001Kirstston and Pam Ferington. Carrie Folino >> Carrie Folino Marorrow >> Drew Gin >> Drew Goffin Marboro >> Jessica Hall uh Amy Romanchuk Amy Romanuk Marbra Scott Soyette >> Lisa TA Okay. And Heather Summer from Hein. So, if we could all um stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> Yep. >> Heather, it's Michael Boler from Hein. I >> Hey, Mike. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, pledge of allegiance. 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. [snorts] [clears throat] Okay. Uh, public comments. The Hein Andover Marble community engagement and attendance at BOE public meetings is welcomed. The public comment segment of the meeting agenda is set aside for the so the BOE may
002receive public comments. Procedurally, public remarks will be limited to three minutes and citizens will be asked to identify themselves because the BOE is limited by the Freedom of Information Act to discussing only matters on the agenda. Excuse [clears throat] me. The BOE is not permitted to engage in a discussion of the comments presented. Is there anybody that would like to make public comment? Okay, then we will just jump right into the presentation. So, um, Colin, it's over to you. >> Thank you. So, Eric, if you want to put up the presentation and I'll just, uh, get things kicked off. So, we have a number of different departments that are going to present their budget tonight. Um, it's obviously following our first budget workshop that we had, um, a week ago. Um this week we have
003school counseling, uh health and physical education, we have our people services department, we have our fine and performing arts programs, our facilities department, career and tech, career and technical education as well as curriculum. Um I'm appreciative of everybody uh putting together the presentation that is going to be provided to the board tonight. What I would ask department heads and directors that are presenting is after you've presented your budget, if we just if you would stay through the meeting just to make sure that at the conclusion um there aren't any questions that may circle back or come up after all the presentations been done. And then uh Heather, I'm assuming you'll be okay as once they get through their presentations and have answered any questions that we can give them a chance to to sign off
004so that they can uh be recharged uh and and ready to go 12 hours from now with the students. >> That worked well. the last one. So, I think we can do that again. >> That That's great. Thank you. So, we're gonna start things off uh this evening with uh Jen Mott and Lori Connors who are our school counseling department coordinators. Lori and Jen, take it away. [snorts] >> Hi, good evening. I'm Jennifer Mott. Um thank you for this opportunity. Um we just wanted to give you a brief overview of the three main um points highlighting um the um the budget between the middle school and the high school. There's ne negligible differences this year between last year's budget and this year's budget. Um we continue to provide college and career readiness programming. Um our
005two major events that we host uh in at the high school level are our career day that typically happens like late fall, early spring and our college and career fair that happens um annually every October. That's a consortium between Bolton Academy and Bacon uh Bolton High School and Bacon Academy. Um we're experiencing um or we're expecting a small decrease in our middle school programming based on a change in um what we're hoping to transition from our second step program to an interactive theater that I'll touch on in just a second. And then also to continue to provide um student and family financial support um based on our dual enrollment programming as well as AP course opportunities. So, based on the middle school budget, um technically there's a really just a difference of $50 between last
006year's um budget request and this year's budget request. Um and really that difference is coming from um a small increase in like general supplies um and and the dues and the fees, but really there's a reduction in the soft software component. Um historically we've been utilizing a um secondstep program and the um counselors would like to transition to the interactive theater group program which they feel is more engaging and interactive um and it has different um programming that um for example bullying, social media um and diversity among other um curriculum components. So that would actually be a slight reduction in the middle school budget if we were to pursue that um theater group program. If we switch to the high school side, um the two main changes in the budget would be the first line
007item for college and career transportation. Um and really to that is to kind of offset the cost of opportunities that come our way. Sometimes they're um not planned events, but we'll get emails and we'll look into opportunities. Um for example, um Dr. McNamera provided us with some information on on an event that's happening in Wesleyan in the near future and so we're starting to look into that to see if that would be advantageous to um bring our students to. So that's one possibility um of a of an example, but we receive emails um quite frequently. So we like to look to see what could be um nice offerings for our students. So again, having um transportation available to us um is is always a nice um a nice thing to have in our budget. And
008then the other um major difference is the line item that is um called tuition um other and that's really um a $1,000 increase to really offset the cost of um we anticipate that we may be getting a fee bill again now from Eastern. We have the luxury of having a one-year grant opportunity. Um but in my collaboration with Lori Bego Boule, the um concurrent dual enrollment coordinator, she cannot um plan that that will be uh available to us for the future. So she pretty much um encouraged me to plan on there's going to be a bill coming our way and that's to help offset the cost of students who may be on free and reduced lunch that may need that financial support to supplement the bill. Um and also just students that take online classes
009to support their programming here to achieve the credits that they need for graduation. Um are there any questions? >> Any questions? >> Question about that. Um so the the funds like for the dual enrollment are only go towards students who have free and reduced lunch. >> That that's one component of it. Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. I just had a recollection that I think I paid in the past um for one of my children. We've the the parent paid the amount. That's correct. Okay. >> Yeah, it's it's kind of configured different ways based on the school. For example, like Yukon has it set up one way, Eastern has it set up another way. So, it it's kind of school specific as well. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Does anybody have any other
010questions on the school counseling? >> Thank you, Jennifer. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Jen. Thanks, Lori. Uh, next we have Jillian Baler who is our department coordinator for health and physical education. >> Hi, good evening everyone. I'm Jillian Beler. Unfortunately, my camera is not working tonight. So, it is what it is. Um, I'd like to start off with my overview. So what you will see in the budget that are similar for both middle school and high school will be the replacement of consumables from daily wear and tear and new equipment request to maintain and support our program offerings. Specifically at the middle school, um we're asking to maintain funding for food purchases for our personal wellness course to teach our students how to prepare healthy snacks. And this is something that we have been doing
011at the high school. We are asking to continue to provide CBR certifications for all incoming freshmen. This is also something that we have been doing for many years to um to continue to service and maintain the safety of our weight room and that's for all students including athletes and to provide funding for our leadership through adventure course with the purchase and installation of two elements and training to help the staff facilitate activities with the new equipment installed in the gym at the high school. So now I'll talk about what is a request at our middle school. It's fairly similar to last year. So um if you look at the middle school, we are continuing to ask for that guest speaker which we have all students participate in an activity during our fitness unit uh twice
012a year. For our instructional supplies, you see a savings. So, we don't need as many um pieces of equipment for this year. And then um when you take a look at big pieces, so 300 plus pieces of equipment uh singular items, we're looking to um add a couple of pieces to continue with an activity we currently use, but we just need more um items to continue. and make it um efficient for all students. And then finally, our personal wellness that I mentioned before with the food uh purchases, it's fairly similar. We are asking for a $100 increase per quarter just because of inflation with grocery prices, but as you see, we still have a little bit of a savings for the middle school budget. Moving on to the high school, they no longer are requesting
013for a guest speaker, so there is a cost savings there. Weight room um cost, that's simply a quote that I get from um Advantage Fitness. And then the CPR certifications have gone up about $10 per student. So that's actually that number you see there. More than half of it is actually going towards the CPR certifications for all freshmen coming in. High school equipment. There are two pieces of equipment we got quotes on for leadership at uh through adventure. These elements um would be installed in the gym over the summer and that's roughly about $14,000. The other 1,000 is just um a request for pieces of equipment for a unit that uh the PE teachers at the high school engage in. And once again, those pieces of equipment that would be installed in the ceiling in
014the gym, that's for our leadership through adventure course. And there is components in the curriculum that um cater to high element experiences which we currently do not have. And then looking a little further, the uh high school professional ed services, the $7,000 that you see, that is for the training. So, it's a 3-day training. It offers um staff members or it provides training for 12 staff members for the three days. So they can help facilitate um once these units or these elements are installed. And then finally the transportation p our nutrition and wellness course. They take a field trip over to Holbrook Village and they do this during the social um unit, social wellness and community unit and they work with um the individuals over there with various activities. So that's the cost for transportation.
