAM, to the three towns. I'll just read one paragraph out of it. "Good afternoon, all. On Monday this week, Region 8 was reviewing the calculations in the budget book for the insurance as several questions had come up about this. In this review, it was found that 20 people have been accidentally double-counted due to the complex spreadsheet process used. This The district has reviewed and updated the process and calculation moving forward so this type of error doesn't
041happen again. The good news is that this has reduced the RAM budget by just over $617,000. So, this was an error that was done back in 2020. Now, we've got this error that was discovered that accumulated over several years. So, I don't think this error is the first time there's been a significant mistake. So again, this it it creates a lot of skepticism and and just insecurities about what we're given when we're given numbers to work with. The only other thing I would say is I was a little bit taken aback by the uh message put forward by the chairperson. I felt it got kind of political, uh very defensive. I don't think it helped things. And I think it might just stir additional flames. Uh I think a lot of it was irrelevant. So,
042I was shocked by it. I don't think it helped. So, anyway, thank you. Angela Quarantine. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I believe it's important that we keep the financial burden [clears throat] on taxpayers at the forefront of this discussion. Families in our community are already facing rising costs in many areas and increasing taxes or maintaining a budget level that requires it can also place strain on household finances. You have a responsibility to be careful stewards of public funds and to ensure that we are living within our means whenever possible. One of the most prominent concerns is the financial impact on taxpayers. The proposed budget contri- contributes to a substantial increase in overall town spending, which in turn leads to higher property taxes. For many residents, particularly those of
043us on fixed incomes, are facing rising living costs. Even a moderate tax increase can present a serious burden. When a budget results in a noticeable jump in taxes, voters may feel that the increase is too steep relative to their ability to pay, prompting them to vote against it. Not because residents are anti-kid, anti-teacher, or anti-school, but rather quite the opposite. We want a budget that is sustainable for the long run. A particularly significant [clears throat] concern for many is the recent discovery of over $2 million in funds that had not been clearly accounted for in prior budget discussions. The emergence of such substantial amount raises serious questions [clears throat] about financial oversight and transparency. Lowering the school budget, when done thoughtfully, is one way to help maintain tax stability. That doesn't mean compromising the quality
044[clears throat] of education for our students, but it does mean taking a closer look at how we resources are allocated. The questions that should be asked deal with inefficiencies, redundancies, and non-essential expenditures that can be reduced without impacting core academic programs. At the same time, transparency and accountability are critical. Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent and to have confidence that every dollar is being used effectively. This can be accomplished by listening to the residents and making the appropriate budget reductions. Ultimately, the goal is to find a sustainable path forward, one that perseveres a strong educational outcome while keeping taxes at a reasonable and manageable level. With the proposed budget, those goals will not be achieved. Thank you. Uh, Rob Pujer. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening. My name is Rob Pujer
045and I live in Hampton. I'm here tonight as a resident and chair of Hebron Voice. I guess thanks for the shout-out. I want to talk tonight about something much more important than any single number in this budget, >> [clears throat] >> trust. Because without trust, none of this works. Over the past several weeks, we've learned that the RAM surplus funds were not accurately reflected over time. And that has real consequences for the town and this district. At the time at the same time, spending has been going up while enrollment has been going down. I want to mention something I personally observed at a recent budget workshop. When the Hebron chair of the Board of Finance began asking questions about those surplus funds, asking reasonable, appropriate questions, the response wasn't open or transparent. It was defensive.
046And the conversation was effectively shut down. That moment matters because when the reasonable questions are met with resistance instead of clarity, it reinforces the concern people are already feeling that the full picture isn't being shared. Trust isn't built on temptations or long-winded answers to simple questions. It's built through openness. It's built by sharing complete and current information. It's built by answering hard questions directly, even when answers aren't convenient. Right now, that trust has been damaged. And [snorts] when trust is damaged, it changes how people view everything else, including this budget. This isn't about being for or against education. It's about confidence. Confidence that the numbers are accurate. Confidence that the full picture is being shared. Confidence that decisions are being made transparently. And when that confidence isn't there, it becomes very difficult for residents like
047me to support increased spending. And right now, the issue isn't just the numbers. It's whether the public can trust the numbers. This is an opportunity for RAM to reset, to acknowledge concerns, to commit to clearer, more transparent reporting, and to rebuild trust with the communities we serve. Because at the end of the day, trust isn't optional. It's the foundation. And rebuilding it has to start now. I would encourage you, the Hebron Board of Education, take a step back, review the numbers carefully, and come forward with a budget that's more transparent, accountable, and sustainable for our communities. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Brian O'Reilly. I actually have no public comment. I thought that was just a sign-up sheet. I apologize. >> [clears throat and cough] >> Uh, I feel your pain. Sue Constance. I thought
048it was an attendance [clears throat] list also. Okay. And Bill? Okay. >> [laughter] >> Uh, Todd? Yep. You're you're in. >> [clears throat] >> I listened to the presentation Todd Robbins, thank you. I listened to the presentation that Colin Dr. Ackerman gave to the Board of at the budget meeting and it being simple person and not understanding everything, it was a very polished, a very well-presented uh, almost uh, practiced, polished speech. And it brought so many questions to my mind. Um, you talked about a new maintainer. I I that school is 20-plus years old. This and I don't know what's changed as far as the grounds and the way the grounds are maintained and why we need another position for that. Um, I see in the fall we subcontract leaf clean up and snow plowing.
049So, that's not part of the maintainer's job. So, I'm concerned why we need one person after 20 years. If one could handle it for 20 years, what changed? I I understand the need for an AI program. I agree. There's got to be programs that we have that are now obsolete. AI is up and forefront coming. Sure, we should use it well, we should use it properly, and we should be educated about it. But, transistor radio repair. I'm just giving you an a stupid example, but there's got to be things. And when we talk about cutting programs, are we talking about we >> [clears throat] >> add we wanted to add 10, but we only added six, so we cut four? Or how I that really confuses me. And so, I I want to know if
050we're adding an AI program, is that one new one that we are adding? It's I don't understand the speak that you folks use when you talk to us. I don't need answers right now, but I appreciate you listening. Um, I I want our kids have a good education and I want them to have the background. 250 programs with the attendance I'm hearing, and I don't know if it's accurate, 9, 10, 12 students in a class. Maybe lower number classes need to be reduced so that we can have higher participation in the classes that are moving forward. Those are things that I expect the Board to look at. I don't know what you all do. I appreciate all the work you put in. Volunteering is incredibly painful. I've been doing it for a couple years only
051and it's very difficult. Um, the average increase is we're 89 lower than 89% of other towns. That number doesn't affect me. I want to know what this town is going to spend. I don't care what other towns are spending or what their budget is and how they're getting there. Taxes are important to us. We have a lot of expenses coming up and it's awfully costly to live in this town. Thank you. You're 3 minutes. >> Thank you. I'm all set. Eric? Eric Chandler, Andover. Um, for the people here who are frustrated by this financial situation, um, I I understand you. Uh, what I'd like to emphasize is that people don't make mistakes on purpose. That applies here. It applies a lot of times. And what I noticed a member of this board, prior to that,
052I was a member of the Andover Board of Finance. And uh, I was here during the portion of this time when this mistake was made. And I was one of the board members who focused on finance. And uh, so, if there's if there's anger, it could be to me as well as to anyone else. But, what I can also tell you is that um, we were doing our our best. We We thought we were doing well. We um, uh, the biggest mistake and uh, it's uh, it's not something that I'm happy about. However, I can tell you that I don't believe anyone had any kind of ill intent with this situation. It's something that happened. It was a mistake. What I would like to bring up here is there's there's a there's a bigger picture
