BOE Meeting 1/12/26

001The mission of region 15, a collaborative community committed to excellence, is to educate every student to be productive, ethical, and engaged in a global society through proven and innovative learning experiences supported by a strong community whose decision-making is based in the best interest of all students. Um, we will start with our student representative, Miss Victoria Datlo. Not going to make it today, so I'll be speaking on behalf of her and myself. But for the past week at Pont High School in preparation for midterms, the science honor society hosted yesterday and today science and snacks for all grade levels in preparation for any science course. So taking on for midterms starting on Friday and similar to that tomorrow and Wednesday, math art society is doing the same thing for math courses. And then um last week,

002Key Club at Bon Frog, which is a community service based club for any community service events in Reading 15, Connecticut, um hosted a project where over 35 members helped make police blankets for the Whiskers Pet Shelter showing community engagement. And then finally, um the male and female teams are currently in season for basketball and that's our lives today and they have a game today. So we just have school spirit. >> Great. Thank you. Any questions for >> All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Um we are going to um move forward recognition. >> Okay. We're going to um table that student recognition for now. Um may I have a motion for approval of the December 8th, 2025 regular meeting of the board of education minutes? >> Thank you. Shannon, do you have a second? So

003second by Sally. Any uh comments, questions, requests? All right. All those in favor? I any nays, extensions? Okay. Um next we have the LME roofing project with Matt Miller from Silver Petraelli Artist >> and Michael Michael Chambers as well. >> Okay. Mr. Chambers. >> So, um we go background from Matt sets stuff. So obviously kind of went in this endeavor um this summer so patchy did a study of the three roofs that that were currently under concern which was middle elementary memorial and long meadow and then upon further review kind of putting in order meadow was in the greatest need particularly the shingle sections that are up top um and then Matt and his team did a design he'll kind of take you through just briefly kind of the obviously the roof design and the

004solar pieces that are going on and Hi. >> Hi. Thank you for having us. Um, so we're going to be doing a total tear off of the main building roofs. Um, we have the, uh, as Jose was saying, we have the shingle and the flat roofs. The flat roofs is currently a builtup modified 2 minutes uh, roof. We're going to be taking that off and using a single ply EPDM membrane. Uh, the current energy codes have gone up since this school was originally built. We're going to be increasing the depth of insulation to a minimum of 5 in or R30. Uh there will be other areas where we have in the gray shaded areas. Those are built up even higher um for added insulation to get water flow to your drains. We're going to be

005increasing insulation on the troops as well. also will be using a vented deck system which is a layer of five five inches of insulation on your existing deck with an air channel uh with wood spacers, plywood and then an ice and water and then our fiberglass shingles on top of fiberglass asphalt shingles on top of that. Um all new fixtures, all new drains, all new gutters down spouts will be incorporated into this project. Um as well as the PV. We had a structural engineer analyze the existing the original drawings from 2000 2001. Um they determined that all the flat roof areas are able to hold uh solar panels. The flat the uh the uh pitched roofs are not adequate. So we designed our TV layout Michael did to uh incorporate as much area as possible

006to get your biggest return for your output. Um, we have a budget of roughly just over $3 million. With your uh uh grants from the state, they'll be paying about half of that, I believe. >> Yes. Um, the PB portion is about $612,000. Uh, Michael can tell you about roughly how long with the uh state grant and the Eversource incentives, how long that'll take back so much analysis solar. Um it it was significant which was an original plan to go the solar route but um I mean as as Matt analyzed Mike analyzed it's significant savings. >> Yeah. So basically as Matt said on the flat roofs we loaded it up with PV panels as much as possible. Um then we went online to a governmental website which takes into account the exact location that you

007are in the world, the tilt of the panels and everything and that tells you how much yearly monthly uh KW you're going to be paving. uh which was after running those numbers the system the PV system size was just over 215 KW which would equate to 274,000 uh KW saved per year with a savings of just under $62,000. So with that portion, if the PV had just been by itself, um the project would have been 845,963, which would have given you just under 14 years of payback period of that. But then there's also the 49.29% 29% just under 50% state reimbursement that you would get which would knock that down to about 429,000 with a reimbursement rate of just under seven years uh to get your money back. And then there's also a federal tax

008credit of 30% which is only for the PV portion um as long as the PV portion is in service by the end of this year. as long as construction starts in the summer, that should be no issue whatsoever. Um, so with that included on that, that peaks off other 128,000 which would give approximate $300,000 from the project which would give uh return on investment of just under five years. And then there's also an NRES program through Eversource which basically gives you incentives for going green. So you can sign up for that and then you get racks based off of how much AW you produce. So if we were to put in a bid for $145 per wreck, you could get a max of of just under $34,000 back for that. Everything included, you're talking just

009over a threeyear payback period for the PP portion alone. >> And it is great. But just bottom line, what's extreme causes? Oh, a net net net actually if you look at the um the other exhibit that I have here. Um I mean in in when you're looking at the total dollar cost you're about um it's $3 million project 50% reimburseable. So so 1.4 4 1.5 million is where it comes in at total >> and that's that's all >> yes >> also including the solar rebate on >> yes the rebates and it will be um and then as I kind of broke down where the funding kind of comes from um we in a sense are going to um temporarily use funding on our capital reserve and educational expense account you have the money inside debt

010service which is kind of the the leftover long metal fund which is $1.3 million. Um, so net net that's that's what it's going to count when it's all said. And then you have $33,000 in revenue going for 15 years. >> Will that solar cover the school? >> Uh, you know, I'm not comparing uh I don't think it will cover. >> It won't cover the school, but I can run the numbers to see exactly, but I would have to estimate like 50%. >> Is it covered? Did you you like the the total cost the total the total power use. Long metal is a big air conditioned school so that that would be kind of tough to get all that captured in the winter probably but in the summer when you have all the air conditioning run

011>> they got more sun. >> Yeah that's that that is true in the 3 million it's 154,000 contingency. There's money in for decking issues if we if we run into those or >> Yeah. We also on top of that contingency, we carry a 5% uh debt replacement allowance uh which wouldn't kick in until you actually get the work, but it would be eligible if it required. >> So, what you're asking us later in the evening to approve tonight is this estimate um and basically just a set of specifications. So, then that will go out for bids. >> We'll go to the state for an application. They check all the boxes, make sure they've met the criteria, everything's reimburseable, and then we'll come back, go out to bid, and then the building committee and the board

012will make the final board. That's and I'll change ours to the building committee, and then the board as well because state >> Yeah, there there'll be a presentation or meeting with the state. Um, you get it in for the February. It'll be sometime in February. Uh, we meet with the state and go over everything. Once that was approved, then we'll go out to bid most likely by, you know, third, fourth week of February for a late March uh bid arrival. So getting ready for as soon as school is out in June, have them mobilized and work through the summer. >> And then Joe, when do you anticipate you to make the draw from reserve funds and when we anticipate reimbursement? >> Board will make usually reimbursement takes about two to three months from the state.