015So you do see um all the numbers there and I believe that's everything I have for my presentation. Are there any questions? >> Anybody have any questions? >> Yes, if I can get off mute. >> I I [laughter] Excuse me. the um high school equipment. Um could you tell us a little more specifically what the the new units would be? >> So we have a leadership through adventure course and this course is geared towards um guiding students through cooperative activities where they're working together, trusting each other. They start on the ground and they slowly work their way up to higher elements. So blaying um using equipment that is in the ceiling that comes down that would have to be um put together. And once you know our our teacher that will be teaching this course,
016she is very experienced in this and she's been looking into other schools that do it and it takes like 10 minutes to really put it together. once you get it down. But she will have a prep period to do this and the kids will come in and they'll get to have an experience once they get to that level um with these new elements that we currently don't have. And the concern is that it's in the curriculum that they will get this experience. So, if we don't have it at our school, we'd have to transport our students to another school that does have it and look into using their elements. Um, that's the final that's really the ultimate goal of the course is to get them to um trust each other and learn how to work
017together to be leaders and use these different pieces of equipment we're looking to purchase. And so the equipment is mostly ceiling based um climbing. >> Correct. [snorts] >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Anybody else? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Jill. Next, we have Christine Hartwig, who is our director of pupil services to talk about her department's budget. >> Good evening. Christine Hartwig, the director of pupil services. I'm going to be presenting the special education budget uh which is the other component of pupil services. Jen presented school counseling earlier this evening. Um so the special education budget has three kind of overarching um components. One is the support for current programming services and student needs u at RAM. So that includes instructional supplies, assessment um rentals and equipment such as hearing
018devices for students. Um the second component is uh support for our out of district programming. Um we have students who attend post-graduate programs who um are eligible for services until age 22 and um go to other programs for different experiences. Um um so we have that and then we have our a couple of students who require um support outside of the district in other programs um due to to need behaviors things like that. Um, and then we also have students who and families who would choose to attend magnet or aggra science school programs. Um, and because we oversee their plans, IEPs and 504s, we are responsible for paying for the services and tuition for those students. Um, so as you can imagine, that can be difficult to plan for because that is based on choice.
019It's not something that we are recommending. We want our students to to come to RAM, but that's something that they feel is best for their their family and their student. Um, and so we support that. Um, and then just important to remember that um, our student needs change. Uh, we have students who come into the district, we have students who leave the district. So, it's an everchanging um, you know, need that occurs throughout the year and we review that um, um, as the school years you know go on. And then the third component is transportation. We support uh we have to obviously get the students who are attending out of district programs to their program and then we also have students who have um higher needs that maybe can't take a bus um that we
020provide specialized transportation for and then we also um have transportation for our extended school year program in the summer because we don't have school buses running at that time. So, in looking at the um kind of the budget for next year and just some of the changes, you'll notice that there really was only increases in the areas of student tuition. Uh we have the same amount of students projected to be um participating in out of district programs next year. It's just the tuitions always increase every year. So, we plan for that. Um and um we also had a slight increase in the need for transportation for extended school year. Um, so we'll see uh an increase there. And then the rest of of the budget, uh, services, regular school year, transportation, supplies and equipment, repair,
021maintenance, rentals, um, and then our other category, um, which is travel, software, things like that. We were able to to do some reductions there or, you know, obviously there's things that are based on student need. Um, so, you know, if when we can, we can um reduce that. So, I I feel like for next year, we have a responsible budget going into the 26 27 school year. Um, you know, we have a change of about $75,000. Um, and represents about a 2.8% increase, which is which is not bad. Um, so, um, that kind of is the is the overview. Does anyone have any questions? Do we know yet if the um $12 million that the governor is taking out for magnet schools what that impact will be to us? >> No, not not yet. So
022um even and I were talking about it today. We've it's going to be hard to pin down a specific amount. I think within the next couple of days I'll be able to provide the board with a a a close number, but it's it's it's not just as simple as saying it's 100% of the tuition now that we're going to be on the hook for. It's it's a combination of a couple of things. It's we likely are going to be uh responsible for 100% of the tuition. And then the second piece of it is going to be that we uh the tuition is likely going to increase because the 12 million isn't just the money to help local districts like ours or regional districts like ours pay for a portion of that tuition, but it also
023is money that's been allocated to the risks to um to suppress the tuition cost. So, um, we're we're we could come up with an anticipated amount based off of a projected increase in tuition, but we don't actually know what the, you know, what the tuition increase is going to end up being yet. >> Okay. Thanks. >> You're welcome. >> Anybody have any other questions? >> Okay. Thank you very much, Christine. >> Thanks, Christine. Uh, next we have Bev Fischer, who is going to do uh a talk about art and music. >> Good evening. Um I'm delighted to be here to talk about the art and music program. Uh we continue to have a robust strong program. We were um recognized as the best community for music again and we have uh just collected our work
024from the Scholastic Show which is a regional and national show. So our students are recognized both regionally and nationally in fine arts and performing arts. We're looking to do well looking to maintain what we have and continue to build in small ways. We are adding some new things. We're adding a digital art class, sorry, we're expanding the digital art class at the middle school to include animation, which is a class we also offer at the high school. Um, we're going to be replacing uh a portable sound system that we use for the different events that we hold at the school. Um and we're requesting the renewal of the lease purchase that has been in place since 2011 and has allowed us to um really maintain the instruments um for the program of both the high
025school and the middle school and to build upon um the collection of things that we have. So the middle school budget, we see lots of things are staying the same or there's a a a minor raise u in them like for repair and maintenance or instructional price just because things are more expensive. Um with the equipment line items, we have a couple of um instruments we're requesting for the middle school that are appropriately sized for our middle school students. One is a double base, which is a halfsiz one, and the other is a 3/4 size tuber. These are instruments that are really expensive that parents wouldn't, you know, wouldn't um really want to invest in um but they're an important part for the program to have them. So having appropriately sized ones is really important
026for our students to be able to play them properly. Um professional services is to have a visiting clinicians come in to work with our students. We've seen a slight increase in dues and fees um and transportation. Um so we have a a modest increase but it really does address the two uh appropriately sized instruments are the our biggest change at the middle school. At the high school things are staying um fairly similar. We've seen an increase in particularly in instructional supplies. Our choir is quite large at the high school and the middle school. Um and we have to uh buy sheet music for all of them to remain um copyright compliant. So the increase in instructional supplies is for um purchasing sheet music. Um there are some equipment that we're requesting this year also. Um
