Board of Education Budget Workshop # 2 --- January 29, 2026

001All right. Good evening. I'd like to call to order Rocky Hill Board of Education's second budget workshop. Today is Thursday, January 29th. It is 6:32 p.m. and we are in the town hall council chambers. Um this evening we are continuing to discuss the 2026 2027 budget presentation. Um and we are going to start tonight with uh some of the responses to the questions that have been uh received by Dr. Zto and his team. And there are a lot of questions here and a lot of answers. And I do want to be mindful of the time because we do have a presentation tonight. um on our technology. So, I do want to start with those, but I just want to have everybody um hold some questioning if you would like to go more in depth. I'd

002like to come back to it just um because I want to make sure that we stay on track tonight. All right, Dr. Zto, I'm gonna give you the microphone. [clears throat] Um, you know, I so I looked into that. Um, and I [clears throat] was asking if we needed to do the pledge of allegiance if there is an underwritten uh law that I wasn't aware of or any rule and I was told no, we certainly can. If any I'm not trying to be disrespectful to the flag in any um I was told we did not have to do that. Um, but it is up to you. If if people would rather do the pledge, I'm fine. >> Yeah, I would do it. >> Okay, we we can do it. I have some members that would

003like that. We can do that. Please stand for the pledge. >> Yeah, I looked into it. >> I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation with all us. >> Yeah. We'll do an end of year, beginning of year type. We do it once a year. individual student is $27,000 almost 28,000. So then we take the formula the $93,000 figure is deducted from the total cost. Follow that on the next the next kind of break up there [snorts] meaning that The overage for the excess cost is 114,835. That's the eligible number for reimbursement. Those of you that have been on the board for some time have kind of heard us talk for years about roughly 70%. Varies from year to year, but it's 70

00471%. We typically use 70 as our number. for that. 93,000 but it's not an individual student. It's the threshold of four and a half times. We currently have 17 kids out and we have another 23 in district who exceed that threshold. So about 40 students total. Um exceeding thresh as long as I can remember the state reimbures our our share of excess cost reimbursements back to us typically a check in February and a smaller check in next question is hall monitors and subs and the hall monitor I went into the budget book a little bit. So substance teachers basically kind of self-descriptive what they do but they teach classes in the absent absence of a permanent permanently employed teacher. So classroom management supervision attendance implementation of the lesson plans following that particular teacher schedule. Somebody

005subbing for first grade, they are going in and they're taking lesson plans. The teacher left the day. If it's a high school chemistry class, they're following that schedule. The kids come in their work. We all had substitute teachers when we were growing up. It's not the substitute teachers, they follow the teacher schedule. The fall monitor is a different role. You have that job description in front of you. We gave it out last time. supervision of the hallways, the restrooms, the cafeteria, uh the bus ramps during student arrival and departure. Um escorting students to and from the administrative offices or the health office, assisting the administration in managing crisis situations, uh verbal confrontation students and so forth and they really play a critical role in the overall supervision and safety of building. So these are different

006roles. Um we we currently have two indiv in that budget line. We have one they're under security non-certified one monitor and we do have an activities monitor in the evening that a few years ago everybody knows who Chuck is great guy not to be confused with Chuck Zuck >> also [laughter] he's there to there's a lot goes on we set of eyes there at night. Staff has gone home. John probably lives there at this point there all the time. But there's a lot that goes on and the board put a night monitor in to assist with all the coming and going games practices a lot of activity in that building it was good to have a set of eyes. So that count members these are your books. You can write them, you can read them,

007you can keep them all with them. The world language teacher, appreciate that question. There are 17 regular classrooms at Moer currently. Nine fourth grade, eight in fifth grade. Um the schedule, Annabelle was the principal there last year, so she put this answer together for us. It's a three-day rotation. [snorts] Um day the kids get 42 minutes language throughout the school year. We do break the year off again. It's a an exposure introduction language, cultural appreciation, so forth. [snorts] So half first half the year is Spanish and the second half year is French. They do that for two years and then sixth grade they still have intro exposure. So it's kind of three years and then in seventh grade ask the kids to to make a choice for their language. So that that's your answer there.

008Um the per pupil, we had a question about that. It's it's not a simple division of the overall operating budget divided by the number of students. It is actually state law for you. They do this because the state has a vested interest in ensuring that every district using the same formula. So you don't have some homegrown district, you know, home room formula. Everybody's doing So it's it's a complex formula lag always behind. So the most recent data available is fiscal year 256 that's consistent. So I suspect our number might drop a little bit more next year when those reports come out based on the 3.6 we're operating on this year. Um, question seven was about staffing for 5.2. Couple of uh questions here that came up. Does it alleviate the concerns with the high student

009teacher ratio at the elementary level? Um, so we're actually going from 55 to 56 full-time teachers. So the purpose is to reduce class sizes at the grade level to which the teachers assigned and basically you know I follow the guidelines here that the board has established which you have you have a handout with you as this is information class size guidelines we provided to you we provided to you I know um one of the current class sizes and so we start back back is October look at some historic numbers takes me back to the days of AK and you can see what the numbers were for AM and PM kindergarten with Steven West in October 2012 and you can also see what the class size guidelines are before they were adjusted. I believe they were

010adjusted in 2018. So, back in 20 2012 for example October one of 2012 you have those numbers in front of you not terribly different from where we are now with the exception of 25 but if you turn to 2013 look at the class sizes in West 26 and 27th grade back in You take these with you, you can ponder on them, but basically the response to that is we're trying to adhere to the guidelines in terms of the way we staff. I think we generally do a good job. The other important language is in the current policy. U should these guidelines be interpreted as absolute commerce. They should be viewed as a concerted effort by the board of the administration. So overall, I think we do a fair job of retaining numbers and sticking to

011those numbers. There are fluctuations each year. But you wanted the current sizes which you have from the on the last page. If you go to the last page of that packet, you will see current updated the last day or two after that request came in. So you actually have the January 28 numbers in front of you see what they are and happy later on if there are any questions about that. All right, let's see office. Yes, that's mistake number n. Yes. Um so the question was uh what is the $11,000 uh budgeted in line uh and the 590 other services the high school uh security the amount that was requested is actually for a software program called um egenuity which is used at the high school for credit recovery. So, this is a mount that

012was previously carried in the district's instructional software line and then it was moved this year to this line because it's only used at the high school and it more accurately reflects the needs of the school rather than being in the district-wide um software line. The label, which is probably the most confusing, security high school was used previously as this is the line for or was the line for police security at athletic and school events. So back in and someone talked about this the other night in 2425 that line was actually budgeted for 8,000 and you can see the actual was 13,64960. The current budget does not have any funds allocated to this line because an account specific to athletics and I gave you the account number uh so you can check it in your program

013book uh was created last year that more again more accurately reflects the reason for the expense. An '05 account code refers to school administration. The 25 account code refers to athletics. So the security was moved to the athletics because that's was for athletic events. Number 11 already. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um [clears throat] so the question is would it be prudent to increase object line 519 student transportation field trips by 14 and a half% to match the other transportation increases uh we are budgeting for and the answer is yes the overall field trip line of 123,151 when I looked at it uh 100,000 just over 100,000 is for athletics between the middle school uh and the high school and then there's 22,500 for field trips and these are band, music, um things like that, art I

014think is in there. Um so when the initial budget uh preparations were underway in the fall, uh the line item was just carried forward forward without an increase. So a 14.5% increase will add 17,857 to the proposed budget. As Dr. mentioned earlier, this is an area where the board may wish to kind of adjust that number uh to account for that. Next question was about the world languages. So again, you're going to notice that the um in the adopted budget which was adopted in March positioned, but it comes out next year, you'll see the actual system tonight. last year is we [clears throat] had a we actually had a 1.4 reduction in world languages. We had a part-time French teacher retired who wasn't replaced. That was part of that list we dealt with in June.

015We had a veteran teacher between a middle school and a high school and existing teacher who was assigned was transferred. So sometimes you'll see like we talked about the reading position in the in the adopted budget you'll see numbers but when changes are made that late year in [snorts] June those cared budget but they're not actual. So we wanted to double check the salary for that teacher is now assigned to a split between the high school and the middle school because that's where that individual is working. The reason why you see a reduction of down to like 70 something thousand in there is because anticipating if the board fills that position that it won't be a teacher top. We talked about that the other night that would be master usually use that estimate. So you

016would see a reduction from the prior salary for that position which was about 1900 we can provide additional historical data. I think a couple of the newer board members requested last year on that copies, but we're happy to do it. Um, again, a question about the elementary class sizes. You know, we looked at this the other night. This is number 15. If we move anybody around on that grid, the class sizes are going to spike up over the guideline for that particular grade. So again, this is something we monitor really closely as we move through the year and particularly in the spring and into the summer, but right now you know where we are going to be in terms of being as close to those guidelines as possible. We certainly understand the board may want

017to have a conversation about reducing class sizes and my recommendation if you want to reduce class sizes, you need to change the Then the administration is not doing the boards. So it's really a board decision. We will always do our best possible. Number 16 was a question about elementary world language. We talked about that already. 42 minutes of instruction every three days on a rotating three-day schedule and the uh the kids start the year in Spanish and then they switch over to French middle school counselor the question is what are the benefits so and what's occurring now so right now um you have two counselors at the middle school serving all three grades primary advantage there would be a designated guidance counselor to support students at all three grades grades six and Some of this

018is related to the school climate legislation which requires the implementation of social emotional learning kind of a social emotional health screener if you will curriculum and it's going to kind of further the work with MTSS as we heard the other night at the voice committee there are some concerns throughout the community about the prevalence of increased anxiety and mental and emotional health issues with students I think particularly Middle school is a difficult time for a lot of kids. You know, body's changing, puberty, the onset of puberty, adolescence that with the stress, with all the stuff that goes on with phones and social media and stuff didn't exist even 20 years ago. Uh there's just kind of increased levels of anxiety and depression and so forth. So, you know, certainly appropriate to have an informed conversation

019about increasing mental health support. So that's the rale and make it very easy for Mr. one counselor serving each level as well. Talked a little bit about the SRO the other day. Really the purpose of the school resource officer is not to monitors. Um that's the hall monitor's job. That's a teacher's job when they're reading kids on their way into class to their classroom. Once they close the door, they're students. But the law enforcement officer is not responsible for enforcing school rules. And related question, are the teachers available to work as monitors? Essentially, no. What we do ask them to do is to be at the entrance to their classrooms to welcome the students as they instruction set a very good tone for the kids as they're coming in. They see their teacher. Obviously, if

020the teacher's at the door greeting students, they're going to be aware of their surroundings. You know, an area that's close to their classroom. And you know, there are situations um I one time 14 years I I help break up a fight because I just walk into it and I help Those things do happen, but typically that's because a teacher was transitioning to point or a classroom near the area when this happened. They're not typically performing all duty as an assigned duty out in the hallways. They do have monitoring duties in the lunchroom. But when they are at their doors welcoming students, they there's an expectation that you keep an eye on things. The bell rings, you know, teaching algebra. You're not focused on the hallway. So we t We don't use them to to provide

021the same kind of services that the hall monitor would provide, which I discussed earlier, escorting kids to the principal's office, taking a kid who's not feeling well from class to make sure the kid gets there safely, dealing with some sort of a situation where somebody has to go into a restroom because, you know, it's not typically what does Um, okay. So, we have a breakout tonight. Essentially, there's just three um those three planks as the reading at the central office. Um $16,000 difference. Um and then science at the high school. And again, it's, you know, the variance is only $200, but when we get into the we start looking at the objects, every variance is listed for you, so you know exactly what's changed uh from the previous year. And then the last one is

