001Okay, Mr. Smeargalino, we are live and you can begin the meeting at any point. [snorts] >> He's frozen. Thank I call the meeting to order. I also want to welcome everyone at this point um myself chairing the meeting uh along with Mrs. Rosner our secretary uh our chairman is not here uh tonight Mr. Jim Fee. So, um, we will be chairing it. Uh, at this point right now, I would like to ask Miss Kaye to, uh, do a roll call. >> Carol Penazo, >> can you guys hear me? >> She's There she is. Okay, there we go. >> Here. I'm sorry I couldn't unmute quick enough. >> No wor no worries. Uh, Rich O' Conor >> here. Kate Coutach >> here. >> Lorraine Rosner >> here. >> Jim Fian is absent. Anthony Smearagino. >> Jason
002Neavs >> here. >> Patricia Munan >> here. >> And Joey Palagi >> here. >> Also in attendance, Ken Sinich, Jackie Tulings, Tracy Hussie, and Kristen Santilly. Can we please rise for the pledge allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States, the >> United States of America, >> to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Right now I'm going to turn meeting over to our attendant uh and I welcome you for the third workshop. uh will be going over things uh like instructoral accounts, staffing and special education. >> Thank you, Mr. Smeiralino. Um so this is our third workshop um not the final but the the last night that we will be giving any type of proposals to the
003board. Um after this evening, our next scheduled workshop is going to be in person. um that will be one week from today um in which we would need to some finalize some decisions and come up with a collective um decision on everything that's been proposed at this point in time. So, just to kind of give, excuse me, a little recap of where we are and where we left off before I begin um on where we're going is, uh on the first night, we talked really about contractual increases, um and health insurance, uh employee benefits, um which was a pretty substantial number and put us into a high range right out of the gate. Um but they are obligations. >> Hello I'm sorry. I'm going to continue. I didn't I I thought I heard something. Um
004that that did set a number that was um high out of the gates. >> I think Anony's having difficulties with his Wi-Fi there. >> So, um Mr. Smeargalino, I have a suggestion. If you have, um if your Wi-Fi is running a little, if you actually turn off your camera, >> what's up? >> You seem to be cutting in and out. Maybe you're having some Wi-Fi issues and if you were to turn off your camera, you would still be able to speak, hear us, and see us, but it would probably give a little bit more bandwidth for you if your camera's not running. So, if you wanted to do that, cuz there was a couple of times when you were cutting in and out, and I don't know if you were attempting to say something. Um,
005did did you want to say something or would you like me to continue? Okay, I'm I'm going to continue. um unless told otherwise. So >> no, >> so so the the first night set set a high number. Um one of the largest driving aspects is our health insurance and as I said the first night um I'm hoping that we're able to have some kind of discussion with the city and and some type of collaborative direction on where we want to go there. Uh the the the second night we did operational um there were some realistic requests um but but not substantial. Um it did not increase our our amount significantly. Um and now tonight we're going to go over our instructional issues. Um tonight is going to be about some new new requests. Um it's
006not necessarily going to be about contractuals. It's not going to be rollover. It's not going to be um uh expected expenses like your employee benefits, health insurance, those type of issues. Um tonight's going to be really the the funding that drives our instruction and and um what we actually need to do, which is our mission isn't to educate kids. Um before I actually go over um the budget walk three, which I know all of our board members obtained a copy of it from me um earlier this afternoon and again uh available to anyone um who would like it. Uh I I would like to justify um the purposes for the requests that we have this evening to kind of give us a frame of reference of of what we're really looking for before we actually
007talk about um funding and and actual dollar amounts. So, I'm going to share a screen that I know the board um I did not directly give them a copy of. It's something I just put together. Um but I put it together in a couple of um bullet points uh as a focal f focus uh in a frame of reference and I would be willing to discuss any of the bullet points before again we actually get to the dollars and cents of the matter. So let me share my screen um just for like I say always for the purposes of um >> for the purpose of to make sure that >> everyone's seeing what I'm seeing. You see a document says staffing request rationale. >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. So when I say staffing request,
008um it I I am specifically referring to because the largest dollar amount goes to the money that pays for staff, but this is really and it may be mistitled right off the bat as more of like a restru instructional request rationale, but um they all go hand in hand. Um uh there are nine specific points I want to go over um with the board and at any point in time um I welcome any questions for clarity or anything that anyone would like to talk about. But but number one, and I and I want to give a a good frame of reference, is what I will be presenting this evening. These requests that I'll be talking about that I've worked with all of our department heads, uh principles, directors, and such, you know, the leadership of
009of the district. These requests are all needs based. Um there's I believe not a single request that was either presented to administration or or definitely that I'm bringing forward um that that is any aspect of us attempting to expand um the the district. And believe you I I I want to be um I want to explain that statement. Um as the superintendent, I have great aspirations for our school system. um if I had the ability and funding was not an issue, we would be putting forth um immense innovative ideas and trying to bring the the best possible opportunities for our kids as we can. Um but within working within our means and knowing the base that we started on in this budget proposal, what we will be talking about is what I sincerely sincerely believe