027this is mainly in the tech room to replace things that we need to do in there. Um we've seen that same increase in the dues and fees um for both schools. Uh our lease purchase, you can see is about the same as it has been um for other years. um on transportation mine increases. Um so uh we have about a $7,000 increase um year-over-year for us at the high school for music. The middle school art budget um things are staying fairly stable. A little bit of an increase in supplies. Um we have that animation software that was requested um that we're not going to need this year because we have it. We can continue to use it. Um so that's our change in there. dues and fees have gone up a little bit, but our
028transportation is again stays relatively safe. Um the same this allows us to take um the students on their scholastic art trips to go and see the work that's submitted for the um high school and middle school statewide competition. So that is what our trip is. And then at the high school, we see a slight decrease. We're not um buying as much equipment this year, which is where we have to see our main decrease. and everything else is staying relatively the same. Equipment um sorry instructional supplies across the board are going up in cost and those are our consumables are our lifeblood of our program. So we see a slight increase there. Um we do have a kiln that needs to be recoiled um at the high school. So in the repair and maintenance you'll see
029that's a little bit more. We did have our glass kil lid replaced and recoiled this year. Um, so I try to be in a cycle of maintaining the kils so we don't ever have any surprises. Um, and they're all safely maintained and we are making sure that we're not having to do them all in a single year. Um, what else has changed? Yeah, less on the equipment software. We've I think there's additional software for the animation program at the high school. Our dues and fees, we've seen a slight increase and the same with our buses for transportation. We do two trips at the high school usually. Um, and we try and make them be free for our students to go. Um, some of them are required for the AP classes. Um, but if we're going
030to take the AP students, we're going to take other kids with us, too. So, to make sure that we're trying to give equal opportunity for students to have museum experiences. Um, does anyone have any questions? >> I believe that's my last slide, right? >> It is. >> Excellent. [laughter] Does anybody have anything? >> Just a a quick question just for my own education. Uh for the new instruments, could those be leased? >> Um we do No, we don't lease um instruments. Our students lease instruments from us. Um so it makes it easier for students to play instruments that would be expensive. So we have a lease program that we own the instruments and they lease them from us. Um we've it allows the the lease purchase allowed us to do some big instrument purchases like
031we had a year that we brought a tmpony we would never have been able to buy such piece of equipment without the le lease purchase. Um Nick um Kokus my band teacher is really good about doing the inventory of all the the equipment and making sure that he's very selective and consistent with making sure he's like this last year was low reads and brass and then this is going this year is going to be tubers horns so he tries to have everything in rotation so that we have enough instruments for the students to lease from us. >> Okay. All right. Thank you very much. >> Welcome. >> Anybody else? Okay, thank you Beverly. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Bev. Uh, next we have Mike Schlayhoffer, our director of facilities to talk about the facilities needs.
032>> Hi there. Good evening. Um, Mike Schlayoffer, facilities director. So tonight I would like to give the board a highle overview of the district's facilities highlighting a few key areas and to talk about some budget needs that we're anticipating for the 2627 school year. Um I'd like to start with a brief overview of the facilities. So uh region 8 campus spans about 52 acres uh includes roughly six areas of common areas for grassy surface. Uh we have about 10 acres of athletic fields. We also maintain about 120,000 square feet of sidewalks which is about 2.7 acres. Uh we approximately have 420,000 square ft of pavement so roughly 9.6 6 acres. Um, all of these areas require regular maintenance, long-term planning, and periodic reinvestment. The high school and the middle school are physically connected and operate
033as one campus. The high school was um first occupied in February of 2003, which makes it about 24 years old. It's approximately 250,000 square feet and due to its size and age, it includes all the major building systems that are required ongoing maintenance and support and capital planning and investment to remain safe, reliable, and functional. The middle school was renovated and expanded after the high school was built and began occupancy in February of 2004. and is roughly 135,000 square feet. Um, I'd like to also just briefly run through staffing levels that we have in the department. So, during the day, we have two full-time custodians. One is assigned to the middle school and one is assigned to the high school. Their primary focus is on daily operations, cleanliness, and responsibility to immediate needs of the
034school during the session. In the evenings, we have 12 full-time custodians. Four are assigned to the middle school and eight are assigned to the high school. The night crew um is responsible for the majority of the building cleaning, resetting, ensuring that the facilities are ready for the next school day. And just square footage wise, each custodian in the evening complete u sorry cleans approximately about 30,000 square feet at night. Um on the maintenance side of things, we currently have three maintainers. Two of them work uh first shift. One is primarily assigned to the buildings while the other one is dedicated to the grounds. And then the third maintainer works in the evening and also serves as the night lead for the custodial staff providing some supervision um and to support that shift. In addition, the
035department has one administrative assistant who supports with work orders, scheduling, purchasing, building rentals, and day-to-day operations. And as part of the 2627 budget, I am requesting an additional maintainer. Uh this role would be primarily supporting the outdoor grounds across the campus and would also assist inside with building maintenance during off- peak growing season. Adding this position would help us better balance workloads by allowing custodians to focus on their core responsibilities, providing consistency with our athletic fields and grounds, addressing preventative maintenance more timely and effectively and reducing the strain on current staff levels. We do however do work with the town of Hebrin for help with maintenance of our fields. But the town also does not have the capacity to provide constant day-to-day support needed to maintain our fields at the level that requires the safety,
036usability, and longevity. All right. So on this slide, I am highlighting a few budget accounts that are seeing increases. This is not a full competitive or complete list of the accounts but captures the main drivers in um these increases. Systemwide building operations and repair has the largest increase. These costs are tied to numerous necessary projects, including a few interior door replacements, ongoing roof repairs to both the high school and middle school, refinishing the hardwood floors in the band rooms in the middle school and chorus room, the auditorium stage refinishing, replacement of damaged and worn stage curtains. We also have repairs related to the science lab infrastructure which includes replacing the limestone and the high school acid neutralization tank. Additionally, projects include sanding and refinishing and painting the exterior handrails around the campus. Uh refinishing the
037gas lines on the high school roof that supply the natural gas to necessary areas up there. replacement doors on the outside concession stand and adding gutters to prevent further rot. Also, the irrigation well pump uh masonary rehabilitation and roof repair to that um fixture. And then tree trimming in the courtyards of both buildings and a few areas around the campus. HVAC repairs continue to go upwards due to the age of the system across the district. This system manages over 2100 control points, including hundreds of control valves, control boards, and sensors. The control system is original with the buildings, and while we continue to maintain it, it will ultim ultimately need to be addressed during the future bonding project. Athletic groundskeeping and groundskeeping repair have large increases due to irrigation system needs including hardware upgrades, multiple
038irrigation controllers, repairs to the irrigation control valves, swing joints, spray heads, contracted labor for specialized fertilization treatments. also necessary top dressing applications and shockwave which helps relieve the soil comp compaction deep injection which also helps with drainage of the athletic fields. I'd also like to note that because we are a seventh and eighth grade students on site, the state regulation prohibits the use of weed killers and pesticides which limits the options of products that we can use and also increases cost. Uh another account is uh systemwide fire safety and repair is also rising. These are systems that are original to the building that require increased annual repairs just like the HVAC that I spoke about. Um this will be addressed through the bonding project when um they're updated or replaced. Uh building inspections costs are
