Board of Education Meeting - 1/15/2026

001It is 6:30 p.m. and I would like to call the Stonington uh Board of Education regular meeting to order. January 15, 2026. Uh, second item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. And I'll ask Miss O'Keefe to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. >> Thank you. Third item on our agenda is communication recognition. I'll turn it to the superintendent school. Miss >> public approve >> pretty short list uh this month. Um I just want to recognize for folks who uh for communications I did receive um several not several but I did receive emails from parents who are very very um interested in the board supporting the reinstatement of the library media specialists at the elementary level. So thank you for that. Um, also some inquiries about uh makeup days for West Vine Street

002students. Uh, I do I do want folks to know that they are required by state statute to require to um be scheduled for 180 days of schools that are actual school sessions. Those can be full days or half days as long as they're actual school sessions. Um, there's been some uh inquiry about is there a way around that? Um, if you read Mr. Dr. Attorney Mooney, I shouldn't say Dr. Attorney Mooney's book, three different commissioners of educations have warned that such waiverss have not been granted by the state board of education um over over a decade now. So if it wasn't granted during COVID, I don't feel that this situation is going to warrant that. You have to exhaust every possible uh avenue to get those days made up and we still have a lot

003of wiggle room there. Um we do have some survey results based on, you know, asking the families and the staff, you know, what their like preferences are. The surveys results show that parents have a strong preference for two full instructional days on the scheduled professional development days in January and March and a half day on the Monday in June following graduation. The faculty um is interested in usually the professional development days as half instructional days, half professional development days with a half day on the Monday following graduation. So um we're going to button up the survey tomorrow and uh get everybody noticed on what the decision is going to be about that. And we just appreciate the feedback from parents, families, staff members, uh because it is an unusual situation and we wanted, you know,

004especially taking cons into consideration the instructional needs of the children first and the family's needs for planning purposes. Um and then we'll we'll get back to you on what the decision is. I know not everyone's going to be happy just based on what we see from the two uh constituent groups there. So um there's that. Um, I also under recognitions want to thank Ela Tel. Tim and I yesterday spent the morning at uh at the middle school in uh watching the spelling be unfold. Uh, we do want Mr. Parkinson to get a coach on his annunciation and pronunciation of some of those vocabulary words next year. Um, but I'd like to congratulate the 23 stingrays that participated in that spelling bee and Erav uh Fernath who actually was the um the victor in these the

005uh the competition and he will be moving to the state level to compete and so we wish him well. It was really amazing to see the composure that these middle school students had under pressure and how they took their time when they were um you know in front of the mic in front of an audience and I want to thank the parents who were persspiring profusely and so nervous and so anxious for their students. Um I think they were in the toughest position even tougher than the kids um who were in front of the microphone. So well done Elaine. Thank you for that. Um, I also want to thank Alicia Strickling, all the building principles, and all of the department heads, the cabinet members for the hours and hours that they have put together uh,

006specific to the budget. Um, we want to remind you, and Alicia is going to say it five times, and I'm going to say it five times, tonight's presentation is not the budget. The superintendent's budget will be presented on the 29th of this month. This is really to give you guys an idea of what it would cost to keep everything we have in play right now. What does that look like as we move forward if we were to keep things unchanged? Also then side by side with that is based on what the principles have told us and central office staff has told us if everything that we have considered as improvement requests were actually granted by the board of ed approved by the board of ed approved in number quantity as far as a bottom line

007by the board of finance what that number might look like. I also want you to know that um at a recent learn meeting with the area superintendent, their budgets are coming in between 5% and 11%. So that gives you a range when you hear these numbers where we're falling and I think that's enormously important. Um just to give you a context of what's going on in the area. Uh so thank you to all of those folks. Um and again another thank you for everybody who filled out the survey, the staff, faculties and families who responded to the calendar survey. Um, again, I'll talk a little bit more about that in my um, superintendent report. We have um, we have some folks with different thoughts on that as well as the West Street makeup days. Thank

008you. >> Nothing to add. Thank you. >> Apologize for my mic. Uh, Zack, anything? Next item on our agenda is uh board presentation. I'll turn it over to Mrs. Stripley. Maryanne gave you the preview. Saying it again, not the proposed budget. The purpose of this and people, you know, we were saying it so many times because people get confused every year. We get so many calls saying, "How can you be proposing that?" We aren't even to that. So, this is just to give the public board of education kind of a preview into, you know, when the superintendent's budget lands in front of you, a lot has already happened. And so the purpose of that is to let you see that. So this just gives an overall summary of what our current year FY26 approved budget

009is and what the budget workshop iteration maintained services is. Um you will see that I think in the original documents that you got the year-over-year increase for maintaining services was 5%. Uh as I was going through and analyzing some data, I saw um a few different areas in it was the high school and high school athletics where there were things that really that were in improvement requests but really should have been maintaining services. So nothing's been added or removed from this. It's just that it's shifted from one column to the next. So with all of the improvements that have been requested by the leadership team, it would be a 6.57% increase. So, I've had some conversations with different um community members and board of ed members about the things that people commonly misunderstand or um

010don't know how to follow in the budget that goes out. One of them is the comment section. Um so, you'll see in several areas it'll say um add4 FTE or decrease point4 FTE. they have updated it so that you'll be able to better follow it. Now, um the high school, for example, as they have enrollment shifts, they may have a teacher who's dual certified teaching English that can also teach Spanish. And so, they'll move that person part of that person's workload to another area. It doesn't mean that we're moving or hiring half a half of a human body. It's just that where that person is teaching um is a different content area. I'm going to skip the special services part and talk about the account code purpose. So, the reason that it matters for that

011money to follow the teacher or um program that it's assigned to is at the end of every fiscal year, I have to do a huge um report to the state. And the account code structure that we use is a uniform chart of accounts that all of the districts in the state go by. Um loosely, not exactly, but um and so each of these where things are accounted for matters, especially when it has to do with special services and special education. Um, special education reporting impacts other areas like our idea grant funding. So, it needs to be really really accurate. Um, special services is tied to special education number one in the sense that Allison uh directs both of those departments. Um, special services though, the costs that fall in that area could will also be

012they may benefit special education students more, but they will also be used by regular education students, uh, nurses, psychologists, that type of thing. So, that's the difference between those two. Um, you'll see some assumptions throughout, um, especially when it comes to, you know, non-bargaining wages. those aren't necessarily set in stone yet. We're using assumptions um to project what those salaries and benefits may be next year. Um should we get retirements in, we will also use assumptions there. Um and the difference between what that teacher was making and the assumption I use is a teacher who's on step six masters and has a twoperson insurance plan. We don't know that that's actually going to be Sometimes we hire higher, sometimes we hire lower. Um, but at this point in the year, it's difficult to know exactly

013where we'll end. Kind of our road map that we've talked about. Um, the next step will be to develop the proposed budget. So, we are looking to the board of education and to the community to tell us what you see in this budget that you like, that you don't like, so that we have a better understanding of what we should be doing for this next step. Keeping in mind that we have one week um I will go to print on the next on the actual proposed budget so that they can be delivered to you next Friday. So the sooner the better on any questions or comments that you can give us um because it will be important for you to have a voice in that so that you can feel confident in approving it um

014at the February meeting. Any questions? Um budget challenges you will see when you go through the maintain current services there's very little discretion. Most of it is we're bound by contract either by collective bargaining or vendors that we really don't have a choice um but to use. So most of those costs are fixed. Most of those costs are increasing just like they are for all of us in our personal lives faster than the revenue is um growing. Um a good example I'll show on a later slide is grant funding. So most of our grants fund salaries and so every year teacher salaries go up but very often the grant funding is going down which means that more has to shift to the general operating budget that you approve. um special education costs we get 7

015seven something um that special education increased by this year 7.53 um and and that's actually pretty low if you look at the tuition and transportation for special education I think they're actually both decreasing by a bit um which is unusual and it speaks very significant ificantly to the fact that Allison does a great Allison and her team do a great job at keeping our students in our community instead of outplacing them. Um we can better control costs that way and it's better for our students. And then there's the balancing priorities, right? We know people don't want the budget to increase um at all, much less, you know, five, six, seven%. And so with rising costs and not, you know, increases in revenue not keeping up with that, how do we make sure that we're still

016offering the same programs to students despite that we may have less money to do it? Oh, this QR code I put on here because I don't know if anybody's heard of the um school and state finance project. It's a nonprofit group. They do a really amazing job of creating different tools that you can use to see. Um I got distracted by group with the camera. [laughter] Um so they there's tools that you can say okay if if these different variables change in our district this will be the financial impact. Um also as I was doing some research for this presentation I saw that they had done um a nice article with feedback from superintendents throughout the state on the impact of inflation on what's going on in schools. So that's why that QR code is

017there. I feel like the primary budget drivers are pretty much the same every year. It's salaries, it's benefits, it's transportation, it's special education. Uh these are things that we really can't control all that much. Um employee benefits I want to say most of that is health insurance. Many many districts are seeing double digit increases. So we're actually pretty fortunate this year that um we're still in the single digits on that increase. That number also includes uh the pension though. So every time a salary goes up then so does the percentage based pension that's attached to that salary. The transportation contract I think next year is the last year of it. maybe one more year after that. Um we I think the first year we had a 14% increase which was pretty painful and then it's

018been 5% every year after that. We received one bid so there wasn't a lot that we could do about that. So you'll see that the total of these budget drivers is almost $4 million versus the total budget increase of 2.3. I know that math doesn't matter, but you'll see why. So when we present um the budget, we've already looked at where can we reduce spending or um you know what seems to be an inflated line that we could make more accurate. not intentionally inflated, but like utilities for example. Um that cost for everybody is going up exponentially. Um Steve has done a really Steve and his team have done a really amazing job of making us more efficient and despite the fact that our contract was up and our cost went up, our utility spending

019is down. In the next presentation that we do on the proposed budget, I'll give more information and and data on that. magnet tuition. I haven't yet looked at whether the number of magnet students is dropping or if it's if this reduction is only because the state has now capped the amount that magnet schools can charge districts. Um, but I do have that in the works and I'll give you some data on that next time as well. Substitute teachers. This is a line I never thought I would see come down after COVID, but it really um to be able to reduce that by $37,000 is pretty great. Um it's primarily from two different buildings. And I'm sure that that will shift each year. Um it isn't just people calling out sick. It could be people having

020babies or on some of other type of family medical leave. And so we really have no way of predicting who's going to be out next year. But um the data so far looks good and we're trending downward. I just want to remind everybody and inform the uh newer members of the board that there are expenses that we pay externally for students outside of our district. These are things that were required by law to pay. Um and that's magnet school tuition which again has been capped. Um and we have to provide comparable services for private schools as far as health goes. So that's nurses, that's the um district uh doctor, uh supplies, professional development, and it's around 80,000. That number is lower than it was last year just because we've had some movement in um staffing

021there. Last year, this also included tech school transportation, which was pretty high. But with the um rearranging of things and no longer driving to magnet schools, we're now able to transport students to Graaso on the same bus that services Westbine Street School students. Um so that number has we're still spending money in gas, but it's you know, it's a lot less than it would otherwise be. Any questions on that one? Feel like I'm racing through this. >> The other the other piece is the building principles are here except for the uh spelling be master of ceremonies. Um so if you have any questions specific to a building, you're more than welcome to to call upon them as well. >> So there's a slide for each call them docks. It's a accountability center. So, it's each

022department or school. Uh, these all of the increases for the high school, there are some pretty big ones, but they're things that are required in order to continue doing what we're already doing. Uh, the HBI and CNA program have been um heavily relying on grants that we don't know whether or not we will get them next year. Uh, but we want to make sure that that programming isn't interrupted. Um, I know the HBI program has also expanded and so obviously offerings cost money. Uh it is the NEAS accreditation year and so that is that $10,000 in professional development and the 12,500 those are all related to the CNA program supplies, equipment and dues that are needed. One of the questions that I received was like why do we have to buy supplies every single year?