010um are requests that are driven by the needs of the district. Uh number two, um and I just wrote the the cost of not acting increases cost. You know, I kind of said this earlier in some of the other budget, you know, um, workshops that we did when we kind of were laying down that that foundation for the budget. You know, our our lack of continually meeting the requests of the board of ed or funding the board of ed at a minimum of contractual because remember last year we didn't get a contractual. All it's doing for our city and taxpayers is increasing costs. you know, um the idea of we won't give the board of ed a certain dollar amount to try to hold the line of dollar amounts um doesn't stop our obligations that
011we have to our children, we still are obligated whether that is providing them with the best education that that is possible or looking at mandates and educational law or special ed law that drives decisions that are out of our hands. we can't turn around and say we're just not going to do. We either fund that cost upfront or we pay for it later. Um a very wise person said to me once and this resonates me um for years um cheap is expensive in the long run. you know, um when you try to um minimize costs and try to undercut um what something is, and this goes in any industry, whether it's education, um building, foundations, and and ho housing or anything. Um if you're not going to put the best quality work forward, you're going
012to be, you know, in in the long run, um spending more money. So, uh number three, um we are seeing more and more and the evidence shows it that more of our students are in crisis. you know that that that's that is just um without question uh evidence data that we can show and and I know with me this evening not only do we have um Mrs. Tulings but you know I have um Mrs. Hussy and Mrs. Santilly who directly oversee our instructional programs and special ed and support services and they can speak firsthand more than I can about some of the aspects that we deal with on an everyday basis beyond the instruction of our students. You know this is an obligation. You know the board of education is a community effort. you know,
013we are we are we are building lives and we like to do that as a community together. And with that, you know, in dealing with um raising young people to adulthood, um you deal with things beyond just um direct education and book learning. Number four, um timely support prevents u escalation. You know, um our ability to address a situation and address it immediately um saves cost. if we do not have the ability to address it because we had to cut staffing or we had to cut programs or we had to cut services um we will then have to pay for those services on an outside sources at probably a higher cost. So, um, our ability to address something and address it with immediiacy, um, helps us save money. If the effort and the message from
014the city in terms of us working together is to keep costs down, then we need to meet the minimum requirements of our school system because when we don't, we in essence are looking at escalated costs later on. Um number five, uh case load, whether it's special ed case load and class sizes are are exceeding um our norms, you know, uh it's it's it's clear. Um I have a I thought about this a little exercise for for our board members right now and it and it is um uh something that I'd like you to do privately. You don't have to turn your microphones on. Um, but I want you to to to think about a grade level. Any grade level in our school system, K through 12, just in your mind, pick a grade. Now, I'd
015like you to think, what do you believe? Even as I mean, I know some of our board members are are retired educators. Um, but for the most part, all of you have an investment in education, whether direct involvement in the classroom or not, but some of you may be parents um or as such or [clears throat] even a former student. when you pick that grade in your mind, what do you believe is an ideal class size? You know, think of that number. What what would you think in your mind would be an ideal class size to meet the needs of the student and deliver instruction um from from our our educators, you know, now whatever that number is and whatever grade level you picked, I want to tell you the reality in the sheltered public
016school system. in almost every grade level across the board going from kindergarten, this is the reality we live with in kindergarten right now, all the way to 12th grade, we do have classrooms there that have 28 kids in it. So, um, our average class size in grades 5 through eight average somewhere around 26. you know, we have uh class sizes within grades one through four that are around 25. Now, [clears throat] it may not be the average class size, but is the reality that there are classes in our school system that currently have that many students. And in some cases, it's not an idea of in of of scheduling or instruction. When you have a school that only has x number of rooms and x number of teachers, there's no way to prevent the the
017increase that you may have when students come in. It is what it is. It's a simple math problem. You take the number of teachers at grade level and divide the number of students in that grade and that's where we get the class sizes from. Um, our enrollment has remained pretty standard. you know, we've had slight increases and dips across the board. Um, but then again, our staffing has decreased. I took a look back on the five years is my fifth year as being the superintendent for the Shelton public school system. In the five years that I've been here, over the course of the five years, we have eliminated, I'm not saying necessarily the people or whomever, but we're, you know, we're talking about budget reductions, over 60 positions from the Shelton public school system in
0185 years. I mean, and that's through, you know, nutrition, like someone retired, we didn't have the money for it, we decided to not fill that position, we've had cutbacks, we've done whatever. Um, but but we keep an accurate count of the number of positions eliminated over the years. I was curious myself to say, hey, since [clears throat] I've been superintendent in 5 years, how many positions how many positions less is this school system than it was 5 years ago? And I believe I don't have the number right there, but I can provide it to the board accurate. I believe the number was 62. So, um, again, when you're doing a simple math problem of taking the number of students and dividing it by the number of teachers, you know, and you have less teachers, even
019if your enrollment doesn't go up, your class sizes are, you know, your case loads are. So, um, number six, in district staffing, uh, reduce risk and reduce costs. Um and again our ability to address the needs of the students is not only the best uh course of action for our students. Every person out there wants the best for young people. You know we want to see them be healthy, safe. We want them to um have each and every opportunity that they can they can achieve. We want to provide them an appropriate education for their needs. Um, if we can't do that, there's a risk to the student. There's a risk to the student in some way of whether that's their learning, whether a child in crisis didn't have somebody in the support staff um to