013So we would then obviously we won't really make the big payments as we get into July but the board will make the allocation of the reserve funds. My guess would be in February and March time once you get cost assessments back in final. >> Okay. Yeah allocate money. We don't we won't expense it till again probably some as you go to July and August those paid drops. >> So just from a sequencing perspective from a board standpoint we do have a policy uh on you know the use of those funds. Yes, >> that's under review. And then I was just talking about we don't have a back on the board yet, but I feel like that's something that we'll need to address before we draw funds. You recall some of those funds we did want

014to allocate for special education and we had a stipulation on drawing down the special ed budget. >> So I don't know, you know, how that'll come into effect. We'll have to talk about that. There's over two million in the fund and the original carve offer special is what 450,000 475 434,000 I think the exact >> thought it was like 50 >> I don't know >> the 450 430 from the state 200 >> um but we'll come back to that and obviously literally it's just a it's really just to cover the state dollars till we get the money back >> these are the estimates those aren't the final bids bids better come higher see where they a bidding environment. Mac, can you speak to that for a second? How how we find it like with bidding

015environment for rooms as far as Oh, yeah. I mean, there's at preid it's usually the same 10 12 contractors from throughout the state. Well, come um there are some bigger companies that are obviously, you know, more difficult to work with. We we work with most of them throughout the state. Um like I said, we we put it out to bid uh give them a week or two to review. we'd have a uh mandatory pre-bid walkthrough at the school and then have a RFI uh request for information period extended another possibly two weeks after that. Um we'll boil that down into the um invitation to bid in the front end package prior to that. Um, typically about a four to five week process for a a root bid. And then once we get them in, um,

016we will, uh, you know, sit down with the two, three low biders and vet them out, make sure they carried everything, uh, and then there's no surprises and then, you know, uh, give our recommendation to award the contract. We also use an owner's rep on the project. So the project will be overseen by not only the architect but also the third party that through I'll talk about finance coming up either such a forest or someone in that capacity will kind of function as our eyes and ears in the job as well. I' I'd be there on a weekly basis and um typing up field reports that I distribute to um both uh board of ed and the uh contractor, but uh having a a clerk in the works or uh you know that's just a

017little bit more oversight for um the owner or for for you guys. So the the final award that's um is that recommended by the building committee to the board of ed or is this a building committee just decided? >> Building committee to the board. >> Okay. And that has to be done before what time >> before we can basically be in that like let's say mid-Marchch window or something. Yes. >> Yeah. That's that's all driven by state. >> Any other questions? This just begins the chart. >> Thank you for coming. Appreciate it. Appreciate your perspective. >> All right. Next, we have um the GSPS building update. We'll invite Tecton to come on up. Ouch. Thank you. Okay. This And while you guys are setting up, I just wanted to say um that we asked Pepon

018to come uh here tonight um based on our prior board of ed meeting in December. mber um where we had a robust discussion on um how to move forward with this uh project. Um just very much appreciate um all the board member feedback that we got. Um, and I'd like to thank uh the administration and Tecton um for uh working over December and January over the holiday as well um on all the questions that we wanted to have gathered um so that we could be prepared um to move forward on this or not. Um, so I just want to say thank you um for all the time and effort you guys have put in. Um, and again very much appreciate the robust discussion that the board had at our last meeting and hopefully this will

019be a full night. >> Great. Go ahead. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh, good evening everybody. Uh, my name is Jeff Pazinski Tecton Architectsella architectural designer at Tecton Architects. >> Okay. So, we've handed out a copy of the slide deck that was uh circulated um last week and then I think some some folks in the audience have it as well. Um and as the uh chair had mentioned um the slide deck is prepared basically in response to all the questions uh that we had at our last meeting and going to start with um so the first slide in is just a summary. Um I know we've had many conversations about the various different sites that we reviewed um here both at um the board of ed but also with our ad hoc committee.

020Um so this is the summary slide for those that are either watching this online or in the audience. This is the summary slide of all the sites that we studied. So we we studied a total of eight uh sites overall plus the two existing school sites. And as you know, we spent um quite a bit of time. >> You just click and drag that. >> Um so what we did is um we created this uh site writing chart um and it's based on all the conversations and feedback that we've had uh with you folks and uh the committee uh to date. And um on the left side of this slide that lists all eight actually 10 properties starting with the current GES and PDS site and it goes through um I won't read all of

021them but all eight sites. Um the next column over is the current owner of the properties. Just as a reminder, um any property that basically either needs to be acquired um will have to go through basically a referendum process um but also um from a state perspective when you're looking at a grant application if you were looking at acquisition site acquisition. They'll also be looking for two independent appraisals. So um so we we thought that the second column over was an important piece and then the next series of columns are really the site evaluation criteria and what we tried to do is be um I guess fair and balanced with our approach to this. Obviously, each one of these columns is rated at this point equally um as far as their importance. Um and we

022basically assigned a a very basic one, two, three kind of prioritization, the the red, yellow, and green. And we went through each of the sites and you can go through each Yes. um each property if you'd like. I'm not sure how detailed you want me to get or if you want to just give a high level summary here. >> Is that summary >> summary? High level because we're going to get into detail in a couple more properties later. >> So, um we thought the color coding would be most appropriate. So, you can see from a topography or grading perspective. What we looked at is with each of the sites is how much grading you would need to do. So how steep the slope is on the site, how much earth work that would directly relate

023to cost. Um so you'll see the ones that scored I guess the highest on that would be uh sites one and two um with plus seconds of the current GSPs site and then strong town road. Then we looked at environmental abatement. So things like if there's existing buildings on site, um previous use or known previous use, you could run into both uh hazardous building material removal, but also site environmental um concerns as well. So we tried to be um judicious in this as well. Um you can see the one that scored the lowest um is the Southbury training school because um fortunately or unfortunately there were many studies previous studies conducted there and um we have a couple copies of those and reviewed those as far as um site environment. So some of the buildings

024that are on site um all contain just because the age and their construction um contain hazardous materials. So you would have to go through that process as far as So that's some of the reasoning behind the low score there as you move towards the right um demolition. So if there are existing structures or site improvements that need to be dealt with, what are those and how would they impact the overall construction cost and also schedule? Um acquisition is is a pretty simple one. Um obviously if you have control uh over the existing public sites then those um scored higher than ones that are private or known. Um so we just wanted to illustrate that graphically. Utilities is a big one. We had a lot of conversations both at our um ad hoc um group as

025we work through the planning process. Um, as you know, um, both sites or both school sites, um, have on-site septic. Um, GES has the possibility of connecting to the sewer line. We asked, um, CT water, um, to really look into and they're conducting an analysis now of capacity analysis, but also a connection analysis as well. Um so we rated all of the sites accordingly um to that to the site utilities and access to public water sanitary. Um traffic was another um topic of great discussion particularly at the last meeting as well. But um the separation of uh the ability to separate both bus and parent drop off and pickup um but also the ability to relieve some of the traffic congestion as you enter and diggress the site was um part of discussion that we

026had um at our last meeting but also as we developed the planning options. So you can see there um again rating them accordingly um location in the district um in the next few slides that we've collected and we've we've overlaid um the density maps from the uh demographic report with the locations of your existing schools but also the proposed site. So it'll make a little more sense once we we show you that graphic, but generally speaking, we were looking at where the densities or the populations of students are or will be coming from and in the relationship to those sites. So that's why you see the mostly um green for the top half of this the slide here. Um with some of the properties being further out um the one that's the furthest out from

027the existing catchment areas or the the existing attendance zones is strong town though. So that's why it's so important. Um community of butters um was another consideration. Um basically understanding um the reason why the existing sites scored highly is because they're already um school sites. Um when you start looking at some of the other properties uh for existing uh for example um Kettle Town and we have some more um detailed slides that talk about that property as well. But what are the adjacent uses? Um what can they be? What are they currently um future use? Those kinds of things came into play when we started looking at community and butters. Then of course the last column here is the overall score. So you can see that on the uh top three that were scored highly

028were really the ones that we spent, you know, this process was over the last three, four, five months or so where we evaluated, analyzed these various different sites for um in in various different levels of detail. Um and where we landed was more or less looking taking a very hard look at the possibilities on the existing sites. Could those be the best sites possible? They are um current sites as as they exist. And then I think most at this board, but also in the public know that we spent a little bit more time looking at Roxbury Road um because that was a viable site from a location that scored highly on a variety of different uh site evaluation criteria. So again, I know I'll leave it there. we can go back to any kind of

029questions you may have or discussion might want to have about each of the sites. Uh the next series of slides um start to build the dialogue around um the future, right? Where is the best location for these schools? And this graphic, the the green, the red going clockwise around the slide, the green, the red, and the yellow with the various different you can see the darker dots that illustrates the density of the student population. >> So when you start studying this map, you can see where the students are coming from and their relationship to the existing school sites. So you can see when you draw, you know, this this red kind of overlay, the area of the highest density is is more towards um the eastern portion of this map. And then when we had

