Board of Education Special Meeting - 5/7/2025

001I'd like to call the uh Stonington Board of Education special meeting to order. It's uh May 7th at 700 p.m. And we'll start with asking Miss Baker to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. United States of America and recognitions. We'll start with superintendent. Thank you, Farooq. Um, first of all, I want to give an enormous thank you to the parents and family from across the town, from Pocket Tuck to Mystic who mobilized to help us pass both the bond and the budget. Uh, it was just an amazing example of what people can do together uh, and on behalf of the future of Stonington Middle School. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. From a 3% participation to an 11% participation is just incredible. Next, I want to I would be remiss if I didn't

002uh acknowledge that it's staff appreciation week. So, I want to say thank you for um district office has sponsored the waken wagon to appear at all the build different buildings uh this week to treat the teachers and staff members to coffee and muffins. I know it warmed my heart this morning when I pulled up to central office and that wagon was here. It was one of the the best parts of the day actually. Uh and the traditional cakes uh will be delivered uh tomorrow I believe to all of the buildings in thanks for all the help that folks do. All of our faculty and staff members bring their best each day to further the educational experiences for our children. And I sent a note of appreciation earlier this week, but another recognition publicly I think

003is in order and most welld deserved for everyone who works in this district. It's never been easy to be in the field of education, but nowadays it's exceptionally challenging. And so we appreciate all of your efforts and we want to say thank you. I also want to give a se a special shout out to my building administrators who are here tonight and Jocelyn Keell who's in the back. Um but to be out another night unexpectedly uh just we really appreciate your time giving up your time and your your talent as well. Um we want to recognize our music and art celebrations that both of our music uh uh uh departments and art departments sponsored at our elementary schools recently. They uh livened up May afternoons and evenings by showcasing our students creative talents. Uh you're

004greatly appreciated. And I also want to thank Liz Young and Abby Gothier who sponsored the as adviserss to the National Lange Society uh induction ceremony. It's um one of the most well- constructed events every year and it always um makes me feel really old because I remember one getting inducted into the honor society back in 197. Uh and uh just congratulations to the inductees. I know they'll serve the district and the community well. As far as communications, I want to thank um parents who contacted me in person, by phone, and during the ordinary course of the business day to express their support of the administration's proposed budget. Comments included, this makes sense, new offerings without layoffs. Uh the elementary level is too young to start instrumentals. It makes them dislike it for upper grade levels.

005People need to understand schools can't provide everything for families. the afterchool model makes sense and helps families out with school options. Uh, more STEM for all kids makes sense. One high school student even told me, "Kids aren't signing up for music because we don't want to." I'm most appreciative of your work and shared your vision in investing a program that supports all of our students in a thoughtful way. It's not an easy thing that we have to do. We had an unparalleled cut in our budget, threequarters of a million dollars. Um, and it's not an easy decision to make. Tim and I also received this week an invitation to meet virtually with Dr. Peter Steppleman, former superintendent from Missouri and a current Yandere Senior Yonder Company senior adviser. He's asked us to consider being included

006on a proposal to serve on a panel discussion at the AASA National Conference on Education next year. It's his intent is to highlight our relationship with Yukon and the work we've done in phone free schools. Uh I think he also is going to be incredibly impressed with the community engagement work that has happened with the chambers and the families around that work as well. That's all I have tonight. Thank you. Do you have any comments? Um student go would like to thank Miss Hoo for organizing April Voice and Volunteer Day. Mr. Brown for organizing the career fair as well as scholarship opportunities for seniors and Mr. Kaine and other chaperons for junior prom as well as Miss Dench for hosting student government elections. I just want to thank all the teachers and staff and community

007members that reached out about um the music program. I uh received your message and uh if I didn't get back to you, I apologize, but uh thank you for reaching out and uh showing your interest. Ditto. Um what Chris said, I um received numerous numerous probably the second most number of emails and phone calls pertaining to the budget cuts and specifically the proposed uh uh suggestion from our superintendent to ax the uh music department at the elementary schools. Uh I don't know why but not one person called me or interacted with me to tell me to you know it was a good idea to do that. every person that I heard from, whether they were current students, students from a long time ago, uh former teachers, um uh parents, especially uh students in college, um

008that went through our school system here and is uh continuing that education in college. And and uh just They they couldn't express enough support for the music programs in the school, whether they got it at the elementary level, whether they got it at the middle school level, or whether they got it at the um high school level. And and the number of teachers that they that touched him and and uh turned him on to it. And you know, I I think he's a current senior now that's a saxoponist. And I think it was his mother that sent the email that talk where, you know, most kids you sign him up for swim class and como basketball and pocket talk little league and you know, you try and expose your children to as much stuff as

