06-09-2025 Board of Education Meeting

001Board of Education. Can we all please indivis collaborative community committed to excellence to educate every student to be productive, ethical and engaged in a global society. through proven and innovative learning experiences supported by its strong community whose decision-m is based on the best interest of all students. We will start tonight with our student representatives, Miss Tess Perkins and Mr. Brendan. Great. Good evening everyone. Go ahead. Go ahead. For Conro High School, we are finishing up the last day of our finals this week. Our attended last day of school is June 12th and graduation is the 14th at 10:00 a.m. For Memorial Middle School, the MMS commencement ceremony will be held this Wednesday, June 11th, in the MMS gymnasium. Congratulations to two of our MMS eighth graders, Caitlyn and Jamie, for being selected to represent Connecticut

002in Washington DC this week in the National History Day competition. And our eighth graders had their end of the year field trip to the Sports Center in Shelton last week. And the seventh graders recently experienced a fantastic field trip to the intricate in New York City. And in Roshan, they held its annual second in advisory adventures field trip on Tuesday, June 3rd. RMS eighth graders presented their capstone projects in the library media classes over the course of the past few weeks. and the RMS commencement ceremony will be held under the tent on Wednesday, June 11th. All right, thank you, Tess. Moving on to the elementary schools. Throughout the district, there have been some exciting spring events, which include field days and quy nights. There have also been some exciting field trips that have taken place

003including a trip to Guardians Farms, Blanders, the Connecticut Science Center, um, Mystic, Keeler Tavern Museum, Bridgefields, and then additionally the fifth grade moving up ceremonies have been celebrated at Edgeburg, right? And in response to a question asked in the previous board of ed meeting in terms of what we as student representatives felt could be done different in our district, I felt that we should have more requirements for classes that would benefit students in the long term such as teaching them skills that will be needed for day-to-day life. And this can include the requirements in personal finance classes, childhood development classes, etc. This way, we as students can feel more prepared for life after high school. And then adding on to that um when I thought back about especially in the last four years at high

004school what was beneficial for me as a student um I think there should be an expansion of ECE courses offered at high school. Um from my experience ECE courses at least in the Spanish one I took it was six credits that had that are transferable to most colleges and unlike the AP exam or unlike the AP courses there's no AP exam. So all students as long as they maintain I think a certain grading class they get um they get the credits and it's a lot cheaper to take it in high school than in college. And then additionally I think there should be a greater focus on experential learning. Um especially for um high school seniors. I know some other schools like Darian High School they mandate that um seniors the last quarter of their senior

005year have to partake in like some kind of internship or workforce experience program. So I think just building off on the job shadowing that is already like offered in the senior experience project. I think um just having more workforce experience and internships will help build networking opportunities and give students a real life experience they need before graduating high school. I'm just very impressed that you guys remembered the question who said I'm going to have to you know make sure that they remember. I'm really glad they cut him off. Thank you so much for reports. Any questions reports? Oh, congratulations. I'm going to university. Congratulations. Thank you. Well, we wish you all the best and we thank you for all the work you did this year. um to the continued moving to the board of ed

006recognition um for you guys in just a little bit. So, thank you. Great. Um now, I'm going to ask um Miss Kavalo to do a motion um to add an item to the agenda. So, I'd like to motion to amend the agenda to have the approval of school lunch prices for the 2025 2026 school year. Thank you, Shannon. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Steve. Um the reason we're just adding that's because we've moved table it from our last meeting to get a correct amount of prices. The board has the correct amount of lunch prices in front of them now. So um I will be any discussion on adding this to the agenda? No. All those in favor? Any nays? All right. So I will add that to to regular business requiring board

007action at towards the end of the meeting. All right. So now back to our regular schedule meeting. Um we are going to have student recognition and we're going to start off with the um Roshimbo and Memorial Middle School student awards. We're going to move the board of education recognition till after the PHS student awards. So, if the students from Memorial want to join me up front here, it's okay. I'm only going to address you for a little while. It's a big crowd. Who are you? And I'll ask Mr. Murph. a lot of students, right? I'm going to start with um Western Connecticut Superintendent. Um we as region 15 will be participating both the Western Connecticut and the Richfield County Superintendent part of that we celebrate two students from each middle school for each of those

008groups. Um and as uh the students heard that uh joined us for their western Connecticut groups uh their representation in that group in the top 1% state so let's start with Carolina just a little bit very proud Carolina has consistently earned high honors and made a lasting impact manageable community, a dedicated athlete. She played softball, basketball, and field hockey, serving as co- captain of field hockey team in eighth grade. She's also enthusiastic member against the 17 pro club, a passionate leader, the wing net program. Carolina's community involvement includes volunteer work with a religious group and four years of scouting, showcasing her commitment to service and leadership. Congratulations Jackson Fernandez is known for his dedication both inside and outside the classroom. A standout athlete who played on the Mustang baseball team for all three years and

009participated in you football and AA sports. At school, he served as a wingman leader and tour guide for income readers and he volunteered to read at for elementary students and to assist with his family's business. His academic consistency and community spirit can deserving recipient recognition from Morgan. Lauren is a high achieving student and active contributor to the school's musical and academic communities. She participates in a chorus and orchestra and supports the music department service projects and contributes to the school as a peer tutor. She's also turn this sho club member and part of the morning announcement team. Has served the president of the Flanders Nature Center, the trailblazer for each club and has been recognized as a spotlight suit for her resilience and leadership. Congratulations Sam Labriola. Sam has distinguished himself through strong academics, community

010involvement, and Oslo school presence as a member of the basketball team and a spotlight student recognized for his creativity. Sam brings enthusiasm, empathy to everything he does. He also volunteers locally and in the and in New York in honor of the 911 the 911 uh commemorative organization and is known for his strong work ethic and leadership among his parents. And then the high school uh group you recognized last week there was Boston last week. I appreciate that. And then next up I want to bring up aologies here. Sorry. So four more students for the Lfield County Superintendent. Two from memorial that's gish. So why not? He is Oh, he is part of the National History Day group that is in DC right now. So what's exactly anyway and we'll start with Nasser Cher did not

011make it either. All right. So congratulations N We're gonna move now. All right. And Mia, say it again. Turn us. I messed up last time, too. So, the good news is Mia is up here now. I'm gonna have a few more times in practice. Turn. Yeah. All right. Mia is academically accomplished who contributes meaningful to the Rochville community. She is recognized as a hashtag RMS pride spotlight student. If you're not following, you might want to. She demonstrates strong character and integrity. Mia shines on the soccer field and in the performing arts where she participates both the chorus and the band. Her dedication and talent make her the welldeserving recipient of this And now it's Mason Ry. Mason stands above me, but he also stands out to excellent leadership and involvement in school life as a

012member of the orchestra and the basketball team, as well as a youth football player in the jud. Mason brings both talent and teamwork to every Sunday. He's a recipient of the hash RMS pride spotlight recognition and he exemplifies character, commitment, and school spirit. Great. Now, hand it over for the Cass Middle School. Each year the assoc association of schools recognizes two middle school students eighth graders for their outstanding achievement in citizenship leadership and scholarship. Uh MMS this is pleased to recognize Megan and the Anthony B. This event was held at the actual term the 19th. uh and any chapter individualized basis. So the students were recognized in front of a thousand guests um and they were treated to guest speaker um an opportunity to receive a class signified their outstanding academic achievement commitment to their