020assist them, there's a risk. And as I said earlier, when we don't have that in district staffing and there is a need out there, there is an increased cost. And I these numbers I actually have in front of me. So, our per pupil expenditure and that is just so we're all on the same page here is we get this number by um the money that is allocated to the board of ed. This has nothing to do with and I know we will discuss this with the city the concept of inind services and we appreciate any services that the city provides us. Um, but when the city puts a roof on Moheaggan school or pays a parking lot and all this, that doesn't factor into this. This is the exact dollar amount that the city decides
021to give to the board of ed that we have control over to teach our students. And we take that number and divide it by the number of students we have we have in in the school system. Well, our per pupil expenditure for 2025 uh was 19,330. Okay. So, when you're looking at, you know, in Shelton, what is the the cost of educating a student? Um, it's $19,330. I am going to say, um, kudos to the Shelton public school system because we are putting forth one of the top-notch educations in the state of Connecticut for probably the lowest dollar amount that you're going to see out there. So in that sense when we're talking fiscally when we're talking about fiscally responsible and us working with the needs of the city I believe we are meeting the
022needs of the city um with what they ask for and what we're what we deliver. Okay? Working within our means yet I want to throw another number out at you. Um if we don't have a service in our school system like I said in number six in district staffing reduce costs um if we don't have a service in our school system and we need to outplace a student or we need to send a student and provide them with some type of service that that we don't have because we don't have the staffing. Here are those costs. All right. So remember the 19,000 our lowest tuition cost for the school system $78,295. Okay. So now the cost if we kept a student in our school system and had the staffing to provide their needs, we would
023in essence educate that child for $19,000 on average. That's the But if we don't, the lowest tuition cost is $78,000. We jumped from 19,000 to 78,000. The highest the currently the highest outplacement that we have in our district is costing us $210,000. And I'm going to tell you that particular student is getting an appropriate education for their needs. So it's not necessarily something about overspending or or what's happening there. Um there are a lot of different students with a lot of different dynamic needs out there. And for this particular student because we can't provide for that student that's the cost that we have to give them and that's my justification behind the number six that indistinguish costs and risk. Um number seven intervention staffing has declined. I mean that's the first part of the statement.
024That is a reality. Intervention staffing has declined. We used to have a position called interventionists in every every um school K through six in our district. There are none anymore. They're all gone. Those positions we funded with title money. Title money has decreased. Um because we didn't have title money. Those positions of course um had to be absorbed by the board if we were going to keep them. And we've had reductions in staff. So they have fallen by the wayside. Um we don't have full-time reading specialists in every single one of our building. You know um we at some points were having to share math specialists in our building and the idea or concept of an instructional tutor has vanished. No longer exists in our in our school system at all. So intervention staff is
025on the decline but the needs for intervention for our students is increasing. If if the community has expectations that they want a quality education here in our school system and they want to see rising test scores and they want to see results from our school system, we will be at uh able of of capacity where we will no longer be able to deliver that expectation with the consistently decline in our support staff for the for our most neediest learners. Um, number eight, part-time staff limits student access. That's just a statement of fact. All right. Um, we have we've had to move into a into a world again based on budget allocations where we have part-time teachers within our system in the areas of unified arts. So, I'm talking about media, art, music, and such. We
026have part-time teachers who have to split between buildings as well as support staff. We have part-time counselors here, part-time social workers in this building, part-time school psychologists who have to move around. And although again we're working in our in our need within our needs and meeting the needs of our individuals, the reality of the fact is student access is limited because when that part-time employee who splits between two buildings is at the other school, there's no possible way that that child can access the education they provide or the services that that individual will give. So again, if our community has an expectation that when my child needs X, fill in whatever subject or service X would be and they want that when their child's in school, well then we need to increase staffing. That's as
027as simple as that. We can't do that with part-time staff. We can meet the minimum basic needs of our of our school system, um but we we limit the access of our students. And number nine, um, early investment has, uh, the greatest impact. Okay. Um, I am very troubled by some of the high numbers that we have in our lowest grades, particularly kindergarten. Um, and when you talk about early investment, not only financial investment, you talk about early investment of the foundation of education. All right? When we have an inability to to create a strong foundation for our students needs at an early level, we already set ourselves in motion to widen the achievement gap or our ability to meet the needs uh of those students um and where they'll go. You know, a child
028who comes to the Shelton public school system will be with us for 13 years from kindergarten to 12th grade. We want them to be with us for for 13 years. Think about the impact that a kindergarten may have with large class sizes and and and limited access and all of that and what that would do as they go through the school system for 13 years versus the success stories we see coming out of the high school now 13 years ago when class sizes at that foundational base were much much much lower. So um it is something to consider. My final statement in this document is strategic staffing prevents greater costs. Simple. I mean, if this whole game that we play in developing a budget, bringing to the city, the city giving us a number, we're