022social studies uh again at the high school. >> Okay. We talked a little bit about the between the director of personnel and assistant superintendent about $8,000. Um, you know, can I provide an assessment? I mean, things are working pretty well right now. I don't have any complaints. We have three inter people right now. We have Annabelle's in an interim role. Thomas Cello is in ro complaint positive feedback on everybody. So that's my assessment of how those things are working. Um the HR as we talked about the other night special education and HR that's a big load for one person. Um what we are proposing though just to be clear is no staff at central office. This would not increase the size of central office. I want to dispel any you know, misconceptions anybody might have,

023particularly members of the public about this. The special ed population is large. It's dynamic. Kids middle school and high school don't have administrative support for special education. So making this change high school, it wouldn't change the overall number of employees. sensitive to a perception of a top heavy district. So just clarify no additional receal data. went back as far as you recent years those diger asked a very good question the other night the parent educator salary is up 7.3% so we dug into this and there's a couple of factors first of all the contract that was ratified by the association and approved by the board last spring called salary increase of 3.25%. So that figure is there. Importantly the legislation changed and we now built into their work. We discussed this contract [snorts] three additional

024days three additional days of the hourly rate is about $588 person. So it's essentially like a 2% raise. So, right out of the gate, that account was going up about 5.11%. When you add three work days to the work year, it's significant increase [clears throat] employ. That's 32,21. So, there's the total 178. What we didn't take into account, I think is realiz that We had not we just rolled the salaries over and we didn't factor in the credit from that they returned to us each year. They cover a portion of the work right beginnings because they're the revenue cannot be takition. The board can't accept the tuition money. So the arrangement is accepted by our direct department. They register when they when they come in and they fill out everything for school, pay their fee,

025the revenue is collected and we have three that assist in the program and they fund a portion of that. But they have they really haven't raised rates significantly. Paris salaries continue to go up. So continue to contribution from the town which we have a very good relationship with Craig Bowman. U so we're estimating that that we can reduce this line in the budget by 30,000 still go up 6.17% we think that that's a good thing to do and I appreciate question raised because we had not factored in the reimbursement which we don't get till the spring but I think it's okay to make that a lot of heavy information there but through it. [snorts] >> Okay. And you did that in record time, so now I can open it up to questions. >> All right.

026Miss Mora, >> um I wanted to thank you for all that class size information. Um I hate to ask since you guys did so much work, could we get 2019 2020 also? I feel like the world went crazy right after that and that was the year Moer opened and I just like to compare to when Moer opened right now. >> I don't want to overwhelm you. So that's on me. I asked Sandy to go back >> 2012 2013 and then a couple more weeks. >> Okay. >> And my other question is um and I apologize that my memory is a little shot but um I last year we spoke about I remember a conversation about I believe it was Spanish books. I could be wrong. Where we said we would I don't see Spanish books

027on here now. I remember we were saying that we're going to either phase it out over a couple years. I don't see that on there. >> Just half half the books last year, >> right? And I think we were supposed to do a little bit every year, but I don't see them on there. So, I just wanted to make sure that we're >> we're getting that done. >> Um, so there is world language, high school textbooks, um, proposed budget 262747,885. >> Okay. So those were the >> Yes. Okay. So we did um do it's a three-phase implementation. We did the first phase last year. >> Okay. >> Great. Just wanted to make sure we're still on that. Thank you. >> Y >> my memory wasn't that bad. [laughter] >> Uh any other questions, >> Mr.

028Addie? >> So uh are we going to walk through the the object? Um summary line by line and at that point I we can direct answer some of my questions instead of now. I don't want to >> uh well well right now I just want to stick on any questions or can like follow-up questions on these questions. >> Yes. Some of my questions are relating to that. So I guess I can wait until Okay. >> get to that to answer my questions. So >> Sure. Okay. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Costco. Did I see your hand up before? Did you have a question? >> My hand is staying down. [laughter] >> Welcome everyone in the room. Is there anyone >> for now? For now. >> Anyone else with a question? >> Are you okay? >>

029Go ahead, [laughter] Miss Tucker. >> I I more have a comment versus a question of when we talk about class sizes. And I think it's more of a comment for when we discuss classroom sizes in the committee level, the capacity at Stevens School and the capacity at West Hill. How many classes can we actually add >> to the building that we have? >> Right. West Hill has significantly more space did a few years ago. >> He's nodding yes behind you. teachers right now. So it is >> okay >> tight. We would have to go beyond 20s building. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I I know I had that similar question, but it was about Stevens. How many more classrooms can we um I think I asked you in October, but I don't know if I

030got a response at that moment, but you did say there was capacity at Stevens. How for 20 total? >> You want to add to that, sir? >> That [snorts] is correct. >> 20 in both buildings then. >> No, West is larger. >> Oh, 23 24. >> Okay. 24. Okay. >> I misunderstood. But >> yeah, at Stevens >> right now is just a smaller schoolaril. >> Go ahead, Miss >> But the portables are um have been removed from West Hill. So, >> not all three. >> There's still three. >> At one point, >> you I remember. So, there's 20 classes right now at Stevens or are we maxed out there? Is that what I'm understanding? >> There's 19 Okay, I have one question going back to just uh question number 10 with the I think it

031was um Dr. Nosek, you had mentioned the budget 590 and the security high school thing. Can that label be changed just because now it's not um going to be covering what it originally was covering? Is that an easy change to make? >> It is easy change to make. >> Great. That will clear everything up. Very good. Um any other questions? Go ahead, Mr. Ratty. >> Yep. Um thank you. So the [clears throat] um the state reimbursement for special ed the 92 93,000 roughly number um is calculated based off of the 04 uh the 2425 correct that 20,000 that 20,653 per pupil is calculated it's basically two we're looking at basing it off of two two years back in essence. Is there any way to predict what this year? We should know what this Well, we're

032not going to know, but what is this year's per pupil? Is that going down or is that going up? >> It typically turns out. So should we budget increased from last year virtually in every district unless they in anticipation knowing that our per pupil is going up should we be taking that into account in our current budget for next year not going back two years let's look at what we anticipate for this Because if if our if our if that reimbursement number is calculated 4.5 times a number that's two years old, well, why don't we do 4.5 times a number that we think we're going to be at so that we build in a little bit of a cushion. >> That's all I'm saying. >> The state generates those numbers. That's one of the reasons

033why they do the formula because they can't say, "Oh, we're going to use number and the other thing I understand >> higher number >> that's what I'm saying so we should account for that more in our budget if it's going to happen >> a lower per pupil expenditure helps >> I know that's what we want >> helps us so your idea of trying to give them a higher number is not good for us. >> Yeah. And we can't do it anyway because the state decides those numbers. We don't >> we don't make that decision at all. >> Sandyto years everything formula. Next year they're basing it on two years back. >> For every >> Okay, that's Yeah, >> it was just trying. Yeah, >> that's what they do. I mean, you have So I show

034when I show you those slides and we talk about the formula, you have to look it up. >> They those are the figures. Those are the apples to apples figure always most available last year. >> But won't they use that to reimburse your expenses for this this fiscal year? >> They use the formula. >> I got to learn to take common sense out of some things >> sometimes >> about the state. I just got to set that aside, I guess. So, thank you very much. >> Any other questions or concerns before we move on? Okay. All right. Thank you, Dr. Zitto, for going through all of the questions that were sent um ahead of time and certainly if there are more questions that come up, please send those along on email. I think we can

035turn uh the mic over to Chris Gay for our technology budget. Chris, when you're ready, the floor is yours. >> [snorts] [snorts] >> Go ahead. All right. So, every year I uh try to predict the future just like everyone else here and [snorts] try and come up with what we will need for another fiscal year. Um I first want to uh start with some accomplishments this year. Um we have officially as of this week completed the board's >> um classroom standardization uh projects that's been going on for the past three years. Uh, Miss Gallagghan has spent so much time coordinating and um, leading my guys and training staff and to get all of these done across the district. It was especially difficult this year because we did three full buildings. Um, all three elementary schools

036were transitioned over the docks and laptops. Um, but we can happily say as of today, uh, the last of those have been finished. So, that project is complete. >> [clears throat] >> Um, so I I would say we're officially in maintenance mode at this point. Basically, as we spoke about, basically now we're on our five-year plans to try and replace that equipment. Uh, we're successful in replacing the uh the entire district's uh phone system. An outdated system that was on premises is now in a cloud model. Um, which honestly after a few bugs, it's a much better system. We can program it. the manh hours are significantly lower. Um we solved several problems with emergency services and that sort of thing the old system was not capable of handling. Um as all you know uh

037parent square rollout is complete. We are still concurrent with school messenger for emergencies for this school year. Um but I know I every day I get my uh administrator report for parent square. Um it's being used widely. So that's great to see. Um and finally on this list, uh frontline onboarding for absence time clocks, payroll. Um that was a big project this summer um to help HR and payroll uh streamline their services and make everything uh one small bit uh easier for them to accomplish and make that transition for new employees a little bit easier because it was all paper until about six months ago. Now, the opposite, my specific challenges. Um, I don't know if anybody's been keeping up with the news on um back and forth tariffs. Um, there's also a massive uh

038issue with hardware at the corporate level right now. Um, I just actually got an email from my suppliers at Dell this morning saying that there will be a new price package coming out on Monday. >> Um, and they have quoted me 10 to 30% based on those changes. Um, that is an industrywide the entirety of technology is is being affected by this. Um, part of that is AI and corporate basically gathering. There's been evidence of them literally buying up entire stockpiles of equipment and materials and kind of artificially creating a um supply problem. Um, they don't expect that to end anytime soon. So, that's going to be a um a major rough spot for us next year. And of course, it comes at the time when um all of the COVID era, I call it

039the COVID era device glut. Um if you'll recall, uh pretty much in 2021, the state released the ECF funds. Um there was the emergency connectivity funding. Um this district bought a ton of equipment during that year. Um that includes a roughly half of the staff uh laptops that are in service right now as well as all of the Chromebooks that the pair of professionals have. So all of those devices are up for refresh this year. They're all five years old July 1. So that's uh going to be an interesting those two things combined. We're going to struggle. Some good news though. Uh the FCC did renew the - funding. Um this is how we um maintain a terrific infrastructure in Rocky Hill. Um essentially what this means is we have a $525,000 budget over the

040next five years. Um that means that we're on the hook for about $260,000 of that. Um and we would be reimbursed 260,000 of that. We're at a 50% reimbursement rate for E rate based on our um our title one our free reduced lunch numbers. That's how they calculate that. Um so this is great. Um I did if you remember the five-year plans and all of my you have this year's all of the um projected uh budget categories that I put in the book every year. Um you'll see that I had to move the West Hill switching was actually scheduled for this fiscal year. I had to move it into next fiscal year because we ran out of the -ate funding because frankly it was my error. No one had ever no one had ever explained

041to me how that worked and I thought our budget was our budget and not half of what it was. So um needless to say I expended 100% of what our reimbursement was. We didn't lose any money but I had to push that back a year. So these are my overall numbers for this year. Um set pretty flat. You'll see the 430 and 590s have increases. That's because those two budget lines, and we'll go into that in a minute, those two budget lines are basically ones that I don't have much control over. Those are my renewals. Those are my maintenance contracts. Um, that's what's keeping software and hardware functioning in the district. Um, you'll see there is a a small reduction in the equipment line. Um, this is my annual year-over-year chart you have in your

042budget books. Um, again, the uh the guesses, and this was done in October, so things have already changed drastically since then. Um, I try to guess an average on the Chromebooks. Obviously, that's the biggest portion of this. Um, unfortunately I had a quote for 50 Chromebooks uh two weeks ago and in two weeks they have gone up $35 a piece because of this um corporate situation with all the uh the materials. So you can see the West Hill edge switching that $40,000 is just our half of that um that line. Uh it would be $80,000, but we're getting half reimbursed. Um the projectors at Moer are due for an upgrade. I have in my list of um the targets for this year. West Hill switching about 150 of those staff laptops. Um we have over