030more dialogue about the Southbury training school, in particular Pierce Hollow site, what might have to happen or some of the dialogues that this court would have to have is what what happens to those those attendance zones? Does PES move to site four which is the Pierce Hollow or is does the PES student population slide to the GES site and then GES slide to Pierce Hollow? So those are the some of the conversations that you need to have and we did have when we analyzed uh the sites previously and that is the very reason why we landed with those top three on the previous slide that we were also asked to look at um the South Berry Training School Pierce Hollow site more detail. So, we did that. And for those that have been following along

031over the last few months, this graphic should look somewhat familiar to you. So, just to kind of ceue it up, the yellow outline is the property, the total property, right? So, that's about 219 acres. Pierce Hollow is that white kind of uh uh outline, if you will. Um towards the bottom of the slide. The blue the blue areas are um right off of the um town GIS website. Those are the wetland areas. So again, we didn't go out and flag wetlands, but we're using the information that we have available to us on the GIS. So those are more or less no build areas, those blue shaded areas. And towards the right portion of this site in the yellow boundary, you see those green. I don't know if you can read those from from where you're

032sitting, but those are very steep slopes, right? So, we're talking about 20 30 foot grade over about 100 feet. So, it's it's steep. It's u it would be quite costly to try to develop a building of about 95,000 square feet in that portion of the site. um works fairly well if you if you look towards the right works fairly well for smaller homes on you know in in anybody familiar with um Charter Road I'm familiar with all because I think we got lost at that community conversation when we went out there but um they're all kind of layered and stepped at various different elevations. Um, so smaller buildings you can you can u manage and navigate those kind that kind of topography with terrain a little easier than a 95,000 square. So that's the reason

033why we kind of ruled out that portion portion of the site. So when you zoom in and the so again the bottom half and I apologize for zoom on the screen here but the bottom half so this portion >> that white is now before you move on talk about the last >> so you've done a good job I think laying out the topographical challenges fact that that's a over 200 foot grade on the other side >> and some of the other uh concerns of low soils Um, but I don't want to get confused and act as if this is still an option because we now know that this property is not available to us. >> Is that correct? >> Like we've been told the state is not interested in >> So there's different parts of

034the property. I'm going to let Josh speak to this mind because you spoke to >> So this property is about 200 acres or 214 acres. U can't read it back but that total yellow piece the state sees it as two different properties. So the top half kind of where the the two top green squares are is one piece. The state has said that part is not available to us at all. They have plans for that. The bottom part they've already somewhat seated to the town build affordable housing. There's been conversation of would the state consider uh instead of it being affordable housing, would they consider allowing us to vote? That is undecided and we haven't gotten to that final. Either way, that would still take uh an legislative act to change. Um and we're uncertain.

035So the the next slide that Jeff's going to go to is that lower right area there, the piece that the state has said it hasn't closed the door, so to speak. That's the part that we spend a little more time because if we wanted to build there, we as the board of ed would have to request state legislators to handle it. Um, and before we would consider that, we did the next layer of uh review which we we kind of didn't before we didn't go beyond this because of the slope, >> right? >> But upon request, we went and now you can go ahead. >> Sure. >> Zoom in. >> So So this is that white area. Yeah. >> Um at a much more granular scale. Jeff, do you mind just moving that bar? Just

036put it up on the top there. You should be able to just click and grab it. >> Yeah. Then everybody can see and then I'll let you. So this is the piece that the state has closed the door on. We haven't >> also known as Pierce Hollow. >> Yeah. This particular portion of the site is known as Pierce Hollow. This map is is from um an archaeological uh phase one study. Um there's been a couple different studies on the site overall. There's been environmental studies both on site and building. So material wise hazardous materials in the building site environmental on the soils. This is an archaeological study um or at least this graphic is that um identified several different findings on the site. Um so we were asked to just take another look um at

037from our last board meeting. There was interest on the site. Um so the blue area the the line that's indicated in the blue is a basically buffer to an existing um gray. Um and then the green areas are the areas where they found um artifacts. So this next slide, so left side of this slide is so basically the archaeological study was commissioned, I'm not sure by whom, I think by the state um several years back. Um all those circles, those red circles are pest. So they go out and they dig holes and they and they look for for um artifacts. And um luck would have it that some of those areas, th the ones that are that are solid, I guess, red squares or uh blue ovals, um found historical artifacts and Native American artifacts

038um in those areas that are on the left map in the areas of the the green area. So that so basically in the center of for those that are familiar with the site that oval area which is this oval area here is basically the green in the center of all of the the homes the houses the residential structures that surround it. And then uh the the the buffer that I was speaking to is this left side here. That's about a 25 or 30 foot buffer to the existing graveyard. And then they found some more artifacts down kind of more towards I guess southwest corner of the site and then a few more up on this hill here. So what we did is we do have some experience um working with Shipo um state historic preservation

039office. Um that that would be the body that you go to to coordinate. Um that is uh basically they're they're the folks the the organization that would um work closely with DE to allow approvals of any kind of use, forget about um schools, any kind of reuse, adaptive reuse, whether it be residential or educational um you would have to work with that office. So, we reached out to to um their office um provided on the right side of the screen um and I'll set this up very briefly. We provide a a very quick diagram. This isn't a design. It's a a diagram of uh twotory 98,000 square foot building which is in that blue area. parking field that would accommodate that uh the proposed size school. And then um the green oval areas are proposed

040playfields kind of surrounding the back and sides of the building. Um and then the red line is the proposed access drive. So really just what I what we were after is a diagram to provide to the state to ask what is the process. So um so the feedback on that is um they would request a phase two um that phase two study archaeological study would um basically you would dig more holes you would look for the artifacts and then um basically it would be it's likely buildable um just would take more time. So you would need probably another eight months to a year to u conduct all of these tests and go through necessary approvals. Um but what we wanted to do at a very high level to just understand if you could use this

041site >> we would pay for the testing >> uh somebody yeah be an independent consultant. Yeah. >> Yes. I'm not quite sure who has care and control this site if it's I understand that it was allow the state allow is going to allow potential for adaptive housing but I'm not sure who actually controls the site but yes there would be an independent one some owner would have to pay for this this study um my best guess we went through this to certain extent very I guess to a lesser extent on a on one of the pro uh properties in Cheshire. Um had to do some holes digging um but there were no artifacts found. So u so this is a slightly different story. We have we know that there's something there. Um quite honestly we

042try to stay away from redeveloping sites like this but um we were asked to study it. So we wanted to articulate what we found. Is it possible? Yes, anything's possible. this would add um a fair amount of time to the overflow project. Um so >> so and if more artifacts are found it becomes a nogo. >> Uh it becomes more complicated. I won't say that it's impossible. It just would mean that you may have to um to um remove them, relocate them um as per uh whatever you find. That's the reason for the phase two. Um I don't want to rule it out. Um but what I wanted to identify through this effort was that it's going to add time. So >> and then we would lose sorry I just want to clarify we would

043lose the 15% extra for the prek component because by the time this was done that times >> um >> potentially >> nothing's guaranteed. not true. Um my my biggest concern on this would be um you know the end result of where you place a building. Um there's a couple this next slide um talks a little bit more detail of of some of the things. So it would add 8 to 12 months of time to the project. My concern with a project of this magnitude would be escalation, right? So add a year of escalation. That's a real cost that you would see. Um the other piece that you would you would need to some shy to would be to go through this the state to make sure that it could be used as a site because

044I don't think it can be as of right now. Um so that's I'm not sure as far as what time frame or um legislative act or approval that's required. Um just keep in mind that this is a short session this uh winter spring. Um, so if you wanted to hit a grant application, you would have to hit you have to get on that. So those are the two from a timeline perspective. Um, I mentioned the cemetery, so they're popping up as they go through clockwise. Um, there's significant grade around the the kind of the top half this slide. So the northern half and eastern half. And I want to be clear that this site as it's shown currently this nine plus acres um you can get a building on there. You can get parking, but