023So we're not necessarily buying the same supplies every year. Um it could be for example the kiln broke. So now we have to replace that equipment in order to continue doing what we're already doing. Um you know a lot of these you use them and and those supplies are no longer um usable and so you have to refund. Any questions for So everywhere that you see an IR that's an improvement request. Um just I just wanted to differentiate on the slides what was maintained and what was improved. So a salary adjustment is requested for the athletic director. Um and the union has come to us and requested this and provided some comp details. Um so that's something that we'll be considering before we finalize the proposed budget. Travel conference. um athletic director has requested that

024another member of the team be able to go to a conference um that he attends regularly and then replacement equipment for $1,000. Sington Middle School is requesting basically the reinstatement of two full-time certified staff members that they lost last year. also included our soccer expenses. That's in added teaching, transportation, and referees. Um, so these were the costs were covered this year by a gift that was received. Um, and we would like to strive to put it into the actual budget. >> Questions on that? >> What are the positions? They're certified teachers, but I don't think it's necessarily. Do you know the content areas? You do >> one social studies, one science. >> Thanks. Deans Mill, um the reinstatement of the.5 FTE media specialist and that includes the benefits that go along with it. And this

025is at each of the elementary schools. There was a 0.5 FTE. So there was never one media specialist dedicated strictly to each. West Vine Street School is also looking to reinstate two certified staff positions that were um one was eliminated last year and one was shipped to the STEM position. Reinstatement of the media specialists and then a small request for replenishment of supplies. special services. Allison, you may want to speak to this more, but um this is for our English language learners. And this position, it's a improvement request. Um and it's really for the a position that would better monitor. And Allison, can you speak on this one? I do understand it. I'm just not articulating it well. >> Sure. So, we've seen a really steep increase in our English learner population. Um, I mean,

026I can think back to when I probably maybe 10 years ago, we were looking at average numbers of 10 to 12. We're up to 25 at this point. These are students that are in all four of our schools. Many are newcomers who are coming in with no English at all. Um so right now we are we have a tutor in each building that is providing the support services and right now we are also surviving on a coordinator who is really being paid as a part-time tutor part-time coordinator. It's not a full-time position doesn't have any benefits. We also want to increase the hours within that position so that we can do more training across the district. Um, I know there's a lot of classroom teachers that would benefit greatly from more coaching and support to

027support these students in their classroom. Um, we're also looking at adding, which I'm working on right now, some additional English acquisition curriculum and materials that we need to be able to provide to those students. Um, so between the professional development, the training, the coaching of the teachers, there's a lot um that's needed to help support these students. And with the increase in population and the four different schools, that responsibility is increasing. >> And also it um it's no longer just Spanish or Portuguese. It's a it's a range of languages, >> all different grade levels and that it's really a need and it's a population that is often overlooked. So I would greatly support the inclusion of this and it needs to be a certified teacher also um in order to take the instructional component of

028this programming outside move it from Allison's responsibility into uh the curriculum and instruction under the assistant superintendent uh because it's just Allison's work has become unmanageable um and we don't want to chase her away uh so the the financial piece can can live in special services but the instructional component in the professional development component. It really is a general ed um uh it's more appropriate in a general ed setting. Alison, may I just understand the because you spoke to having the population all across all our schools. If you're having just oneL teacher, how does the educational So right now the the person that's a that's the coordinator is also working directly with students on average to 20 to 25 hours a week. So that person doesn't have the capacity to do that outreach and dispatch

029and training to the other buildings. So the idea would be that this would almost serve as like a floating coach. Um the other piece of this too is that these children, as you can imagine, are arriving at different times throughout the school year. So um we're finding that pretty consistently. So this person when a new building is registering an English learner, this person would be going over to that building starting to do those introductory training and get all those supports in place with that teaching team even before the student lands in the class. That would be the goal. Right now, we don't have anybody with the time, capacity, or really that professional training to be able to do that to the extent that it should be done. And then continuing to monitor and go and

030do meetings with those teachers to make sure that they have everything they need as they continue. It's not a one-stop shop. That's going to be ongoing support and training for the staff that are working with students. So, they'll be floating around the district. especially important um at the elementary level where we can look to that professional to really coach specific teachers at each grade level. So when a new child comes into district, we have somebody who's interested in helping that population and is also invested in being getting that specialized training. Um and that training is good for all languages. Those strategies are good for all languages and all kids. Actually, >> you have to get really creative this with this if you don't have an extra large Right. If we look to other districts that

031had have a larger population, those districts actually have programs within each of their buildings, they they have multilingual classrooms. So the students have depend even regardless of what grade you're in the opportunity to to participate in that way. We have a smaller population, but it's a very scattered population. So we have a kindergarter, we have a fourth grader, and we have a third grader across town. They're they're all over. So that was the idea of getting this that would really be able to float and coach and support wherever that student ends up which of course is hard for us to discipline. >> And is there a component that extends beyond the classroom in the school? Is there a piece where we provide that person can give you know some sort of a tool for the

032family at home to work with their children? >> So right now that's a big piece of of that that as well is um those tools. Um there's family tool kit that the state just came out with for multilingual learners and English learners. And those are tools that go home to the family. So, this person will be responsible for that piece as well as getting all of that information to the family translated into their native language. Um, so yeah, the parent component, that piece, I'm actually looking again, like I said, at on boarding this new program for English learners. And what's wonderful about it is it has a a family dashboard and it translates all of that information into the native language and allows the teacher to send home to those families that that child is

033working on as part of their English acquisition. Next slide. Um, special education. Again, we're considering these maintain that should not say IR next to it. I apologize. Uh, the certified prek and speech, those are really maintain current services. um because those programs are just getting too um large and the needs are too large um to continue doing with the current staff that we have. How many speech teachers do we have for the full district? Three, >> right? This this is a really important component of this presentation for the board to pay attention to because you hear over and over from community members. Why are is the budget going up when the census is going down and it's not the number of children in the classrooms? It's the needs of those kids in the classrooms. and

034Alison can tell you she's seeing more and more behavioral needs at the primary level and she's seeing more and more speech needs at the level as we have to provide those services. Um those are basic things in order for kids to access the core. >> And as far as the prek teacher, um that is a proactive measure to help in future years and to help with a lot of those behavior issues that we're seeing in kindergarten. And then you know those are carrying forward to the grade levels. And so the hope is that we if we can help some of those more of the students who would otherwise be going to kindergarten to develop more of those skills in a prek setting, they'll be more successful in kindergarten and their classmates will also have a

035better experience. Anything else you want to say? Just the FTE speech is 4.8. Hate to be that guy, Alicia, but those numbers don't add up. >> Oh, I you know what this one? >> I fixed it last night, but >> yeah, I don't know why that it's really uh the prek is 103032. I thought the presentation was the updated one, but maybe it's >> number 103. >> Yeah, the top number is 103032, >> but also that doesn't give you the same to >> Okay. Oh, no. And then the total is 20451. Sorry, I'm looking at the correct numbers, but apparently this isn't the uh the most recent. There were a couple updates that happened after We'll update this. >> Yeah. Anna has the updated ones to put on the website so that anybody looking. >>

036You just found 50k credit. >> Sorry, but that 50k was only in the slides, not in the spreadsheet. Unfortunately, >> don't say that to the high school >> technology. Very minimal request. We all know that tariffs have caused an increase in the cost of chips chips. Um and so like supplies and equipment associated with technology have gone up. That's really a pretty small asset. Maintenance the overtime staffing. I may still adjust that before we um give you the proposed budget. Um that's an increase not based on a request from Steve but just on me analyzing um the projection for this year that we're higher than we typically are and it's always an uncertain area right because of the weather we don't seem to have as many snowstorms as we used to. So um overtime is

037very heavily impacted by snowstorms. So where we don't have them um we see those numbers go down. So again that may be adjusted. um purchased services. A little bit of that, about 11 12,000 of that is vendor increases, but there is an unfunded mandate in there as well um for indoor air quality. Steve, can I hand this one over to you about that new unfunded mandate? >> Sure. It's a state requirement, a state mandate that um every five years we have to go through each building and have them balanced have a full survey of our fresh air system, our building management system, and basically our indoor air quality. Uh just it's a new mandate that's come out and it's a fiveyear reoccurring mandate. So this is our we're basically taking in one school per year.