043200. All right, it's about two and a quarter of that particular model, but because of the way the ECF um phased in, that second set came in halfway through the year. So, there's I mean, we have no choice. We're going to have to replace that in the next fiscal year. There's just too many of them. Um camera server replacement for a high school in Stevens. We've begun because our infrastructure is so strong, we've begun trying to consolidate some of our camera systems. Um, traditionally we've had one in every building um because it it does take up a lot of bandwidth, but now that our infrastructure is so strong, I'm trying to cut back on those individual machines hopefully down to three instead of the five to try and uh consolidate cost in storage. Um, another

044big thing, and I have to bring up desktops, but, um, the high school art lab, the middle school technology lab, and some clerical spaces that are on desktops, um, are at least six years old, and they need to be replaced. U, most of the clerical and administrative machines are seven or eight years old at this point because I haven't been purchasing any equipment. Um, the art lab is generally kind of a a mid range machine. The tech head labs are much higher uh cost machines as they require uh a significant increase in compute power in order to run the CAD programs and run the engineering software. Again, the pair of professional Chromebooks are all due for replacement. Unfortunately, a lot of those are failing at this point. They're five years old. They're starting to um

045age out. were also having issues with compatibility with those older devices because they were it was one of those situations where whatever was available was purchased and they're kind of uh antiquated at this point. So, they're having trouble connecting to classroom hardware. Um and then the yearly Chromebook ref uh refreshes that were required for grades six and nine. I put this in here just because we talk about every year what my uh wish list is. Um, that battery system at the high school still has been replaced. We did replace the batteries probably have a year or two left in that second set of batteries, but it is as old as the building is. Um, and to remind you, the high school data center is um the brains of the entire district. Both our um internet

046connection and honestly the internet connection doubles down to the towns. They come through our system. So, I have to keep that equipment up and alive. Um, so that is something we, it's not an immediate emergency, but it is something we really need to plan for. And I believe the last time I quoted that, it was probably about $35,000 just for equipment. Um, which is why it keeps getting stuck on the future considerations tab and not in the budget for the year. Um, classroom telephone handsets, uh, with I was able to do they they did some special programming for me. Um the way we managed to get the phone system into the budget was we reused a lot of our legacy handsets in the classrooms. Um they're not as fullfeatured as the system would allow, but

047they do all the emergency calling. They do all the standard calling in between building or in between classrooms and the office. Um however again all of that is as old as the system was. So, um I kind of plan on replacing that by attrition as things start to fail. We'll, you know, use extra money to buy uh sets of them. It's not an ideal situation. Um because multiple different hardware is difficult to deal with. Um but that's another thing. I did manage to build in the um offices and the administrator phones into the project because the one the machines that were in those spaces were not compatible in any way with the new system. Um so at least the offices with all their multicalling and all of the the heavy work, those are newer, but

048the classroom phones will need to be addressed eventually. And then just clerical things. Uh my five-year technology plan only has one year left on it after this fiscal year. So it's going to be time to revamp that. Um and a personal project is to finish developing the disaster recovery and incident response plan. As all of you know, we rolled out MFA um in the past few weeks. So everyone's got Duo now. Everyone has um multiffactor on their emails. uh we're rolling out multiffactor on our VPN and all that to try and maintain that security posture. Um but a formalized document with um an actual incident response plan is uh definitely overdue. >> Okay. Um [clears throat] I for one am very thankful when you give us a wish list. Um I I think I started

049asking you that a number of years ago because I always like to know what's coming up. >> Sure. >> Uh but I'm going to um hold back my questions for a minute and just open the floor to anyone else that has questions that would like to ask. >> Mr. Clemens. >> Um since we're still on the slide, start the future considerations. Talk about the data center battery backup. You said it was roughly 35,000 for equipment. for equipment >> total [snorts] install. >> I'd have to get quotes. I'm not sure. >> The town is also using that. That's something that that the cost. >> So the only have the town kick in some of this is they're using our equipment. >> Their only pot. >> Yeah. Yeah. So their only use of our equipment is their

050is their ISP essentially. So we contract with CN, the connect education network. They use our um data center. We're in the ring of the big network. They're kind of a spoke off that ring. So they use our data center as a connection. >> So essentially I have to keep that equipment up or the town loses their network. You know, EMS, everything else, all the >> the heavy hitters would lose their network. So that that is one small portion of my rack obviously. Um, but that's one that's currently doublebacked up just because it's kind of would be considered essential. >> We talking, you know, EMS, so that's big small portion. [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> Um, next is I love your presentation. You always do a good job with it and I know in our books,

051excuse [clears throat] me, my voice, we have two pages besides the hand that we got today. Um, is it the total that you're requesting for technology in the budget for this year? The 617 >> that's just the the 730 and it's uh it's 517 in the uh proposed >> proposes >> total is 1.09 million. >> Okay. Where in the book >> the first page >> on this page here? It's not in our book. It's >> first page on tech. the first page on tech. >> Okay. >> Just looks different, but >> the numbers are >> actually decrease. >> It's a 1.3% decrease over last year. >> Thank you. >> Can I just follow up on that question? Um, Mr. Clemens, I was going to ask the same. Um, so the the quote you said is

05235,000 for equipment, but we don't you don't know further than that right now. Would you please get us a quote for that? um so that we can maybe even adjust this number. If there's only one or two years left, I'm not sure I feel comfortable um having that fail, especially with the town, you know, counting on it as well. So, we'll take that number and we'd need to take that into consideration. >> Sure, I absolutely can. >> Any other questions? I have a question. >> Go ahead, Miss Manella, and then I'll get to Miss Tucker. Chris, thank you for your presentation. And I always appreciate your um your presentations and your budget um as I am very close to this in my own work right now. So we've been in talks with Dell and it's

053true it's 30% will be going up. So I'm just confused how your um budget overview is showing a 1.3% decrease when Dell is stating there's going to be a 30% increase. Yep. Um, so I mean you can see the the initial request is that 7:30 equipment line. Um, it's it's going to be difficult. >> Yeah. Yeah. I feel your pain too. And um, another question, one other question. You had mentioned that the bandwidth is strong um, in the high school >> Districtwide. So, I had another um question from a parent regarding s phone Verizon service in the foyer in the high school and it's still not up to par. So, I was just wondering if there's an update on that. >> Sure. So, the situation was um we never purchased the Verizon boosters. So, essentially

054the problem is we we live in a Faraday cage, right? It's it's concrete and and uh and metal. Um so the issue is the cell service simply doesn't get in there. Um about five years ago, the town had purchased Verizon boosters >> for a couple of our buildings. I believe I have two at the high school, one at Stevens and one at Moer for Verizon specifically. Um, I got equipment that showed up in those buildings um, in April. >> I know we have back and forth about an email on this. Um, I sent that request to the town saying, "What are these? Are these replacing what we have?" And I never got a response. Um, fast forward until after your your email, I did notice that those boosters that we had five years ago, they

055simply Verizon stopped uh supporting them. So, they went down. So, we put up a piece of equipment. Um, but I don't have the right because it was just sent to us. I didn't have the right power adapters. So, they're actually on order. >> Okay. >> So, I'm hoping once we get the new power adapters in, um, and hooked into my network equipment, those will go live again. So, I'm testing the one in the center of the high school by the cafeteria. >> Okay. >> Where we discussed the first time. We're replaced it one for one. Um, as soon as that power adapter comes in, it should be up, I'm hoping, the end of the week. >> Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for that. Uh I know sell service is an issue over there. I've

056also heard from a few people as well. Miss Tucker, um I just had a comment versus a question and a um a thank you for your accomplishments. The um parent square roll out. I'm I'm personally really enjoying that communication in the parent square. So I just wanted to add that to the record, I guess. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> I agree. and it's very easy to use for those of us that are teachers in other districts who just have to toggle [laughter] >> but it works. >> Mr. Costco, >> um echo the thank you and the great presentation. Um, so just trying to reconcile this page with the one that's in our book and the adopted number you have here of 1,104 for 2526 actual. >> Yep. >> Doesn't match the adopted and there's probably

057a reason. So I just want to hear the reason. >> Yes. >> 917. So I'm like because I was looking here and I was like, "Oh, okay. Whatever percent difference." And then here, wait a minute, it's a decrease. So can you just explain that difference? It's the game that's played every year. Um, essentially, I believe I had $135,000 pre-spend. >> So, we were adopted. We pre-spend I believe it's 13 I'd have to look. $135,000. So, your budget book from last year's adopted probably looks about $130,000 less in my 730 line. And I believe there was a small pre-spend out of the software line for for renewal to >> Right. This this reflects this 1 million 104 reflects what you spent this correct full full 25 26 year or did or will >> correct >> and

058this is so this is the more accurate number as far as compared to >> that was the aotted money that I had between the pre-spend and what was actually adopted >> and then accounting wise I know there's weird stuff with pre-spends and stuff like that. So anyway that was just I was curious Scott you follow me where I'm at and like why that confused me. Um because again I we look at this and I say, "Oh, it's this percent increase or decrease." So I was going off of that and then I was like, "Wow." >> Yep. That's why I put it this way. >> That's a great thing. It's a decrease. Like that's pretty crazy to have a decrease >> ever with anything, let alone technology. So um and then so my second question is

059again the you have 517 on the 7:30 line, which you just went into great detail, which was great. that other page that you have, the other slide that's got the crazy slide, like a million things on it. Could you flip to that slide real quick? >> Yep. >> The one that's got like a million things. Yeah, that's >> so that has 617 down the bottom. >> So that just where's that 100 is my question. >> It's this was the estimate based on again estimates in October, >> right? So I guess where's the hundred out of that then? Like which of the which of these boxes do you know or they all kind of just adjusted some? >> It's going to have to be adjusted some. >> Okay. So some all some of those numbers got

060adjusted. Okay. Cuz originally I was like 617 again. >> It's going to be priorities. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. So that's your today number is the 517. This was like your thoughts before. >> So again another a spot that you went down. So this is quite impressive. >> Um okay that's it I guess. Thank you. Just want to clarify those. Thanks. >> Just miss morpha. >> Uh just quick question if you could just kind of dummy it down for us non techies. [laughter] Um I remember last year it was um didn't we purchase something for the backup? So what is different between what we did last year or did we not [clears throat] and then for what is in the future was it >> that so what we purchased last year because I I told

061you we were um we had a single point of failure that was that's called a sand storage area network basically um that is where the heart of our system keeps all of the storage. So at the time ours was aging. We were talking about trying to replace it in the budget year. Um and we had the discussion of creating a um they call it a high availability pair. Essentially it's no longer a single point of failure. So now I have a cluster of machines that handles all the servers. If I lose one, it all fails back to the others. And thanks to that purchase, now we have um our data is living on a pair of machines replicating. So if I lose one of those, that is different than the battery backup. The battery backup

062is simply power if we lose power in the building. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead, Miss Manella. >> Can I just follow up on that? Have you looked into um cloud >> for our applications? Unless we're purchasing specific software um called software as a service >> um it for the raw data it's still costs way more per month to live out in the cloud. >> Okay. um for for what what we're doing. If we had a larger transactions, if we were doing something that had to reach a larger audience, absolutely. Because you have >> you required more machines for availability, >> right? >> For our volume and our storage, it's still significantly cheaper to >> live on premises. >> Okay. >> Obviously, we do um contract out power schools out in the cloud,