045you're not going to get um a couple soccer fields, youth fields. It's not you you'll get outdoor play and outdoor education, but you're not going to be able to fit without substantial modifications to topography out the northern eastern side. Um you're not going to get larger field. So just so talked about the grading and then the last piece that um just keep in mind if you want to continue to pursue is that there's um basically a singular point ingress and access is an egress point of the site that would require some manipulation of the grade because you for For buses, you want to be 5 to 7%. Right now, it's like 8 to 10%. So, you would have to do some more work and grading to get the the access drive, I guess I would

046call it safe and manageable for school. So, yeah, you're you're drive you're driving different types of vehicles onto the site compared to if it was just residential. So that's I maybe went a little long but that's we did dig in deeper because we were asked to happy to go over this um again if anybody has any questions you want to go on to the IBM site or is it okay um so then real quickly on the IBM site um couple things happened um What was the date that July, right? >> So, a couple of things happened from when we first started looking at it to today. Um, as far as the use, um, so we, this slide should look familiar familiar. Same setup. Yellow is the boundary of the entire site. The white um areas

047are the proposed buildable areas if you weren't going to reuse the building. Um so a couple things that um this group should be aware and and the public that um the zone did change although it's not codified I don't believe just yet um from R 60C to industrial IND. Um so that's um basically light industrial um so manufacturing things like battery storage distribution centers we all know some of the major companies that um I think are out there that are looking for more distribution centers. Um so that was a change from when we first started looking at it. So we've identified that that here. The other piece is when you dig into that um dome text change um it prohibits educational facilities. So I think you would have to go back through we've done some

048planning in South Korea. You would have to go back through um special permit to get I think to get an exception for education. So just keep that in mind. It it's possible um it would just probably add to a little bit it would add some time to the overall schedule. Is that just a Isn't that now the state statute because of what happened in Mbury? Right. There's a new state statue about right buildings, schools being close to distribution centers. >> I think we're not between 5,000 8,000 residents. >> Yeah. Between 5,000 6,000 8,000. Oh, they're the >> Yeah, I'm not quite sure. I mean, we um sometimes it does happen that's that educational uses next to industrial um probably wouldn't be on high on the list as far as ideal adjacent uses. Uh so and

049it's not within basically the town's control because so what you're looking at is one site. What I think the proposal is is to subdivide an existing site. So first I I the challenge is is I'm not sure that that's possible or the owner it's a private owner would want to do that. Um but you would have to go back in and get subdivision of existing property. um which would require all kinds of um basically setback analysis, usable land, um impervious areas, all of that kind of stuff to make buildable lots out of this existing site. Um I'm not um entirely familiar with all of the utilities up there, but I do know that they have created their own kind of on-site um septic sewer system, the water usage, those kinds of things. So that would

050be another um I guess opportunity and challenge if you were to share those utilities that gets a little it would be maybe like a condominium type of idea where you're sharing those utilities. So um it does get a little complicated because you're what you're trying to do is take one site and divide it into multiple. So um so it's possible but anyways I'm identifying the changes that um occurred from our last presentation. So that's what happened in August. Um that bottom piece which you probably can't read is just I found everything on the town website as far as the the um the language related to the use the IND use and when it was approved. Um and then we were asked to look at lastly um so you see the white um parcel this area

051right down on the bottom of your screen is about 9 acres and when you zoom into that um we're asked to take a harder look at could you get access or develop some kind of access um utilizing or leveraging the existing development which is the Calvary fellowship. Um the answer is yes. I think they would be I think there were some preliminary conversations about um either an easement or a parcel or um a portion of the site um being acquired so that you can gain access. I think you're up against all the same things that we talked about at the last meeting. Right. So the the change in grade is going from about 480 at Kettletown Road to about 530. Um so again it's um we just want to be we want to recognize that

052we want to make sure that that grade on that road is between five and seven and a half% buses to make sure it's safe. So um yes it's possible. Um it would take survey. It would take some time to acquire the property. Does it require a referendum for any kind of purchase on this property whether it's property we talked about on the previous slide or this? So um a little bit more information on the site. Um we did dig in and I think these answers are give you a little bit more flavor for what would be what the process would decide to go this spring. That summarizes what we were asked to look at from a site perspective. I can go into the schedule or park it here. >> Yep. >> I just had a

053quick question. Is there a major financial incentive or something for these two properties? Because there are two lowest rated properties. >> We just went through a deep dive. Is there a reason why we want to dig deeper on these two? So I would say that the reason to dig deeper on the pierce hollow the south berry training school was at the request of the first sele and the request to go into deeper dive of IBM because there were some unanswered questions that board members felt that they were there. So that's why we just did those two. >> I appreciate the deeper dive. I'm just curious like we spend all this extra time on the two lowest graded properties which seems like you're not following the path of least resistance kind of thing. Yeah. Okay. That's

054all I want to know. Thank you. >> Y just because the property and the road to the property may involve two ent two different entities. This would be a situation where in a referendum you would have to identify both of those entities as place people you would want to purchase the property from. Would they have to be separate questions? like do you open yourself up to a situation where we could purchase the property but not the road or vice versa? And >> I I would think a lawyer would have to advise how best to acquire that. Whether that would be an outright purchase or an easement and it would be subject to negotiation with the current owner. >> So I think that's a legal >> but would it have to be on referendum as a

055different question. >> A purchase has to be >> purchase. >> Yeah, >> maybe separate purchases. So again, I was brought to the attorney, but I believe they'd have to be separate questions because they're two separate purposes. >> Okay, schedule. Um, we went back through the schedule. Um, so we have a couple different schedules. one graphic showing the months across the top, the activities on the left hand side. Um, and then we have the next slide shows basically a list form. So, let me walk you through this real quick because I I think for those that have been um reviewing previous presentations um this has been included. We've updated it. We've slid some of the activities and we've identified some action dates. So the top half is land due diligence. We did some of that for

056some of the sites that we're interested in. Um the I guess the biggest takeaway as it relates to uh the J a June 30th deadline um is in the middle of this slide which is um and we can talk about this make a little later on is making sure that um if you are committing to u the May 6th referendum um you want to tackle the the additional square footage of the buildings programmatically through special legislation. So I I put it there because just want to make sure it's top of mind. The the the rest the remaining portion of that slide the deeper blue as you work down the bottom. Those are all the grant list application activities that you need to to basically achieve. Not all of them, but the major top 10 I

057guess if I was doing a letterman. Those are the top 10 of the grant application process. The ones that are important from a uh logistic and planning are educational specifications similar to what we reviewed with the um the roof earlier. Um so you'll need an educational specification for the project for both setup. Um, so you submit it, you need to vote on it and we need to certify minutes from the so that's going to require two or three meetings. So we've identified that. Same thing with um if you're proceeding with a different site um it's called 824 basically approval of using the site as a as an educational use. There's u the establishment of the building committee, the authorization um to proceed with the plans and specifications and then the authorization of the superintendent to

058submit the grant applications. So those are um really um the certified resolutions that we wanted to flag. They can happen um they should happen anytime before June 30th. we've identified and over overlapped the dates that I think uh there was a list of schedule circulated u but I just the major takeaway on all that is really need two meetings you need to vote and then you need to certify so I just wanted to >> sorry number two was only if we're not using a property that has already met a designated >> yeah okay for schools >> if we picked a different property than the ones that are already on would have number Yeah. If if there's if Right. Yes. If you're going to a property that doesn't currently have a site, um the way the

059statute reads is either planning and zoning needs to basically confirm that it's consistent to long range plan and development of your community and or it could be handled administrative plan. So either way, it needs to be >> if we were staying on the sites that we're already on, don't do the two. >> Yeah. It's more it's it's more administrative than ever. >> So what's the timing that we have to get to the town clerk saying, "Okay, we want this to be on 30 days, 60 days." >> Yeah. >> So for the school construction uh for sorry for Yeah. school construction grants 30 days. So that would be April 6th. We have a board meeting that night. However, it's after the close of business. So we've it uh is the next slide Jeff the table of