013studies commitment to their school community uh participation in school events and um supporting service for all. So at Bone, you're pleased to recognize and Gabri. So um I have the honor of uh K leadership awards for students tonight. Um Kate Association of Boards of Education with 315 as a proud member. Um they do a leadership award um which includes seventh and eighth grade students um who exhibit exemplary leadership skills. Um and the criteria that's needed to get those award um are a willingness to take on challenges, the capability to make difficult decisions, concern for others, ability to work with others, a willingness to commit to a project diplomacy, ability to understand and ability to honor a commitment. So I am very pleased to provide this award to Eli Price. That's her body. Okay. Okay. So,

014we're going to transition. So, you guys can go sit down now. Thank you. We'll transition to the PD award. Welcome everybody. On May 4th, the CIA held their annual rewards banquet for scholar athletes at the athlete facility. Each high school throughout the state elects two athletes that represent their schools at the highest levels and their respective sports and more importantly academic. This year's PROG's two recipients were Kanya and Harsh B. May 1st at the time four seasons banquet facility in Stratford, the Southwest Conference held their annual SWC leadership awards event. During this event, each school in our conference selects student athletes that exemplify outstanding leadership qualities for their schools and their respective sports teams. This year the honores from included Gia Chen and Bridget Moran for the unified sports world and our other two were

015done yet Okay. Each year, schools throughout the state that participate in unified sports nominate two students who exemplify exemplify this program's mission of inclusion, teamwork, positive spirit. These students go above and beyond to support their teammates, model sportsmanship, and foster a welcoming environment for all. The CIA and Special Olympics recognized students across the state. Students from Conrad, Rochambo, and Memorial were all honored at the 21st annual unified sports drink award which was held at the Aqua Church. This year's honores were from Memorial Middle School and Juliana Reed Patrick Swan and Brian and from Pro High School Abigail Lutz and Samantha. And last tonight is our lone all state athlete from this spring sports season and that was Ryland Brennan who was selected to the class 10 all state volleyball team. Congratulations. Good night. Representing here.

016I appreciate you all being out with us. Call Mr. Walsh shuttle. Thank you. Good evening everyone. I'd like to take a moment to recognize an outstanding Tom Brock Jr. who's excelled in the challenging challenging math and science courses throughout the school year. The student has been recognized by teachers as someone who goes above and beyond the classroom and who has a particular interest in aptitude in math by it. One way to recognize a student of this caliber Tom progress has participated in the annual awarding of the reser medal certificate. The certificate present represents a merit scholarship offered by wrestler polytenic institute and is awarded to each medalist that is accepted and enrolled in RPI. The recipient of this year's seal medalist certificate is Rory Randy. Um, so Rory, current math and science teachers had a

017few things to say about her. Um, so Rory's on the reserved side, but when it comes to math, she's a force. Her ideas, skills, precision, and relentless work ethic set her apart from many of her peers. Rory's consistently impressed me with her work in AP biology this year. She is quite thoughtful in her personal work and has helped others laboratory activities. So, at this time, I'd like to recognize Roy Mr. We're going to talk now about the theater company which still they did. Okay, we did. Um, so we're going to recognize the Pop Rock Theater Company this year for um the Halo Awards which is super just saying is like the uh the amies here in Connecticut. Um, so you know it was a basically it's a it's a competition put on through all the

018Canadian theater programs that uh it's put on by the seven angels theater and is at the pallet theater. It's a red carpet event. We were nominated for 17 awards this year. We did win five of those which is a great accomplishment for all these guys right here. Um but I brought someone else to speak instead of me. So Sophia, who's standing next to me, is no stranger to the board as she was recently uh recognized as a cast arts award winner, but she's also uh the student director and won an award this year for directing Teach Me How to Dry. And she's going to talk a little bit about the theater program and introduce her colleagues and tell us. Sure. Um as Mr. Nelson said, my name is Sophia. Um I'm a graduating senior this

019year at Pompro and um I was part of Pumpar Theater Company for four years along with um I was member of the choir and the chamber choir and I've been doing I've been in the arts community for my entire career at um in region 15 and um being part of Pomp arts and and the larger you know fine arts community in region 15 has been such a formative um thing for me. It's been really wonderful and it's it's helped me learn how to be a good person and to help other people and to become a good leader as um leading a group of over a hundred students in the Pomper Theater Company to make you know one play that we showed was was very challenging but it was a very rewarding experience and um it's

020nice that the the Halo Awards put on by Seven Angels Theater recognized us for so many great awards. Um so as Mr. also mentioned I was given um the student direction award for teach me how to cry. Um our uh papar school orchestra pit and our band were given um outstanding orchestra for shrek and musical arts production. Um Amanda Paka, a fellow senior was given best costume design for teach me how to cry. Um, our entire cast and crew of teaching me how to cry received the fearless award for our production and um, Xavier Chu um, who played Donkey and Shrek musical received best supporting male role in the musical for his performance. Um, Miss Oul the director of our theater company has well as although she cannot be here she has a few words

021she'd like to share. This has been an extraordinary year for PTC um, PHS excuse me. We are so proud of our students, not only for their incredible talent, but for their dedication, passion, and resilience. These awards celebrate their artistry, teamwork, and courage to take creative risks. So, these are some members of Rock Theater Company. Here we have Emma Bona. She was in charge of our props crew, and she got nominated for best props design. Um, this is Alice Sugden. She was um she was Melinda She had a cry and also uh Pinocchio in uh yeah and nominated for uh best standout performance for teach me how to cry. This is Sarah Suckan my awesome assistant director um and co-stage assistant stage manager for um teach me how to cry in Shrek musical. That's Samurai. He's

022on I think all of our crews. He's really awesome especially on props. And then he's 10 remarks. He was our Shrek this year in Shrek musical. And that's Gage. And he um he was on our construction group. So shout out to all of them. [Music] So as this proof one there will get a teacher that recognized it too. So we want to celebrate uh students in whatever format. So yes, I'd like to test her and go over there. I'll tell you So these three students um Brendan, Tess, and Henry um helped to make our board meetings um excellent this year. Um obviously Brendan and Tess are our student representatives who report at every board meeting and team diligently and reported on the Boeing region 15. Um Henry is um helps with our IT and all

023the media and sound and saved the day a couple times when the sound wasn't quite working. Um but I I appreciate your boldness and coming up and helping us make sure the convenings all run smoothly. And for Tess and Brennan, I think it's really hard to be a student representative on the board. It's really hard to be up here on cameras in front of board members who might or might not ask questions and you really have to think on your feet too. So just really appreciate thoroughess of what you guys did because you make us also look better and we very much appreciate it. So we have this these little gifts for you guys. Brendon, this is for you and you're going to have to thank you so much. So we appreciate the work and

024dedication of our students and as families for the course that we want to recogize some of our people with high abilities because all of this doesn't happen without dedicated staff. When we talk about dedicated staff um just in attendance the uh institutional mileing us at the end of this year more than 153 here teaching know the people that are here if I the folks that weren't able to pay tonight and the ones that retired throughout this year we lost total 379 years of institutional knowledge. Now the nice thing here is that these people don't go very far and grow. So that institutional model tonight I want to recognize a few folks and I know Dr. Jones wants to say a couple words about some of the retirees and the first up is Mr. Come on