038The cost is around 40 cents per square foot, 45 cents per square foot. So this year in this uh upcoming budget, I put in for the high school to be the first school on the indoor air quality which is around 75,000 >> except you're going to hear later tonight that it's west street school that is really going to be the first you want to speak any more about your the repairs and supplies request or is that that's really >> Yeah so I mean it is an I think actually last year I took I didn't actually take an increase repairs and supplies, but it just seems like this year our unforeseen budget repairs escalated enormously. And it seems to be not not small issues. I mean, we we spent $17,000 replacing repairing the elevator here. We

039spent um I think it was 20,000 on the water system here. It's just it just the cost escalation of cost is higher than my budget can withstand on a regular request and it's almost a a preemptive ask to make sure make sure I make it through without stress levels manage this and enough money to cover these rising costs on maintenance and and it's not just this go most of our buildings went through renovations in the last 25 to 30 years so it's common time that we're finding issues. So, it's not random. It's is just the age of the buildings. It's the maintenance required to keep them to code, to keep the the air quality the way it should be in the services that we provide safe. There is again the increase in the cost of

040supplies. um definitely having an impact across the board. And then there is an improvement request for um textbooks. The primary part of that um is world language textbooks, but there are also um Tim, can you? So, our current world language situation with French and Spanish, those books are going on, I think, 15 years old. We've been talking for a couple of years about replacing them. The world language teachers have kind of kick that can down the road uh for the last couple of years. Last year, we did purchase what we need for French. Uh in these textbooks, it's the new modern situation where there's an online uh textbook and then we buy physical textbooks as a classroom set to back up the online and you typically purchase the number of years of access for a

041number of students to access those those online materials. So we did French out of last year's budget uh that spurred our our Spanish teachers to make a final decision. They've made a decision on a textbook that they want to move forward. Uh the unfortunate thing is we need a lot more Spanish text books than French because of the enrollment numbers. Um, in addition to that, one of the requirements uh for AP courses is that they every AP course um has a list of approved textbooks. So, you can only use there's always a couple of choices, but you have to use uh the ones on the list. And there's also a requirement that they get replaced with the new additions every uh 8 to 10 years. And we have a couple of those coming up that

042we need to to replace as well. Forgive me. Um, the purchase services here is 86791. That's to the dollar the same as it was for maintenance uh and operations. It could just be coincidence, but uh Steve also mentioned earlier it was 75,000. Um, and I was wondering if Yeah, because if there's an extra $10,000 in here. >> Yeah, I think I I think I did ask for an increase, but there was the 75,000, but there was other items that it's actually it would add up to roughly 80,000 over 80,000. The other one is we've had some tick in insect issues at the elementary schools where we've been letting the brush grow higher and more it once a year but the principles have been requesting more of that be cut so it did cause an increase

043so there was I think some other And Alicia, I think I sorry I think I ask this question every year because I like making the point, but and I think you just said it, but the fringe benefits there is fringe benefits for every eligible employee in the district, not fringe benefits for the district office administration. It's just the fringe benefit line that affects every employee eligible in the district just so happens to live in the district office administration cost center. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kevin. So if if that's there then why are you seeing benefits different places? Thank you. The other the other piece of of this puzzle risk-wise is it is luckily a short session up in Hartford this this year. Um but we never know what's going to come down the pike

044as far as new mandates for training. Um and the the back and forth even with title title nine changing um puts a demand for professional development and for more legal services um on us to give technical support to our building leaders because some of these requirements are so involved. They're very complicated processes. Um, and so there's more draws on our time and our um in in in the budget in the money when when these things change and then when there's new requirements that happen. And so um that's always a risk every year, every session. >> Question um on the I don't know if it was forward or back, but the uh title funding. Yeah, that one. Um maybe you're reading my mind. Uh where does that money show up? um it doesn't show up as

045non- tax revenue in the town budget. Does it subtract from the line item salaries? How do you take what are you taking into account right now? >> Okay. What are you assuming right now? Or are you assuming zero >> or is it like not really impacting things right now? >> Yeah. >> For planning purposes, the state has historically, and I say historically, told us to plan on 85% of the current year's funding. >> Um, but it's totally unpredictable. Sometimes it goes up, but generally it's been going down. >> But does that impact the numbers right now? How would it not? Like worst case scenario, say we get zero. Are you going to build in 400k to our general? Like what do you what's your letter there? >> I got you. >> But it's not to

046your point. It's not anticipating a complete elimination of that mind. What's the timing for federal money? Like when do you know how much you're getting and when you're getting? >> At best it's August. It's been as late as November. So even though the entitlement what they consider entitlement money is due to is is ours as of July 1. We rarely get that number before August is the best case scenario, but it has been as late as November. So, it's really tricky. >> But federal budget is October. So, >> no, because these are these are two-year grants, quote unquote two-year grants. They're really like a year and a little bit longer than that because it takes them so long to get us the funding. And that is why they allow us to carry over that 15%

047to use in the following year because they know that we're not going to get our funding until far after the school. Any other questions on that? Just want to remind everybody of the upcoming dates. So, two weeks from tonight, we will present the superintendent's proposed budget. Um, there is an FAQ document out there and it will be live on our website so that parents can see it at any time or community members. Um, and board of ed members have edit access to that so that you can go in and submit a question or you can email them to us. Uh, we're pretty good at answering questions on the fly, but there are going to be times where, you know, your question may take a little bit of research for us to answer. So, the more

048you can in advance, the better prepared we can be to answer any questions. >> And just for clarification on this slide, our presentation before the board of finance is yet to be determined. So that last bullet should say board of finance presentation. Um we should be getting those dates from the town shortly. Yes. Thank you. This is updated on the the right slide deck too. So um we are hoping for the board of education to be able to vote. So when we present the budget uh on the 29th, we'll take feedback from the community and feedback from board of ed members on any changes that you might want to see um before you vote on it. And so then we will present any changes as requested and the board of education will vote. We then

049have to hand it over to the town um and then the board of finance um presentation is the next step. So just these are some presentation topics that I've been kind of jotting down that I want to include in the next presentation. Um enrollment projections and trends of course is something that everybody's going to want to know. Um educ education cost sharing which is a revenue source from the state. It's ECS funding that goes directly to the town. it doesn't come to the to our budget and so it's you won't see it in our budget but it is in the town's budget as an offset to board of education expenses um the impact of the mill rate um and then any other topics or slides that we hear from um you know we're really close

050to what's going on with all of this information and the changes and so I think sometimes being so close to it you don't see what other people are seeing and so we really want to make it as comprehensive and and as understandable as we possibly can for the board of education members and the community in general. So, if you have any feedback on slides that you'd like to see, please please with a little notice, let us know so that we can prepare whatever you'd like to see. I may just not be close enough to it. That was it. You have any questions? or community feedback. I know not everybody's on different social medias, not everybody gets everything in the mail. Um, is there a way we could push something out the parent square uh with

051a link to the form that they can fill out with comments, concerns, some way to reach the the public in a way that we haven't tried before? Um, maximum feedback in the early stages. >> Yeah. So, a survey that the uh curriculum office um conducted about communication that was one of the areas of weakness is our communication about the budget. Uh and so I've started working on you know different lengths because different people have different tolerances for reading and so I've got just a short blurb on key dates and when votes will happen um and then a one pager and then a longer explanation of everything. So, um, yeah, we do plan to send messages out through parent square this year. We had really, really strong parent involvement last year and we'd really like to

052see that continue. So, and in the past, I think we've set up a a site where folks can email questions. I believe we've done that. We don't I don't know if we did it last year, but I think we've done it. figure out a way to capture questions, but also people can just email us and we'll we'll get that into a master document so that every we can just keep it on the website. Some of the questions are like the same ones that we get every year that we have in a document already, but there's there's no silly questions and so um and if you get them, feel free to forward them to us and we'll just put that master document together. Yeah. So that FAQ is is just the general document, but it's also

053specific questions regarding this budget cycle that we've gotten. Um it seems like if one person asked the question, somebody else has the question, too. So we might as well just put it out there to increase everybody. >> Thank you, Alicia. >> Next item on our agenda is comments from citizens regarding items on the agenda. I just like to remind everybody that we comments from citizens or employees of the district and that we limit uh each individual comment uh to three minutes and 20 minutes per topic. So, please adhere to those rules. When you come up to the podium, make sure you state your name and address and write them down on the sheet that should be there. Hello. So, uh, my name is Bruce Arnold. Um, I live at 19 Clark Street in Westerly, unit

054B. Um, I'm also the I teach at Stington High School and I'm the local president for the union. Uh I want to start off my remarks and comments by echoing u Miss Butler's comments about the special education needs and students. I've been doing teaching special education for 30 years. I've never seen the needs emotional needs of students especially at the elementary school and the incidence of teachers the difficulties the elementary school teachers face teaching these students is incredible and I I do not envy any of them on their journey for doing that and Allison and trying to address all their needs. I obviously like to talk to you about the ongoing problem with the west fine and the impact on the teachers. Uh, as you probably know, there's an ongoing problem. Uh, there's been a

055review of the information I was given. There has been four incidents prior to February 2021 and 14 afterwards. I requested um account of all the information when evacuations occurred or smell from the district. Uh, in 2021, there was a gas smell and the building was evacuated. Uh, 2021 again, there was a glycol leak in a teacher's room which the students and the teacher cleaned up, assumed it was okay because it smelled sweet. Uh, the has been evacuated multiple times and schools have been cancelled as you know three times and early early one went home early one day. Uh the union should be involved in any plans or incisions and how those days will be made up. The fire department has come in the testing but not necessarily there when the tested order is occurring. We

056do appreciate the testing that has been done and we appreciate the president uh sorry uh Byron Stillman has been there all through the week uh outside the room I believe the music teachers room where the gas leak was. I'd like to point out that all the students have music as well as all I see all the other special teachers. So at some point all the teach all the students may have potentially been exposed to the gas leak. I'm concerned about the safety of staff and students. It's been an ongoing problem. We have been trying to address it, but we have not had any luck. I want the students to be the staff to feel safe in the building. We're concerned about the long-term impacts on the staff and the students. It's important to understand that

057um based upon the frequency of evacuations and alerts on the staff that we are legitimately concerned about the the students safety and their staff's safety and their overall well-being due to potentially any uh long-term impacts and exposure to unknown um substances. I would ask that the board stay actively informed about these issues and about what's being done to fix the problem. And last, I'd like to read to you what uh a member uh from West Fine gave to me. In closing, I respectfully urge the board of education to take this matter with serious it deserves to remain engaged, stay fully informed, and to consider what students and staff may have already been negatively impacted in ways that extend beyond loss in structural time. We acknowledge and appreciate that more significant measures have been taken in

058recent months than have ever been done before. However, given the history and persistence of this issue, it's clear that vigilance is necessary to ensure the safety, health, and trust of the West Flying Comm community. In closing, I just like to ask that you keep vigilant, keep aware, and do what you can to keep our student and staff safe. Thank you. >> Thank you, Bruce. Good evening. My name is Christy Head. I live at 29 West Fine Street. I'm the parent of a junior at Stonington High School and I'm a staff member at West Fine Street School. I'd like to comment on the upcoming approval of the 2026 2027 school calendar and pose a few questions for your consideration. Prior to the construction of the elementary school extensions, the board of education had approved school calendars