063but that's a software as a service. Um, you know, most of our other major products are all cloud-based. They're not on premises. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Go ahead, Mr. Shabra. >> You're going down in your budget by 1.3%, but Dell is going up by 30%. Where are you planning on making up the difference? >> It's going to have to be priority. What what services are we cutting to make up that difference? >> It's going to have to be equipment. >> How much are we spending through Dell >> every year? >> Roughly. >> Uh let's see. Let this year we did 65,000 in laptops, 200,000 roughly in Chromebooks, another about $45,000 in the kindergarten Chromebooks all through Dell. Um, plus and we didn't buy any um enterprise hardware like servers this year, but we

064need to next year for the AV stuff. So, and unfortunately in the grand scheme of things, that's small pickins for a lot of these corporate accounts. So, [snorts] authorize some level of spring purchases, particularly with shipping issues. One year we're having a lot of trouble getting stuff shipped over and we got approval to spend a couple hundred thousand on equipment for the lead time issue, let alone before we turn over the remaining balances to the the town. So typically, you know, last year was tight. If you remember the May report last year, the budget was 170,000 under and it came back up when the excess cost came because they were a little late. Then there was slightation. We also have to pay off the electrical [snorts] at the end of the year. But there's always

065an typically an opportunity to come back to the board in late May, early June and look at what's going on and make some technology purchases. We're hoping we can do that, too. So, you know, that's been the trend here. We're also trying to come in with a budget that's reasonable. So, those of you that are experienced on the board understand how that's worked historically. >> Go ahead, Mr. Costco. >> Um, thank you for that because that's I just wrote that question down about pre-spend for this year. So, sort of anticipated that. That's great. history here because typically >> there's been reductions and we've had to spend on technology anyway. >> It's a good spot to do it if depending on >> depending on how it fleshes out. It's a good place to do it. The

066other question I haven't I'm not sure if this is for you Chris or kind of a number of people in the room maybe is can you just speak quickly to the the the the acceptance and we've talked about this in the past of the laptops, the iPads, teachers, you know, and all that process, you know, um not being in classrooms. the public has no idea what it's like unless they're in classrooms professionally, right? So, how useful they've been and or how they've been accepted or not, you know what I mean? In in some cases, but I think it was rocky for a little bit, the transition. Fair word. And and it seems to have smoothed out. Some of the rockiness has smoothed out, it seems. So, could you just speak to that quickly with the

067iPads, the dockings, and all that kind of business? And this is a little nod to our former board member who was, you know, champion championing this. >> Yeah. No. Um, I I believe each each building goes through that rocky period as we roll it out. I'm sure Stevens and West Hill are currently in that rocky period where they're um they're still learning what they can do and how to adapt into their classrooms. Um, I know there are several uh individuals at the high school at least and if not the middle school at this point that if I were to go to try and take that away from them now, you'd probably be hearing about it personally. So, um, I I I do believe that it it is accepted. Um Danielle and I spent so much

068time going to staff meetings and Danielle has spent a ridiculous amount of time in each and every one of the classrooms offering support and offering training to every single one of the people that um that are affected by this change um continually because they can always reach out to either my team or to Danielle for training, for information. Um, like I said, I I know those that have been on this plan for two and three years now, a lot of them, you know, math department especially, they would uh be upset if we were to go and try and uh wrench them out of their hands at this point. So, >> and I I would like to just ask Danielle if you don't mind coming up to the mic because she is the one who's facilitating

069the implementation and it's a three-phase implementation. So, maybe to speak to what she's been doing um as she um installs it in each of the classrooms. >> Sure. The first meeting we start with um talking about each department or grade level and what uh programs they use, how it will be useful. We talk about how um there was a misconception that when the desktop is removed that meant the monitor was leaving, the keyboard was leaving, the mouse was leaving and that's not the case. Teachers keep their mouse. They keep their keyboard. We actually give them a wireless mouse and keyboard, which gives them more flexibility to move throughout the room. They keep the monitor. The only thing that's switched out is the desktop box on the desk, and that's switched for the docking station and

070the laptop plugs into the docking station. Um, it is a a little bit of a switch because teachers are used to just sitting and logging on their computer. So, they have to remember that the laptop has to be plugged in. But the biggest benefit is it's provided such mobility for our teachers because before this in order to run the technology in the classroom you either had to sit at your desk where the desktop was or you had to stand right next to the smartboard or the board where the Epson projector is. Now with the mo with the iPad you can display the iPad on the board and the teacher can sit next to a student and run the whole lesson. a teacher can stand in the doorway and watch a student who needs to get

071down the hallway but still be instructing on the board. So the iPad has been very beneficial for that mobility. Um and I've after we have the initial meeting where we talk about what software or what apps might be helpful, then I go and I sit with grade levels or departments and we just learn about the iPad, how to use it, what apps are available. Parent Square is on there. It's a district device. It's protected. You could take pictures of kids, upload them to Parent Square if you want to. Your email is on there, your drive. Um, we practice using the pencil and note takingaking different note-taking apps. Um, and then the third visit that I go back and I'm always accompanied by Chris's tech staff. Um, we go back and that's when we finally swap

072out the desktop for the docking station. Um, so it's traditionally been three meetings with teachers and then they know I'm just an email away. We have a wonderful ticket system. So anytime you need help, you put in a ticket and they have the ability to tag me in a ticket. So I always say if it's something related to the docking station, when you're putting in a ticket for IT help, just tag me and put my name in there so I can follow and then we can see if we start to see trends like we started to notice that the Paris Chromebooks weren't working in the dock. So now we know that's something that we need to update so that the paras have an updated Chromebook to work in the docking station. So we try to

073follow the tickets and watch for patterns. So overall, it's been it's been going very well and smoothly. And like Chris said, you know, it's change change is difficult for anybody and anything that you're doing, especially when you've had a routine that you use over and over again. So once we kind of get over that change hump, um the mobility has been fabulous to have the iPad. >> Thank you. >> Question. Go ahead. >> I have a follow-up question. So what about um >> I know in the past Dr. Zto has had like a teacher that we shared amongst like let's say the high school and the middle school. Does that teacher bring the laptop with them or >> Yes. Okay. >> Yes. It works in all buildings. Your iPad will work in all buildings and

074your laptop will work in all buildings. Um and the great another great thing about it is with your laptop you can have it all logged on with your slideshow open ready to go. you can close the lid >> and go to another school, plug it into the dock, just enter your password, and your slideshow is up and ready to go. Whereas in the old model, if you were traveling between buildings, you would get to the new room, >> you had to log onto the desktop, you had to wait for your profile to load, you had to open your mail, you had to open your slideshow, you had to bring it up on the screen, and that takes um instructional time if the teacher's tight on time. So, this allows everything to be all ready on

075your laptop. I travel to all five schools to support. So I'll prepare things here, close my lid, go to a another school, plug my laptop right into any docking station in any of the five schools, and you're ready to go. So it's actually more convenient for those people who are traveling. They don't have to wait for the computer to log on. >> Correct. I love the efficiency. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Any other questions regarding iPads? >> Okay. Thank you. Um Chris, I just have one request. I if you can make it happen. So once you um are able to get that complete quote for the data center battery backup system, would you be able to um give us a new budget overview by account just so we can see your final total of if

076we were to add that in, what would your line then look like? I know keeping in mind the up to 30% of Dell um stuff that could be happening to us when we go to order but and I know that you don't know yet like it could be be the 10% that they charge us but I just would love to see how your number increases um and and if we could work with the town to see um you know since they want to keep talking about how we can work together maybe they'd like to work together on this >> so we'll make that happen. >> Works for me. I'll work on it this week. >> All right. [snorts] Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Any final questions about technology, Mr. Addie? >> Like I'm

077the new Tom Cosgar over here. >> Hey, I passed the baton. I passed the [laughter] baton. >> You just made many people happy and sad. I think >> uh if you go to your budget overview slide please which by account that you had there um similar to to what um Tom had picked up on is um these numbers matching up with what you have in the binder uh your uh 590 line item which I believe is shown as 258,000 in the binder. >> Yep. That was a pre-spend >> that part of the whole pre-spend thing that's going off. I think it was aboutund >> 152,000 pre-sp. >> Um so as I go and I look at um um bless you. >> Um so I'm I'm going back to um the reports provided um by Dr.

078Nosk for um our um year-to-ate spending and incumbrances and what we're expecting uh shortfalls and overages um on our current budget. I'm looking at our other services line item and our equipment line, the the 590 and the 730 line items and I believe we're projected this year to be under spending. Is that correct? If I look at your um this is your um projected financial report that you provided this past month up to end of December. If I'm reading that correct, we're we're under spending on in those two categories. >> Is that the global number line? >> This is um I'm actually going back to a financial report which is based on this um 2526 our current fiscal year. uh the financial report. >> So I I do still have some funds in my accounts.

079I've been really stingy this year knowing all this is coming and I have not um finish purchasing for uh the things that we had discussed for this fiscal year. Obviously I have all of the enduser equipment and stuff that is was required. It's in the board policies. I try and stay on that fiveyear plan. um the refresh cycles, the AV um I do still have money in my accounts and that's it's all earmarked for various renewals and um the 590 specifically. I have big renewals for Microsoft and GoG Guardian and those things coming up in the next two to three months. >> Chris, can I also so there is a little bit of a shared responsibility in that 590 because our instruct instructional technology lives there as well. Those renewals are throughout the entire year.

080So, some renew over the summer, some renew in the fall, and some renew in the as late as, you know, May or June. So, um, we have to wait until they're up for renewal. And that's why you would see that there's still balance on those. >> Okay. So maybe I'm not reading it correctly with or or [snorts] maybe we're not recognizing the correct value in the incumbrance remaining on the year um for those two line items, but it the way I read it here is 300,000 under other services and then 172,000 under equipment that won't be spent. Um if I'm reading that spent, >> we don't encumber everything under those lines. So >> that's what the balances are currently. But >> yeah, I have balance that's not in Cumber exactly specific. There's anything left over

081from this year we could pre-spent for next. >> Yeah, I I think Mr. Addie, I know that you've um talked a lot about that monthly report that we get every board meeting. Those numbers are going to fluctuate all over the place. So um we do at the very end we do talk about what's left over and then we discuss what to do with that whether we're pre-spending or not. So >> I'll provide you a copy of the May report last year. So for example, in May last year that 590 on May 31st, the remaining balance was 28,000. >> Okay. >> And I suspect it was probably spent out by the end of the year. So you know, these are just month-to-month reports in the missile point. They typically reduce over time. Only change to that

082we see the large deficits and special reimbursement checks. >> Got it. I'll blame the stupid questions on the new guy. >> But no, thank you very much. >> It's totally fine. >> I was the only one confused. So >> like we got all this money left over spend it. >> Mr. I will share with you the May report so you can get a sense of what what that that monthly report looks like towards the end of the school year. >> All right. So dis disregard the question I emailed to you today. [laughter] To to your point though, >> Mr. Addie, if it was that easy, we wouldn't be sitting here until 9:00 tonight. >> This is easy. To to your point, though, I have been very stingy what I've been expending this year knowing full

083well that we may be in trouble next year with equipment. So, there's been some back-end stuff that we haven't purchased yet, trying to, you know, stuff that's not mission critical or that we can push a year to try and >> make sure that the kids have the devices they need, the staff have the devices they need to do their jobs. So, thank you. >> And Chris, I will say for the past four years, you've been extremely creative in how you go about doing things to the point where my heart kind of skips a beat because I'm like, "Oh, is he sure he's going to be able to do that? Are you sure you don't want to put that in the budget? But um we'll find a way. I I would rather that you give us