025up. Uh before coming to uh region 15 worked as a middle school special education teacher. Uh we started at Memorial 24 years ago for 2004 going to high school. So yeah, I would just um 107 years at Pont Rock High School for retirees this year. Um I had the honor uh yesterday to go to a celebration of life for who was a longtime director of school counseling here. I director of school counseling here at High School in the region 15. And uh when you go there and you hear stories of people who have worked here or Memorial or Robo or Comprock Elementary and um in that room yesterday you have literally thousands of years of experience and education. Um it's an honor and so to the former retirees from Comprock High School and uh to

026to those in others buildings I would just say um I'm honored to have been able to work with you as you join that very um noble group of educators that that um many of us got to be with yesterday. to Chicago. Um, there there's few times I I know I'm getting old, but uh there's few times in my career where someone who's a little bit more better than me constantly comes to me needing me to tell him how to do things um when he didn't actually ever need me to tell him anything. He already knew. Um every time Mr. Chicago would ever come to me with a question, he already the answer. Every time Mr. Chicago would ever come to me stressed about something, he had already done it right away. Um a few years

027ago uh we had well actually five six years ago do a behavioral program um that needed just a new face and needed someone to really own it and take it on. We're having a lot of struggles with new hires and new people and and oftentimes what I learned in this field is um it's not new that you need. It's the experience that you need. And Mr. Collins stepped in and um completely redid that program to the point that we were cautious and even letting students know he was retiring because we were worried about the attachment they had to this man. Um there are very few special education teachers who care more about their students. Uh there are very few educators who go more above and beyond and so congrats. Thank you. Uh next from I

028started here in 201 So, um, what Superintendent Smith didn't add in there is, um, Miss Griffin is also, uh, in the very first graduating class of Palm Rock High School. She was the very first treasurer of Prague High School and next year we celebrating her 50th class reunion for Prague High School. There are few people, there are people who maybe worked a couple more years here. There is hardly anyone who has spent more time at Comparog High School and understanding everything about this building. Um, from watching many annoying principles come and go um to to dealing with changes and building changes and and literally seeing the unrest that can happen in a world and in a school um through all of that time you have endured. Um, I uh told Miss Griffin this a few

029years ago, but in this building, I don't need this as an age comment at all. Uh, there's no one who's been more like a mother to me uh than than Miss Griffin. Um, I am truly sad to see her go when she told me officially because she went back and forth. Um, I just simply said, "Can I hug you?" Um, because um the when you think of the thousands of students that you have impacted uh Yes. and Spanish and French and world language and cultural instruction, but more importantly in how to be a good person and how to do life the right way. Um there there are few people in this field who um can hold a candle to who you are and the shoulders of even the educators who are now veteran educators who

030you taught. Um it's uh truly humbling and I wish you nothing but joy and you can sell anytime you want. Same for previous meeting anytime you want. Uh but uh but truly it's an two more high school been here 20 years. Ed began teaching in region 15 20 years ago. Prior to coming here he subington where he was hired as the science teacher at right after that. Sorry a little early but we just want to thank him very much. For those who high school know, Mr. Nyrick's shining moment is basketball and having his Indiana fu pants that he could play in staff student basketball games in. So, um, yeah, we we'll definitely miss that and all of his experience. And Miss Mey, there she is. Pat began teaching her career in Seymour becoming before, excuse

031me, before coming to region 15 in 2000. She's been here for 25 years. I'm glad I did a nice factory. Do you want to say a word? No, I don't talk a lot. Um uh anyone anyone who has um done this job for 42 years uh both in two different school districts um deserves our respect. Uh but in a world where uh personal finance and understanding financial literacy is literally something that is now statemandated because um honestly our students need that. They need to understand financial literacy. Years before the state thought that was important national governments thought that was important. Miss Bey took over our personal finance program here. Um don't know that she was that excited about it when she took it over. Um but uh from what I've heard um but uh not

032only did she completely reinvigorate that program years ago, um she's been recognized nationally for both the curriculum and the program, the personal finance uh program we have here. Believe it or not, not every junior and senior really wants to be in a math class. Um, and believe it or not, they don't always want to take a personal finance class. And yet, um, we don't we don't have people who want to leave Miss Media's class. We have students who actively want to get into her class. Um, she has completely changed the way that subject is taught at this school and we are forever grateful for what she's done here. Thank you, Steve. I'm calling from our teacher. Thank you, Greg. Greg has began his teaching career region 15 26 years ago. Goes by. Oh, it sure

033does. Um and say so Mr. Huns has been a proud technology education teacher at the past 26 years he actually began his career in the printing industry and thought that uh he wanted to transfer those skills of field of education to impact children and during that time at Rochimo he had done more than your classic technology education experience. If I think back to middle school, uh, I learned how to use tool bolts and making a wooden shelf or a bench. Uh, Lucrons has really invigorated our technology head program with the engineering design principles, uh, air foil racers, CO2 cars, uh, Lego Lego robotics kits. I remember when I first arrived started talking about 3D printing or 3D printers were a thing. uh and how we can as a school uh bring 3D instructors on board.

034We have a laser engraver thanks to this his leadership always on the cutting edge thinking of how best to support the students in the world uh that they're going to enter into um and we've seen greater numbers of kids uh today become more and more interested in how things work and I think it's a testament to his leadership students going off to boad programs and all and you know the added task of the world to to explore a field in in a a service career uh and and looking at how they can um use tools to solve problems and they're thinking but one of the most interesting things about Mr. uh for probably about 23 of these years, he wore the same exact shirt head. It's not the shirt that he's wearing. Um and that

035that shirt is going to have a place in I think for students over the last couple years to go through yearbooks and see that Mr. Cuds is always wearing the same shirt. So, thank you as a welldeserved retirement. Hopefully, you're going to do something fun and exciting like Dr. J said. So, opportunity two more retirees. One I want to mention is Mr. who is a sojent at 40 years and I don't know anytime anybody has anything for 43 years I think it's impressive uh when you talk about what it means to take pride in the building um he is just I think he could make it tonight probably not going to like that talking about it but I'm not here because he doesn't want a lot of fanfare but We have people in this district

036that have a problem in this district. I'm not saying this because that was definitely not under the desk of 86. But uh he uh he really has to find what it means to be part of and he walks today. We look very much like they did four years ago. I just want to appreciate Mr. would be adult. Then one more recognition tonight. She was hired part time in 2006. You've been fulltime since 2007 and then shifted to library library tech. You've been with us for years. I want to thank everything that you've done for our community. It's been a pleasure working with you. You're such an amazing member of our staff. Connie also does bus duty and so every day she's one of the first people that our students see and one of the last

037people they see at the end of the day. She knows every student's name. She welcomes them in in such a kind way and can just I think makes everybody's day special positive presence at our school. We're so happy for you and congratulations on your retirement. the best. Well, as we talked about the teachers that are leaving and the support staff that are retiring. Each year we take time and recognize two educators and leader support staff that are in the district that represent New York. One of the nice things that we're able to do is shift the announcement of our parent of the year teacher of the year earlier so that they can be recognized at this meeting uh not in October of next year. So the first I'd like to proceed on parent indicator for

038the 2026 school year 256. Uh this student is an exceptional parent educator. Served region 15 with dedication and professionalism for over 23 years. a steady and supportive presence at RMS since 2001. She has consistently gone above and beyond to meet academic and emotional needs of students, especially those with diverse learning profile. In 2022, she earned her registered behavior technician certification, deepening her impact, inclusive spirit, quiet leadership, and unwavering support make her a cornerstone of the RMS. I say congratulations and thank you. tremendous number of it's very difficult for us to choose just one each year to represent the values and trigger this year will be the year of RMI And uh our 20 MTO is a dynamic and passionate educator whose unwavering commitment to student well-being and school and school spirit has left an indel