009possible. And it wasn't until he uh got into the middle school and I think it was Mr. He'll be that ended up putting a saxophone in his hand and the kid found his uh found his calling and um he's got his saxophone in his hand more now than uh anything else. So hopefully that uh we can listen to our uh citizens of uh Stone and Tent and make some changes to the proposals that are before us tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. Um, echoing all the emails received from community members, parents, families, teachers, former staff. I have read most of them, but I do have a few still I have not read. Um, and I haven't responded to a few. So, if I haven't, I'm sorry. Um, but last night was my last as a

010fifth grade mom um, arts and music night at Deans Mill. And it's always such a sweet night to see what they work so hard on. Um, and all these sort of end of the year things always make me nostalgic, but especially as he's going to the middle school next year. So, thanks to Deans Mill and Jen and Christine for great night. Always makes me happy. Uh, I just wanted to clear um one thing up that came up in a few of my conversations I had uh with some parents and community members over the last week or so. Uh, as well as some trends I noticed in the handful of emails that uh we've all received. Um again over the last couple of weeks regarding the budget um I don't think anyone in this room certainly

011not any board member is necessarily advocating for any of the cuts per se. Uh the budget that the board um advocated for was the one that we passed a couple of weeks ago. The budget facing us at this point and the decisions facing us at this point um the board of finance cut the budget that we advocated for by $750,000. Uh, and the decision before the board that we'll be discussing later is how and what to cut to equal $750,000. One of the options presented includes I think there's six and a half, seven positions across the district that's being eliminated. Uh, one of those positions is uh is the music position. I just want to clear up because this did come up in a couple of my conversations where this isn't a decision where it's

012like cut a position or don't. it's cut a position or cut something else of equivalent value. Uh so if we were to maintain the music position for example or maintain one of the science or social studies positions at the uh middle school or the 0.5 math position at the high school or the art position at the middle school, we would have to find that money elsewhere. So it's not a this or nothing. It's a this or that type of situation. And there was some confusion that just came up in some of my conversations. So, I just want to make sure it was clear for anyone here um or listening. Thank you. Uh I just want to recognize the great uh turnout for uh voting. 11% is uh uh for referendum is actually a very good

013turnout in our town. So, we're we're appreciative of everybody that came out and voted. Um, I know I I've had a lot of conversations when I went to vote with many people and um, for the people that I did not respond to your email, it's just that there were so many emails. So, I did had the ability to respond to many um, but there were so many that not responded to. That does not mean um, I did not read them. I read every single email that was sent to me. Um, and we see you, we hear you. And uh you know I had actually somebody reach out to me asking why we moved the board of ed meeting to today. It was asked by board members. It was asked by the administration administration of me

014to um add this special uh board meeting. Um it's just life and we have other things. So it just happened to land on a Wednesday. It happened to land at 7:00 p.m. There's no other reason other than we all have jobs and you know beyond what we do here in in service of our town and this is the only night that we could land and I appreciate the administration's uh flexibility and the board's flexibility to show up tonight. Um and you know it's just it's just the way it did and uh there are obligations that the administration has to meet certain deadlines. So, we need runway to um get the budget adjusted to the $750,000 cut by the board of finance to our approved budget. So, that's why we are uh here tonight. And our

015board meeting, our regular board meeting is not cancelled yet. It is still on the count on our calendar for next week on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. unless we vote tonight on a on one of the uh sol that's why the budget has everything on our u agenda for next week. So if we cannot get to a the finish line tonight, next week will be an option to meet and talk about another option. But you know the goal is to get to a finish line uh line tonight and then we can cancel our meeting next week. Um that's why this agenda is replicating of a regular meeting. Um next item on our agenda is going to be comments from citizens regarding items on the agenda. And I'm just going to hold this through to a three

016minutes per speaker, 20 minutes per topic. If you're addressing the budget, that's a topic. So that's 20 minutes. Uh so I would appreciate it if we all commit to three minutes per speaker, 20 minutes uh per topic. Uh just so we can um move uh this meeting along and be able to uh you know have a a healthy uh conversation along between the board members about uh what we are addressing here tonight. And we you know we welcome public comments. It's matters uh concerning the Stonington public schools in accordance with our bylaw 9325A and we ask uh that you address uh the board and not individual people and uh thank you please. My name is Sharon Oza Duggar. Um, maybe I represent the senior citizens in Stonington. First of all, I want to say I'm