039higher this year due to the timing of the required inspections. There's a um kitchen hood fire suppression system that's due for a 12-year test. And then also the high school five-year art flash review is due which is another substantial cost. Um supplies again continue to increase. Um vendors are adding sir charges related to the tariffs uh additional fuel charges delivery fees which are all being passed on to us the buyers. >> Um >> hi this is Amy. Can I get your number? >> Somebody please mute. >> Uh, he told me to contact you on a >> Items such as grass seed, sand, top soil, infield mix, fertilizers, electrical, plumbing, chemicals have all seen um significant increases. And again, delivery fees for items continue to rise. Vendors are also starting to put minimum quantities on deliveries
040of orders in order for us to uh be able to wave shipping fees or delivery fees. So, you know, your minimum order has to be $1,000 and they'll wave the delivery fee. Otherwise, you pay, you know, 50 bucks or something. Um, another another item is uh furniture. So, furniture remains to be an ongoing districtwide need. While many of these requests were moved to limit the the increased cost to this budget, we still are budgeting for essential essential items such as group style tables for classrooms, ADA compliant student desk and chairs, uh some standing desks for students, replacement teacher chairs for the high school as the middle school had received new ones last year, uh science tables and science chairs, additional music chairs and racks to transport them and a number of small file cabinets that
041are due for replacement. And then finally, systemwide maintenance equipment has several necessary replacements such as a new washer and dryer for the loading dock area that we use to wash uh the dust mops and wet mops for the custodial department. Replacement water fountains for for a few areas. A new field painting machine. a replacement auditorium screen due to the failing motor in it and a new wall lighting fixtures for the auditorium where the existing fixtures are broken and no longer available for purchase and then for the next slide. So here we have the capital improvement budget. Um the facility and finance subcommittee met to review this. Um and the can be found on page 35 of the budget book. The proposed capital budget represents about a 1.8% increase over the identified facility needs which is
042currently totaled just under 28 million districtwide. Key capital projects include this year is the replacement of the loading dock along with additional um delivery ramp to improve safety and ease of access. We're also going to be addressing multiple catch basins throughout the parking lots including rebuilding and paving the affected areas. And in addition to this budget, we're including uh repainting of the pavement markers such as the crosswalks, directional wording, numbering to maintain safety and visibility across the campus. To maintain these costs, um, we're using some funds from the capital improvement fund unallocated account to offset the overall budget to keep the total capital request at an even 500,000 as well. This concludes my overview and I'd be happy to answer any questions that anybody had. Be >> be before there's questions, Mike, I'm just going
043to jump in and say a couple of things just to highlight some context. So, um, you know, I'm sure the board not board members noticed the, you know, increases, the fairly significant increases in things like, uh, equipment and furniture, there's a $98,000 increase. Building repair, there's a $102,000 increase. You know, one of the things that I think is important to note is that initially last year when the budget was presented for the current school year, um we had a lot of equipment. We had some uh and some repair things in there that we were actually able to proactively use surplus from last year uh to to to get done last year. um surplus, I'm sorry, from the previous school year to to to get some repairs done and purchase some furniture and equipment which surpassed
044the budget. Um so I just want people to be aware of the fact that yes, there is definitely a you know, a fairly substantial increase, you know, even just with those two at 102 for building repair and 98 for equipment and furniture. But um our original ask last year um was was was higher than the $13,000 for furniture and equipment. we just we were pro proactive to to reduce the budget ask with with surplus funds that were available. And then the other thing too that I just want to point out, Michael did a great job of characterizing the importance of um the the second maintainer, the out primarily doing outdoor work um is, you know, we've made a tremendous investment in our athletic fields and our and our um uh you just our grounds overall
045over the past, you know, years that I've been here. And um really we want to make sure that we are doing our best to to maintain them. Um we had a situation a couple of uh months ago where our maintainer was out on a leave for an extended period of time and we didn't have anybody that could maintain the grounds and we were scrambling. We were fortunate that the town was able to jump in and help out because the town of Hebin parks and recck department is a tremendous partner for us, but they can't sustain doing that all the time. And we really need to make sure that we are well situated to take care of all of our grounds needs and and buildings and grounds needs um in the event of you know again
046somebody going out for a period of time. We don't have any type of succession planning um short-term or long-term um and that is not a place for us to be. Um, somebody I think had asked a question about, you know, can't you partner with the town to reduce the the the the the strain on our current person and you know, they have their own needs and uh the town has their own needs and again in in pinches they can jump in and help us out because we do the same for them. Um, but but to do it long term is is really not sustainable. So important position for us to to to consider um keeping in the budget. Um, and then the last thing that I'll mention because again a question um, you know, uh,
047I don't think Michael mentioned, I should say, is, you know, the painting of the lines is a, uh, in the parking lots is is certainly a a cost at $21,000. That actually was identified. We had a safety and security audit done, I think it was, Michael, two years ago in the spring, >> we had a safety and security audit done um, just overall and this was actually one of the things that they noted. Um it's they're in rough shape and and they're faded pretty significantly. So um you know from a safety and security standpoint that line painting is a is an important thing to get done this year as well. So uh sorry I certainly don't want to step on Michael's toes but um some some of those things is important to have that context
048as we we think about um um you know some of the proposed items here. So if anybody has questions for Michael please uh jump in. Okay, everybody's all set. All right. Thank you, Michael. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Mike. Uh, next we have Dr. Sarah Hall, who is our department coordinator for career and technical education. So, take it away, Sarah. >> Hello. You guys can hear me, right? >> Yep. >> Okay, good. [laughter] I'm Sarah. I'm the career and technical education coordinator and as Colin was just speaking to with the facilities budget with the pre-purchasing using surplus funds, we have a similar situation for the CTE budget. So I just wanted to note that when we're looking at the final budget numbers for the 2025 2026 budget, we were able to purchase pre- purchase $37,000
049worth of equipment. So the budget that you'll see when I show those numbers is actually $37,000 lower than what was approved for this year. So our approved budget that operating budget for this year is 125,000 and we'll see that on a few slides difference. Um, but the biggest differences in the CTE budget this year, we have some targeted increases to address equipment repairs, rising materials costs and supply increases to support new and expanding program areas. The new budget lines that we've added are supporting a number of new courses that we're adding next year. Some of those new courses include firefighter, AP cyber security, AP business with personal finance, and then we are reintroducing foods and nutrition which last ran I believe in 2019. So the culinary program and then we have an education pipeline that
050started running this year. We didn't have any funding for that course this year. We actually used title four and Perkins funding this year, but we are budgeting for that course next year since it was able to successfully run two sections this year. And then we also have some increases in transportation and operational costs, including some software increases and dues and fees. And this is mainly due to increased bus costs and increased student participation. So if we go into the middle school budget, I can talk specifically about those line items. The middle school budget actually sees a little bit of a decrease between this year and next year. And the main reason for that is some decreased software costs. We're saving $900 on software. Um and then we saw a couple increases in a few other