039Ro with a 30-year career in education, including 29 at in region 15. She is known for her balance, energy, compassion, and leadership and physical education and beyond. From leading adaptive PE classes and in murals to coordinating uh community building events and championing inclusivity, Miss brings joy, professionalism, and creativity to every colleagues describe her as a heartbeat of RMS. a mentor, a motivator, and model of what it means to teach her a part. In 2017, she was Connecticut's leading teacher of the year. Today, we are very proud to recognize her as 15 teacher of the year. She's recognized not just in our region, but we're so proud when she represent that. So, thank you Thank you. Let me call Mr. Plasty back up. So again, not only are proud to have teachers that we recognize here,

040but we have teachers that are recognized at the state level as well. I want to call out in a minute. Uh the George Senate High School Unified Sports Coach here is Stephanie. But the CIA Special Olympics annual unified sports award that I spoke about a little while ago when the athletes were recognized that um they do additional awards that are presented throughout that evening and this year I've unified sports coach Stephanie Brendan was honored as the high school coach of the year. Stephanie has done such a remarkable job in growing and developing our unified sports program here at Rock High School. She is a tire tireless worker that goes the extra mile in every event she plans or is part of. If you've ever been to any one of her events, you would know and

041you would see it in your live action. It's absolutely amazing. The things that she does and the amount of work that she puts in. So, we are extremely lucky to have someone that cares so deeply for our student athletes and their partners. Congratulations again. Thank you all very students in middle school up to 40 year retired. When we talk about what it means to be reaching 15, I think you saw pretty exclusive representation from all types of really talented students and lots of different discipline and staff that have just dedicated their entire careers here. So, I just want to thank you as family members, you as members because none of this happens unless we do it together. So, thank you all. Thank you. My name is They missed it. Fore about I know. I know.

042No. Okay. But next item on the All right. So we will move on to the GPS feasibility study recommendation and Dr. Romano is going to lead us that discussion. So, this is um something I kind of put together just trying to um a lot of these that we've had and um that's I think inside of our circular. Yeah, when you say so, um, so yeah, I just wanted to kind of review a little bit of the stuff. I'm gonna try and go through some quickly because I think a lot of this we've heard, but I wanted to just kind of let the background. So, just to review, we had this feasibility to a committee going for a year now. um with the three board event members and principles from both schools, teachers, parents, and two

043officials from each town. Um and I I just kind of learned to like u acknowledge the work and time that went into it because um I think it's important that people sort of see the background some people at at different sessions and um um so it's probably just here for you know the public to see. Um but I think I counted up we had 11 meetings, three clean conversations, two meetings with stakeholders and then um they toured and this was I guess comes into it later all four elementary schools because we ended up kind of looking at the the district as a whole in terms of our elementary school capacity. Um so that was kind of the background. Um there were a lot of major considerations. Um I listed just a few of them here.

044the biggest one being the educational experience. But as I learned through this process, there was a lot of formulas and reinforcement specifications and um um and so that was all piece of it. And then um there really was a lot of listening to teachers and their concerns. And I think what came out for me from a lot of people and I just want to assure people that we are listening to and will continue to listen to was experience from other schools and districts that have built new schools because I think there's a lot to to learn there and then from the teachers teaching in the schools about like kind of what what go what's on a what's on a piece of paper and looks good versus what what works in reality and that there's some

045some translation there that we want to actually keep an eye on uh if we do move forward with this. So more a little bit more background, they we evaluate they evaluated all the schools. Um the one thing that kind of came clear like from the beginning was that there were a lot of updates that needed to be done. And I think we reviewed this before was just that when you look at the requirements and the finances, it makes more sense to build new than to renovate as new just because because of the way that the reimbursement works and because of the state of the schools and what would have to be done to bring everything up to code in the entire building. a place like GES it just it was not impossible but but but

046on the feasible um on the scale of feasibility it was like very very difficult um so we did but we um I don't know if I brought mine here with me but we did have like a gigantic spreadsheet of basically this here every possible option and colorcoded things and so everything was reviewed I just want to like assure people of that we do have that but it kind It became clear as we went um went through that there were a couple of things that were going to be shaping the the discussion and that there are others too that we can speak to later. But um what came up was that first the issue of like a new construction and the reimbursement from the state and the like allowable square footage. Both schools even though they

047felt really crowded were actually over that over that square footage by a significant amount. Um, so that so it kind of what would happen if we were to build two new schools is that either we'd be paying out of pocket for the much larger size, the full size gym, cafeteria, all of those spaces. Um, or they'd be a lot smaller. So it was it wasn't sort of like, oh, we could just redo PES and GES the same size everything. Um, or we could combine them. It was a there were a lot of trade-offs that we were considering. Um, so then there were a couple of ways to think about it. one was well maybe we do just keep keep them the same um one was we combine them um and then later as things kind

048of progressed this past spring with the prek some of the um legislation and I think it hasn't been signed but it passed right um uh which had some reimbursement for having a prek program and in our region uh the pre-k program is really highly sought out and we have a wait a pretty long waiting list um so the so the ability to if we're looking at school as little building a new school. to incorporate some pre-k space there was going to be both helpful to the community to provide the service that people want and also potentially actually help with reimbursement in terms of getting money back to help support the school and put that right into the education educational environment for um and then we looked also at numbers and again this is all more

049sort of formulas but looking at Long Meadow I think is technically a little bit over they have the other square footage per student is Um there are more students there than not you know there we could we could also sort of relieve a little bit of pressure by um making these mechan a little bit larger kind of redistracting students that are already in those areas of south very closer to them and that's that's a discussion to be had down the line but in terms of our thinking about numbers and population we are looking both at the demographics that we all see in the fall and those trends and then thinking about adding preschool and adding potentially some students from the from LMS to kind of offload some of this to these middle schools and make

050it also something that that is a value of um to all of our elementary school children in the whole room. Um so this is oh yes next one this and these graphics I just took right from them but it's just kind of shows the allowable um size and some things that I really for reference and go to the next one. Okay, this is the this the slide where we have so we came down to again the the renovate is new. It's just like logistically financially didn't make um didn't make a ton of sense. So we went through all we went through that access we went through all of those but it really a new construction was kind of made the most sense pretty clearly um as we went through this process. And so then the

051two uh the two items that we came down to were one was the on the left here you can see the um and this is the student population projected um maximum which is a few years out I think 28 is it um uh for those two schools plus prek plus um like 100 students I think from LMS um being shifted over to make it a little bit more equitable in terms of just the size of of the schools and the square footage and then maximize um reimbursement and to allow um yeah so so that was so that's what these numbers represent on the right is 82,000 that would be the current school not current that would be I'm sorry what that would be with the new school not the current where do you see 82

052square oh yeah that's oh yes this is all Yeah, the one that did our our recommendation for our our sort of recommendation was do you look at these the one on the right the combined school and I'm going to go into more specifics because I know there's a lot of concerns about combined schools is that you get um the allowable square footage is significantly uh if you have the the combined school you're much closer to that uh to that cut off where you're going to get most of reimbured and it be and and where you save is not like by making smaller uh classrooms because the shared spaces like things like kitchen administration like maybe you know even like the utilities closets the storage is all combined. Uh so it's so instead of having you