053and I don't believe we want to lose sight of that. And that is uh academic excellence, which has always been the thing that I have uh been most concerned and I can tell you in my view that RHAM is an excellent school. And the kids who graduate from here have the tendency to do really well. And in my view it's easier to maintain excellence than it is to drop on excellence and then try to get that back up. So, I welcome people to be frustrated with this situation. It's it's it's valid that you feel that way. At the same time, I would welcome people to keep in sight that we have this excellent school. And uh the the the people of Andover and and Hebron and Marlborough have especially Andover have uh supported RHAM to
054make it what it is. And it's been a priority of the citizens of our three towns to make this >> Eric, excuse me. this school what it is. So, So, please keep that in sight as well. Thank you. Thank you. Adam Ackman? Hello, my name is Adam Ackman. I live on 500 Hook Valley Road in Hebron. Uh I'm a Hebron Board of Finance member. I'm speaking as an individual. I am not going to talk about the newly discovered uh discovered credit offsets. It's it is an important topic. I'm not going to minimize that. Uh but I want to talk more about uh the annual budgets. And pardon me that I'm putting a uh diverge a little bit from my prepared comments. Um I am concerned about the frequency of large surpluses going through the RHAM
055budgets. Uh it [snorts] seems to me like that is indicative of uh of over uh over conservatism in um trying to meet your potential needs, but on the back end it causes lots of difficulty on the town financing side. It's uh got the la- the uh issues that are >> [snorts] >> constant surpluses are causing volatile increases. It's causing large increases. You're seeing that on the Hebron side. Um I am asking that you be a little bit more careful about how much is likely to go into surplus going forward. Uh and I would be happy to consider this a question. I'd be happy to hear about your philosophy on how you're budgeting with regard to how it's uh resulting in the surpluses. Second, I'm concerned about uh class sizes in the midst of the recent
056declining enrollments. Uh I took a look at what a class size would look like if we assume uh all high school students, all the middle school students took one of the four core subjects, math, science, history, or social studies, and English. I ended up with a bit of a low number for class sizes assuming that uh looking at the number of teachers that are budgeted and assuming that each teach five core sections a day. I used the same method, I ended up with higher uh class sizes, substantially higher class sizes in other towns. I ended up with higher class sizes in Hebron and Marlborough It suggests a bit of an imbalance with this uh how RHAM's being run versus uh what's going on in the Hebron schools. And it can be somewhat frustrating in addition
057to uh what's going on with the surpluses. I'm not suggesting that you do anything specific to core subjects. I'm sorry, sir. Your time is up. Uh I just want to remark that I don't say these things lightly as a prospective parent that I want RHAM to be strong and sustainable, but also efficient for the towns. Thank you. Um do you want to do this just talk about how the surplus happened? >> Yeah, so so >> [clears throat] >> um I'm going to actually go back a question because you he had asked a couple of questions that I'd like to address in a little bit. So, I think your first question was why the additional maintainer? For so it's it's a very good question. The size of the the the campus has hasn't grown, but what
058has expanded there was the amount of of the footprint that we're using actually has. We we we use an excessive amount of outdoor space during the context. So, we have our obviously our athletic fields are a huge portion. As I said in my statements, I think we have about 10 acres of of athletic fields. We actually used to have it it was the town was helping out a lot with. So, for for several years we're working with was it Parks and Rec? So, we were working with the Hebron Parks and Rec Department that provided a lot of assistance to us with regards to fertilization and and maintenance of our athletic fields because they actually had somebody with some in-house expertise in that particular area. And it was a great partnership. But that person left the
059position and we didn't we weren't getting that support anymore. And that's not to say anything disparaging against it just the we didn't have the resource no longer existed for us. So, now we're actually taking on a lot of that responsibility of of care of our of our athletic fields. And when you talk about the work that needs to be done with our athletic fields, practice fields, competition fields, um baseball fields, they have to be lined multiple times a week. They have to be lined for multiple sports multiple times a week. Um you know, we we could have a soccer game on a on a Tuesday and then we have to uh we have to realign it again because there's going to be another soccer game on on Thursday, believe it or not. Sometimes we have
060to line up the competition field multiple times. You have to do it with practice fields. We have because we're not getting that assistance from from that partnership with Hebron, we're having to do a lot of the maintenance on it as well. >> What's that? Is that Vet? >> So, we we do work with we do work with um and we provide some of the supplies, I believe, but they do the maintenance to Vet. So, so Parks and Rec does the maintenance to Vet, but we actually provide like field paint and and other parts of the supplies and materials because of that partnership that we have with them allowing us to use Vet. Um so so that's really a substantial reason for the outdoor main- that additional [clears throat] outdoor maintainer is is is to get
061that support. Outdoor fields are not used all year round. >> Correct. So, so what happens during the context of the wintertime is all of the there's still work that's being done outside during the context of the wintertime. So, there's still a need for our outdoor maintainer works full-time as an outdoor maintainer. This position we we see them supporting the outdoor maintainer, the full-time outdoor maintainer during the fall and during the spring, which is when we're using those fields. And then the um during the context of the wintertime when the fields aren't being used for for athletic purposes, believe it or not, we're doing a significant amount of service and maintenance to the um to the uh equipment that we use. We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment, which we're actually saving money by
062doing the in-house maintenance. We don't farm it out to a uh a contractor or a mechanic if we're capable of doing it in in-house. So, that's one of the things that we do and this person would support the outdoor maintainer um during those busy seasons in the fall and the spring. Um they'd learn how to do the work that our outdoor maintainer does. One of the things actually that we discovered this year was we our outdoor maintainer was out for about 2 weeks and we were in a pretty big bind. We didn't have anybody internally that could do it. Again, we worked with Hebron. They were a great partner for us. They actually provided us with help and assistance with doing things like maintenance and painting the fields when we needed it. Um but it's
063but then during the wintertime when that work isn't when the outdoor workload isn't as substantial, they're going to be supporting the we actually have indoor maintainers as well. They're going to be helping out with the the work that needs to be done doing all the basic maintenance work that needs to be done inside the buildings. So, that that that explains hopefully that provides at least a context for It's an answer. Yep. I don't know all the ins and outs of it. Understood. Understood. As far as the So, we're not looking to have an artificial intelligence program. We're actually looking to have a staff member dedicated to supporting teachers and students and staff with the use of technology integration, which is all parts of our school day. Yeah, I understood that part of it. It was
064the offset for older programs that we don't need to support. >> Oh, yeah. No, we do that. If there's a If there's a program that we're no longer using, it does It's not something that we're utilizing. We We absolutely don't continue to pay for programs that we're not utilizing. Yep. You're welcome. Um surplus out of I I'll address the surplus question. So, it it's it's a valid Your Your Your point is a is a is an understandable and and valid one, and I do get that. Um The thing that I can say is that the primary I I would say the primary drivers for the surpluses that we've had over the past several years have have been related to to the three things that I mentioned, but I can delve into them a little bit
065more. So, So, staffing is a is a is a is a huge one. We build the budget based off of what we currently know, right? So, we base it off of the fact that we have, you know, X number of teachers at a certain level at a certain rate of pay with who are getting certain insurance that benefit program that benefit packages. And so, if we end up having a a person who is a top step six-year teacher, they're they're hovering right around $95,000 a year for for a salary. If that person resigns or leaves us after the budget has been established, when we hire out somebody, when we hire a new person to replace him Well, first first of all, I'll I'll talk a little bit about the declining enrollment. Anytime we have a
066retirement or a resignation, I sit down with the administrative team and the department coordinators, and we say, "Is this a position for certified staff? Is this a position we need to replace? Is this a position that we can get away with not replacing? What would that do to class sizes?" In some cases, and in many cases over the past 4 years that I've been here, we've eliminated positions. We've said, "You know what? We can get rid of a position. It's not something that we need to maintain." In other cases, we look at it, we say, "This is a position that we need to maintain." It It's But we go through that exercise every single time we have the retirement or resignation of a certified staff member. And it could go either way. It just depends.