029going back meeting the needs is all about saving money. If it's all about trying to be fiscally responsible, working with the city, um, showing the respect and appreciation for our taxpayers in this city, providing the education that our young people need, meeting the needs of the families that are out there. You know, if we're strategic about how we do it, we will in essence save money in the long run. If the if if all we're hearing from city officials and everyone out there and even the public at large who who want to keep the mill rate as low as it can be possibly be, then we have to be strategic about we're doing. And what I'm going to present you tonight in the in in working with all of our educators out there and our
030our leadership team is I'm working with to show the most strategic planning that we can do to meet the needs of our students. So um that's a just a talking points document that I wanted to share with um all of you this evening. Um, I'm going to before I even move on to the walk, I'm going to stop it so I can see everyone's faces and um through the chair, Mr. Smeargalino, um what what I what I'd like to do is if before I actually go to the and start talking about dollars and cents is um entertain any questions anyone may have about what I've what I've said this far. Um, Anthony, I'm just trying to assist you u based on what you can see and whatnot, but uh Mrs. Panazo has her hand raised
031and if you'd like me to, I I can entertain her question. Mrs. Rozer, I'm going to defer to you just in case we lost, you know, she's given a thumbs up. Go right ahead, Mrs. Fazo. >> Um, I don't have a question, but I do want to thank you. I'm very grateful that you shared those strategic points with us. um it's made it very clear about the needs instructionally of the school district. So, thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate um what you said. >> Any other questions? Mr. Smeargalino, I'll I'll turn to you if you want me to go on to do the walk. >> Yes, please do. >> Okay. I'm going to uh share my screen now. I know um all the board members received this um walk earlier today. Again, available to
032anyone who asks. Um just a little shout out confirmation. Everyone sees the financial walk three on the screen. If someone can say, "Yeah, Carol just I saw Carol's thumbs up. I can only see a limited number of people when I share screens." Thank you, Carol. Um okay, here we go with uh budget walk number three. So again, I'm going to focus on the areas that are highlighted. Um these are areas that we may have talked about um and areas that you know we have yet talked about before. So uh first and foremost um I want to refer to uh and I'll use like my cursor certified staff and and employee benefits. Now we have already discussed in previous nights um our contractual increases which are these areas that I'm highlighting. you know, these are the
033contractual increases. Um, uh, employee benefits is is is, uh, heavily driven by insurance, but these first two are contractual. Um, my proposal to the board of education this evening, and what we're requesting is I would like um five additional full-time certified staff. So, so that that's the number that I'm putting in place um, in terms of five additional full-time staff. Now, I I know the question is, well, where is this staff for? Because I just gave a whole list of needs um in working with my leadership team um and being, as I said earlier, strategic about um our staffing needs. Um, at this point in time, what we're really looking for is the number um relative to uh the cost to to for us to increase five employees because we believe that through um some
034savings that we may pick up on staff that may leave, staff that may retire. Um we also have to look at adjustments in enrollment. Um here we are on January 15th. Our enrollment may vastly change by the time we get to June. I mean, we just opened kindergarten enrollment. We don't even know what kindergarten numbers are coming in. I can't plan for kindergarten numbers. So, I will be in a better position in terms of where schools are and what enrollment is um when we get that final number in May. and then working with that additional FTE, which stands for full-time employee, um, and and piecing together the funding and savings, the cost savings that we have. Um, I believe that we can meet the needs that I outlined in my previous document. Now, I know
035this question is going to come to me already, so I'm going to answer it before it's out there. Um, at the current date and time, I have only received three teacher retirement letters. So, um that is lower than we have in years past. It's not to say that other teachers still may decide to retire. Um but as always is the case um at this present moment in time because again I do not know what enrollment numbers will be final. Um I would be replacing those three individuals. Okay. But I would be replacing those three individuals at a substantial cost savings. I mean, all three individuals are are at top step within the collective bargaining unit. And as we've done before, um we would put a hiring freeze on a certain um level and and at
036this time my my suggestion would be um step five with the masters just to give us a placeholder um to not exceed that. Um and if we were to uh hire and replace those staff members if they are still needed when it comes to May um we would be able to save substantial costs and then defer that cost to hiring additional staff later on. So that's why we that's where we get the numbers and how are you going to fill all these needs with just five individuals. Um that's how it works. We also look in in the aspect and the idea of um uh non-certified staff in the same boat. We do have um retirements in the non-certified staff area. We would look at cost savings in that to to justify non-certified staff. We are
037also and I've had discussions um with Mrs. Santilly in her new role um possibly looking at some type of um audit of non-certified staff um to to do an assessment plan to see um where our staff is in the system and and our allocations for that to see if our we can meet our needs with no additional cost. But with these five FTEES which at master step five um would give us approximately $350,000. We also have to account for their uh employee benefits and again um since we cannot determine who would be hiring at the time um we just use an average placeholder and that's that's done with the numbers of um um a single family plan or a single person plan um because again uh we we can't we don't have no preconceived notions