060this >> so what we've done is overlaid the remaining board meetings for the year with those action items u so the referendum language we're projecting um in order to create referendum late and you need to have a public hearing for school construction six days before that uh those things are laid out in statute uh the school budget you don't have to have the same amount of lead time and the school budget is two weeks. So, we tried to lay here the public hearing for the bond, public hearing for the school budget, the adoption of the uh referendum for school construction, and then the referendum uh the budget process. So, they'll kind of run parallel uh but with school construction one running uh slightly ahead. So >> I see adopt region April 6 adopt budget for

061referendum. Should there be a line item that says vote on language to send a referendum >> that or does that happen on the 23rd? >> It could happen on 23rd or the 25th as long as it h as long as we notice the town clerk on or before April 6th. That is the the target date for referendum language for school construction. >> Uh thank you for moving bond presentation up. I know that was feedback we had from bond attorneys in. So thank you for listening and getting that. >> We've already spoke to both the bond attorney and the u bond advisor uh and and confirm they're available that night. Any other questions? Okay. We were also asked to update costs whether to be uh a clear understanding of cost related to new versus renovate as

062new. So we have two slides. We'll start with PES first. Left side left side is the renovate as new costs. Right side is new construction. Um we didn't do the the faucet analysis as far of revising all those numbers but um long story short u basically this data this analysis and all the detailed backup to to arrive at these summary numbers shows you that they're more or less neck and neck but the new construction overall um inclusive of on the PS site inclusive of the demolition of the existing building all the site development. It's the new construction. Um the sustainability enhancements should you choose them. That totals about 77.5 million for the for the building and site construction. And then the other project costs are your owner contingency, FFN, all your soft costs, owner, OPM,

063testing, all of those related costs. Um, furniture, technology. Um, so that's what's in other project costs. That's the way the state really looks at it is the construction cost and then other project costs. And then you can See the biggest delta in the numbers is uh pretty much all the way down three lines up from the bottom which is the cost escalation. If you remember we wanted to make sure that we're comparing apples to apples um from should you submit a grant application and proceed as per the schedule that we had presented the midpoint of construction would be three years. So that's three years compounded at four and a half% is about 18 million for a new construction and it would be about four and a half years for renovations. So that's where some of

064those still come in. Obviously there's other things like uh the predictability of new construction versus renovation those kinds of things. But just simply put I just wanted to show these two because that's what we're asked to do. Um, so that's PEES before you move. Sure. One other piece I want to point out with renovation, especially for PEES. Uh what we hear continuously is traffic on Main Street and renovating PES does not allow for new traffic patterns into the school uh because we're not moving it back um where the new construction will allow us to move the school further back on the lot and put those longer uh par drop off lines and longer bus cues um which will pull off traffic off of Main Street. So I guess one big piece and I put it

065in big letters and I didn't mention it. So um the analysis as far as at the bottom line where it says estimated total cost to your district that is assuming that you get that space. So every square footage for the building is going to be first. So that's why I brought GES same structure. Um there's and a lot of detailed backup to arrive at these numbers. Um, but they're again neck and neck as far as the the total project costs. Same more or less the same um delta in the the costation. Um the numbers are a little different just because the buildings the sites are a little different. The building size existing building size is a little different. Uh, so those that's the summary of GES and I think that's it. You put a couple

066backup slides in there. I'm happy to go over those as well. We are we had a good conversation about um access roads at PDS and traffic and what what couldn't couldn't happen on that site. So if you'd like me to go over that, I can. >> Great job. Thank you. Any further questions? Yeah, >> I mean definitely thank you just piggy back on a question just Jeff asked earlier like why are we spending time on these topics and I think that dovetales nicely with some feedback we've received recently from you know perception from some in the community that maybe this is taking more than it So when I saw your Gant chart timeline, the impression I took from that is that we are still on track for a May referendum, which this board said, I

067think definitively last minute that we're interested in having this go recommended in May. Um with regard to those two properties like you said Marian I think the spending the time that we have the time to spend demonstrates that um the administration the board our architectural firm has been very open to community suggestion. um we're looking at, as you said, we're looking at the training school because the first selectman came to our last meeting and asked us to look at it and we had the time to do it and I think it was a very, you know, valuable exercise. Um, and then when the first selectman had his meeting with the state in the middle of December and found out that property was no longer available, he asked us to then look at Pierce Hollow Village,

068which is something we had ruled out previously, but I think again that's very attuned. I mean, I'll only speak for myself, but I would very much like, you know, our new first selectmen in both towns to be very willing partners in this process. So, I don't mind spending the extra time to investigate those questions. you know, they're both late entrance to this. I don't mind spending the time. I think that's a good investment. Uh the IBM access road, that was a suggestion from the community. Someone who's been very helpful in this process asked us to look at obtaining a right of way and now we know definitively it doesn't work, but I think it was worth investigating. So, this information, I think, was very helpful. It helped me at least mentally close the door on

069some of these as as no longer being possibilities, and I appreciate the extra to it. >> Anyone else? I mean I I mean I do I do appreciate consolidated presentation and the nice both the nice um kind of scorecards that we have here. Um I think just in terms of moving forward and and looking at looking at the micro schedule right now is um is that we don't really talk about this again until March 25th. And so, you know, I feel like, you know, my questions are answered and, you know, I'm ready to move forward, but I I would hate to get to March 23rd and be uncertain about what properties we're looking at, what that referendum question looks like. So I just I would kind of like a temperature of you know where we

070are with that or if we need another meeting in between to kind of catch up on that. So that's that's my concern. >> I so we put this together based on the actions that the board needs to take. This is not we could talk about this as a standing agenda item. I mean we're still going to have design work happening. We're going to have edspecs developing. There's a lot of community work and if you look on that uh top part of that chart where those red lines are about community and staff I hope stay there Jeff community and staff uh engagement conceptual design options those are all happening. So whether or not that is members of this uh board that sit or participate in those that give updates or whether we come back and give

071updates um I don't that's an excellent question because our intent wasn't to give you a schedule that said there's nothing else in the board. It was more of making sure that the action items and the milestones were on that that people asked like what do we need to do? What are the important dates for us to hit? wanted to capture that on that timeline, but that is not at all like all inclusive of everything. We expect that between now and March 23rd, board will have multiple updates and touch points with what's going forward. >> So, I mean, that's reassuring. Um, but still very very limited number of meetings that we're having between now and then. So, I guess, you know, if if there's if there's other like big questions, um, you know, I I kind

072of want to have a road map to how we resolve those. Um, but again, I'm just throwing this out there like I I don't know. I you know I feel pretty comfortable with the plan of moving forward based on you know building on the properties that we already have but um that's just me >> right I I do think that the motion that we have coming up later on to to >> do you think that's the most appropriate place to discuss that I mean I think if there's any other outstanding question we could talk about here we could talk about there you know but what hope like My my hope is that we're going to Where did I put my agenda? >> Um, thank you. Yeah, my hope is that we're going to, you know,

073have a vote on whether to approve narrowing down the focus to the option two, the feasibility study recommendation or not like and I hope that that if there's other questions that board members will speak up now or then >> I could just add a comment because I I think that you open the meeting appropriately. The last meeting was a really dynamic conversation and I actually think that it was really a beneficial conversation because it it got us to this point which I think is kind of to to kind of piggyback on what Tom said. It helps to really understand how things were done and what was evaluated. and as a board member wherever this goes is the information is available that we can go back to the community say based off of the information we

074have this is how we cast our vote etc etc so I really do thank you for the the presentation tonight um I think to Heather's point it we're still in the start of a journey and it never stops and so I'd like to think that this was a really good lesson and it's something that we continually integrate in how we move forward because in In my opinion, the way we work most effectively is to ensure that the content and the information is presented in the best way possible so we can make the right decisions at the right time based off of the information that becomes available because it's always going to be dynamic. It's always going to change. So whether it's a standing agenda, whether it's a formal meeting, whether it's a pre-eread, whatever it