059with built-in snow days. For at least two years, our calendars had a Friday in March, April, and May that were off until a snow cancellation. These Fridays were no school on the calendar in September, but it was communicated to families and staff not to consider these guaranteed three-day weekends. Once a snow day occurred, the district would announce that the Friday in March was now a school day, and so on throughout the year. Each year that this was built into the calendar, we used all three snow days, which alleviated the effect of missed days to the end ofear dates and graduation plans. Since the construction schedules, the board of education has approved calendars with 183 school days. This also alleviated the impact of weather days. When we had high winds in October and snow in the

060winter, the end of year date and graduation date went unchanged because we had three days of grace built in this year. And now next year, the board of education is proposing a 180day calendar with no room for weather considerations or cancellations or other unforeseen circumstances. We are now faced this year with three missed days at one building due to maintenance issues with no grace in our calendar. We are now left to shuffle the calendar and make changes because of these unexpected issues and zero room for grace with the 180DA protocol from the state. Why has the board of education decided to move away for planning for miss school days? Having built-in snow days allows staff to deliver curriculum, intervention services, and special education services to students during their most active months of learning rather than

061extending the days into later June when the curriculum has run out and the students are transitioning their focus to summer adventures. Wouldn't it be more prudent to expect a few days of interruption in each school year? This would allow families and staff to better fa plan for their family obligations. I strongly encourage the board to reconsider proposed calendar and plan for at least three days of winter interruption as was our past practice. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, first of all, happy new year. We're already in 2026. Um, I had a couple of comments. Um, I like to kind of piggyback on that. I've heard some questions, comments from parents wondering why we didn't do I know we didn't do this year, why we didn't do it again next year with the three days included

062in. I don't know if there's some reasoning or anything, but maybe explaining that may be helpful in how we process. Um, as I've done in years past, I would like to ask the board to add Columbus Day either jointly with Indigenous People's Day back to the calendar. Our surrounding districts, either acknowledge Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day or just say Columbus Day, don't mind doing it, but I think that the district's decision to just forego Columbus Day on a calendar was was a wrong decision. I just asked that that be reooked at because rotten says Columbus Day, Indigenous People Columbus Day, Indigenous People's Day volunt. I ask that we at least make it a joint Columbus Day indigenous people's day. I think that that's just the right thing to do. Um facilities, we now have

063middle school faculty posting in the community forums about the facility issues at the middle school. I know that there's been a delay portables. I know that's, you know, outside of anyone's control, but that was still like the temporary solution and we're, you know, a year from like trying to get those in there and no foreseeable end of sight with that. Um, but we still need some other ideas and I don't know if it's changing the schedule of the middle school structure um to block scheduling or any other ideas more time on the core classes versus kind of their the middle school schedule right now like the kind of split up where my child can spend just as much time or sometimes more in band than they do in math. And I don't know if making

064the classes longer or changing that can alleviate some of the classroom needs and the movements. And I I just don't know what could be done, but we need to start thinking outside the box and making some sort of changes to alleviate it for the students and the faculty. The space is the space. We're trying to get the portables, but we need to come up with some more ideas in how we're going to move forward and make this better. Get table just something so people feel like there's some an insight or some sort of positive change that's coming because everybody feels really stagnant right now on this especially with the delayable legal issues understand you know we want to make sure that's buttoned up but it's just really frustrating for people um I was also hoping

065for some more on the personnel report there was a note that there was two new positions being added at West Fine Street school I had to look it up but I think it's board certified behavioral analyst and um then a behavioral tech and I just don't is that something that's added to the budget? Like I just was we were talking about like positions and how we need to like put them into the budget and now I see on the personnel report two new positions and I'm just wondering how that affects the budget. Is that included for next year's? Um and then Deans Mill has currently like 70 students more than Westine. Last year they had when you look at the enrollment forms. And so that's 100 more students that the P teacher has, 100 more

066students that the music teacher will have. And I'm just wondering, I don't know how the district works at all. I don't know if we need to do something with redistricting, but they're asking for two new full-time teachers to be added back in. Right now, the classroom sizes are about even and still sometimes less than deans. So, we're going to talk facy back in. We need to figure out how we're shifting these students. You know, you have the same administration, the same number of nurses, the same key teachers spread amongst children equitably in the district between the two elementary schools. Um, and I don't know how to solve that, but I just think it's something that caused to be looked at. Um, and then I also just wanted to make a comment about the middle school

067soccer seeing it on the budget thing. Um, it's just I just want to say that the kids, my son participated, the loved it. It was such an improvement into the middle school. My son was maybe one of the only there was a couple soccer players on it. Most of the players were brand new to soccer. So, it was really fantastic to see these kids getting involved and I know so many kids were talking about playing next year who didn't this year or who are really excited or um it just created this commodery with them. We only have the basketball team. So many other schools other sports offered and I just think it's a great addition and we got you know like a free year um as like a trial but it was such a positive

068thing that I just hope that we're able to keep that into the budget um for the students and our soccer program is really great at the high school level and I think this you know helps build on that and it's just a positive thing for students. Thank you. Hi everyone. Uh my name is Emily Mlanahan. I live at 110 Apprentice Williams Road. Um I'm a parent in the district but also happen to be the music teacher at West Hine Street School. Um I if you would asked me a few years ago uh if I'd be up here as an advocate, I I would have said absolutely not. But yet here I am. Um kind of surprised to find myself in this role. But um sometimes I just feel it necessary to have a voice for

069the teachers and also in the unique role as a parent at Westbine. I think it's important to speak up. Um I'm want to acknowledge my uh colleagues before I say the meat of my statement. I work with the most incredibly dedicated group of teachers. They are fiercely um dedicated to their students and concerned about their well-being in every way. Um, they're also an extremely respectful group of staff members who care a lot about what their administrators think of them, what the parents think of them, and what the board of education thinks of them. So, it's important for me to say that first because in no way is my comment meant to be um a criticism of the district. We appreciate everything that has been done so far to solve the issues that are happening at

070West Vine Street School, but it would be wrong for me to not share that our staff members are concerned about what has been happening in the building. Um, and I think those two things can exist together. We can have a great deal of respect for everyone in this room, our administrators and people working at district office and certainly our facilities director and thank them for the actions that are being taken and especially in recent months. um and thank our building principal as well for what seems to be a push to to really take some more serious action, but our staff members are concerned about potential long-term effects of exposure. Um I think we've ex we've uh received a great deal of information, but I think there's more information that could be shared with us to

071potentially ease those concerns. Um, I don't want to rush what I'm saying, so I'm just going to take a minute to make sure I'm saying all that I feel is important. Um, like I don't want to focus on the minutia of making up school days. I can only speak for myself when I say that is absolutely last on my list of concerns. I know other staff members have it much higher on their list of concerns surrounding this issue. Um, but that just feels like another burden that needs to be borne by the staff at West Fine Street School. And I know there's no way around it. And I know that we have to complete the 180 school days, but the truth is we have been reporting as a staff an odor of gas in that

072building since 2019. Just going back in my staff emails, I have found almost 20 messages about evacuations consistently from 2019 up until Monday. That's concerning and it's upsetting to make up these school days, potentially extend our school year as a staff when it's completely out of our control. we would have liked to be in school and yet here we are. Um so I want to thank you for listening to me today. I do really truly want to thank our our building administrator and I want to thank um our facilities director for all the actions that have been taking place. But I do want you to know that our staff is concerned. They're concerned about potential long-term health effects. They're concerned even more for our kids that have been in the building than we are for

073ourselves. Um, >> all right. Thank you for listening. I appreciate it very much. >> Thank you. The mic is working. It wasn't working earlier. So I don't know related to that, but I've been getting the same text. It is working now according to reports. >> Just go a little closer on. >> Okay. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. My name is Audrey Holm 152 minor. Um so the first thing as far as uh Westbine and the gas smell um as a parent you know it is concerning what our children and staff members are being exposed to. Um also communication. It would be nice to have consistent communication. Like sometimes we are told when evacuations take place, other times not till like after the fact. Um so it would be nice to just have

074like consistent clear communication. Um and as far as like building repairs and maintenance, um keeping this in mind, I hope that um you prioritize that in the budget um because Above all, the safety of our students needs to come first. And as a parent, I want to feel good about sending my child to each school, whether it's classifying the middle school, etc. Um, as far as teacher positions in, you know, the budget, I'd just like to discuss the band position. Um, my daughter, my oldest daughter, she's in fifth grade. and she gets taken out of math class in order to participate in band. And I don't agree with being taken out of a core class. And I don't think that it should have to be a choice. Um she she does enjoy band, but it's

075she should not be taken out of math class in order to participate in band. Um so I've been told like there was some movement adjustment. Um, but I just want to let you know that like I will not sign my younger three children up for band until middle school because it's not worth it to me that they have to be taken out of now. Um, so I just want to say that. And then also in addition to what Ashley said with soccer, I'd really um encourage you to support the middle school soccer program. As a um soccer coach, I coached several teams, but I can tell you that my um U1 soccer, there's I think three girls that are from West Vine and everyone else is from Teens Mill. So, this middle school program really

076makes soccer available to everyone um and not just a Thank you. The next item on our agenda is report of the superintendent schools. >> Thank you. >> Um the first item is school calendar. I just wanted to give you a little bit of background on um the survey results about the school calendar. Um and obviously based comments tonight. If you want to make any changes to that, you're more than welcome to. I would like to draw your attention that there's a typo on that calendar. Um the November PD day should be voting day. It's a Tuesday. It's not that Wednesday, so it be November 3rd. So if you do approve it as is tonight, it would be with that amendment. Um because our schools are used as voting sites and so we we use it

077that as a a day for professional development. Um so so that's that's that. So, we did administer um a survey this year because of the way that Labor Day falls so very late. Um and it would push us back to starting on September 8th, which has it's been our practice um for several years now. I think Anna looked it up and it was like 2015 or something. We started um having schools start for students after Labor Day. Um it seemed to have been very, you know, much embraced by the community. Um but we thought this year um And I want to I want to say the last couple times that this has happened the start on on the 8th of September, it was in the co year of 2021 and the following year 21-22. So

078with that in mind, we thought who better just go back and like take a temperature check on what the community and the staff really are thinking about um this very late start to the school year. So we had an I want to say this is an unprecedented amount of um parents that responded to the survey. So 545 families or parents responded. That's 70% of our our parent population. So that was pretty darn good. As far as staff, we had um faculty and staff 184. So that's 24% of the staff. Again, a very very good um metric for staff results. U Mr. Smith actually parsed out in a separate category parents who are also staff members. So the the staff members the 24% add to that another 6% of folks that are have those two roles