084all of the numbers and let us try to figure out, you know, with you and Dr. Nosek how we would accommodate um making sure that everything is taken care of in district. We we do appreciate everything that you do to keep us up and running and safe. There's a lot on your shoulders. So, thank you again for your presentation. And if there are no further questions, oh, one more. Hold on. Miss Manella, >> sorry Chris, what line item is the um the insurance for the Chromebooks, >> I believe. >> So, I hold generally we hold about a $20,000 placeholder in the 430 line for repairs for that DPP program. >> [snorts] >> Um most of that is expended with the way we the way I balance that is when we purchase Chromebooks I purchased three

085years of um accidental on them. So essentially we recoup that money by having that on each of those Chromebooks. Um, and the reason I do three years is because the the difference between three years and four years in price is almost 80% increase because they know after three years they start to go, >> right? >> Um, so essentially what my staff do is with that DPP that we discussed like my first year of doing this, um, everyone gets the first accidental. Um, with that warranty, we can then cover all hardware related things that are not accidental. Mhm. >> Um and then after that first one for the year, then we start charging an invoice based on the damages after that. Um so that's how we balance that. So that is what's carried in there for,

086you know, and it's obviously that's the first thing that gets cut out. Then we [snorts] just get creative. That covers those Chromebooks for the three years that the kids are in middle school because we we we do refreshes for six and nine every year. Um so that covers the whole of middle school whereas this the the largest amount of attrition is the the sixth graders mostly. >> Um >> Oh yeah. >> And then for the high schoolers we carry the three years. Um the fourth year is on us with that repair money to either repair or replace with like model because as they graduate they take their devices with them. >> So that's how I kind of balance out that not having to charge the public $25 a year for the insurance. It's built into

087my budget that way. >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay, last check. Any other further questions? >> We good? Okay, seeing that it is now 8 o'clock, I'm wondering if um we can uh if I could take a motion to take a 10-minute recess. >> Recess. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Kusker. Can I have a second? >> A second. Mr. Shabra, thank you so much. 10 minutes. Thank you so much. >> We'll be good. Drink up. Drink up. Okay, we are back >> after a small recess that I know everyone needed. [snorts] >> I would like us to move on in our um budget books. Uh, could we go over the grants and entitlements page? Where is it? >> Okay, there it is. >> Okay. So, um grants and entitlements are split um between my

088office and special ed. So, I do over title one part a and um you see there's an explanation to the right hand side if you want additional details on that I can share with you some specifics on [snorts] um the number of positions that are held in that title one grant you >> yeah I would love for you to go through it if you could thank you >> so title one holds three math tutors four reading tutors four ML ts and one reading teacher at point8 FTE. That's a total of $258,911. It's the majority of the grant. >> Could you say those numbers again? I'm [clears throat] sorry. That was so quick I didn't catch it. >> Go ahead. >> $258911. >> No, I meant the numbers of math tutors. >> Oh, sure. So, you

089got it. uh three math tutors, four reading tutors, four ML tutors, one reading teacher at8 FTE for a total of $258,911. And then um there are some small materials in there um to get up to the total awarded that you see in the 2526 column. Okay, for title two, um that [clears throat] pays for us to have uh what we call teacher collaboration. That's a time um when we get a lot of our um work done around curriculum, new implementation of new curriculum. And um it pays for point two of a T-OLE teacher ML teacher who was actually up at the high school assisting because the case loads were uh they increased quite a bit this year at the high school. There is also one math teacher in title two who's paid out of title

090two. Title three is our um EL grant and so there are three ML tutors that are paid out of that grant. Title four is >> Apologies Mr. Dan. Can I just ask a quick question? So the three ML tutors >> at a title three, >> those are not full FTEEs each, I assume, or are they? [snorts] >> I can give you the exact breakdown if you >> just because it'd be like less than 12 grand each. small >> title three you're asking me about? >> Yeah, >> give me one second. >> They are 47 two of them are 47 FTE and one is 6. >> And are they spread across the schools? Uh so just to be clear, the title funds can only be used at title one schools in our district. Uh we have

091three title one schools. >> They are Stevens, GMS, and the high school. >> Okay. >> So these positions that I'm speaking about are held in those three schools. There are tutors in other buildings, but they are paid out of the board um budget. >> Okay. >> Thank you. You're welcome. Um, title, so I was on title four. Title four does not have any salary included. It is um mainly um programming and a couple of small stipens are in there actually for steam club. And then um after title four um the Perkins grant that's that grant is for our CTE teachers at the high school and um it helps to fund um a lot of equipment programming um some PD for those teachers at the high school. [clears throat] And then one grant that is um

092it fluctuates whether or not we actually qualify for it is the immigrant grant. It's actually not listed in here um because we did not qualify for it, but it's a two-year grant. So, we are still um utilizing some of the funds from that grant. Um and I did just find out that we qualified again. So, I'll be working on that application. That grant um does hold one math tutor and that is the position that I added at the high school um to support MTSS. So there's one math tutor position in the immigrant grant. >> So wait, can you just clarify because I got a little confused. So we didn't qualify for it this year but we're qualifying for it for next year. >> The funds can be expended over two year. It's it's these grants

093are twoyear cycles and you have two years to spend them. So the way that you can write them in, you can cover a salary over a two-year period, but you >> So, but this one does fluctuate based on you have to hit a certain percent >> of immigrants that move into your district and that comes on the October one count. >> Okay. >> So, um, so I did just find out that on our October one count, we did qualify. So it will be getting another cycle. >> Got it. Thank you for clarifying that. >> Y >> is there a number attached to that grant? >> Um the grant the immigrant grants total is I have it broken down by line item here in front of me. So it's about 32,000 >> a year or two

094years. >> Uh that's over the two. Yeah. And then I don't have the allocation yet because I'm just doing the application right now. Um I haven't even really gotten into it yet. We also so I'm I'm not going to speak to IDA because that's special ed, but if you go down to the bottom um I also oversee the open choice grant. So in the open choice grant we do not have any salaries included in that grant. we pay for um mainly mainly that is PD it's materials um it there's a um there's stipulations that you have to have funds in there for homelessness um and PD [snorts] so um that's what that's what's funded out of that so no positions out of open choice >> did you talk about Perkins >> I did speak to

095Perkins that's the I I mentioned CTE teachers PD. Um and then there's [snorts] one more um that's not on this list because it's a um it's a voluntary grant that we applied for. It's the CT grown for CT kids grant and that's at the high school with Kim Antal and that paid for um a lot of the work that we've done at with the green houses up there. And um and then another grant that we did apply for and were awarded last year was the AI grants through the state. That's a competitive grant and we um received $100,000 for that. That paid mainly for um software. It paid for um some technology. We were able to purchase um some technology with that 11 laptops and then PD. There was a requirement to do some um

096PD around digital citizenship and um what else? We had we paid the teachers who participated. So, stipens in there as well. No, no. Um positions though. >> I don't know if any grants that I that I oversee um that are listed here and then the competitive ones, they change. So that like the AI grant is was a oneand done. So we're not it's not here because that's just a one and done. >> I [clears throat] know some of the ones that you mentioned that that were on here, would it be helpful to anyone? Would you want a new spreadsheet of just kind of even if it's like a two-year grant like the one that you're the immigrant grant that you're going to be reapplying for? Maybe we could just have a new spreadsheet because that

097was a lot of numbers and some you know that aren't here um for us to physically look at. Is that was that going to be your question too? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I can put together a handout for you. >> Okay. >> And then can I just ask a follow-up question? It looks like Mr. Costco, you might have a question on the Okay. Um, just hold on one second because this question might even go back to Dr. Zitto. I'm not sure. So, the open choice program. So, there's two grants here. And I know that we received an email today about the open choice seat declarations. I'm assuming those are connected and that's information that would be filled out from the district in order to receive those grants. Is that correct? >> Yep. We

098have to um you know, we have a small number [clears throat] of open choice students. There's a whole process. Tom Kisonson goes through the required trainings. Um, we've because of our class size issues, [snorts] we have taken very few. It's typically like two kids a year we take. It's a very small number because I'm sensitive to the class size. >> It's a low number. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Costco. Uh yeah, that was pretty much my question because I was wondering with being getting getting 38,000 and change, you know, how many students that was basically four essentially and it looks like for a couple students. So that about averages out to 20,000 student or two students and >> well sort of I'm not saying that's not a direct line. I'm not drawing a direct line

099between those things, but we're getting open choice money >> to the tune of these two numbers >> and we have two students in district that we're receiving from open choice. >> I roughly >> I was responding to two this year. >> We typically accept about two kids a year depending on >> again the the philosophy has been that if a student is going to make the transition through the open choice program, it's to the advantage of the student to younger grade level. So we typically don't take older kids. >> We look at elementary class size and we've been very conservative because of the class size numbers that you have seen historically. So it's a couple of kids a year. >> Okay. So then I let me just make sure I got this straight. So if

100we accept a couple a year, what's our total number in district of open choice? I guess that's my question. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> You may have it somewhere. It's a small. >> Perfect. follow up to that. >> Um, Miss Mora, >> can I just ask a followup to that? And I apologize for not knowing the program a little bit better, but is there a mandate that we have to take a certain amount of kids? So, if we lower the policy, um, I'm assuming we're going to take even less kids at that point because we're going to um, you know, lower the class sizes. >> There's no mandate. >> I mean, if we're talking about >> there's no mandate to take students through the open choice program, you know, The intent to the program

101historically is to make sure that kids attend school in integrated settings. >> Our school district is pretty integrated from that standpoint. We have uh about 52% or so of the kids are are white, about 48% are nonwhite, different different backgrounds. So we're fairly integrated district to begin with. Uh and we don't have a lot of space in our elementary class. So historically last few years uh as as we've reduced classroom teachers we have been very conservative about bringing students in and adding to the pressure that our teachers. >> So if we lower the class >> if your class sizes get even lower >> less likely teachers and we can look at that and have a conversation about it. But historically uh the last several years we've been very very selective. I've tried to alternate talking

102to West Hill one year and maybe bringing two students in in a different year to Stevens and we've been monitoring closely because we've been sensitive to the concerns about class. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions about Miss Danit? >> Sorry. >> No, that's okay. Just a quick question. I missed the amount on the CT grown um grant. >> I apologize. That one is [snorts] >> [snorts] >> I don't have it totaled in front of me, but it is approximately >> looks like 73 73,000. >> Okay. And that all went to the high school for the green houses. Okay. And just a technical >> change. Um, under the state programs table, you have awarded 24 and 25 two times. >> Um, >> typo. >> It's just a typo. >> Just a typo. Yeah, >>

103typo. >> Um, >> and I'll save my other question for after. >> Okay. [clears throat] Any other questions about uh grants and entitlements? >> Yeah. Well, my other questions are about the special ed ones. So, if we can just discuss the IDA part B and C. >> Yes. Yep. Go right ahead. >> Yep. >> Um current open choice choice total is four in the district. >> Thank you. Um, so there's two IDA grants and these provide these are federal entitlement funding to assist with the excess cost of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. So we have the IDA part B619 which serves grades three ages three through five. Um so we were awarded in the 25 26 13,520 for the year 24-25 awarded 15,312 and this grant is used to pay

104for instructional salaries or portions of instructional salaries for IDA part B 611. This money is used to serve students ages 5 through 22. In 2526, we were [snorts] awarded 62,000 with $77. 2425, we were awarded 598,626. And this is based on a federal formula that consists of a base pay amount. And the amounts are allocated based on population and poverty. Um, so for example, 61 when we look at that IDA grant um we've used it to pay instructional salaries totaling to $465,000 847 non-instructional salaries such as ESY coordinator 6,500 people service expenditures such as independent evaluations transition counselor BCBA cons um consultation funding PAR training days um that have total 110,000 technology and supplies such as testing materials and computer programming just to give you guys an idea of how that money is being utilized