075is, my expectation would be that that and again this is just me, but that that would be a continual dialogue. And the way we become better, faster, more efficient is to ensure that we really do reflect on the last two meetings and see what did it be to get to where we are and as certain things add to this, how what's the best way we can share that information moving forward. And to me that's critical however we we decide because it's the best use of our time when I think we're all trying to get to what that end goal is. Um so just a comment. Um I'll leave it there. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Uh next we have information and proposals uh policy and curriculum committee Miss Heather. So policy and

076curriculum met according to our new schedule for the first time this evening. So we are meeting once a month for an hour and a half. Um meeting went very well. We reviewed six policies and um decided uh I think there's a as a purse that we would be removing a policy from policy. So um we will we will learn how to do that together. Um but it was a it was a good meeting. We definitely used a whole hour and a half. Um and uh we did decide that we are not going to meet in February because we do have that professional development meeting and central office and just as a matter of just streamlining that I had planned um not to have meet in March and um already so we just stopped that. So

077we will not meet in February. BNC will meet the end of March. Um the other stack of papers that you have before you um are sorry um yeah um >> we talked about these a little bit last time. These are new course proposals. This is a little thinner than we've seen in the last couple years, but there's still some stuff in here. Um so there is a new course um for Spanish 4 cultural identity. Um there is a revised course and this is just taking an existing college algebra course some kind of reformatt course that students can take for um college credit and then we do have a new textbook for our advanced placement in this uh government and politics course. So that that will be a an update. Um, are there any questions about

078these are on the agenda? >> Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um, next we have a building committee update by Miss Shannon Kavalo. So, most of the update is what you guys saw on the roofing study and we have a vote right later on. So, not much of an update. Any questions? Okay. PTO advisory miss. >> So PTO advisory met on January 8th. Um I think it was a great discussion um with a lot of diverse topics but they all had a somewhat of a connected theme. Um the conversation started with a a discussion related to the leaks at PES that segueed into the air quality uh the work that had been done there and the availability of the air quality report um uh at at the school if needed um as well as the

079placement of air purifiers in in the fifth uh grade wing classrooms. Um there was also a very dynamic discussion um related to the PESGS new school projects. Um not only a reflection of the last uh board member meeting um but also kind of queuing up uh what the agenda was looking like for today. And then the last conversation was related to RMS activities. Um our next meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at central office on February 5th. >> February 5th. any questions for shared. >> Okay. Uh, next we have board member comments. >> I have a quick one. >> Okay. Um, I went to the RMS concert on Saturday. It was their trial run of a full school concert uh on Saturday. So, it was a a long concert depending on if you had a

080sixth grader or eighth grader. I don't this time. Um, but it was it was nice. It was nice to see a full auditorium. Granted, we had some seats missing because they're out getting fixed, but the new seats look beautiful um there in and it was it was a great concert. So, I actually liked it to be able to see everybody in there. It was a little wonky with the parking lot, I will admit, because there were a lot of things going on at the same time. Um but it was it was fun. >> But Steve, >> um so this really isn't going to take long. try to be brief. Uh I once you request I guess a presentation or that something gets addressed in a presentation um we have um this is going to seem

081like a nonsequator but we do have budget meetings coming up and we have the actual budget presentation in about a month and about two months from now we'll have the budget workshops. Uh we also have coming up um the performance uh presentation where they believe Dr. Chief will talk about the scores the uh standardized testing scores. Um and then there's the next generation reports that we often refer to when we talk about district performance. Um so that they're published now so we can look at those performers for the 2425 school year. And specifically, I wanted to talk about um special education spending and um the performance gaps for high need students. So the I looked at region 15 and then the other districts we normally look at region 14, New Town, Brookfield, Avon, Oxford, and

082I meant to look up New Fairfield, but I just realized I pulled from Milford. Um and the scores it talks about if you have your your talks about ELA, math, and science. It talks about the um the non high needs rate student scores like the average and the non high high need students and the high need students and what those scores are and who can meet the the benchmark. And then it talks about the gap between the two. And if your gap is greater than the state average gap plus one standard deviation, it sort of marks you as outlier. And so for all three subject areas, English, math, and science, we're marked as outliers. Yes. Yes. And yes. So which means our gap is particularly high. Then um it also talks about the percent of

083budget spend on their word special education. State average is 25.7%. And for all the districts I mentioned, none of those districts had gaps. So for English, language arts and science, they were not outliers. So their their gap in performance was smaller than the state average plus one standard deviation. Smaller. So none of those districts had gaps. Um >> really gap. >> Oh, sorry. Oxford. Yes, Oxford. Um Oxford did have um No, no. I'm sorry. Let me just So according to this, none of the other districts I looked at had gaps. Maybe something had gaps. uh none of them had their gaps were not so big as to be counted as outlined. Now we're going to talk about the then I I want to mention the percent of region 15's budget spent on special education is

084vicinity of it's like 28 point something% 28.5 the state average is 25.7 so about 3 percentage points higher than the state average while the other districts on this list are at or below the state average except for Oxford. So our gaps are bigger and we are spending more of our budget on high these high needs or special ed outcomes. So I'm asking if during budget season the administration can explain the factors involved and and why why these these numbers have worked out the way they have. So why do we spend more of our budget on special ed that seem to have bigger performance um gaps uh between our high needs and our non high needs groups? And if you want to sprinkle in the data we have this new data analyst like how would you

085know how is that maybe being utilized to could be utilized maybe to to fix the problem or get better to do going forward. >> Thank you. Any other board member comments? Okay. Uh, next we have uh comments from citizens. Um, the board of education will recognize citizens from Middleberry and South Berry and citizens are asked to name your town of residents and to limit their comments to three minutes. Hello, my name is Jason Andrews. I am a resident of Southbury, a parent of a seventh grader at RMS, as well as a third grader, and a kind and a kindergartener at PES. I was also formerly a member of the PESGES feasibility committee. I stand here today to introduce a new community organization, the region 15 kids alliance, where kids stands for keep improving district schools.

086The mission of the region 15 kids alliance is to support investment in safe, modern, and effective school facilities that meet the educational needs of our region students who are preserving stability for families and strengthening our regional school community. Our district, our goals are to promote a unified district vision that prioritizes health, safety, and educational advancement of all region 15 students. to educate and inform the communities of Southbury and Middbury about the needs for and benefits of school construction and improvement projects. To advocate for successful passage of the proposed spring 2026 referendum necessary for the new construction of two preK through five schools in region 15 and to serve as a collaborative liaison between the community and elected officials as well as the administration. We wish to implore the board to actively work to finalize the

087unified path forward. As of late, the various alternative options that have been floated both ignore the tremendous efforts that have occurred to date as well as have driven community confusion and relate to the process. Specifically, the feasibility committee did not endorse renovation because it was prohibitive in cost as well as risk. Use of these buildings for other purposes will also be prohibitive should the building be transferred to a new owner. Similarly, the town of Southbury has pursued the use of Pierce Hollow property at the training school for years. Get state legislation to change the land use for that property and take on the abatement risks will add years of delay as well as risk and costs to the project. Additionally, building a school behind a cemetery will not be well received. Today we have significant

088issues at both schools that we can only put band-aids on. For example, at PES, there are water issues that while they are being addressed effectively are compromising already aged temporary classrooms that make up the fifth grade. To allow distractions to de to delay this project is a disservice to both the community and the students of this region. Furthermore, it will put our current kindergarteners in these same conditions or worse when they are in fifth grade and may also significantly compromise the level of funding from the state. Today, we implore you to move forward in a unified manner and complete what we have put so much effort into accomplishing today. Thank you. Anyone else? And then we'll move on to Next um item of business, regular business requiring board action. May I have a motion for

089approval of the final design and cost estimates for the LMES roofing project. Move that the board of education of building committee approves the final design and cost estimates for the LME roofing project as presented. >> Second. Any questions or discussion? >> Go ahead, Steve. So >> uh was this already discussed in finance like as a preview or is this the first time you all >> Yeah, we we talked about a finance in at the December meeting we had processing that was there and building that last >> so there was a a bit of a deep a deeper dive understanding of >> the solar being the complicated part because originally it was about 2.2 2 million and obviously the solar credits are significant which is why we pursue the solar as an addition cost. Um you