079of parents. Um and then so that's a that gives us a snapshot of who actually responded. That's important because we have some pretty interesting results. Again so uh the parents voting for uh the start before Labor Day. Now this is for students start before Labor Day. 52% were in favor of starting before Labor Day. 40 Let me put my glasses on. 48% 48% said after Labor Day. So, we're clearly not going to make everybody happy again no matter what we decide. Um, for staff also interesting, we had uh 65% or 120 staff members um want to start before Labor Day, 35% or 64 staff members after Labor Day. the category of parent and staff members. Um 72% of that group wanted to start before Labor Day and 28% after Labor Day. Um we did see

080a trend that it seemed to be the teachers who are staff members of students in the second at the secondary level were more interested in starting before Labor Day than faculty members who are parents with students at the elementary level. They were more interested in starting after Labor Day. So um you have a proposal in front of you that is the start date for students of September 1st which gives us the psychological benefit of school starting with children in September even though it is before um Labor Day. Um that's for your consideration. Um, I just want to point out to you that when you approve the calendar, and you can reapprove or uh republish this calendar at the beginning of the school year, but as the law reads, there needs to be 180 school days

081on the calendar when you approve it or reapprove it at the beginning of the school year in order to set a permanent graduation date. And that has been historically a problem when we build in snow days and that date moves around and shifts. So just consider that if you want to build in snow days that it might have an impact if we have a freak winter where we really do have either heavy winds and have to cancel school for unusual circumstances whether it be weather or facilities issues or what whatever it could potentially um move that date and and it's been something that parents have embraced because they can make travel plans um to have relatives fly in for that ceremony ahead of time. It's been something that has really really worked well. So, I

082just give you that caveat. Um, the next item is just the board bylaws. Uh, as you know, I'm as Mr. Smith calls me, the nearly departed. Um, I I will have the board bylaws ready for your consideration before I leave. It won't be most likely for the next policy meeting because we have at least 15 policies that you have just approved this fall that need to be edited and updated already because of nuances in things like protected classes. And it really is dangerous not to, you know, to delay those policy updates. But I'm going to do something rather unusual in that I'm going to share that chart of the bylaws with the entire board, not just the policy committee. And how it looks, how it's arranged is just a very simple chart with three columns.

083It has the current bylaw on the lefth hand column. In the center column, it will have the proposed model update. And then on the right hand column, it will have my cheat notes on what's changed so that you don't have to have two copies in front of you and try and figure out what's changed. If it's just an um a legal reference, it will say that. If it's an addition of protected classes, it will say that. Um so hopefully that will be easier for you to reference. I I mentioned that because I think with this new change in the governance team, you know, you're going to have somebody new in the seat. We have a new team already here around the table. It's enormously important to take a look at those bylaws because they are

084the they are the the rules of the road, if you will, on how you behave. um what your powers are and what they are not. Um it also would be really an interesting uh content for you to have some discussion around should you have a board retreat with your new leader which I would highly encourage you to do. And that leads me to my next item which is the civility policy. I want to say I'm looking at Kevin it was two years ago. It might have been three years ago now. It could actually been three years ago. Um there was a a non-mandated model policy on civility um that was brought to the policy committee for consideration and on initial at initial first blush um the consensus of the policy committee is uh people like

085us in Stonington we don't need a civility policy the norm is that we treat each other very well um and then I had a few stories to share with the policy committee that changed their mind and they adopted that they recommended to the full board to adopt that civility policy. Um, we are not unique in Stonington. We are not unique in the field of education. You can't go to a doctor's office or any type of business without seeing some type of warning about the norms, the expectations of how to treat each other, not to use profanity, not to bring weapons. You know, all of those things um are are needed now to remind people of how we are to act as adults. And I want to say that this is not directed to any families

086or parents that come to us with concerns or complaints whether it's about curriculum or athletics or pol anything. We want you to come with your concerns and it's okay for us to disagree. Some of the best Ashley parent relationships that have developed I think over the years have become out of conversations that we have with parents who bring things to our attention that need to be fixed. and that's great and we want to be better. So, this is not to reflect about that, but I will tell you and I want to encourage the welcoming schools liaison um who are representing I know Farooq is going to be hopefully working with the high school. Dan's going to be working with the middle school. Katie is going to continue to work with Deans Mill and Kevin hopefully

087with WestVine. I would encourage you to listen to the stories from those principles about what they have seen this year. And I will tell you from my perspective, we have had coaches, we have had uh people in the business office reduced to tears on how they've been treated. It is not the it's not the way we want to operate. It's it's teachers, it's administrators. There's nobody in this district, I think, that has gone um unscathed in in their particular role about being sworn at or yelled at. And I think it's another conversation that the board needs to have not only about how you need to help us with that creating that norm, but how you can model as a governance team with your new leader how we expect people to treat you. So that's that

088commercial. Uh the K12 building committee finally met. Um thank you Mr. Smith for taking my uh I had a root canal that day and I think I got the better deal. Um, but thank you for going to that meeting. They're finally seated. They're extremely excited about um pursuing this study of what the district's going to need. Uh, I think Mr. Smith has set the tone quite nicely about this isn't just about Stonington Middle School and what that structure should look like in the future. The charge of this committee is to look at all of the buildings in the district and figure out what the best configuration and the best plan is moving forward. Not only for the structures, the buildings themselves, but to prepare the buildings themselves for the kind of education that is future

089focused. Just creating a 1950s building and making it shiny and new is probably not the answer. So, um, we're very excited about the the enthusiasm and the folks that are serving on that committee. They have a lot of work to do. They are anxious to visit each building to take a look um at the facilities, kick the tires. Um, Mr. uh, Carol has gotten um, high marks on his uh, his ability to translate his work into common language so that everybody can understand it. I think it's the accent really just goes a long way personally. But um we're going to be creating a template so that when that team goes out to the buildings, they'll be looking at the same features in each building. So boilers, roofs, parking lots, that kind of thing so that

090they'll understand what the condition is, what the age is, and they'll be able to make some really well-informed decisions about what's in the best interest of the district. The other thing um we had a lot of folks uh parents involved in visiting schools with us, teachers, staff, members to help us create the educational specifications. They will come to the full board in February for approval and then they will go to the building committee for their consideration. There will be comments in that document that relate to educational needs as well as facility needs. We know that the the core that that group is going to be looking at is facilities. But again, they need to really think in a different way about what those structures look like to pro to u provide an environment that is

091really future focused. Now, the key here is the update on the facilities, which I know we've got a lot of people here that are interested in. First of all, um the update on the portables. This is like the world's longest contract negotiation, but it's finally the lawyers um and the vendor had some uh discussion and disagreement around the warranty language that they finally have landed on. So, the contract is back in Mobile Modular's hands, and we're expecting that to come back our way with a signature soon. I don't have an exact date, but we're closer than ever. I know this is taking way longer than um anticipated, but again the lawyers are trying to protect the interest of the district, which is again protecting the taxpayers's investment in these portable classrooms. Um the next step

092once that is signed, um Steve will uh submit the construction drawings to the building department for their review and then we'll be on our way. So we'll keep you informed. I know it's like watching paint dry right now. It's been so slow. update on the second floor repair in this building. We only had one vendor respond to the bid requirements. Um Steve is asking that that deadline to close the bid be extended until next Wednesday. Wednesday. Okay. Due to the discussions um disagreements um and some work that's happening between the engineering team and the construction firm um on the drawings. So that that's underway. If you have any specific questions um Steve is here uh to answer those. But once that's done, um, the schedule can happen. So again, we're getting closer. We're not there

093yet. I really thought that this would have been done over the holidays, but it has not been done. Um, West Vines School, we had a really I thought productive meeting with the staff and faculty on a voluntary basis. Was it this week or last week? I can't even keep track of of the days. Was it this week? Geez, the days the the time warp. The time warp. Um there are ongoing reports of odors um in the school and they have been identified some of them from as varying types. I know people say gas leaks. Um there there are other sources and again Steve can talk to you ad nauseium about this. Um there have been many different modifications to the building. It seems like every time the team goes up there they uncover something that's

094going on and they address it and then still the odors come back or different odors come back. Mystic Air Quality did a screening. Um, we shared that with this the um, building leaders who have have rolled that out to the families and through the staff as well. Um, I misunderstood the long-term mystic air quality test. We found out today that they had to order a canister um, much like your radon test. If you've ever done a radon test in your house, a canister that is going to be testing um, over a period of time for other particulants and hydrocarbons, not just gas. Um, we we there's got to be something else going on there. So, that's going to happen. Um, we've had conversations with Deep who said that they'll support us in any way. They

095are satisfied with the steps we've taken so far. Um, a similar conversation I had Wednesday night with Ledgelight. Um, we do have a phone call tomorrow. Ledge actually connected us with an epidemiologist who's a public health expert. That phone call is happening tomorrow. Um, she sent us a bunch of questions so that we could do our homework and be ready for that phone call. Um, we'll let you know what what happens. Um, from there the other piece is, um, and I just wanted I was giving the board a courtesy. Um, under board policy 31000, our person our purchasing policy, which was recently updated and, uh, approved by you, um, there's a there's a provision that allows me to make an emergency um, waiver for Steve if he wants to uh, secure services that are over

096$25,000. It's it's parsed out in that language that he has to submit a request to me in writing and I have to respond to him in writing with my rationale. That happened today. Um and is for Fussen O'Neal's indoor air quality services to do that study that in-depth study at West Vine Street School as soon as possible. Um clearly and it's in an amount of $31,0007 $31,700. Um, again, that is going to take care of the state requirement that is part of that five-year plan um that we have to do anyways, but it seems like um even though the original plan was to do the high school, obviously the need is at West Vine Street School right now. And I think it's going to provide us with an um you know, that level of expertise

097that we just haven't had yet. And so um I don't know, Stephen, if you want to say anything more about that. I I think that actually moving forward that as soon as possible we'd actually try try to go through and see what the balance is like, what the airflow is like and see we're meeting requirements in the rooms. I mean it we we we've knocked so many doors trying to find the sources of odors or any kind of you know contaminant or or failure of equipment. We have done infrared studies on bearings. We've taken units apart. We've taken boilers apart. done boiler oil bo oiler gas analysis we've raised the stacks on the boiler room I mean every every time we feel like we we've got it but it just never seems to happen so

098there's something bigger going on and I think the study itself of the total ventilation system and the amount of air I mean our expectation is we're making four air changes an hour I would like to see if that's truly happening and the air is moving to the extent that it's me moving And that's what this study will provide. It'll be an analyze of even to the point of analyzing how we're running the fresh air system and how we're using the units to heat and cool the school. That is analyzed in the study. So to make sure everything's done right, make sure we get enough fresh air in the school air. >> And in in um in in transparency, the the most recent odors have have been in a different part in different parts of the

099building. So that's important to know too is know it's we feel a little bit like we've been playing whack-a-ole and Steve's team has uncovered issues in that building various issues that have been >> but it's just not it's not hitting the the root cause of the the issue. So that's the update. Um so the canister I think is the canister from Mystic Air coming in tomorrow. >> It yes is coming in tomorrow and it's actually going to be on site. It it it's I think initially it was said seven days, but it's a three-day canister. I want our gases in the building for three days. >> So, we'll have that. The union requested additional testing, but we're going to do the Quest and O'Neal. That's like the premier, you know, air qual indoor air quality.