051places. Instructional supplies is really the main one. And again, that's just due to the increase of materials costs. The CTE program in the middle school consists of um production engineering and technology and a computer science program for both seventh and eighth grade. But again, a $750 decrease in this middle school budget in our proposal. And then if we can move on to the high school, this is where the bulk of our budget comes in. The high school CTE program supports a lot of different program areas. So for anyone who's not familiar, I can just quickly go over our program areas. We have business, computer science, uh manufacturing, welding, engineering, architecture, construction, um our health and safety program which includes EMT. And then we also have the family consumer science pathway that I was just talking
052about, the education courses and um the new foods course that we're bringing back, the culinary and computer science. So, a lot of different program areas and all of those program areas have multiple courses that we're supporting. Um, but just looking through the high school budget, this is spread over a couple slides, but this first slide here, we have a bit of an increase in repair and maintenance just to support to support some equipment that we've noticed needs to be repaired a little bit more frequently. The big items there was some 3D printers that we have to repair. And then because we're bringing back the culinary class, um, foods and nutrition, we are budgeting for some repair and maintenance in the kitchen that we'll be using. instructional supplies. We saw a fairly significant increase and the
053biggest changes in this budget. We are p um budgeting to purchase food for the culinary class which is something that has not been in the budget previously since we haven't written that course in the last six years. And then we're also budgeting for the education class in this as well which wasn't previously budgeted for. General supplies we didn't see a change. And then the gas budget, we actually are seeing a decrease because we were able to switch some equipment out that was previously using a higher level of propane and gas for some equipment that is a little bit um less needy of that type of gas. And then equipment, we are seeing an increase this year. This is where I was speaking to before this year's budget. We were able to pre- purchase a significant
054amount of equipment. So it does look like an increase. Um but again that's due to the pre- purchasing the equipment budget. The primary items that we're purchasing is two Miller multi-purpose welding machines. We purchased two last year. We have four welding booths in the high school metal shop. So purchasing the last two welding booths. We will have four welding machines that run all three types of welding on them. And then the software budget. We are seeing an increase. And the primary reason for that we're budgeting for new software for the AP cyber class and our architecture course uses a software that has to be renewed every six years and this year is the year that the renewal falls. And then if we can move on to the next slide for dues and fees we are
055seeing an increase and again the primary reason for this is we're seeing more students participate in our CTE programs. So anything where we have to pay a der fee per student, that number is going up. Textbooks, again, we have several new courses. So we are purchasing textbooks for those courses pending board approval. You guys, I think should be seeing that come your way in the next couple months through Mary Rose. And then transportation, as I said in the beginning, bus costs have significantly increased. So we are budgeting for and those increases with bus costs. And we also added one new field trip um for next year for construction day for our construction students to be able to go and hopefully obtain jobs in the field. Um and those are really the primary increases here. And
056like I said before, our approved budget for this year was um 125,000 before the pre- purchasing. So, from 125 what was approved this year and the 126 we're requesting, it is not as significant of an increase as these numbers make it seem. Does anybody have any questions for me? Anybody have any questions? >> Okay, >> Thank you, Sarah. Uh I think our last person is Mary Rose who's going to talk about the curriculum budget. >> Hello everyone. Um Mary Roseme, director of curriculum and instruction. Um the main drivers of uh our budget and the work that we're doing is uh much of it is around preparing for our NEAS accreditation visit and we'll have our first visit in the fall. So, we're working very hard to ensure that our curriculum documents are aligned with the
057expectations of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Um, they are the the accredit accrediting body. Um, we've also been working on our curriculum to ensure we're incorporating the skills and dispositions of a graduate into all of our curriculum documents and working very hard to formalize um a curriculum cycle um which will help us with long-term planning. Um we're also uh seeking to ensure that student and faculty have support in instructional technology. Um and so I believe that in in the um addition of um faculty there is a position for a technology specialist um embedded in in uh nearly every aspect of of our lives in in the school day in particular we have um the needs for using technology uh with AI's increase it's um becoming exponentially more important that we ensure that
058our students and staff um know how to use these technologies and then they are able able to um use them for learning and use them ethically and responsibly. So um in looking at our budget in the next slide um there's my one line uh that is the curriculum budget. There is an increase this year due to the fact that um we're just trying to play catchup um to ensure that we have curriculum for every one of our courses which is one of the foundational elements of our NEAS visit next year. Um and and also at the same time trying to put some departments on that curriculum cycle that I mentioned. That is it. Are there any questions? Anybody have any questions? Okay, Colin, is that the end of the I >> I'm sorry. I did
059have one. I just taking a time to get off mute. Um how is the work split between you I assume you're central to almost all curriculum writing and the I assume it's mostly the uh department leads department heads who >> for writing curriculum actually we're um best practices that we have um our faculty write curriculum so what we do is we have um a process through the year department coordinators work with me to identify what we need to have written in um whether it's something new that we piloted in a previous year and didn't have a curriculum for or something that is so old or something where the state has come up with new standards and we need to comply. And then we are incredibly fortunate that we have faculty willing to um be curriculum
060writers and so they oftentimes it's the person who uh has taught the class or will be teaching the class. Um and that has really helped to ensure that we have vigorous curriculum when it is written. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um does anybody have any questions about any of the presentations before we let let folks go if they want. Okay. So, um you're certainly welcome to stay on the call. Um but if you want to sign off. >> Yeah. Thank you everybody so much for all the work that you put into this. I know that these are very quick three slide presentations, but what everybody doesn't see is the months worth of work that goes on starting in early October in putting together the budgets. Um and and so all these department coordinators and
061department heads are are critically important for that work and I appreciate everybody doing that and I would encourage you to take some downtime and don't feel obligated to stay on this call. Nobody's going to judge you. Um in fact we you know you need you got like I said you guys got about 12 hours and uh dinner is good and so is sleep. So handle those two things before you got to come back tomorrow. So thanks everybody. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thanks. Appreciate it. >> Don, while we're while some people are transitioning off, one of the things that I want to just point out, if you could just make note that Jessica Hall did join the meeting shortly uh like really shortly after the beginning of it. So, I just want
062to make sure that the uh minutes reflect that she was in attendance really for the for the meeting for the whole meeting. >> Thank you, Colin. >> Yep. Thanks. Um saw you saw you sneak in there, Jess. Sorry about that. I was going to do it earlier but didn't want to interrupt the flow. So um so Heather I think the next thing is just any discussion um anybody you know just general discussion that people might have questions that people might have. There were some questions that came from board members. I do really appreciate those of you who send me those questions in advance of the meeting. It gives Eva and I an opportunity to um you know to to to make sure that we come prepared this evening. Um, I did push a communication out