105to support our special ed needs in regards to the seed grant because it's also under special ed that's the special education expansion and development this year we were awarded 93 3,140. Um, we have hired two behavioral specialists, one at West Hill and one at Moer in addition to a math tutor at Moer totaling to 56,39968. And with the remaining funds, we will be using it to purchase testing items. And we're really looking at behavioral interventions with this money um in order for us to try our best to reduce seclusions and restraints um because we firmly believe that professional development and building capacity is really important amongst the staff that deal with our neediest uh students. So that's where we're at with special grants. >> So question go ahead Mr. Danit, >> you know, I'm just

106curious for the seed line, um, it indicates 23,287 [clears throat] for for 2526. Can you just explain the difference between the 93 and the 20? >> Yes, that's that's the current aotment from the state from the grant. Um, the grant is given to us in four aotments. Um, so that's the first one that we have spent. So we've only received one. >> We have we have only received that. Yes. And the application just opened up. So Miss Herman and I were currently working on the application even though we have allocated 56 399 uh towards those three salaries because we know we we need it. We have that need um to help support the elementary schools with >> And do we have a plan for the remainder? >> I'm I'm sorry. >> Do we have a

107plan for the remainder of the balance? >> Yes. Yes. So the remainder we hope to um look at testing material to purchase and then also looking at behavioral interventions. So right now we have PMT training to mitigate crisis and we have been in conversations around do we transition into a professional development um program called safety cares training which is crisis prevention and It's more of a proactive approach rather than um [snorts] you know looking at mitigating a crisis. So we are finding that PMT is after the fact >> and we want to really train our staff to look at you know and and um really understand those challenging behaviors and the triggers so we can be proactive rather than reactive. So, those are still preliminary conversations um within the SPE department, but we can certainly

108give you guys an update once we decide uh the route that we're going to take. >> Yeah, know that's helpful. Thank you. [clears throat] And so, just one more follow-up question. What was or what is the cadence that we're expected to receive those funds on? I know you talked about it in the special ed committee meeting, but um if you could just review that so that everybody can be reminded for the seed grant the cadence on what we're which we're supposed to receive the funds from the state. >> I'm not understanding your question. I'm sorry. >> So, we've received 23,000 >> installments like installments. >> Oh, that um I don't have that information. I can look into it and get it for you, but I don't know when we're getting the second. Um, >> I

109think it's a twice a year thing. I think it's similar to the ECS. I think they're doing the same payment schedule as ECS, I think. But >> we'll find out. >> Yeah, if we could just find out, I think that would be helpful because it's not even half of what we're expected to receive. So, I just have a concern about, you know, when we will receive the remainder of those funds, >> right? And if we can expend them. Yeah. >> Great question because part of the training. >> Uh it is a great question. The um we've been in contact with the coordinator at the state um and we're very grateful for the funding. So this is not a criticism at all. They will be the first to tell you that it's a little bit backwards

110and that they've awarded us 93,000 but we still have to apply for it. Um >> and so um it is a little bit atypical um but again we're you know they wanted state wanted to give the schools funds to help >> um with these expenses. Uh so we're very you know happy about that. Um and so but we still have it's a little bit of a backwards process um which is you know why you had some questions about that, >> right? >> Yeah. So, and where I'm going with this is can we expect additional offsets essentially if and when we receive the remainder of those funds to the budget? >> No. Uh this is so >> this is considering that total 93,000 amount. >> Yes. The uh the thing with the seed grant is that

111it has to be for new initiatives only. So you cannot use it for anything that's that um to offset. It's to uh supplant um is to support NASA plan. >> Uh so so that's really so we looking at anything that we've done um like staff member uh if it's a new program as of July one they did allow us to go back. So even though we weren't I don't think we got the letter until September or October, >> but if we already had a position, for example, a special ed teacher that was hired for a new program, we could use the seed money to offset that even, you know, going back as long as it was new as of July one. >> Okay. So that includes the three behavioral specialists and the math tutor. >>

112The two the two behavioral [snorts] specialists and the math tutor which were hired this year. And like Scott mentioned, it's backwards. So we knew we were awarded and we needed to act swiftly to support the schools. We went ahead and hired posted and hired for the behavioral specialist, the math interventionist. Um but we can use the money for academic and behavioral interventions um starting as of July 1 of this school year. >> Thank you. >> The other example is the special education to do something called maintenance of effort that the school district is still providing local dollars to support special education program. >> Right. >> I just have one follow-up question and then Mr. Costco, I'll turn it over to you. I love [clears throat] the proactive approach of the safety carers training. Who would

113be um trained if that is the if the route that you just decide to go in? Is it anyone that's PM trained currently or would you that involve the entire district? >> So, the conversations are still in their, you know, early stages. Um, Miss Herman and I, you know, as we talk about this, we need to come up with a roll out plan because we do need a PMT trainer um so like that that person can train the entire staff this upcoming school year because the PMT training it's on an annual basis right correct >> that needs to happen >> so we need to figure out we need to pay for the PMT trainer training >> have that and then how are we to then transition to safety cares which means that we have to

114also pay for a trainer to be a trainer for the district and then prioritize who will be the key staff members within each building to get trained. Right now every building has a team C which is what we call like a team crisis team all have been appropriately PMT trained um to help in crisis situations but it's we will like to put together a rollout plan so like that it's in phases and we start with train the trainer um and then we can slowly roll out PM you know safety cares and phase out PMT Okay. It would be interesting to know if the state offered anything. Would it just be easier to have like a PD day instead of having to do the train the trainer model? Sometimes that just takes longer, but I'm just

115wondering if there's anything out there. God bless you. >> Bless you. >> Who knows? We've got lots of heads in the room. Maybe we can get some more information, but thank you for at least explaining that. I appreciate it, >> Mr. Costco. >> Um, yeah. Thank you. And I'll just be quick. It's really not questions. It's more of I mean on the seed grant I was very aware and involved in that at the state level getting that passed this last year. So it's super happy to see it being used in the way it's intended to be used which is to again to provide support to students to keep them in district provide the services in district which I know we strive for anyway here in Rocky Hill but here's some extra money from the state

116to help do that and I think it's really great. It's state money, so that's the good part, right? It's it's not our money, and it's it's additional state money that we weren't getting before. Um, and it's it's helping provide those services to students, which I think are critical, and I think staff and everyone benefits from that, you know, throughout the throughout the district. Um, so I think it's great, and I think the behaviorist and and you know, it can be used, as you all know, it can be used for uh special education students, but also tier tier two and tier three academic supports. So there is some some leeway in there which I personally wasn't happy with but when it got passed but >> but but is is helpful for to to provide those services

117such as the math tutor. So that allows us to use that for a wider range of students and I know it came up in our special education committee meeting like that money though it's not a lot $93,000 it can be used pretty efficiently by our [clears throat] district to to those uh places. So uh you know maybe it ends up keeping a kid in district you know or something like that. That's a wonderful thing for that student, but also uh for us and for our district financially as well. Um so, so anyway, that's all. It's more of a shout out to the state and shout out to it got passed, but and to you guys for using it efficiently. So, thank you. >> Any other questions about our grants and entitlements? Since we're talking special

118ed, I'm going to flip to my spe special ed tab. If you would please do the same. And I just would like to know if there's any other questions concerning this tab or um Dr. Diaz if there is any further information that you'd like to elaborate on in this section [snorts] >> or even Mrs. Herman if you're out there. Yes. Which I see you. >> She's being called. >> You're being called to the mic. >> Please come up to the mic. I know you work together, so I didn't mean to put you on the spot, Dr. Diaz. I um just wasn't [clears throat] sure who was coming up. >> Yeah, sure. Uh good evening. I don't have any additional info, but I'm happy to take questions. Um I do think like Dr. um Zita was

119saying earlier, the special ed piece is very hard to predict. So, as we get new students in, sometimes they're already in specialized programs that we didn't anticipate for, and that has happened this year. So, um, you know, I I am happy to answer some questions if you have any. >> Anyone have any question? >> I always got questions about >> Go ahead, Mr. Costco. >> Um, it it's Thank you for laying it out everything great this year. I really appreciate it and even the breakdown of, you know, the the outplacement, 17 students, 10 to [snorts] private, seven to public. That's all helpful. And and what was interesting to me and surprising there were 23 students in district who were also eligible for excess cost reimbursement which was a larger number than I remember in the

120past. So that was interesting to me which >> I like in the sense personally because I'd rather pay the indist out of district. Um so so that's great sort of for me in my mind um because they're being provided those supports and services in district instead of out. So that's great. Um what I would be curious and it's probably Scott question or something but um what is that reimbursement that we get is there a breakdown between the outplacement students and you might not have the answer now I just thought of this question and the in district right so with with 17 out of district students again you guys created great examples here like it costs $93,000 and it cost this much and here's how much we get reimbursed so I understand all that that was

121great but just thinking about I think our reimbursement. I don't remember seeing it. There's a total here somewhere on the total reimbursement we get on excess cost because again it's just another number like that's money we're getting from the state. I think it's important to highlight that like there's this X dollar amount that we're getting >> because these students cost a lot of money the state's reimbursing us. Some of that is for out of placement and some of that is for industry. Does that make sense? My question >> if I understand you correctly we have a worksheet on this. >> Perfect. >> I don't normally share it because it identifies names of students. Yeah, we wouldn't want that. >> I won't do that. >> No, of course not. >> Redacted or something. >> Look at

122the worksheet and give you a sense of the breakdown. Sure. For >> reimburse. Sure. Yeah. Because again, the one excess cost could cost instead of 93, it could be 100 could be $7,000 over and it's not a lot, you know. >> Provide that other information, right? 17. >> Yeah. Which is super helpful. >> Yeah. >> But it's very individualized. So that example is an actual example. >> Yeah. I figured. Yeah. >> Yeah. Jesse, >> thank you. And again, I think it's it's super helpful and it's it's also I think oftentimes and as I as you all know, I work in this field and live in this field. The um there's also a lot of like, wow, the special education costs a lot, right? We talk about it a lot. I always get annoyed by hearing

123that personally because like there's reasons it costs a lot and there's reason there's laws in place to make us pay that lot to to support those students. Um but there's money coming back from the state on that money coming from the federal government on that etc. And it and it it helps to understand that like it costs a lot but it's spread around the the world that money >> correct in that um that number was not that high in years past. >> Yeah. It seemed big to me. I was like wow. Yeah. It was a jump. >> Yeah. Which is great. Again I I I love that fact because it's not because it's not sending 40 kids out. You know what I mean? Like which would be terrible in my mind. So >> there are

124a number of programs going back about seven or eight years to service. >> Yeah. Yeah. And you don't we don't only get the reimbursement by shipping them out, right? You know, they can be in district. They cost a lot. It might be expensive. We still get that help from the from the feds. >> We do. We keep a a worksheet and anyone that we think is close based on services. >> Yeah. >> Um we track and if they hit the they meet the threshold >> Yeah. >> then. And thank you for keeping them in because I know many of these students and it's awesome to have men. >> It is our goal. >> I I know it is. So, thank you. [clears throat] >> Excellent. Any other questions for Mrs. Herman? >> Okay. Thank you

125very much for coming to the podium. >> While we are back here, I thought maybe we could also just um quickly flip to the transportation and magnet schools tab. I know we talked a little bit about transportation the other night. Um, I wasn't sure if there were any additional questions about transportation or if there are any questions about the magnet school's tuition budget for 2627. >> The numbers are super tiny. So, we'll start there. I can even with glasses I could barely read them. But that's fine. >> I guess my question would be so I don't have to like look at all these. Oh, wait. There's the numbers. The total number of students going to Magnus schools was my question. Rockill students going to magnet schools. I imagine that's here somewhere. Student count actual math