053know two two elementary schools with two kitchens and two cafeterias you have like a central kitchen which may still have two cafeterias off of it but you're saving square footage in all of those areas. um which allows you then to have like a full-size gym um versus kind of cutting making that smaller to fit um to fit this the the square footage the sort of like side in the state. Um, so those were those were the two um and and and there's a lot of concern also though about like having a big school and and and how that is going to play out and and that was something that caught a lot of community conversations and in um people's concerns about you know about losing some of the um culture or that sort of you

054know history of the two schools. So that's a something that we're aware of and wanted to think about and b for me was kind of um I was helped and so that's why it included well go to the next slide top choice new combine school um was was actually it helps to kind of see that in in action um and Titan at our last meeting gave us like a case study of a school they were working on in Cheshure uh which is in the next slide with our own school um just to kind of like visualize what it looked like and this was a it's PE preK to six um school and it's um actually the next slide a little bit more of the conceptual idea but it's it kind of has you know specified

055areas and almost like two entrances one for sort of the older students one for the younger students uh and then that they are very um classrooms are sort of private so that you have this they called it a school within a school concept um and the architecture of it really did. Um you could you could see that sort of like coming to life. You can see that I don't have that I don't have a whole lot more of their their drawings up here. Um but the idea that and then you can see here like it's you know they have a prek so this would also be a really good like analog um in that lower left the light blue there. Um and then there's like a fullsize gym in the orange in the middle but

056then there's a the gross motor room right off the prek. So, the younger students may not need like a full basketball court when you're in pre-K or kindergarten, but having a room that's more suited to the needs of students at that age um and full gym that can then be split um and used and then used by the community. The other thing I thought was nice was that they sort of had all of those shared spaces in the front. So, for community access and community use, um whether it's, you know, basketball teams, basketball teams playing or uh people using the cafeteria for meetings, that sort of thing. It's a um more community facing kind of design too. Um but with the idea that there really are and I think actually the cheshuan had two separate

057drop offs did it where they um so so connected but but separate and and so you kind of have the benefits of the of the economy of scale and saving the space in some of those areas uh but with attention to the um to also not making it feel overwhelming for you know first or second grader. Yeah, theirs is 115,000 square feet. Ours would be 13 or so they have a lot of our students. They do. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's I don't know the exact number. I don't know the top of my head yet. Um but it's more the concept. But the the other thing that that did come up and I wanted to like make note that we're aware of and this is on the um on the lineup too is that you know

058one thing that did come up in some of the community conversations and with a larger school it's like looks like oh look there's a big gym there's this but um really thinking about how it's used and how it's scheduled um was something that time was was sensitive to but I think that one of the other recommendations coming from the group was that we really kind of utilize uh the principles and the music teachers and gym teachers and everyone involved scheduling particularly those specials so that we don't end up with a gym that's has you know three more classes than can fit in it in a day or that that sort of thing that um one of the brought up that it's not just music it's you know banding orchestra chorus that used room too so

059so um an attention to what we're who's going to be where when ahead of time so that it's not this you built a school and actually it's too small um and I think with a larger school with a client school that that becomes a little bit the map becomes a little bit more intricate on that but also more doable because you do have a little bit more room to play with. Um I just have a question just because I'm trying to wrap my head around like the agenda, right? Is this presentation like you guys giving us your recommend? This is just our recommendations. This is your guysation. Okay. because I didn't know like if it's like everything they went through because many big community conversations many of these meetings happened over many other school events,

060right? There wasn't a single one where there wasn't something um where one of my children had something. So, and there all of I would say all of um some of them the sound didn't work on but all of the um slides are really telling and really and a lot of them you know some of them I can't here but there's a lot of slides that are pretty helpful in terms of like the numbers and and all of that. um as on text did a great job with their presentations. They're all on the um on the website and I it was helpful for me to just go back and review them as I was going through this today. Um but again this is I mean so the issue is but the big issue with this with

061a with a combined score is one like it was something that again I think has to be thought about very carefully and two neither of those lots supports that size. So, so that's what we're coming to tonight is um is that that is the first recommendation. Um like we kind of rank ordered them. Uh but neither of their lots are either on a sewer line or have the room to do like a septic um and um and so it would require acquiring additional property which I don't have a whole lot more to say about that over to to Marian to do that. Um uh but we're also recognizing that if that's not possible, there were kind of two other options that um I wanted to spend more time on that because it was the first

062option and also because it was the one that I know is going to sort of get people anxious and and kind of require the most it's it's the most different, you know, it's not it's it's a change two separate schools to one larger school. But um so I wanted to spend more time on that, but there's this issue of the land, so we got to see what we can do about that. the second the second line option and I don't was basically um rebuilding the schools on um either on their own properties or getting any properties from PES was about that um and I don't recall the order of them honestly because to me they were both seceding one required property and one so um uh but the other thing I would say about that

063in terms of the like do we um this some of this is re I mean as new or add-on but was the idea that like just building another that building do is so much less disruptive and so much faster. So that was the other I mean it was a matter of like a year and a half, two years versus four years. Um so so that was the other issue with the sort of renovators new versus new. also with the building on a different site versus you know having your child kind of go through a construction area as they come in or if you're you know I mean they there's a lot they can do to kind of mitigate against that we could work with but that's the the other thing about it was that building

064a zoo on another site really is the least disruptive to the students and you end up spending a lot less money on swim space on all of the things to kind of keep school going while you're building versus um uh versus trying to build on that wall. But that being said, that was our our second recommendation was to was to build a new school on each slot. Um, also with the idea of making them a little bit larger um the population wise so that um we could uh add a prek to one of those schools and have few students a few more students in those schools from LMS going that direction. And then um then also square footage wise kind of gives you a little bit more space. Um so I didn't include other um

065other slides but the the meeting we had on June 4th last week had a lot of like I thought helpful slides both about um about attention to class sizes no worry I think that class sizes would get really big um to me I actually think it gives us more latitude to spread students out because they're in the same school to class sizes but but that it's the number of classrooms um and penount and so keeping classes to what we have historically different team for the last decade or more been keeping them to that was another kind of eye that we were keeping on school. Is there a set in the cost differential? There is. So the I went with the dollar with it. So yeah, I did not have to go in the dollar tenant

066because it didn't it wasn't updated with like reimbursement with the prek stuff. Um it was the cheaper like less expensive. I want to say cheaper. Was it less expensive? Yeah. I'm just trying to understand the difference between right one versus two like when you start talking about community space right I think we spend a lot of time in this district talking about feeling a sense of community as a parent like this a thousand students like would overwhelm me significantly right so it's like if the cost pieces I think would be important part of us to like have a holistic decision because it it's almost like let the community decide, right, if they would rather pay a little bit extra to keep like the community feels, right? So, so the thing is tonight we're not going

067to take a vote, okay, on what to do, okay? We're just talking. We're just felt like this was the most like this was the different recommendation. So, I wanted to spend our time on that, but there's more, right? So, I mean the the we wanted, you know, Sally's reporting on what the feasibility study committee discussed and voted um on June 4th and she's presenting it to the board. Um we're not going to do a vote tonight. Um this is there's a lot of information and I do think it's worth every board member's time to go look at that June 4th meeting, even the one prior, and like really sit and watch it. um because it really um I thought was a very informative meeting. It's so helpful to hear what the committee members have to