063earlier today, um, where I just kind of copied and pasted the questions that had been sent to us, um, and and you know, Eva and I went through and, um, I got some assistance from, you know, Michael Schlayoff with the facilities questions. Um, and we did provide, um, some some responses to those questions that came um, our way. If there's any questions about the information that we did re provide to you um that I did send in that email, I can certainly do my best, Eva and I can certainly do our best to try to answer those. And I did, as I often do, forget to include the attachments of the spreadsheets. Drew, thank you for catching that. Um that is like my that's my trademark move. I I forget to you know, I say,
064"Hey, look at the attached documents." And then I forget the attached documents. But I did resend another email with those uh with those uh spreadsheets. Um, but again, if there's any specific questions that people have, I can do my best uh along with Eva to answer them. >> I don't have any questions. >> I need to apologize for I'm usually one of those people who gets you this stuff early. I I was I was still reading this stuff at lunchtime today and then before driving over to the meeting I didn't need to drive [laughter] to. >> Sorry. >> That was my fault. I I I knew we had two meetings. One was in person, one was I just flipp flipped them in my head. >> Um so I've been through this and I do have
065notes and questions on on the you know the presentation. I don't know if I they're not particularly well organized yet. I haven't, you know, >> so so, so Scott, if you want, you could, you know, if you wanted to take time to kind of finish going through everything, even digesting some of the information that was shared tonight, um, you know, and you wanted to email us the questions, you know, in the next day or so, um, you know, we could do the exact same thing that we did with the questions that came our way this past for this for today, which is just, you know, even I can, you know, uh, look at them, write up responses, and then make sure that because the other thing too is like you may ask a question that
066we might need to regroup on and make sure because I you know the answer that you might get if I'm not prepared for the question is um I'll have to get back to you on that. Um >> yeah I've got maybe 15 pages or so that I've marked up with questions so it's it's going to take me a little bit of time but yeah >> totally understandable. So I don't have a specific question, but I have a concern that this budget request being higher increased than we've seen in a decade at a time when the towns are really struggling with revenue. And I know Andover and Hebrin are asking for a lot for their elementary schools as an increase. And I know we and Marboro are going to bonding. I just um you know I
067I think we could we could have we could have a real blowback on this and I I'm concerned that 4.77 is pretty high. >> Yeah, Drew, I appreciate that perspective and I I don't disagree with you. Um I I I totally understand it. um you know and and again I think it's really important that we keep in mind this 477 is with the reduction of um a significant number of things that had been initially proposed to um you know myself and Eva when I went when we sat down with budget owners I mean I again I think the budget would be something to the extent of like two at least two percentage points higher had we not taken out you know that substantial amount of stuff um you We've been fortunate. We've been able to
068utilize, you know, surplus money, you know, um, at the end of that that we have available to us that that is something that we could potentially look at doing, um, with regards to to this particular budget year. Um there's a couple of things though that I would say which is um you know I'm of I often speak to our town leaders. I talk to town managers. I talk to the other superintendent and and I certainly um you know try to be I I know that we all try to be a good partner um to the local districts um who are these difficult financial times. Um, but a 477 is also among lowest in the proposed budgets that are being put forward. That's that's first. I can get people data like like a 477 in today's
069time is not um is low. Are you guys still seeing and hearing me? I'm just getting little messages saying >> at weird. >> We can mostly hear you, but it's choppy. >> Yeah, you didn't break up with me. I heard you worried. Have you been able to talk to the finance boards at the various towns and and Oh, you just froze. [laughter] >> Now Colin's frozen. >> Yep. Colin's frozen now. >> Colin, if you can hear us, you might want to get off and get back on. >> I don't think he's had his I don't think he's had his meetings yet with the towns. Um I know. >> No. No. >> And and Eva, since since Colin is frozen, do you have any idea of the dollar or percentage point impact on our increase if
070we change the budget to put in 100% of the tuition for Magnus? >> So that's so that's something that we were working on. But so the way that the governor worded his proposal for legislation is so currently it's 58% of the 2024 tuition that we were charged. So we would just if we put in 100% be back at 2024 tuition levels. But the risks have been held. I don't know if they they were stating that they didn't have enough, you know, they were they were losing money on on on the deal. And so, um, I'm not sure and it was it seems open-ended the way that the governor proposed it that the rest can assign whatever tuition they rate they want. So, my fear is that 100% is going to be too low. Correct. >>
071Yeah. But, but do you have any idea if we went to 100% what the, you know, number would be? >> We were working on that today. I just ran out of time. >> Okay. All right. >> So, and so can you guys hear me hear and see me now? >> Yep. >> Sorry about that. Um, so, um, yeah, you know, Eva and I will get that number worked out and you know, we could figure out like what a 100% of this year's is and then we could, you know, you know, add a a percentage to it and say, you know, it's it's going to be this much if we make it, you know, if there's a 3% increase, it's going to be this much if it's a 5% increase. The one thing that I think
072I did mention or at least included in the email that I sent to everybody on Friday about this about this issue is the the risks are certainly advocating um you know that that $12 million gets reinstated into the budget. Um, so you know, I'm not necessarily too optimistic that it'll happen, but in speaking with Eric Patrulis, the director of Eastcon, the executive director of Eastcon, he said that he is working with his fellow REST directors and and and advocating that that money be uh reinstated into the governor's budget. Um, so that that is a I'd say a remote possibility, but it is a remote it is a possibility. I did approach my state senator on on who is the head of the appropriations committee on on doing what can be done to rectify this cut
073in funding. Um, I just wanted to So, I know uh I know there was lots of uh emails kind of out there and I think Heather again I kind of the same I kind of u was struggling to get through everything before the meeting, but I do think that Heather put something out about um that it seems like the board members have some concerns about the 4.7 77 increase. I know that I do. Um, and you know, Heather made the point of, you know, really, you know, our role is to look through the budget and then kind of, uh, you know, go back to Colin and say, you know, what we're comfortable with and what we're not comfortable. So, Heather, I think one of your emails I was just trying to look for. Of course,
074it's probably in the mix of a million, but I thought one of your emails mentioned uh would we feel more comfortable coming in with a percentage and then asking Colin to see how how that how that could work. So, I didn't know if that was something we wanted to discuss tonight. >> Yeah, I did. Um, I guess my thinking on this is and and Drew and I have, you know, emailed a little bit about it too. I feel as if, you know, you see it, you you know, you saw it today, you saw it in the other budget presentations. These guys are the experts on what it takes to run that school and where they feel they need to have, you know, certain resources. So instead of us looking at every line item and saying,
075"Well, gee, why, you know, maybe you could cut this and that could help." I really think that we're better off giving a target number and let the experts who are running the show every day decide where it is that they um can make their cuts. I mean, as I had mentioned, you know, used as an example, for instance, maybe Colin comes back and says, "We're going to take the $500,000 out of capital and we're we're not going to do some repairs that were planned." And and I think that's where we could say, "Well, now hold on a second. I'm not what is that going to look like and if we don't, you know, then we can say, yeah, that's not where we would like you to cut. Go back and figure out a different way
076to to reduce." Um, I just don't think that when we when there's 11 of us, all 11 of us are going to have different opinions on what's valuable and what's not valuable. I would rather see, you know, you see how much work these guys put into these presentations and the thoughts that they're, you know, what proposing there's unfortunately I don't feel like there's anything that's super extravagant. It just adds up and other things in our budget system aren't moving in our favor. So to me, I feel like if that's something that we want to do, we can give them a target and then let them go back and figure out what it will look like. >> Yeah. >> So is that a discussion that we have? Is that is that the direction that the board