067Um as far as the small class sizes, um we we do have some small class sizes. They're No doubt about it. It's It's one of the things that happens when you offer a significant program studies. So, like I said, we have 250 course offerings. We're offering concurrent enrollment opportunities, which is Concurrent enrollment opportunities is when you're earning a college credit while you're taking a high school class. Um The benefit of doing that is we're having kids that are graduating college in 3 years. They're They're leaving They're leaving around high school with a year's worth of college credits, which is quite remarkable. Um But So, we go through that exercise, we say, "Is this a position we need to replace, or is it not a position we need to replace?" Um And And if if it's
068a position that we don't need to replace, it's not an uncommon thing that I might hire somebody or ultimately the candidate that gets identified to to to to replace somebody that retired or resigned and we are replacing the position, um they might not come in at top step six-year. They could come in at beginning step bachelor's degree. That's a variance of about $50,000 in a salary. That person also might come into the position and say, "Well, uh where the the the veteran teacher top step six-year could be um comp The health insurance plan that that individual might be on could be a $20,000 cost to the district because it's a family plan. And we're paying, you know, could be 78% of the the premium cost for that, which is We budget about We figure about
069$20,000 for a family plan. Well, the new person that comes in, they're a beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree, so they're only making $50,000. So, there's a $50,000 savings, and they're also coming in and saying, you know, "Hey, I'm 23 years old, and I'm going to stay on Mom and Dad's insurance plan." A lot of A lot of people are doing that. Uh And And so, maybe there's no insurance cost, or maybe they are married and their spouse is carrying their health insurance benefits. So, that's about $70,000 for that one staffing shift with regards to health insurance benefits and and salary. And And that happens quite often. We don't intentionally go out and say, "Hey, we're only going to hire first-year teachers." My feeling about this is if we're going to hire the best person
070because of exactly what Eric was talking about, which is we want a high-quality education. And I'm not going to say you need to only hire beginning teachers. There are also times where it swings in the other direction. We We lose somebody who's a relatively low-paying paid employee, and we bring in somebody at a higher step. So, it could go in either direction, but we've we've seen a lot of of of change with staffing. The other thing is there has been a significant shortage since the pandemic of of of adequate substitutes. It It If It That is a universal problem that school districts are encountering. And it's not uncommon, unfortunately, for us to not be able to identify a certified person to come into a position, which means we're paying somebody, you know, the substitute rate
071of pay, which is $125 a day. 120 115? 120, thank you. $125 a day. So, So, you have a $90,000 budget line for a teacher, and for half the year, you're paying a fraction of that because you just don't have somebody certified to take the job. We also have situations where there's a significant shortage of paraeducators. Again, it's a problem that all school districts are encountering. So, we might budget $25,000 for a paraeducator salary. We might budget $20,000 for insurance. And those positions might be unfilled for an entire school year. It doesn't mean that we don't need to fill those positions because it's stretching who we have really, really thin. But we we had three positions over for over a course of I think it was last year or the year before that we we
072just three or four vacancies that we couldn't fill. Now, what we've done is in the past 2 years, we've reduced three positions. So, we've reduced some of those paraeducator positions because we've said we can't fill them. And so, that's helped us bring down our budget request [clears throat] and hopefully be better about not getting that surplus, which again, I do understand is problematic. As I said, the the the special education costs are significant for for students that are outplaced out of district. We We, you know, we have We have student outplacements, you know, it could be $50,000, $70,000, $80,000, $100,000 that it's costing the district to outplace these students in specialized programs. Our goal is to always bring those students back if it's in their best interest because we're required by federal law to provide
073them an education in what's called the least restrictive environment. And when we bring those kids back, we're saving significant amounts of money. Because all of a sudden that $100,000 price tag that we've had with sending to an outplacement district is is no longer being applied to it. So, So, that's $100,000 in savings. And that That's a That's a huge a huge, huge savings for us when we can bring kids in. We And we want to bring students in, not just because of the fact that it's saving us money, although it's certainly a reason, but it's because of the fact it's the right thing to do to try try to provide for our students here in district. Um And transportation is is is is the other one. It is I I get text messages at 5:00
074in the morning. Bus, you know, Hebron bus eight is not running today. Um you know, so Hebron bus 11 is picking up bus eight students. And every time that happens, when we don't run a bus, and it happens quite often because again, there's a shortage of bus drivers, too. And bus driver substitutes. All of those add up to a significant amount of savings because it's money that we budget to do a certain number of runs two times a day, and we're not doing that number of runs two times a day. It adds up and and saves us money. So, like the the totality of those things kind of comes together and leaves us with a surplus. Um And And it's not because of the fact that we're overbudgeting. We're certainly not overinflating our budget. We
075try to go in every year and say, "What What do we need in order to be to continue to be the best district that we can be?" But we're certainly not inflating our budget. Um And I recognize the fact that, you know, people are calling into question, "Hey, you keep having these surpluses." And I do understand that. Um but it's certainly not something that we're intentionally doing. I don't know if that answered all the questions. That's nice. Uh yeah, about class sizes, can you tell like I invite you to tell me if I'm getting the wrong number if I try to calculate your class sizes the way I did? I I don't know how you did the calculation, but I will tell you that there are certain classes that are that are definitely small. You
076know, somebody mentioned, you know, there Are there some classes with five students? Are there some classes with nine students? There absolutely are. One of the things that you run into when you have a comprehensive high school that has a significant number of class offerings and a wide variety of class offerings is you do have some what I would say are like niche classes where students might take and students might not take. And And so, we try the best that we can at times to make good decisions that we can based off of our our staffing. Um As I said uh to the board when we initially brought students in from Columbia, um we have the capacity uh um to to to to take in students from Columbia. So, next year we're going to end up
077having 20 students from Columbia. It's not going to have any negative impact. We're not going to have to hire more teachers. I said it actually at the the joint meeting that I attended in in Hebron is is at an elementary level, when you have a certain number of students leaving the school and a and a significantly [clears throat] different number of students coming in, whether it's greater or greater or less, there are going to be I I As I said, I think I said it in your meeting, I was an elementary school principal. It It's you do just say, "Well, we're losing this class, which, you know, requires us to have five for this group of students, but we're gaining a class size that might only require three teachers. So, we can reduce by two
078teachers. It doesn't work that way at a high school. In a com- at a comprehensive high school, you you have the ability to um have a significant swing in enrollment, 60, 70, 80, 90 students, and you don't have a negative impact on staffing. And what I mean, you don't have to necessarily hire somebody new. So, again, I don't know how you did your math calculations, so I can't speak to but but I but I'm your there are there are we do have small class sizes. I'm curious if if I may, it's it's very simple. I took the number of teachers you had in that in that fourth class. Uh multiplied it by five assuming they teach five sections. And uh and I think there's like 11 typically 11 teachers in each of the four main
079>> main continent area. So, in the high school, similar at least. Middle school is uh and I don't know if that's very simple or Yeah. And uh just divided the assuming all the uh all the students uh it's very rough justice, but assuming all the students take one class, I got uh I got a pretty low number. Yeah. I I With with regards to the middle school, it's a little bit different. So, I don't quite know when the inquiry team was created, but the inquiry team is a it's a it's a it's a team of in the middle school that has actually both seventh and eighth graders. In most we have five five teams in total in the middle school. Typically a a middle school team has just seventh graders or just eighth graders. Well,
080the inquiry team has both seventh and eighth graders. It's a combination. It's just a different approach to learning. It's more personalized. And and and basically, if a family wants their child to go into the inquiry team instead of going into one of the traditional teams, they can apply for admission into the inquiry team when they're coming in from sixth grade coming up into seventh grade. Um the inquiry team is it's a smaller it's a smaller team as well. Um but that's because of the fact that we have that that additional team, it it does reduce it it's a small that's a smaller team, but it also reduces the the size of the other traditional teams as well. Again, my my attitude about the the the middle school staffing is at this community, the the community