068say and those kind of issues that you're talking about. Um what I think I don't want to interrupt you basically. So what I thought that we could do tonight is okay. So the feasibility study committee's recommendation to the board of ed was for the board of ed to address the repairs and everything needed at Gainfield and Punk Elementary by doing one combined school within a school like two schools one campus um on a new property. that was their recommendation to the board of that and and there's like an option two and an option three if if the board, you know, didn't like that first um suggestion. What feasibility study committee members talked about was that it's kind of hard to and then the committee vote was unanimous by the way. Um which was great. like

069it's great that that was unanimous, but there was still like some hesitation like we don't know what the property is, which is a really good question and one that I thought the board would also share like what like it's it might be hard for board members to say I I vote, you know, for this new school on a new property without knowing where that property might be or even if there is a property, right? because we're going to have to find some piece of property in South Perry that's over 15 acres, right, that could handle this. So, um I think I mentioned to the board before that um Mr. Martino, Mr. Smith and I met with um Joe Rogerro who's the Southary Land Trust uh president and it was a really helpful meeting um to

070kind of try to look at what properties might be available in Southbury that might fit this bill. Um, and what we would look at is South Berry Town property, state owned property, and privatelyowned property. And what I would like is some kind of consensus from the board today to authorize or to to I can be spokesman for the board of pursuit bylaw. So can um, Mr. Smith, but we want to start kicking the tires on what properties might be available and then present to the board at a later date in executive sessions possible properties that we might be able to purchase um that might allow us to to build a new school on a new property. So, that's my hope tonight is to like kind of get, you know, an okay from you guys that,

071you know, yes, I can go and reach out to private property owners and say, "Hey, would you be interested in, you know, selling to the board of education and we or to the town like have discussion with town the first selected about what properties might be available?" Yeah. Are both school properties valuable assets to sell? They're they're both the Gainfield and the Palm Rock Elementary School properties are valuable assets. Yes. They are owned by region 15. Right. Right. Right. And to be very clear, the board can't buy property or sell property without a referendum. So the public votes on all of this that's going to happen. But you think we could get a sale of those two properties if we work. Yeah. Yeah. What what what comes first? I I don't know. I think that

072a new property purchase might happen first and then you sell and that might help defer the cost of whatever. But but as long as they're viable properties to sell, I I think the town would be very interested in having those properties back. It's okay. Still can't sell. So like when you say like you might refinance some of the like there's a lot of there is a lot of chicken and egg conversations with kind of getting started here. Um, and so that was where didn't really want to start exploring any of this without right. So it's not binding I guess right like I currently without reading that would be like a hard no one school based on that presentation. Um, but I haven't You need to go back like unless you're making it a campus, right?

073Offer more things for everything that people are talking about, right? like we're now reducing community space for right our towns like I'm thinking like externally internally like everything right we're going to one space you're you are giving children less opportunity right so if you do gym twice a week that would be only do gym like I would need to understand like you're doing gym once no like I just think I think you would find the discussion fascinating particularly like teachers comments the administrator comments about that very thing that you're talking about. I know what's interesting principal worked at Colchester with a thousand students and said it's I just had a very bad experience at a very large elementary school which is why yeah no that was not where we started and that was why it

074kind of took you tried to take you through all of it but it's um yeah I would go back and watch that yeah but I think I I hear you and it's it's definitely going to be a future discussion for the board event um and but I I felt like we couldn't have that discussion without knowing if there's a possible property that's a viable option for us because it if there's no property that was gonna have to go to the second before it's option and then once we figure that out there'll be prices included right so we'll we'll meet in executive session in theory to to go over those properties that you know we've explored that we talked to the first selection about um you know that uh that look like they're viable options. And

075then we'll go from there to have a large discussion with the board about whether we want to do a new school on a new property or one one of the other options. Oh, how many acres if it's one school? Well, it depends a little bit on whether or not sewer is available or right. So 15 after 15 that may be changed whether or not there are students just want like redid one and you know so now what we're looking for like a my assuming I don't know why you would but if you were consensus agrees that you should research properties I'm assuming that might you find one for 15 acres but you might find one for seven or eight that might build option two. It's not it's not like you're marching in there with just

07615 acres and then some of it is there's no magic number and I but the technology built schools uh you know two acres you know very small but then the very vertical urban setting where there's lot you know and then there's other trade-offs that may have to be tall elevators or outside park I mean so the idea of what do you need is then mitigated when trade-offs are so optimal yet behind there's several areas of South has access to sewers that changes the dynamic cost versus building separate systems. So it's there's not a one answer but and and keep in mind too that we're shooting for shooting or the ideal May 2026 referendum. So hopefully a decision before that referendum date. Jeff, I was just going to say I also assume in the property search

077for place to house a singular school, you're also evaluating the two existing school. So the PS is real estate probably has a very good value for town. You're not going to know what it's really worth until you try to sell it, but you can get some estimate on that balance that cost. Yeah. Yeah, and that was the the other option that we talked about was particularly because that site like would be doable build harder to just access to actually build another school while they're in school be just because like parking where it's physically situated the size of the lot. So that was one of the other is highly desirable to Yes. So therefore the price would go up. I think that's a value property. Both of them are. Yeah. But one like just I remember

078us talking because it's tech fund or with new field construction was at our meetings as well. Um, and they said something like when you're doing a renovation or new building, that's 50 cars versus 100 people, I can't remember, construction workers, like where do you put the cars? Game that just started to make it twitch, you know, and you never get them during the summer. So, I mean, that that's that just kind of goes into why the committee ended up with the new construction elsewhere. just seems action. Go ahead, Steve. So, did that legislation end up in the final the one that made those? So, there's there's two pieces of legislation that both passed. They have not been signed, I don't believe, yet today. Um, one of them, if you include a preschool facility as part

079of your building project, you get an additional 15% reimbursement on the overall cost. The other piece of legislation is about support special ed special education program similar to what we have PDFs. Um so we build that program in get an additional 15% for the square footage that runs that program. Um we don't know yet about some of the details like as a portion of the cafeteria count that portion of your uh gym space but uh at least the the core dedicated space for that special education program would be 15%. and the preschool would allow you to get 15% up to the entire project. And that's where when you start to get a combo of scale, if you build out one building, we say two schools, there's some technical pieces that happen to be maybe physically

080connected, but you could connect some of the backend space that Dr. said, but your 15% increases on the entire project. Uh where you do two schools, you're not put a preschool in both buildings. 50% sorry. Uh the thing I was asking about was the thing that was going to happen right getting it done by the end of May. Uh so I showed that right so the um department administrative service put in a regulatory request about capping the dollar amount per square foot. It's a reg regulatory request. It's not legislated. So um that process is a little less opaque u and isn't tracked the same way. It means that we don't have the same line right of sight to what that there's a uh there's at least one meeting with legislator DAS asks to have regulatory

081change uh but I don't know what the statist is there time when we got to go to the state say all right we want to start it and we want June 30th each year we have to have your grant application In order to submit that application, you have to have Is there a any kind of rank order that everybody who applies gets it or they only have x amount of money say we'll give it to you and not all and there's also a special legislation option as well. This might be silly, but that 15% for preschool only applies if it's a combined school. So, no, I mean that like logistically it'd be hard to build two preschools close to each other and run two you'd be running at least that you'd be running three separate