038or a crystal ball of who we're going to hire and and what their needs are. Um but but we just need to kind of give a number out there. So that increases our request um through there. You do see we did not discuss administrative expenses um but there is a very minor request there of um $3,366. Um that is a specific dollar amount and that is for um needs within our school based in our equipment account which falls under this family. Um and replacements of some desks and um cafeteria tables um which have exceeded their life and and they need to they just need to be placed replaced. They're they're at this point of almost causing a a hazard if we continue to move without replacing this furniture. And again, um, this this this this
039dollar amount is is extremely nominal, uh, in the overall budget. Um, the next line item that I'm going to discuss is tuition. Um, before I talk into tuition, the only line item that I did not discuss, and again, I'm basing this on past practice with the city unless told otherwise. The only family that we haven't talked about is is our student transportation. Um, as we're all aware, um, we our buses are provided through us through the city of Shelton, through the Shelton Student Transportation Services. Um, the city has set that cost. Um, this has been a a very very very effective collaborative cost-saving effort between the city and the and the and the shelter board of education. Um we have not been given any type of um request to increase that line item. Um until
040that request comes from the city itself um we would just continue to as we've done in years past to keep it stagnant uh static which is which is beneficial for us and beneficial for the city. But I will go back and and this this um orang-ish kind of highlight tuition. So this is our current tuition line item. Um, as I mentioned earlier in my breakdown, I talked about um the idea of uh outplacement tuition costs ranging from 70,000 to 200,000. I mean that that's not just special ed costs. Um there is um statutes in the state of Connecticut uh something referring to and the typog is open choice where students have the ability to go to other schools that are state funded schools um that we have to we we have to be be able
041to play tuition costs. Um these again are specialized schools. schools like RCA and ECA which specifically are schools for um the arts, music, um fine arts and those type of things. Um uh magnet schools like Fairchild Wheeler which have um uh aeronautical programs um engineering programs that that a normal public school doesn't have. Um those all factor into these tuition line items. So it's not just a specialed number. All right. And again, and I'm going to say this, uh this number is a variable. You know, um we don't know who moves into Shelton. We don't know what kids are going to request which uh which school. Uh we do know kids that graduate. We do not know kids that are going to apply and come in. Um we have to do our best estimated guess
042relative to those increasing costs. Um I know we've gotten um cost numbers. Um Jackie has worked with I know Mrs. Hussie and Mrs. Santilly. I've worked with a lot of these different schools to try to get their in cost increase. Um but I do know this and this is what we're recommending and proposing unless the board and again I want to emphasize this is your budget so you can determine how you'd like to play it out before we finalize this next Thursday. Um last year uh when we closed out the budget, the most effective cost-saving measure that we had for the city to meet the needs of students, particularly in this line item of tuition when it comes to special education and such was the establishment of the reserved account. Um, we did not use
043the entire dollar amount that the city put aside for the reserved at that time. We requested from the city $1.3 million and we came in under budget. I know there's always been a statement that has been said in the past relative to the board of education that if they don't set numbers or they just give us what we ask for, we we will we will just spend spend spend. I would like to, you know, show as evidence that that is not the case as we demonstrated when the reserved accounts were in and we did not use all the money that was available to us um that was established by the city. So the comment is that if you know that we're just going to spend whatever um we ask for um doesn't have any data
044to back that up and we have evidence here that we didn't do that. So the idea here is um I think in the best interest of our school system in the city of Shelton is that any increases that we need for this line item to cover tuition costs and such uh we request another reserve. Um, we believe again that we can meet those needs in the reserve of $1.3 million, the exact same dollar amount. If we don't use any of that money, the city keeps it all. And ultimately, by not putting this $1.3 million over here, as I highlight this section of increases, this number, which now is at 9.6, remains at 9.6. Um, Jackie, I'm gonna ask you a question, and you may need to pull out your calculator to do this, and I
045don't know if you know this already, but if we were to put the 1.3 million in the budget as part of the reserved, do you know what the final percentage would be? If you need to take a moment to figure that out, I think the board would appreciate to know the difference between the 9.6 and what it would be if we added that in. >> Yes. If you give me a few minutes, I >> Yeah. No. So, as you're as you're working on that, when you get that, you share that with that um I'm going to stop sharing my screen so we can see everyone again and then by all means open it up to any discussions or questions that any may have about tonight's proposal. So, Mr. Smeargalino, I don't know if you would
046like to call on individuals who have their hand raised, if you want me to just refer to them. >> No, you can do it. It's It's not a problem. Can you hear me now? I I can hear you now. Yep. I know you're on mute, but you're off of mute. But so, uh, Mrs. Coutach, I see your hand raised. So, if you have a question or you want to ask a question, please. >> Uh, two questions. >> Yep. >> The retirees are any of those in shortage areas where we might have to go above that five that that upper border. >> Um, absolutely not. All three retirees are are elementary teachers. >> Okay. Thank you. and and the other the five additional certified staff. Do you have thoughts if you're directing them at classrooms, support
047staff, special area, or just trying to get the five and then >> um but I if we were to get these five an increase of five FTEEs, I will in some way um attempt to satisfy all those needs outlined um above in some way or shape or form. um and they would all be affected in a I'm going to say they're all going to be affected in a positive way forward. Some more than others in terms of directly like I can't say I can't say this statement um out there, you know, in public to to make a commitment that hey, if we get five FTEEs, there'll be no more part- timerrs in the district. You know, I I can't I don't know what what the variables will be in terms of enrollment numbers, tuition. Um,