081of Hebron and Andover and Marlborough, the Ram community, the Ram Board of Ed at some point said, "We feel like the inquiry team is a worthwhile investment in this community." And and and so, because of that, we naturally now just have smaller classes. So, again, it's if if I am ever tasked with the board with with you know, having to make reductions, whether it's at the high school or at the middle school, you know, could reductions be made in staffing? They could be made. You know, [clears throat] instead of me sitting down and looking analytically at class sizes and staffing and making sure that we can offer courses because again, I I didn't mention this before, some of our teachers teach courses that are very very specific to their to their area. We have a
082we have one teacher in our district who can teach our EMT classes, our cert classes, and next year he's going to be offering a firefighting class. Um we we have we have one teacher that can teach our our our woods our wood shop classes. We have one teacher that can teach our manufacturing classes where he's teaching welding and and machining. Um so, you know, the we can't eliminate staff members based off of a lot of things because if we if we get rid of one of those teachers, then that eliminates a significant number of classes that we currently offer to students. And the the reason that we I try to avoid having reduced FTEs, like what I mean by that is instead of having a 1.0 FTE, which is a full-time teacher to your point
083of teaching five classes, a less than a full-time teacher might be a 0.8 and they're teaching four classes or they're a 0.6 and they're teaching three classes. What happens to schools and districts when you start to do that with staff to say, "Well, hey, I'm going to reduce you, manufacturing teacher, from a 1.0 to a 0.6." My manufacturing teacher is going to go, "Well, I have this I I need a job. I need full-time work. Working at a 0.6 is not going to be sufficient to pay my mortgage and my bills. So, I'm going to leave, and I'm going to find a full-time job doing something else at another school district. And the chances of me finding another manufacturing teacher to come into the district at a 0.8 or a 0.6 or anything less than
084a 1.0 FTE is minimal at best. Minimal. If I if I reduce the the FTE of the cert teacher, I'm sorry, the the teacher who's doing, you know, who's teaching, you know, any of our classes, they're going to say, "I need to work full-time." And and the other thing that it does, and I again, I think I mentioned this at at your meeting as well, is when you start to do those like just little reductions, what ends up happening is the teachers who might not be getting impacted by a reduction in staffing, they all start to look at each other and go, "Are you going to sit around and wait to have your position eliminated or are you going to be proactive and and look for another job?" And that that's so, we'll see if
085we start chipping away and reducing staff, we're going to end up seeing an exodus of teachers because people need job stability. So, it's it's Do we have small class sizes? Absolutely. Is it one of the things that I think is an appeal to to to to appealing the district? Is it is it one of the things that makes us the strong school district that we are? Is it one of the things the the wide variety of course offerings and the small classes? Is that one of the reasons I believe that we're getting $300,000 in revenue for next year from Columbia based off of the 20 kids that are coming here. Hopefully, the year after that, it'll be another $150,000. You know, we're talking a substantial amount of money because that's all funding that is not
086coming out of the taxpayers of Hebron and Andover and Marlborough when we bring in more students. I went and presented the other week at and I mentioned this actually at your at your at your board meeting where we have another school district that's interested. And and so, we want to remain an attractive district. We want to have a variety of course offerings. >> [snorts] >> We are always looking for staffing. [clears throat] It's not something that we're not just we're simply ignoring. Can we I I Yeah, God, you you already spoke, so I Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, please. Okay. Um I was just going to ask if can the school accommodate more students and how many more can it accommodate? I can't Well, what I can tell you is that Ram, I think, was built
087for a maximum capa- Ram High School, excuse me, was built for a maximum capacity of about 1,100 students in its heyday because when it was if you build it, they will come. I think capacity at the high school got up to 1,300 students. So, it actually exceeded maximum capacity within a relatively short time period. Obviously, it's dropped since then. So, we have the capacity to take more students. What I can't tell you if if the question you're asking is what's the magic number between before you have to look at, "Well, maybe we I don't have a magic number." It really just comes down to looking in the same manner of saying, "Hey, you know, some of these class sizes are getting pretty unwieldy. We need to look at we need to look at adding a
088staff." But again, like we have the four teaching positions we eliminated this year. We eliminated a math teaching position last year. We eliminated a world language position last year. We eliminated a world language position the year before that and I think a social studies position as well. So, as I said, we've gone through this exercise of of of looking at every single position um [clears throat] and saying, "Is this a position that we can we can eliminate and not have it negatively impact us?" If the answer to that question is yes, we can do it, we'll eliminate that position. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to go back to public comment. Um next up on the list is Tiffany Tilly. >> [clears throat] [snorts] >> Good evening, thank you, everybody. Uh Tiffany Tilly, 626 Elliot Street. Um
089Good evening to everyone who's here. I'm really thrilled to see everybody just here participating in the >> That's an easy thing. How should I Yeah, sorry. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Sorry. We have this problem with our meetings, too. Um so, I want to make clear that although a lot of you know me as chairwoman of the Hebron Town Council, I just want to make clear I'm speaking as an individual tonight. Um so, you know, first and foremost, I'll just state calmly that I'm not going to apologize for any of my comments, not once I said on March 26th, nor for the ones I said to Mr. Reese, and not for the ones I'm about to make. Um this is not personal to me. It's not political. Um it's strictly business. Um despite the defensiveness, facts
090are stubborn things. And the facts are this mistake resulted in the overcharging of three towns and their taxpayers. That's a fact. And facts are stubborn things. Um and it is very true that I will not meet without the members of the Town Council because I believe in that collaboration. So, a few other items I'd like to point out in my comments this evening. Um Speaking specifically as a taxpayer, I don't appreciate your approach to information sharing. The timeline that was shared with us tonight um have been shared in writing with all elected officials. It was not. Rather than provide answers to fellow board members in writing, you instead insisted on this public forum, requiring already busy individuals to take more time out of their busy schedules during budget season to hear answers they're entitled to
091receive. For the insistence you have on collaboration, this is not what I would define as collaborative. Secondly, there is this concept that we should be thankful that we're getting a significant credit this year. And while I know that may be true, I just want to make two quick points. First, we should not have to thank you for what is rightfully ours. The funds are our tax dollars. And second, let's discuss what happens next year to the taxpayers. Because I think we're all aware of what's coming. It's potentially a fiscal cliff. Because it's becoming quite clear that RAM's administration is struggling to allocate funds appropriately and with consideration for taxpayers. And looking at their budgets, I'm here to stand on business, the taxpayers' business. It's time for your board to take a closer look at how
092you allocate resources. Budgets are about hard choices, from class sizes to administrative raises. And I don't take any pleasure in speaking on this topic. I have been a strong supporter of education, as many people know. I have stood before hostile boards of ed finance asking them to cut the town government budget to fund the education budget. But this is a matter of trust. And the trust with the RAM budget has been broken. You have the opportunity to restore that trust. I hope you take it. Thank you. Terry. Um Terry McManus. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Uh thank you. Uh Madam Chair, I I just want to uh say something about you and the board members, all boards actually in town. I think all of you serve and have served. Eric, I know
093you're in the audience. With great integrity. And with great earnestness towards doing the best job. And I, as a citizen, thank all of you. I appreciate it. Um but, Madam Chair, I do have a question. Do any of the Facebook conversations have any validity with you? Because they're not all AI generated. And I see a lot of legitimate concerns. So, actually, that is a question I'd if you could answer. Okay. Um The Facebook, first off, it for for us, I don't respond to anything that's on social media. No, no, no. You you mentioned earlier that it almost sounded as if you were dismissing the medium. No, [clears throat] I'm not. In fact, when we went through to do our, you know, gather the questions that we thought people would ask, we used the social media
094to address some concerns. I do think the concerns, you know, are valid. What I take issue with are people kind of making things up, fanning the flames. It's not all truth that's out there. Is it valid to ask a question, how did this surplus happen? How was there a miscalculation? You know, those are those are all valid questions. And when we, you know, were addressing the River East, we would use those things that were posted and be ready with answers for them. It's not It's not It's not >> I appreciate that, Madam Chair. I It's uh I'm glad to hear that because it's turning out that I'm learning an awful lot from the the medium. I'm just experimenting with it now. So, your input on that is going to help me out. But as far