126117. Is that the number? >> 110. >> Oh, there it is. >> Yeah. Okay. >> There's no fee for kids, >> Right. >> Oh, wow. tends to drive it schools offered. So we see that sometimes a corresponding return not all cases but [snorts] good news there's no charge for those kids unless we deal with charges and those numbers have been pretty stable. They come down want to see that want to see kids. >> Any other [clears throat] questions? >> Just one. >> Go ahead, Mr. Clemens. >> Uh, are these numbers full-time students or we I know we have some kids who will take classes and some schools come back. >> Yes. Academy. >> Okay. >> Wow. Mr. Most of these kids are fulltime. >> I just make a comment and and the the cost is

127very low. I mean, so we're talking 90 students. The cost per student is less than $4,000 that we're contributing. Am I reading that right? >> Yes. >> So, it's I mean, it's it's Yeah. 30 something $100 per student that we're contributing to send the kid to the magnet school. >> Correct. schools receive funding. >> Right. Exactly. So, it's not a huge dollar amount was my point. >> We we get we move 90 students essentially out of the district into these magnet schools at a expense of $3,600 a piece roughly. >> It's kind of a bargain. Like if those 90 students stayed in district, we wouldn't have 2500. You know, there'd be that many more students that in our classrooms. >> You spread them across. >> Understood. Right. It doesn't have that impact. It's a good

128program from the standpoint of some of these schools offer things that we don't offer here. Sometimes it's different region certain families. It's a really good choice. Any other questions? Okay. Um, I know we're getting closer to the nine o'clock hour, but I would love to just flip forward to the object budget because I know Mr. Addie, you said you had some questions. So, I wanted to give you the opportunity to ask your questions on object budget. >> That is correct, right? That's the tab you wanted me to go to. Uh, >> not not at 8565 at night. We weren't planning on going to object budget, but you're the boss. So, depending on how long you all want to be here. There's a lot of lines in that section. Just >> there there are, but it's

129only two and a half pages long. That That's the part that I'm referring to. Correct. >> The the summary. The summary. Yeah. Oh, did I pull the wrong No, that's the tab. >> All our questions on these two pages. I'm just >> budget object summary. Can we start at least some questions tonight? because I know that there I I I think there are some burning questions out there that would um it would great be great if we could start those tonight and if we need to stop because it's getting too late and people need to go home and get to sleep. Uh we can continue next week. >> We I'm just open the floor to you because I know you had a question. >> Yeah. I don't know what makes sense if we just if

130if we just walk down and see if anybody has questions. I don't [clears throat and cough] want to be bouncing around all over the place. It might be a little confusing. Okay. Um, so the first line is um certified staff salaries. Any questions? >> Just jump in because it'll be hard too hard for me to keep looking up and down to see who wants to jump in. So, I'm just going to keep going down by line. Okay. >> Is it easier to just ask question? >> Yeah. Yes, please jump in. That's jump in if you have a question on that line. Moving on to salaries non-certified staff salaries pair professionals salaries subteers salaries substitutes non-certified salaries overtime >> yes madam chair >> go ahead >> all right so uh what does this pertain to specifically

131Uh overtime. Somebody explain that to me. >> This is a over salary is the overtime. [clears throat] >> Over time. >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. That's all. I figured if we were hiring more people that the overtime would go down, but that's fine. >> You know, our our custodians are in our buildings a lot, especially with sports going on. I'm constantly seeing them. So it's no surprise that >> so it makes sense. Thank you. >> There is money in that line. Um okay. Uh moving on to the next line that would be your life accident life accidental death and dismemberment flexible spending group insurance [snorts] long-term disability. Social Security [snorts] other administrative is at zero retirements pension non-certified tuition reimbursements. >> Actually, Madam Chair, I'm sorry. I I did have a a question. Sorry to

132go back on retirements. >> Sure. If I if I read our projected um uh our projected financial report that we are going to spend zero this year on retirement if I read that correct >> again are you referring to the monthly one that we receive >> with that is yeah so >> do we know what we're projected to to spend this year for that or >> so that is any teachers that um that retire and have like available to them. So, we set aside the $69,000 to cover those costs. At this point, especially, you know, back then, we didn't have any announced retirements. So, that's why no money has been set aside or encumbered or spent. Um we have since then, we have one retirement. That person will get a payout, I believe, just over

133$30,000. So we'll probably encumber that in your next monthly board meeting. You'll see [snorts] that number come down. >> Okay. So yeah, because I just look looking back at the historical the year before it was 30,000 if it's going to be 30,000 again. Should we >> stay with that number? >> It's going to eventually sunset because the only I think the teachers had started here in 2006. going into the future. >> Yeah. >> Okay. It just looked like a number that would continue to carry over even though we don't spend it all. Maybe that's an area where we can if you can anticipate your retirements. I don't know. But we use that when we're short somewhere else. So >> I believe that was probably contractual too. It is. Yeah. So >> we got Yeah, you

134have to >> any teacher >> because [snorts] they have to tell us in January. We just received notification. We do now someone will absolutely get a payout and we try to deal with those obligations in the in the current fiscal year possible so that we don't carry the obligation in the following year. Depends on what we have in the fund balance at the end of the year. >> Okay. and anyone hired after 2006 does not get that benefit. >> So, >> um, pension non-certified is the next line. Tuition reimbursements. Employee benefits. Unemployment comp instruction program improv improvement. Is it improvement? I don't know. It's not completely spelled out. So, it's improv. [laughter] It's improv to me. >> The meeting once you start doing improv. >> Yeah, it's it's nine o'clock. Um, pupil services. >> So,

135I do have questions on pupil services. Go ahead. >> Um, it might take a hot minute just cuz I'm looking at some of the breakdown because it's a fairly substantial chunk. >> 577,000. So, this is line item 323. So, I guess my question was I turned down to now to the more detailed breakdown, which I'm sure no one really wants to do, but >> No, no, >> this is Jess's fault. She's the one that said she wanted to start on program. You said you wanted to start on the object pages or it's Add's fault. >> You want us to flip and look at pupil service? >> So, I'm on Yeah, I'm on pupil services. So line item 323 and then I'm just curious of kind of what it consists of and I know in some

136case in there's some of the breakdown in in in the object book and I'm on page 14 for those that are paying attention at home >> or anyone getting too tired to flip pages. So page 14. So people services object 323 the total's there at 577. So now if you go back up the table there's all these little breakdowns right admin GMS admin moer whatever blah blah right so the big one of that the big piece is people services special ed which is 534 so I guess my question all that is what is that giant number consist of is it because there's no FTE count on it so I was like all right you know what I mean so I'm like I know it's some look at Jesse stepping right up bro that's like she's

137on the ball >> I believe That's for special education students at magnet schools. >> Gotcha. Gotcha. So, special education magnet school. So, out of the 89 students that we have or so at magnet schools, a number of them, which we don't know exactly the number, but a number of them have special ed services and that money goes towards those. Beautiful answer. Thank you, Miss Herman. [laughter] That was quicker than I thought. >> All right. >> And that's the $5,000 you're referring to, Mr. Costco. >> She gets a prize for that one or something. I ran out of chocolates. I'll give it to you on Friday. >> Is that the $5,000 you're referring to? >> No, this one is is $534,45. So, it's quite a large number, which is why I asked, you know, because it's

138kind of a big number. So, it's it's in line 323, but it's >> I mean, if you want the crazy number, there's this like 1,0022 323 dot. There's a million dots after it, >> you know. Is that >> Yeah, you give it to He's hooking me up. I owe you. >> I thank you. I owe you. >> I I owe you. [laughter] That's impressive. Thank you very much. I'll cover you later, John. >> So that's So do you see that number? It's a It's a big giant number. It was just kind of a standout number where I was like things are broken down a lot of times pretty small. Got it. I was like, "Wow, it's a big one." And so special education services for students at Magnets and she got a candy bar. This

139is awesome. >> All right. She got Twix. >> You can give her the dump. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Okay. That was good. >> All right. I am [clears throat] now on the second page of the budget object summary and that is professional development. >> You still going strong? >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Yep. >> Page two. Yep. Go ahead, Miss Dudano. >> I do have questions on professional development. Do you want me to ask them tonight or do you want me to hold them until next week? >> She's going good. >> All right. >> She's feeling it tonight. >> It's going. Um, so I'm just curious pulling the newbie card a little bit here. um how PD funds are budgeted in general districtwide. Like are is this split out between staff and administration? Like

140how is professional development budgeted? >> So um by state statute we have a PEK committee and that committee meets >> PC is that an acronym? >> It is. Yeah. >> Community professional development and evaluation committee. >> Okay. >> There's representation on that committee from the teachers union um administration and across all five schools. So we meet several times a year. We look at um need. we take um into consideration new legislation and the requirements that might come with that legislation and then we look we plan out and we map out what that would look like >> for the following year. So we're always like looking ahead budget for these things. Um, one of the things that we did this year is, um, we actually moved so there's certain line items that come under my office

141and we looked at um, you know what the way I budgeted was I looked at what we spent last year >> and did we go over, did we go under and then I made adjustments based on that so that I know I have enough in each of the line items. So zerobased budgeting basically is what is the uh process that we use if that makes any sense to you? >> It does. Um so does this include staff being able to go out for PD? Is this internal PD? Do we know how much is spent? >> It's a combination of um both. So we obviously we have our professional development days >> and um we bring people in on those days at times. Um we also have um professional development that can happen throughout the school

142year, not on the PD days where we have consultants coming in working with staff in real time during um what we call collaboration days. And um we also budget for that collaboration uh the collaboration days actually that comes out of the grant one of the grants I mentioned earlier. Um and then um we also look at um whether or not we need to um add anything new like I said from our admin team >> building based. So it's it's an ongoing process throughout the year like we're always looking at it. We are already planning for next year. [snorts] >> Okay. And you mentioned consultants. So, are consultants paid out of the professional development line or are they paid out of a different line item? I know you mentioned another grant, but So, right now we're

143using a consultant for our restorative practices work that came out of last year's grant funding. And we also have a um consultant that we're using um for some of the safe school climate work. And um I I spoke to that at the curriculum committee meeting, the MTSS work that we're doing. Um and that also comes out of grant funding. >> Okay, great. And have we fully utilized the because you said you plan it like a year in advance. So have we fully expended our PD funds for this year? >> We are pretty low right now. So one of the other things we do is um we pay our staff in-house. So for example, we had a technology professional development day in November. >> We ask for teachers who are willing to share and present on

144something that they're using and they want to share with their peers. We pay them to prepare the professional development. So there's planning time and then we pay them for the session that they are giving as well. So, I think on that PD day we had something like 28 sessions that we paid staff for. >> Um, and then we do the same thing for our wellness day. So, [clears throat] we ask staff, is there something that you would like to share with your peers? Um, it's a lot of hobbies that people have that they want to share with one another. And so that adds up pretty quickly because you're paying, you know, a lot of staff for a good amount of time. And then um we also have when we when we um use in different

145instructional technology sometimes um when you purchase a new program that comes with professional development but when we are going to train people on that we might pull them for like a half day to do that training and then we pay for their sub coverage out of professional development. So um has a a wide variety of uses, >> if that makes sense. >> It does. Um, and I'm just curious because as I was looking through the binder, >> I was not quite seeing how consultants in general are paid. >> Um, so I'm just wondering if it's possible to provide a breakdown. Um, I know we've talked about multiple consultants like through some of our committee meetings, but if it's possible to to provide a breakdown of who we consult with, >> who the consultants are, and