082preschool programs within the district. So, you'd start to lose other economies of scale as far as square footage and playground space and staffing and things like that. So depending on where the sites line up 15% is a lot of money. So our reimbursement rate right now again there's some math on how it's actually calculated but somewhere between 40 and 46% 48%. Uh so that 15% would be an addition to let's say the 48% go uh that is the build is due. I'm sorry. That's the renovate is new rate which is higher but if you can prove that it's cheaper more cost effective the build is new versus renovate to give you the higher reimbursement. This is math that we walk all the board members through uh that's where tonight I think the goal is just

083to let the committee recommend he went through all this. We'll walk you through how that math works. Um and some pieces of that um whether whether we build the school that we need or the one that's reimbured there is some decision in there about saying the community you know this is the reimbursement this is reimbursement for additional said schools that we have today are larger than what new school it's gain is like 25 30% larger than what the state reimburse today's so one of the concerns is you don't want to build school be all excited. because the doors to that school and see class sizes go up space smaller then be really upset just spent a lot of billions of dollars school is that 25% or square footage is it really boost because they're so

084old GS I was surprised at GES yeah was more the hallways but GS really Correct. Um, so I know the property is a question mark, but working backward from the having a referendum like when at what point do you say we've exhausted the preference in September at the next the next first board meeting next year? That's what I'm kind of thinking like ideally like either the August retreat or September meeting that we would come back and so yeah, we're working right now on backward timeline from the May referendum date. Uh reach out to the bond attorney. Remember there's a lot of steps. We did that 11 million renovation bond. Um so we'd like to get that on a timeline. Say uh we talk to tea about what when they need to know if it's one

085school, two schools. They have a little more flexibility once off but still to get in front of you uh the chairman's point at some point in the early fall I would say we need to decide whether or not property because if there is then I think some of the questions that you have we need to aren't just yours but we need to help board members understand that if there is no viable piece of property it takes kind of what the primary recommendation off the table. Is it possible to go out for the next month properties that have a special a special meeting like in July or a I mean we have the the the retreat in August. Um, so that was that wasn't what we were kind of either aiming for that or September depending

086on how many people go to the tree. Summer's a harder time for sure. So any other questions or everyone? Um, yeah. So in general, I think my my takeaway is I think there's a lot of work to be done. You know, take a step back. Thank you so much to the committee for the hard work they've done. Appreciate the recommendation for sure. Um I do think there's a lot of work we need to do before we can act on that recommendation. And that's where some of the concern is. You know, we're heading into summer. you know, the lynch pin is is there a property that is big enough to accommodate the recommendation. When you look, I know it's just a an example, but when you go back a few slides to the property Techon showed

087us um that they're working on, that's a 40 acre site. Um, and that's a school that I think I heard someone say was smaller than student wise than the one we're looking at. So, I think, you know, 15 acre site is nice. Do you have one extra large? like the usable space here is about 15 acres. What D we as the same question and uh kind of south of uh this property line here is a lot of wetlands that eat up most of that acres but I think like that we still have that question. Yeah. Mechanical any 4 site you find will have some so that's going to be the same here in Virginia. Um, but I do like that this site shows a lot of space dedicated as often as it sounds to black

088because that's one of the real deficits of our current situation is the traffic flow and out of the schools. It's one of the things we hear the most public complain about from people not the school system uh is the line of cars at time. So um yes, we have some work to do here. I think it's wise idea to start putting some properties together. Even in that I think there's going to be some work like you can show us the properties. I'd probably want to at least have the option to do site visits before we take any action on those recommending anything. Um, so yeah, I just want to be conscious of I think there there is a lot to um you know, I think we should move kind of post haste in the next

089step just to see if this recommendation is equiable. Um, I do have some questions on the reimbursement. Josh, you just referenced it. I've heard Tecton in a couple of meetings I've been to reference it. the new construction rate is lower, but they keep saying we are confident we should be able to get the higher rate. They're like 99% confident or like 70%. No, I I mean I don't want to speak for them, but I would speculate based on the number of times exposed to them, they are extremely complicated that renovate, it's just so cost prohibitive uh in both schools that it's not going to be a heavy lift to show that built to make that decision. So the department of administrative services will make that decision or there's an application for it on that application

090multiple times. Uh and again they're not it's not a cross. That's good. If you could go back a couple slides to the options that had the little price tag. Yeah. So you have up top the reimburseable rate. Then you have the effective reimbursement. Is that offsetting the money we'd be paying out of pocket for the square footage that wouldn't be covered by the reimbursement? So the discussion within the committee feel free. No. Uh was that if we built to a reimburseable square footage, there are certain things the state doesn't take into account. For example, they look at 22 to 25 students in a classroom. the average class size. So they look at the grade level, they figure in 24 students per class size. They say you need X number of classrooms per grade, X square

091feet. That's what we get back to why you know the game field is about 25% larger than what the state works. So then you get into cafeteria space for example, the cafeteria space is extremely compromised. if you wanted to build square footage of what we feel is more appropriate. That's where those deltas come in. That's where you get into that effective reimbursement. Okay? Is that that's the delta where you'd ask the community to say, "Listen, if we assume 44% instead of 48% factor in your dollar reimbursement that way, that tells you kind of we're going to give a school that we feel education appropriate, not I'm sorry. If we could add 15% plus, you know, 7 half way up to 60%. So, so if you if you're able to add the preschool into this uh

092with that new legislation, the argument starts to become, you know, if we invest that 15% into educational instruction as opposed to just reducing the overall rate of school, then you start to get into more cost effective there. But when you look at that delta, if you figure 400 square feet of school, uh $400 per square foot and you multiply it by that delta, it starts to get into what that cost uh decision matrix starts to look like. So that's where like I do think there's a lot of kind of math at other variables about at what point does one become less of an option, more of an option. All of that is kind of contingent on whether or not there's actual land because this changes dramatically if that's not the case, right? And Techcon will

093come back. We'll come to the board level to explain a lot of this. So, you know, the purpose of tonight was just kind of like, hey, are you okay with us looking for properties? Let's build school. Do do they build them? Are they the contract? Um the property if we were to purchase a new piece of property that is not reimbursable. It is that the cost set of the property. Okay. So same okay so that we sell the other property about selling the other properties though like I think that needs to be treated like a founding campus. Like we keep hearing it's valuable and yet there are undeveloped lots on Main Street that have been undeveloped on Main Street as long. So there's some funny calibrated a little bit that the sale of that property

094may have to go back to the town. So it may not come to the schools. We have to look in the charter because when we created the school district the town the school district bought property from the towns uh with the exception of the original So long metal we do have some leg work to do to find out when we liquidate the property how that works. Now it's all kind of intertwined in that the bond rate like whatever we pay for a bond will then go back to taxpayers through the town anyway. So there there may be this churn technically we give it back to them but then they finance the bond that sale money. So there's there's a lot of conversation there down the road. Um and it's probably going to happen in multiple

095states because rates will be a lot of things. Those are answers. We will not add exceptions project. That's correct. Yes. And and also I forgot one point too. Um the committee also and Sally mentioned this that they wanted the board to really take into consideration specials and making sure that no particular place is overloaded um and and not able to accommodate all the music classes or whatever. But the other thing that committee wanted was for us to do site visits of other schools that are similar to what whatever it is that we're proposing. So if there is if we're proposing um you know a thousand student school that we go look at another thousand student school to see what that's like there's one in like's there's two spaces, right? When you search, that's what this