095as my comments are actually questions, since 2020, um RAM has had an average increase in their budget of about 1.6% and that's really commendable. But at the same time, you retired $2.16 million in debt. And that reduction was never seen basically because costs were shifted to other operational lines. And that's okay, it's legal. Town does it also. But you pride yourselves on keeping the budget low. If you were take take a look at that debt reduction as an actual increase, then your average increase over that time frame is 2.65% And the only thing that I have wrong with that is that I I I would just like to be an informed taxpayer. Uh Colin, as far as your comment on education is not a cost, it's an investment, I agree with you, it is an
096investment, but it is a cost. There have been citizens that have come to your board over the last few years almost begging for your board and your administration to show some cost restraint. And it just hasn't come. Uh I really hope that we can reduce this budget and actually make some of the hard choices that you outlined, Colin, because they really need to be done. I know in my home budget, I made reductions this year because last year's tax increases. And those choices were hard to make also. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the members of the board. I really do appreciate your work. >> [clears throat] >> Um okay. Um is there anybody else online Eric, that People online who want to comment, if you could raise your digital hand and then
097we can call on you as we see you. There's a little button at the bottom of your screen that is a hand that you can press. Nobody Okay. Is there anybody else in the room that has any additional comments? I didn't get my name down either. That's okay. Um Amy Doyle. Um I'm a citizen of Hebron. I also work for Hebron Public Schools at Gilead. Um I feel as though I am over invested, you might say, um in the budget. And sometimes it's just me, um when it's not budget season, listening to Hebron Board of Ed meetings or finance meetings because I moved to this town uh for my kids' education. I work in this town. I love everything about it. But it is hard to listen to the budget that happens in Hebron versus
098the budget that happens in RAM and the whole process. Class sizes. You stated that we are so fortunate [snorts] to get 10 more students [clears throat] for Columbia with no problem. And down the road in Hebron, we are fighting for an extra kindergarten section. Citizens are mad at us because we want to add another kindergarten section because our enrollment is growing. But here we have this luxury of just adding 10 more students and that's fine. Um so, that's just really hard for me to kind of swallow. Um these kindergarten classes that have 17, 18 kids already, our young youngest learners don't get to have 10 students in a class. Our students are adjusting to academics, adjusting to what school life is like. And we have 17 to 22 students on average in Gilead and Hebron
099now. Our youngest learners are losing intervention at Gilead. We are losing social workers at Gilead. Um every position is looked at with a fine-tooth comb. And I just don't feel like the same thing is happening here. It's hard to get that clear answer of class sizes. I get it, it's different. It's completely different. But do we need classes that have six kids in them? I want a great education for my kids. I have two kids coming up in this system. But I'm not sure that they need six kids in a classroom. And if we are fighting to hire paras at Gilead to to be there with our special ed kids, but here, I just feel like we're living this kind of luxurious life. And I don't understand how we're living side by side. Um the
100surplus, your explanation for the surplus, I get it. People retire, people are coming in. That happens in every town. Happens in Hebron, it happens in Marlborough, it happens in towns across the state. Um Uh we don't have a surplus at Gilead where we get to just fix our athletic fields. We do have garbage cans in the hallway collecting rainwater falling, though, if you want to see that. My windows are open all winter because we can't control the heat. So, I literally watch my tax dollars fly out the window because I have to pay to heat the building, but we can't control it, so I have my windows open. Um so, it's I'm just struggling of being kind of on the same page in the same town, but doing things completely different. I'm sorry I'm loud
101and I get animated. It wasn't anger. I'm just passionate. Thank you for your time. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER PERSON ONLINE? I CANNOT read the name from this far away. Oh. Yes or no? It's right What's What's the name on it? I'm sorry. Um Bernier? The last name Bernier? Yes, hello. Thank you so much. Okay, go ahead. Could you state your name and your town? Yes, absolutely. Lucy Bernier. I live in 22 Settlers Path in Amston. And I had the pleasure of working at RHAM Middle School and now I have the pleasure of working at Hebron. Um uh Gaylord Hill in Hebron. Um I do believe that it's well within reason for the superintendent or for the school board to provide at least an average class sizes for core classes, average
102size for elective classes, average size for AP classes. I don't believe that that request is really outside of the realm of possibility for everybody to kind of gather their brains and really break down the senses of each class um to kind of take stock um because again I I have kids that are in the district and I love the district. I I work in it. I'm part of a community. But I do believe that um there's been enough questions about the class sizes, especially some of the electives, that um it would just give taxpayers a little bit more clarity going forward. Especially with the budget process and the constant excess in funds at the end. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Is that the K underneath? Kimberly? Kimberly Vaz Amston. Go ahead.
103I just want to say that I agree. I think the fact that you can't give class sizes, even just an average, is a little bit ridiculous. Um and the fact that you have five kids in one class or maybe nine kids in another um cuz they're niche classes, maybe we need to get rid of these niche classes because we're paying for them. So, maybe we don't need to offer 250 courses. Maybe we need to offer less because not every one of those courses is being utilized by the students. Again that is a bit ridiculous. Lucy, you're still on. So, it's it it's really I mean, 250 courses, that's wonderful. But if only five kids are utilizing one of those courses, then maybe we need to get rid of it. Or nine kids are utilizing another
104one, maybe it's time to, you know, move on and get rid of that course because I mean, you guys can't even give an average class size, but we're having five kids in niche classes. It's It's really ridiculous. That's it. Thank you. Is there anybody else in the room that has a question or would like to make comment? Yeah, I Craig Janicki, Amston. I didn't put my name on the list but That's okay. Um Look, I'm new to this. I've been attending the the Hebron board meetings. And I share a lot of people's concerns, right? Um Some things that I didn't hear get addressed tonight that are on Facebook and are on the social media that I want to ask you guys to clarify. Um one, there's a lot of data out there that shows increasing
105administrative costs while there's decreasing student costs and program costs. Can you address that over a five-year period? Down enrollment, teachers pay has been cut. We all want education and quality like you do, but 6% self-given raises, administrative costs going through the roof. How do you justify that? Well, I don't I don't give myself a raise. Um and if But the board It wasn't a 6%. I I So, but what I could What I could say is I've I've heard that there's questions about the latest administrator contract. There were some misunder I think there were some questions about the the the administrator contract that was just approved by the board this year. Um there was questions about why the athletic director is getting a a a a mark basically a market adjustment to a salary to
106to that salary. So, anytime we have Well, let me I'll take a step back. I I have been an advocate it since I can't come into this district for RHAM staff to have uh compensation that is uh comparative to the market. Prior to the last teachers negotiation that we did, RHAM teachers in all of Region 8 districts and in all of the local, you know, your Colchesters, your your East Hampton, Lebanon, RHAM teachers and staff were the lowest paid, comparatively speaking. There There was a difference where schools in in our region out in some of the elementary districts, teachers at the same with the same amount of experience and and same level of education were making 10, 15,000 dollars more than RHAM teachers. And and I vocalized to the board like, I think that we
107need to do better by the people that work for us. And so, I have definitely advocated to have to to market adjust salaries for teachers, for paraeducators, for custodians, for clerical [clears throat] staff to get paid at a rate that is commensurate with the market. And and this board has been This board and the board members that have been here before have been very supportive of that because I think that we want to make sure that we can attract and maintain high-quality teachers. And we're fortunate that we're we're we're now more competitive. Um the exact same exercise is what I went through with regards to the the administrator's contract. So, in looking at the rate of pay, the compensation levels for the athletic director position, it was significantly below the market. And I was able
108to uh through the negotiation process, you know, with the administrators bargaining unit, to basically say we need to be able to Excuse me, attract and maintain high-quality people applying for positions. And so, we did a market adjustment for that particular position over a three-year span. Instead of doing it in a single year, we broke up the market adjustment, so we're doing an increase for next year and then we're doing an increase another market adjustment the year after that and then bringing it up to a level where it should be in the third year of the contract. Is that If that makes sense? >> I I appreciate it. Can I address >> this could be a bit more of a debate, but it can't. Um So, I would just like to close with a couple more