048but it will put us in an in an extremely positive direction to meet the needs outlined earlier. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Question. >> I have a question. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Of the $1.3 million that was put into reserve and you had said you didn't use it all. How much was actually used of the 1.3? Because I know we're proposing this again. So, >> yeah, I'm gonna refer back to Jackie again and I know she has the numbers. I don't know if she's Yes. still working on the percentage that I throw at her. >> I was actually looking for the spreadsheet so I could just plug it in, but I could do it manually. So, what we actually used of that reserve was 1 million137,556. >> Okay. Thank you
049very much. >> You're welcome. >> Now, Mr. Mr. Spearino, and I'm going to say this because I know all the time, you know, sometimes if uh if they know that that's the dollar amount they they that we use, they might say, "Well, that's the dollar amount that you may only need." Uh again, we're looking at the $1.3 million because there's increased costs across the board, you know? So, like we we our are our are our our strategic planning to meet the needs of the budget um is going to meet those needs and those increased costs with that $1.3 million. So, I I I would hate to think that because we only used 1.1 last time, they're only going to give us 1.1. You know, >> I agree with you, >> Dr. Sage. I I have
050a question. Okay, Carol, I also know you have your hand up, so I'll ask >> No, go ahead, Jason. Go ahead. >> Okay. Yeah, just a quick one. The under the u the five additional staffs, you had 165 as as a uh as an increase. Um now, then you said we have three uh that will retire. Obviously, their their um their amounts will stay in in our budget and then the 165 would be the balance to cover these five uh [clears throat] >> Yes. But could I correct something again? uh the the teachers collective bargaining unit was renegotiated. We went off the new numbers that are effective July 1st and a master step five as of July 1st is actually 69,000. >> So it's not 65, it's 69. So Got it. >> Yeah. >> But
051I didn't know if if you were just asking to get the data straight or did you have a question with that? >> Yeah. No, I just wanted to understand with that 165 and how that was figured. Obviously, if if we're talking five FTEEs that have been new new hires that we have three that are that are retiring, we'll take their salary and add and added to that >> will offset that and it would add to um that bank of money that we we've already established with the five we would add a little bit more to to to in essence hire more than just five people. I mean the ultimately the the the idea here is is that we have enough money through the allocation of salaries for five people with the additional savings we get.
052So the the gate the the the the the hoped outcome is is that we would get more than five people you know like and as you can see with that list of needs we need more than five people. So that's how we're trying to factor. And well, just one one more question. The the out of district students it was uh on the low end was 78,000. What actually sets that number? What what I mean so when you say out of So where where do the where does a student for 78,000 where where do we send him or or her? >> So um we we it's a great question. I'm going to answer it in the best way I can and and if I in any way I'll defer to Tracy if she wants to add
053to it. Um but obviously we can't speak about a particular student and and what their program is that would do costs. But um the bottom line is is is where is that student being placed? There are multiple a whole variety of different facilities in the state of Connecticut that specialize in certain areas and certain needs for certain students. They set their tuition. How they set their tuition is very similar to the work that we do here. They have their own boards. you know, their own board set a budget. They have salaries and staff and overhead and they will determine that, well, our needs are increasing. We're going to have to increase tuition costs and and there is it is a factor that is beyond our control. I mean, if if a child is required to
054go to a particular program and that program increases their their tuition because they have costs to cover just like we do, we have to factor that into our budget to cover those costs. And so um how that changes it is a very um >> uh diverse and every child is different because some childs some an individual child may need an additional support at a particular place and then we have to pay for these additional supports, one child may need less and then of course we always have to factor into this equation um that falls under all of this is we also have to pay for the transportation of these children to these facilities. And again, um, we do our best effort, uh, to try to minimize cost for transportation. If we know that multiple children
055are heading to one particular direction that's going to cross over or connect to certain towns where these facilities are, we'll work with student transportation or some of our outside providers and we'll put multiple children in in a smaller vehicle van of some sort or such and try to get that. But we do have to pay for that transportation. I will just before I get to Carol's question, Tracy, I don't know if you want to add if I missed anything, if there's anything you need to add to that. >> I think you did a great job. >> Oh, thank you. Carol, did you have you were next with the I know you were asking right when Jason was. So, >> um, so you've um explained ex extensively about the need for certified staff. So, thank you
056for that. My question has to do with non-certified staff. Um my understanding is that 19 positions were eliminated last year across the board, certified and non-certified. Uh the position I'm particularly interested in is the network engineer and technology. Um how what kind of hardship has that created in the technology department? and have any of the other um non-certified um supervisors requested positions that we cannot fill because we cannot afford to put them in a budget that's already at requesting almost a 9% increase. >> Well, again, uh great question. There's a lot of components to that question I'm going to kind of unwrap one at a time. Um first and foremost, I know you're talking about a network technician in the in in um the tech network engineer, >> correct? Network engineer in the tech department.