090know 3 million with a net net of 1.4 million only cost assuming half a percent change to questions. >> All right. All those in favor? >> Any nays? Any abstensions? It carries. Next, may I have a motion for approval of the final education specifications for the LMES roofing project? >> Move that the board of education upon recommendation of the building committee approved the final education specifications for the LME roofing project as presented. >> Second, Shannon. Any questions or comments? >> This is like a rough draft. The the ED specs of the schools will be in binders. Uh this is a very simple needed a roof and kind of a layout of it. But yeah, I I don't want to compare the two. This is much more simpler to create new classroom by classroom. >> Any

091other comments? >> All right. All those in favor? >> I any naysay? Any abstensions? Right. It carries. Um, next may I have a motion for approval of the new PHS course world language grades 11 and 12, Spanish for cultural identity? Move that the board of education upon recommendation of the policy and curriculum committee approve the new PAHS course Spanish for cultural identity as presented. >> Second by Tom. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any nays? Any abstensions? >> Carries. Next, may I have a motion for approval of revised PHS course mathematics grades 11 and 12 ECE college algebra. >> Uh move that the board of education upon recommendation of policy and curriculum committee approve the revised EHS course ECE college algebra as presented. >> Second. Thank you, Steve. Second. Any questions or

092comments on this? >> All those in favor? >> Sorry. So, what's written here is wrong. >> That is not what I read, but I I kind of did some off the cuff editing. >> I just want to make sure I was losing my mind. Right. >> I did a little editing off the cuff. I'm sorry. So, that >> um looks like it was kind of mixing from the last motion. >> Yeah. Sorry about that. Um, so we had the college algebra. So >> I'm good. I was confused for a moment. I just thought I was >> make it clear. All those in favor as Heather read it. >> I. Any nays? Any abstensions? All right. It carries. Uh, next I have a motion for approval of new PHS advanced placement US government and politics textbook

093titled American Government Stories of a Nation. Move that the board of education upon recommendation of the policy and curriculum committee approve the new PHS advanced placement in US government and politics textbook title American government stories of a nation as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you Steve. Any questions or comments on this? >> Right. All those in favor? >> Any abstensions? It carries. Um, next we're going to um resume our discussion and have possible action on the motion that was tabled from our last meeting, December 8th. Um, so may I have a motion for approval to focus the GES PEES feasibility study committee recommendation number two schools in the existing region 15 properties and authorize the administration to initiate the process for developing draft language for May 2026 referendum. move that the board of education focus

094on recommendation number two to schools on the existing region 15 properties of the GES PEES feasibility committee and authorize the administration to initiate the process for developing draft language for May 226 second. >> So any questions, comments, discussion on this? >> I just could have made it last time. I just waited. So, um, again, in light of this outbreak, first selectman's comments about using STS and then his email, which, um, as Tom mentioned, sort of shifted the parcel to look at, uh, I over at STS, I mean, I appreciate the comments and the email and, um, you know, in an ideal world, um, if there was more time and some sort of grand plan to I reconfigure, you know, where South Py's buildings are. It it might have been, you know, worth it to have

095a delay to maybe figure out if there are some other advantages for the town to to having the school having a new school at um you know, at STS instead of where Prague is now in an ideal world. Um but uh we've also had you know the South Berry sort of finance chair has been here as well as actually at St. John um it's March 2024 actually where he that's shied us for kicking the can down the road for so long. So I I I just think we're out of time. Um and uh so while you know like I mentioned I would don't I don't want us to appear at not wanting to work with the town. I just had a time and not only that but it doesn't seem like these these sites are

096really the best ones anyway. So, um, that's all. >> Um, we go Sally and then other >> Yeah, I mostly just want to piggyback on that because it's very similar feeling for me. Um, I think I might have been the outlier. I was on feasibility study. Um, and I had questions that I felt like I I wanted answer to be able to answer to people when there were questions about particularly those two properties. Um, and it's not that I'm not sympathetic to wanting some ideal sort of development plan for for a town and reconfiguring things, but it's the exact same thing. It's just the amount of money that it stands to uh to cost in order to do that for a very uncertain without properties that make a whole lot of sense. Um, to me

097isn't the right choice for putting things off. Is that the right choice for for our students and for a district that has two towns for one town to then also be paying for when it's actually not in their town. So I think for middle grade taxpayers too that's something that I was keeping in mind as well. But the bigger issue just being that it's time the incentives are there. We have schools. So as far as the temperature check I felt like my questions were answered. I'm very appreciative that we got them answered. >> Thank you. I think it what you said about time, I took that into consideration a little bit, but what was more what I took more into consideration is the fact that they weren't perfect fits and they probably still won't be

098perfect even if we tried to take extra time to look at them. I don't know that the um appetite was there to keep pushing those anyway among the board. So, I felt like it was in a way a waste of time and it could have been a waste of money as well. So, um, similar to Sally, I know that last meeting I was somewhat of an outlier. And for me, it's never been about the need to have a new school, and it's never been about a a need to to not work towards a referendum. Um, in this cycle, what was always my concern was how information was presented so that after we get through the 10 of us, we can actually get this to a place where it can pass in the community because I

099think we all want new facilities for the community, for our children. Um, so I really do appreciate the information that was shared here. I think it really helped to address the final outline questions that I had and I would just like to really implore that we continue to leverage how we synthesize that information moving forward because I don't think anyone wants to spend their time revisiting revisiting revisiting if we have an FAQ that's been updated. Thank you for the December whatever version. We just have to make sure that continues to be updated. We need to make sure that that continue. we need to uh the community is updated whether or not hopefully it passes in referendum whatever that looks like. I think we just want to be as transparent as possible and as a board

100member it's absolutely critical to me before I cast my vote that we are fully transparent on what's been done, how it's been done and the availability of that information. I know that was a lot of extra work and it was a pain for me thinking about last time but I think it's actually got us at least from my perspective in a place which things are much more delineated particularly on some of the comments at public comment la uh last time from the first selectman the additional due diligence and when I see some of the information that was presented tonight whether or not it was in those past presentations I think it truly highlights not only the protracted timeline line that those options would uh would do and and that basically the detriment to the community

101and our children, but I just the optics of the cemetery and this and that. It's just not at all positive. So, I appreciate the work. Thank you. Um and I hope that we build from this and becomes a little bit more efficient going forward. That's what I would just like to echo and emphasize. So, thank you. Sh and Steve. >> So I would like to echo some of the same things. I think this presentation of all the presentations we've had not sitting on the globe committee was the most important to me because it pulled all those questions together and put a timeline. It was relatively short, right? And this is a place where we could push community members back when they're saying like well South was going to give you this site or Roxbury Road.

102It was like Roxberry Road's off the table. It's not being sold to us. The Southbury treatment school is not buildable. there's no one in the community say yes put the school next to the cemetery and like as you know I'm like well that's a hard pass right so it's like this is like the one place and the one presentation where I think this is like the moving point going forward like this is the decision and and nothing is going to be perfect right there are pros and cons and everything in life there's no perfect magic wander all of us would need to be here right it wouldn't be so difficult to have this conversation But, you know, I think that it's all here and thank you, you know, Josh, Joe, and other partners who left

103already, right, for putting this all together because I feel like it's a really good landing place for all of us and a good springboard to kind of move forward and and feel right like last time I left like not feeling good about where we were. I feel really good about where we are, right? And it's only been two weeks, right? But it's just kind of pulling the information out of your meeting in a specific way. It's a little more than two weeks. >> Yeah. >> No, no. I mean like between last presentation and this presentation, right? >> It's been a month. I >> just so to that end like >> what is I want to remember this the superintendent speak update but what is the plan for like maybe gathering I mean know we can

104point to this presentation it'll be on the website but there's still other information there is there a plan to synthesize it so a couple things one appreciate you know and this we're all on a journey together and the feedback from the board last meeting helped us better understand what information they needed. Like we've been um kind of thrown in the kitchen sink, right, which is hard to digest. And so it was just it was a lot of clarity and saying these are the specific questions. Someone who sent us examples, someone who said this is what I need. Like it it's easier for us to meet the need when we are clear and and that's the journey too, right? We don't always know what you need until we get to that. So that that we're not