109comments. Sure. One being, you know, I hadn't seen this board until now. I've been in before you until now. I heard about the air that comes from this board and now I've seen it with your comments, Madam Chair. Totally inappropriate to address the public that way, in my opinion. So, disappointed very much so in that. I would also recommend and suggest for future meetings that that Dr. McNamara and and the board, you also hold yourselves to three minutes of comments when giving one. So, I appreciate that. Is there anybody Yes, go ahead. I want to go on record. Yes, it's so the people online can hear you. Hi, I'm I'm Stephanie Gould. I am from Solomon in Amston. Um I just had a couple of questions and there's probably somewhere I can find out, but
110I don't know, so I'm going to ask. Um when you talk about the surplus and that 2% can go into your budget, um what is the actual amount that you have in the surplus at this moment? Like in your surplus account. Do you know that? Off the top of my head, I don't have that number. I can tell you that the we just took uh 235,000 dollars and there was not there there wasn't a substantial amount left in there because we paid for the track project, which was about a 700,000 dollar of that fund. So, that was a 1.5 million dollar project and we utilized about 700,000 dollars from the non-lapsing account to pay for that. Um but again, the from the surplus that we had from last year, it was a it was about
111235,000 dollars and that money just went in. Okay. And then, the other question is and I just don't know how it works, so that's why I'm asking cuz you know, and then the taxpayers have been having trouble. I've been here for five years and my taxes are I just can't even tell you I I love this place and I regret being here at the same time because every year it's like a struggle, you know, just to get through uh tax season and know how much more it's going to be out of. Um is it ever a possibility for RHAM to use some of their surplus to cover whatever additional costs after this zero base? Like to say, you guys have to go up 2%, you know, is it ever thought to use some of that
112money to help taxpayers out so that it's not as high of an amount? It's It's permissible to use them in that regard. I just just a question. >> Yeah. All right, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. >> So, you can't use that. I'm sorry. No, I said it's permissible. It is. So, when when when the laws changed around that relatively recently, um initially [snorts] the the the funds that [clears throat] were able to be put into the non-lapsing account could only be used for capital expenditures, you know, bigger ticket items, which is how we have been using them. That's why we ended up doing a lot with the the athletic fields because we knew that we really would struggle to get funding for those things and it really were issue they were issues
113that needed to be addressed. There was a change in legislation, I believe it was last year. I I believe it was last summer that does allow districts now, regional districts. So, regional districts are allowed to set up this account. Um and it and and we're allowed to it it's now a fund for educational expenditures, so it is permissible to use the funds for more than just capital. >> [clears throat] >> Okay, there there was somebody oh, over here. Go ahead. >> [snorts] >> Hi, my name's Paul Hanash. I'm a Hebron resident. I live on Wall Street and I'm the metals manufacturing and welding teacher at RHAM High School. I wasn't planning on making any public comment tonight. My plan was to just see and be seen. Uh but there were a couple of questions about
114attendance in some of our CTE classes, so I would just like to give a little information for that just so that we're all working with common knowledge. So, right now, uh this year, I'm teaching between two semesters, three sections of welding one. So, introduction to welding. Each of those sections had 14 students in it and there were waitlists. I have one section of welding two and three, which are combined class. We teach advanced welding techniques. That has presently uh 13 students in it. I taught two sections of intro to manufacturing. Both of those had uh full boat 14 students. I have one section of advanced manufacturing that had 10 students. And right now we're running our senior pipeline, which at the beginning of the year had 13 students enrolled in it. Uh presently I have
11510. Two students decided to graduate early and not take the class and one dropped out maybe. So, our CTE program is full. Uh for next year, I haven't gotten the full numbers yet uh for what that's going to look like. I do know that for the first time in a couple of years we're able to run manufacturing two. We have enough students who have signed up for that and we had to kind of look at where students were going to be in that because we had waitlists for several of our CTE classes. So, >> question. Yes. Do you Is it [clears throat] by law that you can only have 14 or 10 or is that because of what you teach being welding is something that I'm sure needs over Uh yeah, so I mean if
116you're talking >> classes that have extras. >> [clears throat] >> So, if you're talking about the the CTE program, our our metals manufacturing lab, uh mostly due to safety concerns, um I don't have a regular aid there. Usually it's just me in the class. If we have a student who through their IEP or through whatever determines they need a one-on-one, that's really the only other time I have any assistance in there. So, it's me supervising uh 14 students with blades and mills. So, uh Which is very understandable. And I think I have one of the greatest jobs in the world. So, uh when you're talking about students who are enrolled in our electives or our um our other programs, uh we have a full boat. So, I hope that answers some of your questions. Uh
117I'm more than happy to talk to anybody who has any questions about what it is that we do. Uh thank you. You have a full boat and you're teaching real life skills. And I congratulate you for that. This is exactly what we should be doing. Can you or anyone else give us an example of one of those classes that has five or Now, I've got my head out of I couldn't tell you. I got to get out of my my corner right now. I I could well, I heard I kind of shut down after you said real life skills because I think that's pretty insulting to the other teachers who are not teaching fact manufacturing >> for manufacturing and welding. So, as do I, but I also have respect for people who teach art and
118music and physical education. You said we have smaller classes, five, six maybe? I'm asking you, can you give me some examples of those classes that have class sizes that small? Sure. Uh there's some science classes probably that have small numbers. I know some of our art classes have small numbers, especially when you get into the higher level classes where they're where they're taking classes like, you know, studio art four. Um a lot of times what we do though is exactly what Mr. Hanash said, which is we combine courses. So, he he'll run a manufacturing course, so it's two different levels. And so, kind of times where we take and we'll even put three classes together. So, it might be a class of three, a class of three and a class of three. So, in total
119there might be nine students in the class, but they're technically all taking different classes. Doesn't happen all the time, but we do that when it's when it's uh when it's feasible. >> Do you have a register for the public to look at that has each class and all the students in those classes? The information can be requested. I'm requesting it right now. You you send me an email and just You can send me an email and I'll be happy to provide it for you. Thank you. And quickly, you can go on your website, which I was when I was doing here, that you guys do give an a a list of um under the science, under the English, under CTE, um all the different options and classes that the kids can take. I don't know
120if it's the full one, but it's it could it could add up to it could add up to it. But I understand the class size part of it, but it is nice to have that information of what the kids um what the options for the kids to get. Okay. Thank you. Um is there anybody else in the Go ahead. Good evening. My name is David Sala. I live in Hebron. I thank the board for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. Thank you. We live in a time of extraordinary financial pressures. Home heating fuel is more expensive than diesel. Gas is four or five bucks a gallon. It's increasing weekly at this point. Food prices rise almost as quickly and insurance costs have doubled. Now, property taxes are following the same trend, primarily driven by
121education costs. We need to find a way to compromise. I praise our new town council as they went through the town budget line by line and reduced the town request, but unfortunately we are once again kicking the can down the road. First and foremost, we are a community. All members of the community must be heard, respected, and supported. I will point out that 53% of our community is over 50 years of age. >> [snorts] >> About 38% are over 55. Many are retired and on fixed incomes. My tax liability has increased 21% over the last 3 years and unfortunately [clears throat] at an increasing rate each year. And others in town have experienced even greater tax increases. This will result in some of our senior citizens having to leave their homes where they have lived
122for decades. Honestly, I cannot vote for a budget that hurts and that town. I thank you for your time. Thank you. Anybody else? Anybody online? Uh Ter- Terry? Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Terry McManus, 169 North Street. Hard discussions here tonight. I just want to point out we we've talked about the repairs of the ball uh ball fields. There was a bond issue attempted to be passed years ago to do that and it was defeated. And yet RHAM has decided to use these special funds and savings accounts and they will have those ball fields repaired. I question this as is this really what we should be doing after the taxpayers have uh spoken? And Colin, I wish I I am really glad that I'm I'm not you because there are hard decisions to be made.