146how much they're paid. >> Sure. Yeah, they're in grants. That's why they're not in the budget book, but I can I can >> Yeah, that would be very helpful. Yeah. Thank you. >> Have any other questions, Madam Chair? >> Okay. Um, I Yeah, you mentioned a lot of things. So, I heard you say that the restorative practices was paid in a grant, but that was from last year. Safe school climates also grant funding. So, none of that is in the 80 hold on 99,000 that's in this book currently right now because that was grant funding. Um, >> yeah. Is there anybody else? Is that what I heard you say, Mr. Costco? You'd can you'd like a breakdown, too? No, I I'm saying there's a breakdown on page 14 and 15 of that. So that I

147know I'm saying there's a breakdown for me. It's enough the breakdown that's here on that case. >> All right. I didn't know if anybody else needed anything different. >> Not on that item. >> Okay. >> I just want to go back and follow up on those numbers as well. Okay. Very good. Any other questions about professional development? >> Okay. Good. Then >> I you know what I am just going to say one more thing about that. So um you know my department had an an entire additional um person in it prior to me taking on the role who helped with a lot of professional development and so we are contracting out because we don't have as many people and we are hiring people with the specialties in the areas that we we don't have anybody

148who's trained to be a trainer of restorative practices in house. So that is part of the reason why we would go to cons a consultant. So just to share that. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um moving on to professional services. Any questions there? >> There you go. >> Mr. Clemens. You first. M >> one question. Uh looking at the actual breakdown of that uh section. Uh it says professional services athletics high school 2425 it was 58,000 2526 dropped to 2500 now it's up to 8,400 just curious what's the dip and why we went so high and dropped out and >> yeah that's what I was wondering too is that the athletic trainer >> that's the trainer which is now a salary position >> ah we were contracting out Yeah, we were contracted out. >> That was

149okay. I thought that was I just want to make sure. Thank you. >> Good answer. Good question. >> Um Mr. Coster, did you have a followup as well? >> I did. I did. Yeah, this was one I had highlighted. I applaud you for your um continuing through the book, Madam Chair. Um so, uh I guess my question is because it is a little hard to the breakdown is great. BOE 60 grand. And I was curious just roughly some what are some items that are fall under that? Uh I'm on page 15, I'm sorry. So just make sure we're on the same page again in 331. But the first one within that breakdown >> that'll be legal fees. >> Say it again. >> Legal fees. >> Oh, legal fees. Oh, okay. That makes sense. Our board

150attorney, etc. Okay. Um Okay. Is there a way and maybe not. Um, I guess again I know attorneys cost a lot of money because they're attorneys. Um, no disrespect to the attorneys in the room. Um, yeah, like what that's used for or again maybe I'm asking too detailed or fine of a question, but just thinking about that. I know we consult as the board, so I am aware that there are some hours spent, >> right? So yeah, I guess I guess that's what I'm sort of driving at there is just >> is there a way to break that apart and see like how many hours or what types of things, you know what I mean, that were is it consultation with the board? Is it you know where she's going to court and going to

151the Supreme Court for us? I'm exaggerating. She's not going to Supreme Court. But anyway, that I'm just curious about that. So >> we use we could try to get some information. We use special ed attorney quite a bit too also, >> right? >> With the shipment law firm. to tell you only historically are two negotiate contracts issues with >> concerns of legal issues. We have used [snorts] ship to help with our piece for transportation. For example, an attorney there who specializes on >> transportation contract law. Chris Tracy is his name. >> Yeah. >> We use Rebecca Santiago for special education. You've seen those of you that have served on expulsion committees sometimes attorneys [snorts] involved. So there's a variety of things we try to give you an idea. >> Yeah. No, that's helpful. Even just

152that right there is helpful to understand sort of the pieces that go into it. You know, special education policy review. >> Yeah, policy review. Uh transport though, that's very helpful to understand that because there's a lot to it. >> So, I'm not so much questioning like why is the number so big, but it's like what is that, you know, sort of a thing. So, I think that's that's helpful. >> Okay. >> You had more on that. So, anyway, that was that one. I understand the athletic one sort of that's sort of a small number. And then the other one was fiscal services. And I don't want to guess. I have my guess as to why that's, you know, 83 $80,000. Um the other one, health and technology. I sort of have a general idea what

153those might be. Seem like I don't kind of >> health is our medical advisor, >> Right. So that one I sort of got then like so fiscal services. I feel like it's like the accountant that has to audit our books or something like that. But again, it's just >> management, absence management, monthly fees for residency checks. We have access to information on residency. So, we pay for that on a monthly basis. >> Oh, I gota Okay. Oh, residency. I gota Okay, cool. I'm sorry to be just breaking it down. Just some of those I'm like, "Oh, that's some of them seem like larger numbers that I want to understand where they come from." So, I think that's great. Thank you. I'm good. >> Any other questions on that line? >> Okay. Moving on to purchased

154property services, utilities, water, repairs and maintenance. >> So repairs and maintenance I sort of a similar idea just because it's a large number. I'm guessing we might be getting into that in a bit anyway on next week because we're going to be going through our maintenance and repair stuff. So, if you know I'll kind of table those questions till then if that's okay. >> That's fine. Thank you. >> Giving a pass for tonight. [laughter] >> Moving on to rentals, transportation in district. Transportation out of district. Transportation special ed in district. Transportation special ed out of district transportation fuel student transportation field trips. >> Madam [snorts] chair. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Um yeah. Thank you. Um so just looking historically um looks like 2425 actual spent was 89,000. Again I hate to refer back to

155the um projected report from December um which I'm looking at is halfway through the year. Um we are 30,000 roughly spent um year to date on this line item. So you double that. Say that's 60. Let's just say we match the 89,000 from the year before. We're still continuing to budget something that's significantly higher than what we're spending. Um maybe that's an item that we look at being does anybody get me? >> Was that already budgeted? Was that already budgeted in with the 14% increase? No, it was not. Okay. Just curious. >> No, that was just a pure cost increase. Again, I'm a historical data nut. So, I like to see trends cyclical how how things So, if we're continually spending less than $100,000 on field trips, why do we continue to budget 130 or

15625? You know, that's that's how I look at it. So, >> hopes and dreams of going on field trips what that looks like that. But speaking from as a as a former elementary principal, a lot of field trips take place in the spring. as it gets closer in the spring season for sports. >> Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems like that's a longer that's longer than it would be for the fall sports, but we're still >> now if you think about it as like three seasons. >> We've completed the fall. We're now into winter sports and we still have sports. So, >> I look at, you know, closer to two of our field trips, our field trips. >> Okay. So that that puts us at the 90,000 roughly if you look at it from

157that. So if we're we've spent 30,000 to date, >> let's say we still have twothirds to go, that's another 60K, we're at 90,000 for the year that we're looking. So >> um you know, either we can look at cutting our softball and baseball season games in half or >> I know that's a touchy side. >> I'm one of them. I mean, that's less driving for me. >> Drastic. That's all. I just want to make that comment and and we can come back to that. >> I think there's more teams in the spring, too. >> Yeah. I mean, it's light lighter out at, you know, in the spring than it is in the fall. >> There's more Yeah, there's more teams playing different sports. There's a lot more in springtime. >> I'm not caught in baseball

158games or softball games. [laughter] >> Sorry. >> The record say that was >> I'm going to be moving on to >> printing, advertising, and communications. Oh my gosh. >> Tuition in and out of district. >> Mileage. Other services. >> Bless you, Mr. Costco. >> Yeah. Again, other services just a big number and I I didn't really dig into the Somebody probably's already there at the page ahead of me. >> 22 Someone hook me up. What pays it? >> Yeah, hold on. >> 22. There we go. Thanks, guys. >> Um >> 590. So, I guess I didn't look >> 590. 23. >> Other other services just kind of that other category. So, it's like the catchall. So, it's always curious like what's in other services, you know? Um like other services, technology 306, like copers 273

159like it's just huge numbers. I'm like what? You know, sort of. So, I guess the question is >> maybe we could share top ears. >> Yeah. What the breakdowns are like I just some of the what the breakdowns are. I I don't know. Breakdowns are they just seem like large numbers sometimes. You know what I mean? I'm just just a guy that looks at going, "Holy cow, that's a lot of money for copers." You know what I mean? >> But I know there's more to it than that. So, I'm not >> I can I can I can say that u with confidence that the copier the number of copers in each of the buildings Yeah. >> is about as low as it can go. I'm sure >> it wasn't long ago I was, you know,

160I wouldn't say fighting with Chuck, but I would say I was [laughter] um >> right >> interested in knowing his philosophy on the reduction of copers. I think all the schools have lost at least one >> uh over the last couple years, maybe maybe more than one. >> So that's all district copers. the two that know better than anybody. Um and uh we have a slight increase this year because uh we're replacing again we we're basically taking three copers offline at Moer and replacing it with just two um which is more which is in line with everybody else in the district but uh their copers were purchased when the school was built out of those funds. So, they were the only copiers we were not leasing and um they've reached the end of their life

161expectancy and then some. Um I believe they're both well over a million copies. Um and so the second one was just delivered I think either today or it's going to be delivered tomorrow. Um and then we have to get them all hooked up. But um that's that's the slight increase in the copier line um is to bring two copers to Moer. Yeah. No, that's helpful. Thank you. And as a former teacher, I the cop bears were super important. So I I get it. >> Yes. >> I just again just >> Yeah. >> So those those are at least then now they're not going to be owned outright like they were before. >> Correct. The only two that we owned were the ones. >> Got it. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Go ahead. Probably

162the whole >> I know, right? >> So just to follow up. So the that's the increase in the 8,000 $798 for the copers. What's the 47,000 for technology? >> Yes. >> What's the 47,000? >> That's a combination of the pre-spend from last year. So that's a mixed number and then about a 5% increase. 590 is my software. >> Oh, okay. That's okay. >> So it's I think I think it was about 35,000 last year that was pre-spent included as looks like an increase. last year's budget and then [clears throat] >> thank you. >> Okay. >> All right. Moving on to maintenance supplies, >> utilities, gas, utilities, electricity. >> Do you have a question? We talk >> we talk solar panels. No, >> I know it's not our issue, but towns are looking for that one.

163>> Um, you can >> make a comment that we Yeah. that we need to look into solar energy. >> I think the plan they have with Tesla is bad. >> Moving right along. >> Okay, >> moving on to textbooks. >> Library materials, other supplies. >> Equipment. >> Uh, sure. Equipment again just big number. Sorry, we're almost there. We got to make 9:30 at least. >> That's Chris's number. >> Um, >> yeah. Again, I didn't get a chance to look at the breakdown on >> That's Chris's number. >> No, this one. This one's not. Is it equipment? >> 7:30 is you, Chris. >> Oh, was that that was one of the Chris ones? >> Yes. >> Oh, I withdraw my question >> then. >> Yes, >> I withdraw my question. It's 7923. I'm good. >> Okay.

164With 73. >> Beautiful. How about dues and fees? Next line. other operating expenses. >> Look at that >> and other objects. >> Any other questions about the three pages of budget object summary? Okay. Uh I'd like to thank everyone tonight. We I know we worked really hard tonight. We were here for many hours and um some really great questions were asked and I do want to thank Dr. Zitto and your team for clarifying um many questions that were asked. Uh Chris, thank you again for a great presentation. I'd also like to acknowledge all of the very tired administrators that are sitting here again for a second night in a row. Thank you for being here. We appreciate you being here listening and we appreciate the feedback and things that you've given so that we can

165go through the budget and get the things that you need for your schools. So, thank you for being here. I know it was a long evening. Um, and with that, I'm going to take a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you, Mr. Addie. Can I have a second? >> Mr. Shabra, thank you very much. We'll see you again next Thursday. >> Good night.