105done. And if anything, we're hopefully going to get we're just getting to the beginning in some ways. So, um we do have a draft try to a one-page handout that we shared um with with you all. And if you're okay with that, like that's something we want you to have like in your pocket and on the website. Um, we've begun working with a web developer based on some sort of community examples of what they've pushed because there is so much to digest and people are interested in what they want to know when they want to know it and not how do we get people there. Um, and so that website assuming that the board wants us to move forward. Um, we'll kind of start hardcore work on that this week. Hopefully by the end of

106the month we'll have something um in talking to other communities. Uh they said at least 30 days before the referendum it's good to have that website. A lot of people start we're not we're going to be further ahead than that. But the idea being that as people engage and as you get close just like it did here like people start to be like oh this is really what I want to know. If there's community organizations out there we want to be able to have places that they can go and and we can help feed information uh as people request it. And then kind of to the questions earlier tonight again we can work at whatever our job is to provide you with information and to do leg work for you. So if you want updates

107we want to do a standate agenda item. Um we want to even we've talked about compressing some of the board workshops. We can pivot and take one of those workshops and and make it a Q&A session. There's lots of options. We just need you to share them with us the chair. We have a a visit on Wednesday to go look at the Cheshire build site. um to see some of their building on the safe site. So if you aren't going and you want to go, how do we know? >> Judge a question on the treasure. >> What do we do? How do we do it? >> So one of the questions before like again all of these decisions come with >> no how do we get there week or >> so? So Mrs. Beglio sent

108out today sent out the address where we're meeting. >> Okay. >> And so we're gonna follow that. If you have questions, give us exactly where we're going to be. >> Can this go out via parent square as its own thing? Yes. >> Not buried in an email. >> Everybody reads all of my >> I know that. >> No, no, we can send it out. >> The people that don't read them, just something. >> Yes. text, email, link to the website >> because I think to Sharon's point, the more information that gets out there, the quicker um and often like they >> in different formats and >> Mr. Marks had tell us the quote that you gave that you said I heard you say that. Tell us that quote. >> Tell them what you're going to

109tell them. Tell them. >> Yes. Thank you. That like resonated with me. So here it is and we can start it with Tom's quote. >> Go ahead, Tom. And then Heather, >> I heard you just say something. I think you said we're talking for web development. That's the direction the board wants to go. Just do it. >> Well, I mean I mean >> Yes, I do. >> Yes, I need one tonight in about five. >> But yes. >> Yes. Okay. >> Um that's important. Um everyone here is bang on. Like all the work we've done to this point has been info gathering. Now we go through the communication phase of this and absolutely you guys are spot on. And I actually just a question about a workshop or update. I mean, I do think just

110because there's going to be so much happening so quickly, if it wasn't an agenda, I would be all in favor of a agenda item even if it's just like a two systems update, but so that no one feels like they have to catch up. Okay. Heather. Um, yeah, I just I also just wanted to echo, you know, that I'm very happy with how this presentation is built and received and moving forward. Um, I wasn't always a believer that building on the existing sites was was the best way to go, but just as you know, we kind of went through this process and the more we talked about it, I I came to realize that um think for myself that um this is the path that asks the least of the community. Um you know nobody

111has to be well not nobody but very little redistricting um you know these sites are familiar to us. Nobody's bus route you know changes substantially um and we just don't have as many um unknowns um on this path forward. So, um I think it is the the easiest ask we can make of community. Um even though, you know, frankly, on the feasibility study, right, you my first thought was we should we should build one big school. We should but that property just didn't exist. Um I I just wanted to make a comment. Um something that I feel uh a lot whenever we go through the budget process is you know our ability to get to an agreement is is always a lot of work and a lot of um discussion amongst ourselves and I uh

112and then once we have that agreement and at the end you know I always feel like really great um but there's still an an upheld battle after that that we kind of step back from and say, you know, now it's the community's turn to have a say. And uh every year I um you know, I'm biting my fingernails. You know, how is it going to go um on referendum day? Um and so I just wanted to to make a comment that, you know, we've we've come to kind of agreement on how to move forward today, but that's not where the story ends. And I do think um you know these always feel um these always feel uphill because at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what presentations we do and what agreements

113we come to and what great discussions we have here. It really just takes people um showing up referendum dayffirming that this is what they want. So I just wanted to mention that >> you didn't mention that you always stand out with a sign in a squid hat. >> Well I hope I'm not the only person in a squid hat on the street corner. Um but >> street any other comments? >> No. Um I I just want to thank this board um for all the work um that's been put in over the last few months. Um it has not been easy. um a the day after our last board of ed meeting in December, I went to a CAB um uh seminar and I was sitting in on a conference on about civility and there was

114a board uh member that was commenting and she was lamenting that there they have a she has this very civil board but there they she almost feels forced to agree with everyone at all times and you know that that's that's what civility means and I was like that was not region team board of education because I thought we had a really great discussion. We we kept it civil. Um and you know, we shared disagreement and it was really great. Um and I I just appreciate this board. Um and how we've handled ourselves. Um and and similar to Heather, um you know, I have like this all started June 2024. Um that was a long time ago. And you know, there was no preconceived outcome. And as if anyone's been paying attention, we've meandered through a

115few different um ways that looked like it was going to work and then it just would shift. Um I just appreciate all the feasibility study committee meetings um that were undertaken uh since June 2024. There was a lot of work that was put in by that committee that was made up of so many stakeholders um with uh town officials, parents, uh school administration, school principles, uh board of ed members. It just was a tremendous amount and you know board of selectment member that's in the audience too. Um just a lot of work that went in. I'm very appreciative of that. And my enthusiastic vote tonight in favor of option two, the feasibility study committee is standing on the shoulders of that work. I think um appreciate all the think tanks that happened with the participation

116from municipal leaders, all the community conversations that happened. Um, I appreciate like the ideas that people had about like how to make this appealing to Mbury by easing up space in MEES and LMES and kind of doing like a mini redistric thing. That was like terrific thinking. Um, and the feasibility study committee, they came up with the three options. The best option was to find a new property, one big school. We tried really hard um to do that. We, you know, spent time over the summer. Um, again, Joe Rogerro was terrific trying to help us narrow that down and we approached everyone who we felt um was a viable option. Um, and you know, uh, we I could truly say that I feel that this board did its due diligence. Um, and one of the

117reasons that we, you know, narrowed down the properties that we did, um, and and that we took Roxberry Road off of the serious consideration list was because the first element came to our meeting in dis November and said he was not in favor of us building um, on Roxberry Road. So that kind of took it out of consideration. Um which and he kind of tried to steer us to the Southbury Training School. Um and we really put an effort into, you know, um looking at that with fresh eyes and trying to see um if that was a viable option. I actually went there this weekend um to to take a look at it. Um and I walked through the graveyard. Um it's an active graveyard. Um it's big. There's new monuments. There's wreaths and flats

118and you would see it from the school, from the parking lot, driving up. >> It's just um not a great option. Um I don't think so. I just very much enthusiastically favor option two, building the two existing schools and the two properties. And again, thank you to everyone. So that was our discussion. Any other comments or questions before we put it to a vote? All right. >> Will there be a Do we really need a separate vote for authorizing the website and developer? >> No, I think Josh is just if if we decide to move on this then he's going to go and do >> Oh, that'll be separate but later. >> Yeah, >> you don't need you don't need to vote on but I'm not going to move forward. If you chose not to

119do this, we wouldn't build this. >> If you're going to choose to move forward schools. >> Thank you. >> Right. So, any other Right. All those in favor? >> I. Any nays? Any absentions? It is unanimous. Thank you. All right. Announcement of future meeting dates. Uh Monday, January 26, we have finance at 6:30. And then also Monday, January 26, we have our regular board of ed meeting um at 7:30. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> Steve. All those in favor? I