123And RIF is one of the worst things for an employee to live through. I hear you. I understand you. Making the decisions on who to let go is tough. Earlier in the year I suggested a freeze. I went through both situations in different companies and I'll guarantee you that when you ask your employees to make shared sacrifice, you'll be surprised by what they come up with. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the board. Thank you. So, Mr. McManus, I know you didn't ask a question, but I just wanted point out the the referendum that you're referring to was to I believe uh put turf, lights, and new bleachers on the competition field. That work has not been done with any of the non-lapsing account funds. We've improved the turf We've improved the quality
124of the grass by doing work because the referendum failed. Um so, that's the work that we've had done to the athletic fields is not the work that didn't pass the referendum back in 2022, I believe, is what is the year. I I understand what you're saying. I I understand what you're saying, Colin, but in the this very hearing in 2022, I asked the acting superintendent what the intention of these funds were for after the bond issue was defeated. And essentially I said, "So the taxpayers have said they don't want this work done." And the superintendent replied, "We're going to do it anyways." In so many words. I Your distinction is well noted and I don't disagree with that. But the point is what is important to the community? Is staying in our homes or taking
125care of wants? Thank you, Madam Chair. Everything online looks good. Oh, there's two more. >> you have a couple others. Kimberly. Kimberly Bosny Austin. I just had a question. The athletic director was just fired this year, correct? Correct. Um why was she not hired at the rate that you say she should have been? Because there's a contract in place and I can't just make up salaries. But you you made that contract with her, correct? No, it's a the contract is negotiated between the Board of Education and the administrative bargaining unit. And they didn't feel that she should be at the rate that she's going to be at. The con- It's a 3-year contract, so the salary for this year had already been established a couple of years ago. But if it wasn't a contract with
126her It's It's It's a con- It's a It's a contract with a bargaining unit, with a union. And so Correct. So so so it's it's it's building administrators, athletic director, director of curriculum and instruction, special ed administrators, correct. >> [snorts] >> So now over in the next 3 years she'll continue to get raises, is what you're saying? Correct. As will other people in the district. I mean, it's negotiated >> [clears throat] >> negotiated increases. But what what got her this this large increase this year is what I'm saying. Her her salary was well below the market. Like sub- I don't have the data in front of you, but substantially low. And our previous athletic director was not? It was. It was. He left the position to get a job where he's making substantially more money.
127Got you. Okay. Thank you. Um Keith. Hi, Keith Pettit, 92 Old Colchester Road, Hebron. Um I'm on a number of different things, but I'm speaking as an individual and specific to the athletic director topic. Um yeah, I I had some of the same kind of concerns, you know, um normally and and maybe that's something that the board should look forward to in future contract negotiations is that employment contracts with large groups of employees should have salary ranges that apply to titles, so the individual contracts can be negotiated and you're not locked into things like that. But your answer also kind of raises the question of okay, so you're doing a salary adjustment over the next 3 years, so there was a contract amendment to that employment agreement for the entire administrators contract that addresses specifically
128an increase for one title over the course of 3 years. Um it I mean, I guess that's one way to do it. Uh it's not a way that I've heard of before. Um and additionally, like bringing someone up to market specs, I mean, this person accepted the job with the understanding that you know, the pay was at a certain level and whether it may or may not be contingent contingent on certain things being renegotiated at a later time the person accepted the job. Um saying that an employee is, you know, operating at a certain level, I also would ask if that level is being realized by the board. Uh I know that there's a lot of parents out there that have made comments. There have been a couple of incidents. Um I know that the
129girls volleyball team did exceptionally well this year, but has the athletic director in their current tenure had any other positive influence on other sports teams standing statewide >> [snorts] >> or positive influence where parents have come to the administration and said, "This is a fantastic fit for our organization." If you could just comment on that. What what would you like me to comment on, Keith? Why you think this person needs to be raised up to the market rate and I guess just a little more intricacies of how you're doing that with your current contract obligations. Well, it's it's not it's I think you used the term amendment to a contract. It wasn't an amendment to a contract. The the the current contract is a 3-year contract that ends at the conclusion of this current school
130year. So that we negotiated a new 3-year contract that starts next year. So it's a it's a new contract. What I would say to you is it's not when you negotiate contracts with bargaining units, you don't do it for people in the position. You do it for the position itself. You just as I said earlier, I I advocated for and worked very collaboratively with um the board and uh we made a market adjustment for um our ramp teachers. We made a market adjustment for people who are in coaching roles because again, they were woefully underpaid when you compared their salaries to the market. Um but I didn't look at the performance of individual coaches and say, "Hey, you're doing really great, so I'm going to give you this much money." Or I didn't say to
131certain teachers, "Hey, I really like you, so I'm and you're doing a great job, so I'm going to give you this much money." You you negotiate based off of the position. And that's the same tact that we took with the athletic director. It's not for an an individual, it's for the position of athletic director. But I think you'll agree that it is negotiated in a salary range. Not all of your teachers are paid the same amount. It depends on years of service, education level, other contributing factors. Um the same would be said of any administrative position. If you look at any other employment contracts that are you know, not specific to an individual person they are negotiated salary ranges and then your board would set the budget within that range. It's usually not a range,
132it's usually steps. And the administrators contract does not have any steps for the administrative positions. And they'd have to negotiate >> I would recommend that your board look into amending that for future, you know, flexibility. Just so you understand, it's not something that we as a district or the board or myself as the administration can just do without like the the union has to be agreeable to it in the negotiations process. I I can't just arbitrarily or the board just can't arbitrarily insert steps into a contract just as we couldn't take away steps from a teacher's contract. It's it's all part of the negotiation process. But I appreciate your perspective. Can I comment on that? Absolutely. >> [clears throat] >> Um you know, you questioned Keith whether or not there have been people who have
133come to us to say that they're happy with the AD and the performance there. Um you know, we all most of us saw that there was um a lot of discussion about the AD and the board did evaluate Dr. McNamara's handling of that situation. And you know, we were in agreement that it was handled well. And one of the biggest things that came to me was there was an awful lot of people who did step forward and write emails and communicate that they were very happy with the AD. Um and it you know, you don't hear that as much because you seem to just hear the people who are angry and mad, but the people who are happy are a little reticent to to speak publicly. And we definitely saw that happen during in the
134conversations about the new AD. That's good to hear. Thank you. Uh Terry. Madam Chair, just um for clarification, there's been a some discussion or about market rate. And I think I understand you're looking to get the best teachers that you can into the system, and that's laudable. But the market has to bear the rate. And so by comparing ourselves to other markets without comparing ourselves to the to their ability to pay I think it's specious in attempting to figure out how much Hebron or the RHAM district can afford those teachers. Market rate really doesn't fit into this. Although I do understand the dilemma, but can we pay for what other towns wealth can pay for? Thank you, Madam Chair. What the Hebron teachers are paid Thank you, Terry. Um Yes. But can you Yeah, you
135have to come up here so the people online can hear you. Phil Jordan from West Street, Hebron. I just have a quick question about the Columbia kids. It's just my lack of understanding. Hopefully clarify. Um Do we have uh the right to refusal of students? Cuz I know how some students cost more than others, right? And I know from our board of finance or town meeting that like there's like $15,000 per student we get. Approximately. Yeah. So Just curious. Is there a right to refuse a student? Well, we wouldn't want to put ourselves into a situation where we could ever be where we'd ever want to be doing something that potentially could be discriminatory. So it I wouldn't be in a situation where we'd say somebody who meets the criteria and what what the criteria