077wants to move in? >> I think that's a reasonable approach personally. Oh, go ahead, Michael. >> Oh, sorry. From what I hear in the uh you know chatter around town, it this is going to be a very difficult budget to get past by uh you know the referendum. So >> I agree. I've heard things. >> Yeah. So you know we you know I I know we're not we're not spending money lavishly. Um, and I'm, you know, it's just quite frankly, I just don't see it passing. I mean, I I I've gotten more emails on this and I've seen more comments on this issue than, you know, the last I don't know, I'm going to say 15 years I've been in town, you know, about, you know, the even the Hein board of ed budget is
078was slated at like a 9% increase. and talking about building a public works for 30 mill. I mean, people in this town are just losing their mind and from a practical standpoint, there's no way it's going to pass it. I don't I mean, at 2% you might get it past the first round, but I know at 477 4.77, there's no way. >> Yeah. >> Would you disagree? I mean, that >> I agree. That's also what I'm hearing. >> Yeah. >> So, so if if if I could for for for a second, I I hear what everybody's saying. I I I understand that. I everything that you're hearing, I'm hearing that as well. Um I understand that, you know, we're we're in a difficult time right now. Um what I can do is I can work
079with the administrative team to bring forward uh recommendations to this board of um basically prioritizing if I would if I were or if we were to recommend or recommended reductions in order of sequence of we would recommend this being the first, this being the next, this being the next, this being the next, this being the next. um and being able to provide a context for each one of those recommendations because you know Heather I appreciate you saying what you said. I I I you know um you know the administrative team you know Eva Michael Schlayhoffer you know the admin the collective administrative group we we have a very comprehensive knowledge about kind of the intricacies of of the things that we're asking for and the and and the inherent value of things that we're asking
080for and and and um you know I can if I'm going to recommend something to you to say hey I think we need to reduce in this particular area I'm going to be able to explain to you why I feel that we could reduce or why we as a collective group feel that it's best that we reduce in you know this particular line item or to be honest with you this particular position because that is going to be what it comes down to if you're talking about a 2% reduction you know Mike I'll use what you just threw out there you know a 2% might pass let's just say you know I work to get a number that's close to two and a half% to get us down to close to two and a half
081percent um there the only way that I'm going to do that is to eliminate positions like and and and it is not a secret. Everybody has heard me say it over the past three years who's been on the board. Um I've tried very intentionally to reduce positions through attrition, right? Um and we've been able to successfully do that over the past three years. Every time we have a retirement or we have a resignation, we analyze staffing and we say, is this a position that we need to replace? In some cases, we say that it is. In other places, we say that it is not. And and that and we've been successful in doing that. With that being said, one of the reasons that we we've maintained small class sizes in in some of our content
082areas is because we have very specialized programming and services that are offered to our students. Um we have an extensive and vast program of studies or as we call it the educational opportunities handbook where we offer you know um Bev was talking Bev Fischer when she was doing her presentation about you know the fact that you know some of the classes that we're we're looking to bring in um you know we do that because of the fact that we have the staffing capacity to do it right we can put in those educational classes we can put in the firefighter class we can put in um this computer this AP computer science um class. Um we're able to do that because we have the staffing capacity to do it. So if if we do reduce staff
083um it's going to it is going to have an impact on that, right? And and I just want everybody to know like that's that's what we're talking about doing is um you know because the other thing too is when we start looking at making reductions of of staff members and saying all right hey we're going to reduce this 1.0 0 full-time position to a point 8 or a 6, we're going to lose people, right? Just hands down, there's a teacher shortage and people generally speaking are looking for full-time employment. And and so, um, that's a very real possibility as well. And I say that not to sound ominous or discouraging, but but I just want everybody to have an understanding of what the landscape is is that we're looking at. Um, I I you know,
084I can look at our staffing. I'm going to have to look at our staffing and I'll prioritize, you know, it's going to be a combination of things. It's going to be some equipment. It's going to be some some some um you know, potentially repairs and maintenance that we maybe kick the can down the road a little bit. But the primary amount of things that we're going to have to look at as staffing reductions because there's no way that we get to a 500 $600,000 reduction, which is really what we're looking at if we're looking at a, you know, a 2% reduction. There's no way that we do that without looking at staffing. Um, you know, I've I I anticipated that this time would come at some point. I'm very glad that I haven't had to
085do that in my first three years yet. Um, but but I recognize that that isn't something that's sustainable. Um, and and it is something we're going to have to look at. Um, so you know, if if if the board wants to give me either a target dollar amount or a target percentage, uh, I'll work with my administrative team and and I'll come to the February uh, board meeting with with here's our recommendations in priority order. This is, you know, what we would recommend and again, why we would recommend it and here's the dollar amount associated with each one of those things. Um, again, having a target helps. I'll probably go below that target as far as reductions because um it'll show you the other thing too is that re keep in mind [snorts] um if
086there are reductions that are made and let's say uh you know Mike Buller said you know 2% might pass two and a half% pass okay but it also might not pass and I want to be prepared for if we have to let's say if it does if we go to the um referendum and it doesn't pass then we have, you know, some things that we could say, well, if if here here's an even worst case scenario. So, >> yeah. And I'll just tell you, you know, not to not to cut you off, but to I think the first this is probably going to go to two votes. Like 2% I think the first vote no matter what is probably going to fail. just my own um you know even as as hard the work I
087I I think the the first budget is going to fail no matter what just I mean that's how strongly people seem to be about the money. >> Yeah. I mean Andover Andover has is asking for an 11% raise. Um and you know Andover's population student population is growing but it's still very hard. It's gonna be really hard to justify that and I don't I don't know where they're going to end up. I don't I'm sure they'll have cuts from there, but I don't think it's going to get down below five five or six% when the when we first when the town first sees it. Um, and I think everyone's going to be fighting back against all budgets. I don't I think that's part of the problem right now is everyone's worried about their their pocketbook
088and the economy is scaring everyone and I so yes I think that is the way to go is to prioritize okay if if we need to cut um [clears throat] 1% off of this one percentage point off of this what would we do if we need to cut two percentage points or two one and a half what would we do and what and if you can give us that guidance, Colin, you know, here's here's the things that that we could cut, can't say most easily, but with with the lease pain. Um, what would they be and and what was the long-term implications? You know, oftentimes it's, you know, it's repairs or maintenance that that end up there. And then there's the long-term piece of that. Well, if we don't do it this year, next year
089it's going to be worse. And how soon before that loading dock is just gone, you know? >> Yeah. >> Well, well, SC Scott, I think you characterized it spot on, which is every reduction is going to have an impact, right? It's it's just going to be saying which one is, you know, prior the prioritization is going to be I think this is going to have the least impact because we can do X, Y, and Z. And then, you know, this is going to have Yeah. So, so every cut we make, whether it's to a program, whether it's to a repair or maintenance line, whether it's to an equipment line or whatever, or or a personnel line, um it's just going to be what impact is going to be, you know, least felt. >> Yep. >>