057So what we ended up doing actually is um uh that particular position um was uh there was a retirement and then we able we we did not fill that position when it was a retirement um to save cost because we had to make the budget in working with Mr. Newman at the time um and and actually Miss Toolings as well. We found out we the the work that was done in the network technician we outsourced and we actually outsourced it for uh less cost you know it was more cost- effective to us. So the work that we were doing inhouse um we actually had a substantial cost savings. Um it it did not put that one position did not put an added um need on the tech center per se because it is is now
058it now and currently is outsourced. So it was a positive effect in terms of uh the way we worked the budget. Um as this board is well aware of and I've already communicated this um Mr. Newman has moved on to a different um position outside of the district. We currently now are are looking at um the tech center as as a entire entity. Um I am overseeing the tech department. I have worked with all the senior tech levels that are out there. um we've been very communicative and speaking to other again on how we can do cost efficiencies in those areas and how we can meet the tech needs um within the system. So before I move to replace um the the the department head um which we will be doing in some time in
059some shape in some form we are looking and auditing in terms of effective cost savings um for the needs of the district and tech um the other areas of non-certified I'm trying to remember the other components of your question itself um and if I haven't >> answer do we need any do we need any additional nurses do we need any additional secretaries ies uh behavior um analysts support uh in that area. So again all non-certified. >> All right. So um obviously and and and Mrs. Fan I know you know this this the answer to this question based on your experience here in terms of nurses. Um we don't need any n any additional nurses. Last year again and it was all circumstantial behind our beyond our control but it actually worked to our benefit in
060the budget. Um St. Lawrence or or I'm sorry, Holy Trinity closed. So, um and then one of the nurses retired and we didn't have to fill that position. So, we had a cost savings in non-certified with nurses because there was a reduction in force because Holy Trinity closed. And we as the public school system, for those of you um who are new to us, we're we're required to provide um by state law, we're required to provide the nursing services for any schools um within the municipality. Um there are no other schools now in Shelton um uh non-public schools other than the school system itself at this point. So so nurses were we're were we're were fine. Um secretarial staff again um we do have some retirements in the secretarial staff uh that that put in
061some retirements um that we received. Um that of course will be looked into and weighed upon as we do with all staffing um as we get closer to the budget and what our allocations are of what we will be doing relatively with the retirements and and any impact that we'll have with there. So >> it's the best I can offer at this time but thank you for the question. Okay. >> Any other questions? I have >> feel like I feel like public comment. Do I have to ask three times before we can end the meeting? >> My question is that the per dollars Oh, that's right. Huh. [laughter] Um, is that does that include the special ed or does not include her? That's a separate entity of the 19,330. The per pupil expenditure is determined
062by all students in in the system. So obviously when we have a student that we're paying for at a higher price versus the standard cost of a of a of a what I'm going to say a general ed student, there's a variable there. The 19,000 is the average. So you know we are you know we it's it's the amount of money that we receive divided by the number of students in our district. So there are students that we absolutely pay a higher cost for. But then with that being said, the reality is our our majority population for the city of Shelton because the majority population are general education students not receiving specific services is much much less than 19,000 because that number is an average. >> So to answer my question, it is included though.
063>> Yes, it is included. Sorry, I I was a yes or no question. >> Make sure that's all >> because that's going to raise that really raises the uh per pupil um expense, >> right? >> Yes. Yes, it does. It's a driving. Yep. Uh Kate, >> I know I I kind of know the answer to this, but you could um possibly share our per pupil expenditure in comparison to maybe neighboring districts or districts in our DUR. Um, I know for a fact we're at the low end, but just to give particularly the new board members and maybe listening public a comparison. >> Um, we are at at the lowest end of of the states of Connecticut. So, relative to our neighbors, I mean, we we are at, you know, um, again, I I could get
064I could actually get the full list to everyone. I mean, that that's that's public. I don't want to misspeak per se. Um, but I remember at one particular time, and I'm going to look to Jackie to see if she can reflect or know um I I mean we were we were near the bottom of the 180ome school districts um uh recently. Uh where we are in comparison to school districts in our DUI. Um I don't know if we are the lowest within the DUI. Um because we're the lowest in the state. I I I'm only going to make an assumption that we may be the lowest in our dur. But I am just speaking from um my my experiential knowledge that's in my head, not the facts. What I will do is I will provide
065to the board um the entire um state school uh per pupil expenditures for all districts and then I will also indicate those districts that are in our our DUI that that are in our our districts that are like us. So you'll have those numbers. I I think it it tells a lot about Shelton has the ability to pay but does not provide us with the money. >> Sorry, I'm just writing a note to make sure I get you guys the list. Uh Patty, don't forget you're muted. So, >> yes, I know. Um, I just looked up and what I can get is the 2023 2024 the statewide average was 21,143. So that was from 2023 2024. Um, so at uh 19330 we're pretty low. >> So below the average from two from a year ago
066or two years ago. So just um looking at the budget book which that number is provided that number was for the average for last year which was 2025. Prior to that our um per pupil expenditure was 17,731. So it was actually a lot lower prior to last year. >> Okay. Uh any other questions that we can answer for for you? >> Will this 19 is this is this the number we're going into for 261 19 330? >> Well, no. We we don't know what the number is until the city gives the allocation. >> So that number is to be determined based on how much money the city will give us and then what our enrollment is when when we get that number. >> Right. Got it. So that's our current >> Yeah. current rate. >>