100So, it'll be more sophisticated than just any type of a single test. It's many different meters. >> It's going to be it's going to be structural as well as the the um chemical. >> So, um that's the update on that. Um, and then I didn't put on on the uh the agenda, but I just wanted to give you a maritime studies um update. Uh, we are still waiting on the Connecticut Humanities grant result for that planning, that $25,000 um grant that the aquarium put in for our partnership to do some planning. We should have that probably by the next time we meet in January 29th. Um, and also the there's a TA grant um application. And so those of you who aren't fluent in Welsh, that is um a grant that is being um rolled

101out on January 28th. And it would be involve our partnership, a potential partnership. We've got to get the uh high school on board, the aquarium and the uh seapport on board. But it would be a grant that would be um we would again apply for it in collaboration with the folks over at the the University of Bangor. And it would be to fund um an exchange of leaders, potentially students, but probably u building leaders or content leaders in the ocean studies programs over there. and then from our our cohort over here to do some planning about what that program would look like and can look like over a period of years. Uh so it would fund them coming over here and our team going over there for planning purposes. Um that's the entire in content

102of that that particular grant that they're very interested in Wales on these kind of international partnerships with a look towards improving the workforce um pipeline. So stay tuned on that. Um, I'll let you know if we actually move forward on that application, but I think we'd be crazy not to. >> We also have somebody from the consulate that wants to come visit. question >> going back to the school calendar. I'm not sure I follow school. >> The law reads well it it because again we have to make sure that we have 180 instructional days. So if it gets booted beyond when we set the graduation date, the graduation date would have to move. It's far-fetched in the sense of we haven't had many snow days in the last five years. We've had more wind days

103and rain days and that kind of thing, but I just want to put it out there as a caveat that you could potentially have some backlash from uh the families at the high school level that if you tell them graduation day is on a Friday and then all of a sudden it's on a Wednesday or Thursday or you know it it's going to cause problems. I think the other piece is if you live in New England you know that there's a possibility of snow and so don't make plans put some wiggle room in there, but it's up to the board if you want to build them in. We can certainly build them in. >> Are you suggesting if you add a date or two to the So, let's assume that you add August 31st to

104the calendar and keep graduation on the 11th and then you know you lose a day then you >> still have a buffer, right? You can do that or you can make more instructional days and then decide that you're not going to have those in. It's the same thing. Whatever your preference is, just let us know and we'll make those adjustments for the next meeting. >> Just for clarity on the on the professional development days, you have 25th, 26th, 27th off Friday. Is that a preference of the >> that's to preserve what the uh staff and the faculty have enjoyed over the last years when we've started after Labor Day. So they have that one last long weekend, a fake Labor Day. >> I see heads shaking. Do you want calendar comments now? >> Come on

105up, Dam. >> It's fine. >> Oh, yeah. He was the one with the late breaking move the PD the uh the conference days to Thursday, Friday. So, you have that late breaking change on the calendar, too. >> Thank you for that. Just an idea, Steve. If we just got the canister in today, maybe we want to do the test if we can hold off and do it next week so it's not over the weekend when the system is kind of shut down and all that or just get some thought to that. I don't know what what >> 100% that makes sense. Absolutely. >> And he's not a director of facilities and he came up with that. >> To your radon comment earlier, is this sort of test something that you can't disrupt anything near that

106area for a certain time? Is this a I can't answer that one. I don't believe it is. I think it's meant to encompass the environment that is active >> during a school day. It's 24 hours. So, it is is logging, but it's over 24hour period. I I I have not seen the canister and I was unfortunately in Mexico when Tony ordered the test. So, I wasn't involved in the conversation of how that test is documented and how is basically monitored and measured. So at >> we have seen some correlations to some of the orders happening though when there's opening and closing of specific doors. So I think it would be better to have those we want the canisters there when that activity is happening because there's so many variables like we want that that to

107capture that data >> and I think I know the answer from some of the communication you've shared but which authority or authorities have deemed the building appropriate for use during all this testing and whatnot. We have gone through with um fire obviously the the chief uh the fire chief in in pocket um number one we reviewed what we've done thus far with uh folks at deep um same thing with ledge light and then we're going to again have a deeper dive tomorrow with the epidemiologists which is which is again we wanted to make sure that we're trying to cover all the angles because you know it's important >> every source has been on site whenever there's been a gas and the building's been fully checked for gas leaks or and they've got meters all the

108way through the building. >> And was there any gas leak discovered inside the building or outside? >> So at at this point there's never been a gas reading on a meter. So we the order the order I can't remember the name of the chemical and gas is really strong. Um, we've never had a a actual reading in the school itself. So that no outside of the boiler room. No, we not had that reading. >> I think you need to clarify about when we when the was pressurized for the test and then you did have the the leak inside and out. Well, I actually well at that point obviously the when we pressurized during the test there I obviously wasn't there for that test but it was 2 and a half times the current pressure of

109the natural gas which is 2 lb. So if if there was a leak at that point found in the system it could be from the overpressurization or we join it. It it may I'm not I'm not trying to avoid anything. I'm just given logical answers. It may have not or may have been leaking during the two pounds pressure. So I I can't validate that I wasn't there at the time when that test was done. >> And those tests were the the bubble test, right? >> Yes. Yes. That's basically do. They they'll fill up with compressed air and they'll watch the the pressure gauge looking for a loss of air and then once they see a loss of air then search goes on. But during that whole process, obviously they're using the bubble test on the

110lines. >> And that's part of the reason that we wanted somebody from the fire department there with the meters right in real time because part of the problem is by the time people are noticed of the the odor. There's no it's it's too much of a a time time gap. We want somebody there right in real time to see is is the meter going to register or not. So that's that's why that we've got that in play and it might continue next week. We'll see. We'll see how today was relatively quiet I believe. Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. And well, but it's just seems to be unpredictable and what we've also noticed from a when you look at the data again, it used to be like it seemed like these these reports whether whatever the

111source is on Fridays and there seeming to be like earlier and earlier in the week. So that's got to be >> it's a it's a exposure. acute incident and I think that's why we're having such a hard time. It's not like we're going there and tracing the smell the time we get to respond that I'm not going to say there hasn't I mean um Byron yesterday the day before when we did wow did smell the analy smell in the upstairs of the school we retraced trying to find that and we could uh we got it was in room 210 that there was no return in air vent in um room 210 which we've added to the duct system. So it's a very small room which is the supply. Um I looked at two sets of

112plans. One set of plans was done pre construction. One set was done closer to construction. In the pre construction plans it shows a return vent in that room. In the actual construction ones it does not. So there was a change in design but we did add the vent to that room. the return vent. Um I think that's part of the air study is to figure out why um the there has I've lost I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've lost track. >> That's okay. But does the air study also look uh and take in consideration the balance on the building or that's >> that is a total review of balance and they're going to come in with a balancing point. go through every one of it. Says we're an average air flow for a classroom

113is about 450 cubic feet per minute. 15 cubic feet per minute per student in an average size classroom that gets you four air changes roughly an hour. And that and that's how the school classrooms are designed. So, >> and then just for the record because I had, you know, some people ask out there that the chief of uh the fire department has been in contact with me on a regular basis. He has my cell phone calls me to give me updates and I'm in contact with him as well. >> And can I can I say one thing about the I mean understandably glycol has a sweet smell and a a consistent smell through the the different types of glycol that are available. We use propyline glycol which is a food safe glycol. And I think

114most of you are not going to like me for this but it's every time you go to the grocery store almost every salad dressing is propane glycol. A lot of foods that you purchase, bacon products, uh soft drinks, all contain propylene glycol. It has four chemical names that are used on labeling and it's used to um stop food um separating as a emulsifier or as it's used as a thickener in food. So it's in a lot of foods that we're already eating. That's I mean it's it is a food safe glycol that we use in the system. Why we have glycol in the system? >> So glycol glycol is uh just like in your car I is to me it it's a way to stop you freezing your building if your heating system was to

115fail. So is it native to extend that temperature range during a building failure? is an efficiency person. If you add glycol to your heating system at home or anywhere else, it is a 10% loss on heat transfer from glycol. So, it is an an efficiency hindrance, but it does have that insurance of not freezing your building if you lose your heating system and not freezing your heating system and still freeze the rest of your building that doesn't have glycol. I just want >> you mentioned safe, right? Correct. But like the the amount of it in food products versus >> 100% 100%. So I mean just like anything just like table salt just like vinegar the the the the SDS is considered a food safe in a low toxicity chemical that is what it is just

116like but if you were to go out and eat a 5 gallon bucket of salt you're not going to make it very far. So it is based on exposure correct. told that is 100% true and we dilute it in the system to what level it meets that SDS I cannot honestly answer that >> you go back to the I know >> um Marian maybe you could give all of us and folks at home kind of a snapshot of how you your time like how how you prepare the calendar. So, all things you take into consideration when developing the school year calendar, because it's not just looking at holidays and plugging in a couple professional development days. First thing we have to start with is the requirement of 180 school days. And we've we've really reverted

117to that Katie rather than that it used to be 182 183 instructional days um because of the requirements and that's why I sent you that mandated PD list that is quite a compendium of what what we have to do and it's not even uh necessarily focused on instruction at all and so that chews up a lot of our time. So that's why we have gone to that number that magic number of 180. So we start there. Um, again, historically, we've taken a look at preserving that Labor Day weekend for the families. Um, when we can, um, we take a look at the contract. So, if it's teachers contract is 187 work days, and then we place the professional development days, obviously three up front so that we can get all of the mandated training and