090I just wanted to add too, it's um always scary when we're talking about eliminating um positions, especially teaching positions. Um, and one of the great valuable things that RAM offers is the variety of programming and the teachers knowledge of material. And it would be just a huge disservice to our children to um take that away. Um, so I hope that there's, you know, some ways that we can play with that so it doesn't impact class size and the programming that we're offering our students. >> Yeah, I I I I hear you, Amy. Um, the other thing that I'll also echo, I I echo the sentiments sentiments about it, you know, what we offer and how we offer it and who offers it is what makes RAM a great district. The other thing too that I
091would say it's also what makes it a very appealing district for students from Colombia and potentially other partnerships that we establish down the line. And so we don't want to be in a situation where we make ourselves less attractive for for you know by inflating class sizes or reducing class offerings to the extent that >> you know our potential Colombia students say you know let me see what they can offer over at EOSmith instead. >> Yep. No, absolutely. And unfortunately, you know, we know that what's about almost threequarters of the budget is [snorts] personnel costs. >> And we worked so hard on those negotiations to give the teachers what they deserve and kind of boost them up to towns right around us. And I, you know, to eliminate teachers and dock that is really going
092to backtrack that morale booster that we did with the salaries, too. >> Yep. So, so yes, I mean I think we need the list of things to do and I'm hoping we can find ways to do this with few at [snorts] least personnel cuts. Um, but >> yeah, I would echo that certainly that personnel cuts in the teaching area probably the last thing we want to do because it's going to have to be what though. It's it's it I'm just I I'm just setting realistic expectations for everybody in this in this meeting that that's going to have to happen. If that if that's the case then Colin so because I understand that may be I mean who knows but there's you know millions or hundreds of thousands of dollars of maintenance and if before we
093get rid of say a math teacher I'd like to know a little bit more why we need to replace science desk tables this year versus another year or you know the chairs or the catch basins or whatever it might be. I know for sure the loading dock is we got to do that because it's falling apart. But there I'm wondering whether there aren't some areas maybe a hall monitor or something like that that should go first before a teaching staff. >> I I I understand that. And as I said, you know, remember I I eliminated a hall monitor position. Um you know, I've already done that. Um and and but but but I agree with you. I'll be able to provide you with a context. I'm I'm not going to come to the table and
094say, "Hey, this is just a position that I need I think we need to get rid of just because I I I 100% every recommendation that I make to you as a collective group will be justified." 100%. I I I hear what you're saying, Drew. I I don't take this is this is not something that I take lightly in any way, shape, or form. Um I I've I as I said I have avoided the idea of reducing staff with the exception of through attrition for the past three years of budgeting um because I don't I did not want to be in this situation. We but now we're in this situation. So we are going to be looking at having to reduce positions of of that that you know currently exist in the district and and
095it's going to impact people. And I'm it's not ominous. I mean, and and the other thing too that I I just want to point out is this happens quite often in school districts across the state. It [snorts] really does. We've been very fortunate because we've had an extremely supportive board. You know, you as a collective group have been extremely supportive of, you know, and we've been very fortunate with with regards to, you know, the the um savvy and and purposeful use of surplus funds to to to, you know, pre- purchase things and and get repairs taken care of. Um, [snorts] again, I just I want to make sure that there's like people aren't going to be surprised when when recommendations that come forward are going to end up being some of them are going to
096be certified teaching positions. Not all of them again, but but they're going to have to be because, you know, a hall monitor position is a $25,000 a year position. A a a teaching position is, you know, between 60 to 100. So, >> so um just to be clear, um what are we asking the administration to go back and do? Do we want a reduction of 2%. Do we want a reduction of more? >> Could could I just Hey, Eva, 1% represents approximately how much? Just just so that we have an I mean assuming it's around 300 some thousand dollars. >> I think it was 314. >> So 314 is 1%. So, you know, >> and that's just an approximate that I'm remembering off the top. >> Yes, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. We're not holding you
097to not holding you to it. Um, >> can can't we can't you I I mean, obviously you can, but you know, in the past I have seen superintendants come with, you know, like you said, a couple of different op this this is what will get us to one, you know, you know, 1% less. This is what'll get us to 2% less. you know, and or someplace in between. Um, I've seen that, you know, many times. And then that at least gives us a little bit of an area as opposed to just coming in saying, you know, how can you get us down two, two and a half percent. You know, starting with say one%, one and a half percent, 2%. >> Absolutely, Pam. I could I could, you know, have that priority list with a
098dollar amount that's associated with it, whatever that line item is or reduction is. And then I can kind of on the side I could have a running total that'll just say, all right, if you do this the first two, it's going to be this much. The the first three, it's going to be this much. Does that make sense? Kind of like a running total as we go down. Um, and then you'll be able to see, all right, well, if we want to hit $300,000, where are we? If we want to hit $350,000, where are we? Um, yeah, that's 100% doable. I think that's the the right approach to to do it. >> Well, and I I mean, I know, you know, uh, Drew said this and, you know, I know Amy said this and I'm
099sure others um, feel the same, but, you know, as far away from the classrooms as we can get. um you know know obviously you know class sizes and so forth but you know if there's any way I think this is a very unusual year u because of handover and he with what they are maybe like you said we put off some of this stuff you know until next year so I I just wanted to you know that that's my feeling as well So, our next budget meeting was scheduled for the 12th, but I think we need to give Colin and his team time and maybe we cancel that one and give them a time to put that um together and we can discuss it at the next board meeting which is February 23rd. Does that
100make sense everybody? Yeah, it's going to be a longer meeting, but that's I think that's probably a good way to do it. When does Colombia have to get back to Columbia students have to make their decision? >> If I'm remembering correctly, they should be making their choice relatively soon. I thought it was sometime in the beginning of February, if I'm remembering correctly. I don't know if Dr. Brrisel is still on the um on the call or not. She might >> Yeah, I think it's it's next Friday, so February 20th. Yep. So, we'd actually have that information before next meeting. >> Um, yeah, hopefully. >> That would be good. >> Yeah. I mean, wouldn't it be great to find out there's 30 of them? >> Yeah. Yeah, that would help. It would be good. >> We'll
101get that. >> And also, you will make the adjustment to the 100% tuition in the process, which is going to make it even worse than the 326 or I I calculated 326, not 314. But anyway, um the the other thing is, you know, there will obviously be a lot of material for this and it'll be tough to digest in a single meeting at our next meeting. Um so if some of this information could perhaps be shared before the meeting to give us a chance to think about it a little bit, it might help that meeting go a little smoother. Yeah, I can I can get the information to, you know, to board members as soon as I'm I'm able to, but it's going to take a while for us to work through this. >> Sure.
102Sure. Absolutely. >> So, so are we agreed that we will not have the meeting on the 12th and then digest materials and ask questions over the next couple of weeks until we get to the the meeting on the whatever it is, the 20some. >> 20 23rd, I think it is. True. >> 23rd. Okay. Yep. [sighs and gasps] Okay. Does anybody have any other questions or comments? >> Okay. Then uh do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> First, Drew was second. All in all in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay, we're good. Thank you everybody. Thank you everybody. I appreciate all for the hard work. Colin, >> very much Colin. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Eva. >> Thank you.