067Yeah. And and um and again and I know um what Patty provided and and Jackie did as well, you know, uh often the state reporting is a a year older like because they don't they you know to get all that information from everyone and then publicize it in their state reporting. The the reporting is always like one year ago. It's never like the current year because it's hard to get the current year from all the all the school systems and publicize that it while you're currently in the year. So, >> any more questions they to the superintendent? >> I do have those numbers if you're ready for them. >> Oh, yeah. Please. Oh yeah. >> Percentage numbers that I asked at the very at this. Yeah. >> Yeah. So increasing tuition by 1.3 million putting
068it in our budget gives us a total increase of $9,58,781 which brings us to 11.21%. So we jump from 9.6 6 currently by requesting the reserve account um to 11.21 if we put that 1.3 in our general budget. >> So I mean things to ponder, you know, uh as the board makes their decision. I mean we we could put it in our budget and and of course we're then looking at, you know, publicizing an 11% request or increase. Um obviously there's no guarantees either way that they give us the money in the budget or that they establish the reserve. Um the benefit of the city doing the reserve versus them putting the money in the budget is twofold. One they control the purse strings. So you know like uh they they they will be able
069to keep the money that we don't use which I know they would appreciate. Um, and two, there there is um a concept and and I'm trying to explain for our new board members um it it's based on state law um uh the MBR and it's basically um when a school system is at a certain threshold with their budget and let's say for instance let's say for instance we got this allocation that we asked for and our budget then becomes 80 or or let's go at the current so our current budget is 80 $80 million um the the law by the MBR law, it prohibits a municipality to underfund a school system. So there's a certain threshold that they cannot, you know, they can't say you're at 80 million, we're only going to give you 75
070million this year. That that's illegal. It's against the law. Um, so our efforts to keep our increases down obviously keeps the threshold down and then the city knows there's reassurances that they there that that that won't increase further over time. So that's why I said the reserved is a win-win as it as demonstrated when we had the two reserves for the city and for us. So that that that may be the best way we go to keep that number down and just kind of working with the city itself. Question for Jackie. >> Um, using the percentages, I understand that, but say 11%, what does that amount to in dollar amount for our budget? So the total increase if you look at column 2 3 four five >> that 7.76 million jumps to 9,58,781. So in
071instead of a $7.7 million request, we would be requesting um over 9 million. >> Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. which would put our overall budget of over 90 million. So that our our Yeah, >> we're we're just just slightly under. So our overall budget would be8,870,27. >> And that's why Jackie does the numbers and I don't. >> You were close. You were close though. >> Kate, there's another hand up. Kate, did you have another question? Yeah, I I just want to say I'm on, right? Yeah. Um, inevitably when we meet next week, there will be tweaking, but I strongly support the additional certified staff and I think that should stay intact no matter what else we have to do. >> I appreciate that. And and if and and before um Mr. Mr.
072Smeiralino, before you adjourn the meeting, if there are no more questions, I just would like to make a few statements to the board about uh our our our next and what inevitable will be our final budget meeting. So, just let me know when we're done with the questioning. >> Um >> Oh, okay. do uh so so if we if we're done with the questioning this evening and I appreciate all the comments support questions and uh uh statements that were made by the board this evening it's very helpful for us um uh administration you know superintendent through the work of administration we will not be proposing anything new after tonight so the numbers are or what the numbers are now it really goes to the nine board members to try to advise us to say, you
073know, just as much as Miss Coutas said, I firmly believe that we should keep the FTEES. Um, collectively as the nine of you, you either all have to agree to that or or come to some kind of uhh consensus whether that through a vote or whatever that we are going to put the nine or not because again the way this operation works is you work have to work as a nine, you know, the nine of you. Um um but we the administration um between now and next Thursday are open to any type of further discussions, one-to-one discussions, commentary, emails, suggestions. Um we will put forth as many variations of final walks for you to look at for next Thursday. We can we we of course will show the one that you see this evening. We
074of course if someone says show us what it would look like if X we will give you that example as well and then you guys can dialogue in the meeting itself. One of the things I did speak to uh Miss Toolings about is um we also may uh put um our our interactive board on and put the actual physical budget walk on the interactive board which in essence is a is an Excel spreadsheet and and we can have discussions that evening and say like like I just did this night and I asked Jackie, Jackie, tell me what those numbers are. Jack, you can literally input those numbers on the spreadsheet and and they will live they'll change live and that could you know and say there there it is. That's what what it looks like.
075That's what we want to go on. I mean ultimately um what we need from the board is is a final vote um by next Thursday. So like as I explained at our first budget workshop so that administration can proceed in developing the budget book to meet the required deadline um by city charter. So, with that, I have nothing further to to share or state unless there's any other questions um from anyone else. I turn the meeting back over to Mr. Smeargalino. >> I would like to make a motion to adjourn. >> I will second that a motion. >> Oh, thank you, Mrs. Rosner. >> All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> So move. >> Thank you. >> See everyone soon. Thank you very much.