118um, get everybody to some time in their classrooms uh, to h to happen. We we use again one of the other seven days for the contractual obligation for professional development is in October because that's the month that uh we're probably the freshest. We haven't burnt out yet. Um and it's uh probably the most productive professional development day. We also have to use election day because the schools are voting site. So that's that pivots that at the request of the teachers especially at the high school. They love that day in January. That's right in between the two semesters. So they get to close out first semester nice and neatly. they have a professional development day where their minds are a little bit clearer, they can focus on that and then a clean start to the second

119semester. Um, and then again, we try and spread them out. So, there's typically one in March which aligns with the regional u professional development calendar for some of the special area teachers that like to take advantage of regional professional development when that happens. So, those are the those are the things um as far as the half days for early release and the conferences and things like that. Again, we take a look at what the building principles are telling us what what works for the best attendance both from parent stand point of view and then um preventing any ne negative impact of uh attendance from uh our professionals who might come to school. So that's where that's where it starts. April break is determined >> uh because sometimes with with Good Friday, >> right? And so

120again, that that typically is correlated to the the learn calendar. It's a regional calendar >> and again it's timed within the semester rather than a a link to Easter, which keeps it moving. >> Um I I've had conversations with a few families specifically surrounding the Jewish holidays and I know we we've talked to them and and we do look at those and I know um I believe it's on Kapor [clears throat] which is a Friday Saturday next year uh so the impact isn't as severe for that particular holiday but again we we've tried to accommodate when we can and when it makes sense um and you just didn't see any way to >> understood September >> so Rashana is Saturday the 12th of September but before is Monday the 21st. >> You can revote this

121calendar. >> Absolutely. >> Get clarity on something. Trying to remember how this gone in your >> um I think we have >> Have we done like 182 183? >> Yes. Right. Yes. >> Um, and then we usually lock lock graduation on a set day. >> Right. With a calendar here with 180 days with graduation currently on Friday, does that mean if a snow day occurs, everything moves to the 14th, including graduation? If at the beginning of the school year you haven't changed this calendar and there's 180 days and graduation is set on that Friday, let's say the 11th. And if if there's a snow day, we can still have graduation under the 180. It will stay stay set. What you can do if you want to add the 183 days, you can again always back

122out of those if you don't need them. You know, if you added three days on >> to capture that if you wanted to use three extra days, Kevin, as snow days. In other words, for people to mentally plan, you're going to be in school. >> Plan for 183, but then we can back off if it looks like we need to use them for snow days, you could use it that way. >> Wait, just the graduation point. If we had a snow day and the last day of school would then move to the 14th, graduation can still be the >> correct. It's it's a relatively new statute. Correct. >> Okay. So, >> two year I think it's two years ago. Yeah. >> How What if we had two or three or four snow days? Could the

123graduation still be the 11th? >> Correct. >> Okay. So, graduation's locked. We don't need to build in snow days to lock graduation. Graduation can still be Friday, which makes the high school folks happy. >> Correct. >> Sorry, it's so complicated. >> I mean, that's a good thing because it really helps people at families to plan. >> For the record, those three days, they're not we're saying snow days, but they could be for anything like what's happening with Right. So, as we can see, it's not just snow to be looking out for. And um so I want to keep that in mind as >> any interruption. Yes. >> Exactly. Yeah. >> And to Ashley's comment, what is the when did Columbus Day officially? >> There was a lot of discussion. I remember Heidi being involved in

124this. There was a lot of discussion. It was before you. So, how many years? >> Probably four years ago. Um, and there was a lot of discussion about how to name it and then and the board voted to to change it because it had been historically Columbus State. It was a very hot issue, a topic of discussion, a lot of public comment. Um, and the board decided that they were going to go with indigenous people's day. Was it floated to offer not offer hybrid both? You know, >> there was a lot of discussion >> there was. Okay. >> Okay. I think that was on F's watch. >> It was >> Well, I would support co-branded day. >> Yeah. You're very welcome to state it for conversation. You're very welcome to make a motion for it.

125>> Do you want to wait until it's on the Yeah. Yeah. Um that's it. Okay. Any other questions? Great. Thank you so much. Um next item on our agenda is consent agenda and uh like to look ask for a motion to approve consent agenda items A through D. >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second to that motion? There's a second. Any discussion or questions on the motion? For those at home, all the committees are set by that motion. So, please feel free to reach any of those board members with any questions or concerns after they start meeting. So, uh there's a first second. Uh all those in favor of approving such motion, please indicate by saying I. I. That was unanimous for the record. Thank you. Next item on our agenda

126is school calendar. Great. Um, is there a motion to approve school calendar? We'll get into any other There's a motion. Is there a second? There's a second. Any discussion on the school calendar? >> Well, I'm going to discuss it. >> You can discuss [laughter] it. Let's discuss it. you suggested. Um I I would be open to a discussion about um including so both Indigenous People's Day and Columbus Day. I to be honest I never even noticed it until Ashley pointed it out. Um, so there's there's a a couple of things here to consider because one thing I also like to to discuss is I'd like to ask the administration to consider moving the October 1st uh the personal development professional development day to October 2nd as a professional development day. I was trying to look

127at the previous year calendar and I'm not sure if this because I looked at other professional development days that you have you have landed January 25th on a Monday you landed March 5th on a Friday. Um I'd like just to see that so that there's a continuity for the families um in the district that if the kids are off they have them off on the weekend combined with a weekend not off break and come back. So that's one of the uh consideration I've asked for and uh for those at home I'm just repeating what the superintendent had indicated earlier that the November 4th uh highlighted day is actually November 3rd. So that's going to be part of that uh approval of this uh of this calendar. Um to to your question I'd like to take

128your probably your motion independently of the school calendar. I'll ask to whoever made a motion to send that motion on the calendar. Let's consider that. Had to think of it from parliamentarian perspective, but you've passed a motion to include Columbus Day um alongside Indigenous People Day. Is there a second to that motion? Um there's a motion. There's a second. Would like to open it for discussion. And I know uh Mr. Kelly is also online. who's participating in this conversation. Um, but u I just want to point out that this has been a topic of conversation that was and board is not committed to what the board previously did. But um is there any discussion or conversation or question? >> Um well first it would just be good to have a little bit of perspective about

129the last time uh the decision was made. what were the general perspectives and why did the board make the decision? >> It's I know it's really tough and and it's really hard to recall all the entirety of this conversation because it was really uh deliberate and it was thoughtful and it wasn't a the you know moment it was it took over time. It was um discussed in length and I think um that at the time and I think the board had uh the thinking behind it that we wanted to really focus and highlight uh the value of the indigenous people of the land and the respect of them. Uh nothing against uh what Columbus had contributed to the history of America. It was just uh the thought about just highlighting people. We live in a

130great part of the country that celebrates and uh we wanted to show that respect not taking away from Columbus. Um and it was it was thoughtful conversation. I don't know if anybody else who was on the board. I know Kevin was on the board. Do you have any thoughts on that conversation back then? Dan was and Diana was around >> on that on that point. So this was clearly a very long drawn out process. There was a lot of discussion here. We're kind of just talking about it now. I don't know if maybe it would be better if we waited to make a decision on it until because I feel like if the community has strong feelings about it, if we change it today, I feel as though the community could feel a type of

131way. this wasn't not this wasn't really on the agenda. Does that make sense? So, I'm a little hesitant to make a change like that when there are sensitivities surrounding it without >> It's a good point. And the other thing is and I can't remember whether our board meetings were broadcasted at that point or not, but we can certainly go back. I can I can have Anna help us find out what where the meeting minutes were so you could get a flavor for the conversations and the context in which that happened because it was a long time ago but it was something that was given a significant amount of thought consideration um and public comments >> and we we're happy to uh you know there's a motion we're going to put on the motion but I

132think we're happy if whatever the outcome of the motion is to bring it back into a conversation a thoughtful conversation I'm sure not sure if it was reported back then but I think it was broadcast at the time uh so there's a motion there's a second is there any further discussion on the motion >> I guess now knowing how drawn out it does seem to have been um and and Zach makes a great point to in it if it really was you know in my eyes it was just a maybe an oversight or a quick thing, but clearly since it's not um I'm happy to withdraw that motion. We can, you know, put it out to the community and see what >> Sure. >> You have a second drawing yours. >> Yes. Putting um Okay.

133So, that motion was withdrawn. Thank you. >> Thank you. whole conversation and um I think it's important that we discuss it further and talk about it. It is something that some people are concerned about and um the we'll go back to me asking for a motion to approve the school by uh calendar. Are you okay with the change of that representative open day? So I'm asking uh you to approve uh to asking for a motion to with the two adjustment of calendar There's a second. All right. Any further discussion on the school calendar? All right. Those favor approving school calendar as indicated by moving those two items uh the professional development day to uh October 2nd and moving the professional development day of to November 3rd. Please indicate by saying I. I. That was unanimous

134for the record. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Well, next item on our agenda is SIP approval. So, um do we have a SIP budget that was uh presented to you? Uh have we received any questions on SIP or adjustment or changes from any board members? I know the only thing I have is you asked me to research electric vehicles and I'm not sure if you want you >> I'd love to uh I have the research of electric vehicles and the uh concrete bid being >> yeah that that was cleaned up so we only have that and I have the pricing for electric vehicles if you want >> and I'd love I know Bri is very interested in having this conversation with you. Yes. So, so what I've done is I priced out the the compatible vehicles

135in Etransit and a Ford F150 E Ford uh Lightning F-150 Lightning. So, at this point, um, the only issue I had was the the Ford F-150 Lightning is this is it last year to manufacture, so they won't be continuing that. So, that was the dealer. They told me that they called me and said, "Hey, you're not going to be able to get it next year." I'm like, "Okay." So, the Etransit van, I did research that. Um, I have the price in here. I'm just going to run it in a quick story before I read the price because it was actually pretty interesting. It seems like it is about 120 miles of radius or availability for driving. Um, and it has been established in the contractor field is a vehicle that contractors using. I looked online,

136there's used ones online for 50 60,000 miles. So, it seems like it's up and going. But what I did when I looked at them online, I found that a lot of contractors are getting rid of them because of the highway mileage in the way in keeping the van warm. They're not practical for a long run vehicle on highways. So, the market's kind of flooded with used ones, which is to our benefit. Um, we have a niche use where we're limited to maybe 10 20 miles per day usage. Um, the used ones. The the the price I I'll give for a brand new one is around 57,000 with a a filled uh with bins in the ladder rack. The US ones are going anywhere from $24,000 with 20,000 miles to 32 $35,000 with two or 3,000

137miles. the market. They're really losing value in their secondary market, which I think actually might it's might be an advantage to us, but we could actually get a two for one deal because we need two vehicles um for the price of one vehicle and look at used vehicle rather than a purchase of a new vehicle and the price. Steve, what's the life expectancy on them? Do you know? >> I can't answer that. No, I I I really can't. I mean, the I mean, the batteries are seem to be I didn't actually look at the warranty on a commercial use version of the battery. I mean, it seems like a lot of cars are given 10 years, but I'm not sure what the commercial life is estimated. I didn't actually. >> Can we use SIP money

138to purchase used vehicles? I don't know the answer to that. I would have to look at the town charter. >> And Bri, do you have any thoughts on the credits that you were we chatted about independent of this conversation? >> No, I haven't been able to. I was going to look at I was going to speak to somebody from the Connecticut Green Energy Bank, but I haven't had a chance to yet. >> And uh I'll just give you some point reference on batteries, electric, all that. stuff just because I'm into that world. Uh battery to replace a battery is about $10,000 uh as a battery replacement. The battery is really what goes mostly on the car and that is about it lasts after losing efficiency. The efficacy of a battery is about 10 years cycle.