136is um what the criteria has been is, you know, we're allowing students who are freshmen or new to Columbia. Like so if somebody moves in from out of state and they come into Columbia, they have to choose a high school. Um so they're new coming into the district, they have to choose a high school again. So we're allowing freshmen to come in. We're we're not letting kids come in who are who are seniors who chose E.O. Smith and, you know, say you know, two or three years into it, hey, I really don't like E.O. Smith, I'm coming here. So that's that's If if we were if we were in a situation where I was saying, no, I don't want you because you're going to cost us too much money, then I'm going to be discriminating
137against the student. I wouldn't do that. What we do though is we do have additional fees on top of what we the $15,000 approximately is what we call the base tuition for students. If students are coming in with any identified special education needs where they're getting services, any types of, you know, services through special education, counseling, um working with a school psychologist, working with a a board certified behavior analysis analyst, there's additional fees that they are that the district that Columbia is charged. So the $15,000 and change is the base tuition. And then if there are additional costs associated with that student, then we charge additionally to Columbia. So they pay extra. I'm nervous about bringing in other other towns as Hebron, uh specifically cuz we have the highest mill rate. Like in the short
138term, I don't think it makes that much of a difference, but in the long term, if someone's coming in cuz they like RHAM as a school, uh any, you know, fiscally minded person would pick Hebron last. You know, our mill rate's highest. Again, if they don't get discounted at Columbia, but or Marlborough and Andover, we're just going to be last on the list. So I'm hoping you consider that when you're looking at uh the towns that you're bringing other students in that you really going to put us at at the end of the list. And I hope it doesn't affect house prices or leave our houses on the market longer. You know, just it may not affect today, but long term, if there's all these other options, you know, I'm just worried about it in
139the future. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else that would Just state your name and and the town you're from, please. My name is Beth Fitzgerald and I'm from Hebron. I read a list of names. Anthony Bembury, Laura Gressner, Peter Breglio, Eric Brest, Matt Breslin, Britney Fowler, Ryan Cummings, Nicole Bembury and Kristen Celine. These are all doctors, veterinarians, or MD PhDs. Dan Jordan, Aaron Duffy, Ali Rudolph, Diane Coffee are all PhDs. They all went to RHAM. I have always been grateful that my kids went to RHAM. We had our ups and downs. There's definitely um it's school, right? They don't like it, they like it. But my five kids got a great education. >> [clears throat] >> RHAM does a great job with um not a lot of resources and not a lot of
140money spent on it. Heather, I owe you an apology. I um thought that you didn't come to the meeting in March. Um I just thought you were avoiding it. So I am sorry about that. I think that people thought that and that was a really um unfair perception. I am disappointed in Voices. I thought Voices could be a really great thing, except that um you wrote something really quick. Um we're being stole Why are they always stealing from us? It's fun to say why are they stealing, but when you put the people on the board of ed in the same category as three people who have been arrested and charged with crimes, you are way out of line. I can't trust anything you write or say because it's not really accurate, is it? That's not
141fair. The board of ed has a really hard job. They have not a lot of resources and our educational system is set up so that we pit our elementary school against our high school. The um When your kids are little in cute, everybody's mom and dad goes in and volunteers in the classroom. When they get to high school physics, nobody's mother and father there. >> [laughter] >> There are small classes because our really great kids who have done really well all along now get to French five or trigonometry or AP government and there's only five kids that are interested, but we need those so that our kids are competitive when they go out into the world. My own child had to teach herself AP government all by herself. No big deal, she did it. They
142can all do these things, but we have the resources and the ability. A few years ago we had a park project and people were all excited about the park. We're going to vote for the park. We're going to get everybody to go and vote on the park. And guess what? We have a park. Then we we had a field initiative and unfortunately the field initiative failed. It would have been great to have a turf field and lights and all the things that help enhance our facilities. We don't have that and now I see sometimes people are like, well, I got mine so I'm moving on. I chaired the RHAM building committee a million years ago and it failed the first time, it passed the second time. We have a great facility, but we have to
143maintain it and that's going to be another thing. [snorts] It's more than 20 years old, more than a thousand kids use it every year. So we have to work with what we have and it's a little tiny budget and the whole thing, it seems really huge. I I think perhaps the best thing to do would be to combine K through 12, all three towns and we'd save some money there and we wouldn't be pitting ourselves against each other. Thank you. >> [applause] >> OKAY, ANYBODY ELSE? JUST A COUPLE FOLLOW-UPS. SURE. Thank you. Appreciate the extra time. Um so regarding that, right? You question on bringing folks to market. Like totally commendable that we want to bring great teachers in, but you're comparing markets. RHAM is unique, right? 6 through 12. And there is that pitting
144of our elementary schools against our middle and high schools. So are you comparing apples to apples when you're looking at the 6 through 12 organization versus a K through 12? I don't believe that I am because um in a traditional K through 12 school district, the salary rates, whether you're like there's a delineation there's not a delineation with regards to teachers. So teachers, if you're an elementary school teacher in Colchester and you have a master's degree and 12 years of experience, you're making as much money as a secondary school teacher, middle school or high school teacher who has a similar education and similar experience. So um it's it's not um that's they don't delineate by what grade you teach or what content area you teach when you when you look at sa- If you don't
145mind if I ask, if you look at the cost of Hebron and all the other towns that have a full program, full K through 12, their costs per student prior to administrative overhead add is in line with what RHAM is spending for just K through 12. So you would think that given the the less capacity, it would result in a reduced cost structure, but our surrounding towns are paying the same or less at K through 12 versus 6 through 12. So it's just interesting. Yeah, I can't remember why the follow-up was. So thank you. Anyone else? Anybody Everybody online is finished? Thank you very much for coming out. Um we appreciate your comments. Um and with that, we have a motion Is it too late? Aaron Edburg Andover, Connecticut. Uh sure, go ahead. Yeah, so
146I I have several concerns. Um uh I appreciate the person that said that the board is, you know, up against a wall and um that it's a struggle and but as far as I'm concerned, uh they are a bunch of yes-men that work for the superintendent. Um and I'm questioning why Dr. Cerussi wasn't made the superintendent, uh but that's neither here nor there. Um my understanding is that uh rumor has it that Colin was escorted in by some uh board member's friend who every time for his interview who was dressed in fatigues or a member of the military or uh >> [clears throat] >> And Michael Clayhoffer told me that he was grossly underpaid and that the Eva and Ron went to the board and got him a raise like instantly overnight. I'm questioning the
147the level of growth in pay between teachers and administrators versus the number of students that have gone to the school over the years or the growth of those students. That number of students uh things like the um maintenance and facilities staff have pretty much stayed at a stagnant pay and the same number of staff. And there's been really no growth there. Um It seems like the union is in bed with the school district. It seems like the administrators have their own separate bargaining unit, which is very confusing to most people. Perhaps you guys could expand on that. Um That that's it. Did you have a specific question? Sure. Did you have the outside maintenance person paint a helicopter landing pad and take a helicopter flight on taxpayers' dime? I mean there's a bunch of questions.
148I don't know. I could go on for hours, but we'll talk at the next meeting. Um We were fortunate enough to have a member of the community who is a helicopter pilot and a helicopter owner come in and fly into the district, land his helicopter on one of our practice fields. And so yes, we painted a an area so that he knew where to land his helicopter safely. And did you take a flight? It was for our students. We we have an aeronautics class at the high school. That's wonderful. Did you join that flight? I did. It was really fun. >> Wow, that's awesome. On taxpayers' dime. Like this is what we're paying for. We didn't pay for it. It was a donation. Uh well, no, but we're paying his we're paying his salary though,
149right? We're paying his taxpayers' dime. I'll be at the next meeting. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. We will So we have a motion to adjourn. No. We have we're to adjourn this meeting. So moved. I'll second. That was Rudy and then the second was >> [laughter] >> Mike Bolliar? No. Skyger, give it to Skyger. Thank you very much for coming, everybody. Oh, I'm sorry. All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Five-minute break. Yeah.