096would have two gyms in front of. Oh, no. I mean, no. You have two gyms, two cafeteria. So, you have two um Yeah. The way we talked, this was just hypothetical at this point. You have a 3K, two side building 35 something. Each of those could have their own gymnasium, their own cafeterias, cafeteria, for example, could share the actual production kitchen. So you'd have one walk-in freezer, but it would serve two different cafeterias. You wouldn't necessarily be scoring graders in the same cafeter. You'd have different pickup lines as well, but parents would go to one location or school buses go. Is there like a social emotional like and the only reason I bring this up, right? I think part of it right and we do this is there should be a social emotional piece right

097for children going into kindergarten going into birth like I literally moved here for this because the social emotional component of having a thousand children in a school was overwhelming for kindergarten children um and it was very difficult and there was wings and things were separate but the bus time children trying to leave there was a there was a lot of angst against that where was this water. So there like we my child repeated kindergarten for that like literally because of there was like not enough space in our text. So still there still there and and I hear a lot of parents very stressed about the size and then they oh then they decided it was too big they split them 35 becomes two separate schools because it's too much right but you have a space

098you bought it whatever. So I will not be here when these conversations happen. So it just thought that reminds me of my my last question. I couldn't think of it. So previously I've heard in some presentations two schools, one campus. Tonight I'm hearing school within a school. Is that mean the same thing? So I think like when you talk about reimbursement rates, if they're if they're not connected, then you won't have some of those So when you talk whether it's school within the school, two schools, one campus, do you think some of it gets to make sure I think when you start saying two schools, one campus, people see them as physically separated? That's how I would see it. Yes. So that's not we're talking about as two separate buildings on one. So I think

099you can look at right they have they have to be physically joined in order for the right person. you want to submit one construction grant, not two, right? And so whether or not they're um like the school within a school also like even the cher they're not there was more overlap was talking. So I think we do have just the words that we use to make sure people understand at the same time I think it was clear that this wouldn't be like a KI school like without that social emotional component how to keep buildings feeling a school but have set cultures in that day. So there be two buildings for a walkway. Well, the walkway might might include some physical education space might include cafeteria space, you know, storage space. One of the things like

100when you start talking about scale, you don't say classrooms. If you built one big storage closet, one that might be where your mechanical fit. So your HVAC become smarter, more cost effective if you build one system for building versus you know sewer system. So again what it means to be connected. I think there's a lot of discussion that can reflect community concerns. Um, and I think one of the things that this group will have to wrestle with a little bit is there is a school structure everywhere in this country that every type of grade configuration and size you can imagine and every within that there's some that are run effectively and some that are not run effectively. There's no magic this school of this size is the one has the most performance. Uh and so

101I think even steep by certain models that are effective and ineffective comes down to what we have here tonight. Families and students and educators uh focused on teaching and learning building has some overlap. Right. So we're okay with figuring out some properties, right? No, just consensus. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, Sally and Heather have like set the bar presentations reports. Um, thank you, Sally. Um, next, may I have a motion for approval of the May 27 regular meeting minutes? Oh, so thank you, Steve. Have a second. Thank you, Sally. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? I Any Shannon abstains. Thank you. And next we have superintendent reports by superintendent. So short answer is just a tremendous amount. We we miss the educators that retire. We miss them. uh they definitely earned it especially after

102being here for 40 years but uh they leave with a lot of institutional knowledge and um you should all be very proud of the work we do as a board because when you look at teacher turnover uh having teachers teach here for 30 and 40 years says something about the work that happens in this district what work members does impact each state the second piece the property transfer so the state department has request requested a very small track of land that runs behind PES and adjacent to the highway is mostly wetlands. Uh that property is appraised at $1,125, the little sliver that they want. Um technically they can uh buy it from us. The way our bylaws work is that board has to have a referendum in order to sell piece of properties. The referendum

103will cost approximately $8,000 for us to administer. Um, if we do it on a scheduled referendum day, which would be to November or the May municipal referendum days, um, if we run it outside of that, it will cost substantially more because the towns share the cost of the referendum. Um, and so Mr. Martino and I like to say that the state just take it in uh using eminent domain um and they'll pay us the $100 and save us the $8,000 in getting a vote for it. Um if we were to wait until May to do it, um they'll have taken it by evidence anyway. So we would have to do either a special uh referendum or do it in November. Um and it's literally adjacent to the highway. It's not this property usable for us.

104Even if we wanted to build school uh be a PES property, this property would not come into play. Um it's very small. So just want to emit. No. No. But if they take it for domain, don't they pay you? I thought they go in the trust. I was talking to the state about it some. It's not 100% clear out. Yeah. But I thought I mean that happened in Newbury when they took out all the land they paid the people. So if they do that thing that's fine. Yeah. baseball cards. So, we just wanted to put that up there. Anybody guess anybody discussion if anybody has any strong feelings that we should not do that? There's a drainage call and I guess they're widening. If you see the high in this construction over between like 14

105and 15, it has something to do with that. That's what we're doing. Make sure it's public and captured the opportunity to tell us that it's notision. Uh, next we have board member comments. Right. Next we have comments from citizens. The board of education will recognize citizens of Middlebury and Southbury and citizens are asked to state their name, their town of residence, and to limit their comments to three minutes. No, no citizens. Okay. All right. Next, we have regular business requiring board action. May I have a motion for approval of the transfer of 2024 2025 excess cost revenue of 417,191 into the educational expense account? move. Thank you, Tom. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Sally. Um Joe, do you want to Sure. These are the dollars that were that came to us kind

106of in January or February for excess costs. These are the additional dollars to the pending $17,91. So those are move over to the educational expense account. We will more than likely do an additional transfer. We get into the audit. This is in a sense to kind of salt these dollars away ahead of time before you get too far in your end check. What it's coming what June 16 in September told us they were going to reduce us. Yeah. In January said, "Oh, no. Here you go. We already adjust made adjustments to account for this." Uh we learned this morning that check will come on the sixth transfer. Um, we're only allowed 2% of the total budget that account. Correct. We've already put money in there. Couple hundred,000. This is that's for last year. So, this

107is current this these dollars are current year dollars. All right. So, what's our total amount? 2%. 2%. So, about about 1.8 million. And we can and we check with the auditors. You make multiple transfers into the account as long as you don't exceed 2%. So this transfers more to right here. Any other questions? Right. All those in favor. Any nays? Any extensions? Unanimous. Thank you. Next. May I have a motion for approval of the 2025 2026 school lunch prices as presented? Thank you, Shannon. Have a second. Second. Thank you, Steie. Um Joe, can you just talk about that? Sure. That's the 25% increase we talked about last meeting with the correct exhibit. Um that begins to kind of square up balance sheet addressing shortfalls. Any questions session? So what are the different means? It goes

108up to what are we voting on? Which the 25 and we going to say do we compare ourselves to others? We did do a review. We were a little behind but in a sense um a lot of people are still deciding what to increase. We had schools as high as 50 cents. So we thought 25 cents was at least not a big impact. It's still an increase, but again, we're trying to kind of play some catch up. Any other comments or questions? All right. All those in favor? I Any extensions? It is unanimous. Uh, next, may I have a motion to adjurnn? Thank you, Steve. Second by Shannon. All those in favor, that's unanimous, too. Thank you, everyone.