139Um they will go mileage wise for very miles like you put two 300,000 um the bigger issue on those vehicles is suspension is the weight of the vehicles are so they're so heavy so the suspension becomes problematic after so many miles. So the cost to repair is just in the suspension system you look about three to$4,000 to replace a suspension every about 100,000 miles but that's the only uh expense of maintenance uh and as far as what are you paying per kilowatt here now at school at total k >> uh 24 cents roughly. >> So you're 24 cents you're you're just about half of less than half of what you pay on gas in total mileage spend u and then you'll be uh in cost to upkeep cost is uh less than onethird or 14th

140of what you spend on gas vehicles >> just as that. >> That was impressive. Thank you. >> [snorts] >> Trust me, I've been driving it for a very long time. >> So, the the actual cost of a gasoline uh van was $51,767 and the same van spec as an electric vehicle brand new was $57,761. But like I said, I think we actually do have an advantage in the niche market of niche market of being a small area and the electric vehicles do per perform better in town driving so you get more better better mileage. I did call you ask about charging like so we had to charge in to this uh for the vehicles and I was kind of I ran over it real quick and it was the option of 30 amp 50 amp

14180 amp chargers. Um it seems like we could offer Um um I have some issues about the security of the charger. We set something up that it's like plugged based on how many people have access to that. Um, I was still doing some research on that and there's also some sort of grants out there from Eversource to put I've not I didn't actually call anybody at Eversource till you guys made a decision, but it looks like we could be anywhere from 1,500 to 3,500 per charger or maybe you go with two vehicles for a Joe charger. I'm not sure. >> The bigger cost is not the charger as much as running the power outside and changing your breaker to accommodate the amperage that you're going to need. And uh that's the bigger cost. I would

142estimate about $15,000 for those project. >> Well, it it depends if we decide to. So, right now, I believe the current workshop at um the mechan the the uh maintenance building is a 200 amp service. I would have the panel evaluated just to see if we could just plug on the side of the building if it's a single vehicle because that's where they park the vehicles anyway, which would require minimal, you know, uh, logistics to get that wire to that location, you know, >> and there are rebates on like putting them in. And you also can get rebates on charging your vehicle overnight rather than so you can plug in and if it's charges overnight, not during like peak hours. You can set the charging time, you'll get also um monthly rebates back from other

143source of charging. So it will reduce your cost of charging by about 10 to 15%. U just as a point of reference I I think and and I'm speaking to the board is I think it's the the the right thing to do for the district is to purchase electric vehicles over the gas vehicles that I could check. So I did actually go down this path in Marvel. We own our own buses. We own and I tried to put charging stations in in Mville and what seemed to be knocking at the door when we were talking about a transient charger because a charger would be listed on an app is a place where you can charge your car. A lot of companies will provide the chargers know they're going to make money where you they can

144swipe. So there was security issues on using like an open to public charger. So I I'm I'm not sure where we would go down that. I think this would be where our discussions would be going forward if we decided to do electrical vehicles or if it would be just as far as I can tell there's actually a cable comes with the van that plugs in a 50 amp outlet and we can maybe do a timed outlet but it's not available during the day. We're using it at night. I'm not sure. I'm trying to be as, you know, as frugal as I can make it happen. So, we're not spending $5,000 on the charger because I like the idea. I would rather spend I hopefully get donations to put a couple of wraps on the vehicles

145that says, "Hey, Sony's got electric or you know, remote." >> Do we have to vote on SIP tonight? All right. So, with not saying we don't have a lot of information, clearly we have a lot of information. Do we have enough to consider adding a line item to SIP tonight or is this vote to approve SIP tonight, but then kindly ask you to continue down? >> Um, you can actually vote on SIP increasing that line item. You're voting on the budget, not on what you're exactly buying in that line item. So you can increase that line item to $60,000 which will cover him in a case of two uh used or one single electric. So it's a it's just that that line item change and then he can go back and do more because my

146concern my biggest concern is really about ability to buy a used vehicle under SIP and has to do with charter and capitalizing uh capitalizing a product item. So some IRS ruling will come back and say oh you can't capitalize and then you got to take it to an operating budget not to a capital budget which is something has to be so I think we we should just uh vote to approve the SIP with changing that line item to $60,000 which will allow him the ability to make a decision later on >> 65,000 so you get charges >> Yeah. So is there is a motion to approve SIP with the adjustment that's was discussed. Is there a second? >> Second from Zach. Um any further discussion or comments on SIP? Hearing none. All those in favor

147of approving. >> Yes. Sorry. May I address the question you asked me last time about the the student passenger vehicles, >> please? >> Um, and just a reminder that's not in the current that'll be that's in the 26 27. >> Oh my goodness. Yeah. Um, so we did get we did talk to so right now all of our all all but one is a Ford passenger vehicle. The smaller vehicle we have is a Honda and that's a smaller. All of our larger vans that are transporting our students are Ford. Um, and we did hear from the manager at that right now Ford is not making an transit passenger van. They only have it as a cargo. >> Um, and I do, you know, I was part of our um, initiation of having our own vehicles

148transporting students. I remember when we first went out to look for those passenger vehicles. Obviously, the specs are very important and there were only certain automakers that even made vans that size. Um, so, you know, we can certainly look at this again next year when we're getting to that point of looking at a new band. We can check again with see if potentially they've come up with that as a as an option. Um, but I just wanted to share that as you're talking about kind of researching this and looking further that with regard to the passenger vehicle could potentially mean looking having to look at another make and model that could also potentially not exist. So I just wanted to share that but we did do a little bit of homework on that. >> Thank

149you. questions on the >> ind. That was unanimous for the record. Thank you. >> Um, next item on our agenda is for your consideration a personel search committee discussion and vote on that which is really the intent of us to next acting superintendent of school. So, we can >> Sorry, is this better? You're welcome. I'm I'm known for uh being softspoken. Ask my wife. Uh but I'd like to see if uh there's a motion to establish a personnel search committee for the purpose of appointing an acting superintendent of schools. I'd like to make a motion um that the board establish a personnel search committee for the purpose of recommending to the board one or more candidates for the position of acting superintendent of schools and moved further that the following individuals be appointed to the

150committee. Bridget Shavevel, Katie Gothier, Meg Blanchett, Kevin Agnello, Dan Kelly, Baroo Rajab, Zachary Buddha. >> There's a motion on the floor. Is there a second to that motion? Any discussion, questions? All those in favor of uh appointing the set committee, please indicate by saying I. I. That was unanimous for the record. Thank you. >> Is that good? Um well now that we have a personnel search committee appointed I'd like to uh recess our board meeting for 10 minutes uh and ask that personnel committee to go in next uh door room and just uh meet for a quick 10 minutes. So it is 8:49 and we shall be back uh by 900 p.m. So that's 11 minutes. Thank you. Well, thank you uh for your attention and we are back. It is 900 p.m. and we're

151back from recess. Um, next item on our agenda is subcommittee uh reports. So, we'll start with teaching and learning and Kevin. >> Yep. There's uh seven curricula up for a vote tonight. They were first read last time we had a meeting. Um, this is PE grades three, four, five, art one and two at the high school, and creative writing one and two at the high school. Um, and vote required tonight to approve this. >> Awesome. So, I'll ask a motion to approve uh curriculum 1 through 7. Is there a motion? There's a motion. Is there a second? There's a second. Any discussion or questions on that motion? Hearing none. All those of approving curricula 1 through seven, please indicate by saying I. I. That was unanimous for the record. Thank you. Thank you for your

152report. Any questions for Kevin? I think committee did not meet right. So, we're going to be meeting soon. Uh and that goes for the rest of the committees. The committee is just established and uh voted on and the above uh items. So, we'll we'll start meeting as soon as uh our next regular board meeting. Um any welcoming school committee uh reports? >> Uh we had Deans Mill on Tuesday evening with Mr. B at the helm. Um and our big discussions were reworking the Deans Mill community agreement which is formerly the DMS wish I think my son can probably still sing by heart. So just early discussions on kind of what important things are include but it was good to have Mr. Katie, any other reports hearing? None. Go item. Next item on our agenda is

153the monthly reports. Any questions on the monthly reports. All right. Thank you. Uh, next item on our agenda is board comments on items or any items for future agenda. >> Just one or two things. Um, I just wanted to add that very grateful to the two library media positions um being returned um in in the the not real budget that we have, right? Um but over the last over the last month, I've been talking to a lot of parents and it's come up in like every conversation that that is a priority for elementary school families. Very passionate about that. Um the same thing, want to echo the concerns with West Vine. Um, having been in a school during the pandemic and I know those disruptions to learning can be so drastic, especially at the elementary

154level when brains are still so plastic, right? It's it's so important. So, the fear just the fear and the anxiety about those odors are causing disruptions to learning. Um, and so I'm very sympathetic to the parents and the teachers and staff and the faculty, everyone who's come in um or has sent messages to us because um it is very important uh that the students, faculty, the staff and the families feel safe sending kids to school. Um and so I'm very grateful for Steve and for Maryanne for all the work that has been going into the near multiple times a day updates that are coming to us. I want to echo the sentiment about you know we can have those is being put out to the public as quickly as possible. I know we're doing our

155best. So, I just wanted to say I appreciate that. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Next item on our agenda, we'll turn it over to Zach. >> Move to adjurnn. >> There's a second. >> All in favor, please indicate I. All right. So, meeting is adjourned. Thank you.