017glad the budget passed. Um, I voted for it. Um, and I'm a little bit dismayed that it passed and we still have to look at cuts. Uh, I'm here to advocate for music. Um, I'm really think that it's very very important in the school. It's just as important as sports and everything else. Uh I know it's a your comment about if that's not cut, something else has to be cut. Uh I understand that reality, but I feel like it's important enough for the kids that really need music uh to advocate that you don't cut any positions. And we used to have more music here and I feel like Stonington should have more music, not less music. I worked in a school that an elementary school that had strings and um band and you don't even

018have strings like East Sign does or Waterford. We just have band. So, I really feel like we're an affluent enough town that music should really be expanded and not cut and it's really important. So, I appreciate you taking the time to make the difficult decisions. Thank you. Thank you. Hi everyone. Um my name is Alyssa Miner. I'm also here to um advocate for music. Um I'm the mom of a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old at Deans Mill. Um I worry that replacing music programs um to move to after school could be a loss for a lot of students. Um will these programs be funded? Will families be responsible for a fee? Have you looked into any grants? There's about 10 to 12 grants that can help keep programs in the school. Um I I worry that

019some kids who need access to music the most could be left out if these programs are moved to after school. Not every student might have bus transportation home. And I think the kids who need this creative outlet the most um could be excluded. Um I wrote this whole thing about, you know, how music is important, but I'm just going to skip it because we all everybody in this room knows how music is important. Um and for lots of kids, it's why they come to school. Um, I understand there are some really tough budget considerations and it's impossible to make everybody happy and I think you have a really hard job and I empathize. But as mother to a seven-year-old who cannot wait to play the trombone in fourth grade and mom to a non-verbal nine-year-old

020who truly uses music as his voice, I hope that we can figure out ways to um address these concerns and try to keep music during school hours. Thank you for letting us speak on this. Thank you. And just uh for the record, if you come up here, please state your name and address. And there's a piece of paper to write down that information just so we can keep it in our minutes. I did stop the time. Uh good evening everyone. Uh my name is Bruce. I am the local president for the ST education association. Um I don't envy the task you have before you. I want to make sure one clearly understand that I'm not here to advocate for any position or for a program. Uh I appreciate while I appreciate the fact that no

021teachers at the currently will be losing uh their jobs or anybody who positions that were cut are done basically through non-renewals etc etc. So as a local leader I appreciate that. Uh I'd simply ask that the cut any cuts be kept to absolute minimum that there is consistency uh through people and their positions so people don't move around too much. The reason I mention that is that um if you didn't know that but we're having a lot of problems keeping and retaining teachers across the state and teachers look for consistency like I'll be teaching fifth grade now teaching fifth grade next year etc things of that nature and it makes it more attractive to stay in the district rather than to go somewhere else. Um, last thing is that if people are upset about those

022cuts, which they are, um, you need to look at the board of finance. I encourage everybody here to see if they can get on the Republican town committee, Democratic town committee, and work to change the makeup of that board. I walk out of those meetings and I think to myself, I make sure the board of finance, make up the board of finance. I walk out of those meetings sometimes, I think to myself, is it a third world country? What's going on here? Stonington can do better than we currently have right now. You can do better for the school district and you also can do better for the town. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. I live at 19 Clark Street in West Island. Thank you, [Music] Bruce. Hello, my name is Ann Murphy. um for River

023Street Pocket uh Connecticut and um thank you all for what you do. Um I can't imagine being on that end. This is actually the first board meeting I've attended because of music. So I am advocating for keeping um you know everything as much as is as possible. I did write a letter. I'm not going to read it entirely. Um, but I do want to point um how music impacts get through there. I'm sorry. Sorry. That's okay. Take your time. My daughter's eight. She struggles with so many things. But she doesn't struggle with music. She thrives and she sings and she listens to music and she can tell the instruments in a song and she talks about it and it's um a topic that we discuss on a daily basis. She listens and to anything from

024I mean she'll sing a commercial for you. She just picks up on anything that's being played from the radio TV to anything. I mean we we are learning music from the 40s because that's what my grandmother listened to. And it's just such a a beautiful cycle and it busts in our lives. And that's why the tears is because um I just I look forward to her education um in music and in learning how to, you know, sing better and and learning instruments. And it's just um you know, I hate to say it, I there's you know, other areas where my family doesn't utilize. I'm sure other families don't want cuts in those areas too and they understand the pressure that you have. Um, but for me and my family, uh, what I did write down

025is that it enhances cognitive function, it reduces stress and anxiety, and it increases self-esteem. And it's the last part that it own. There was nothing I wouldn't do for my children and that's why I'm here today cuz my daughter needs it. Sorry, it's not I'm not trying to give you that emotional um you know any guilt or anything. It's just it happens and I can't can't stop. Who doesn't love their kids? But that's why I'm here. Thank you. Thank you. And if you like let your letter to be included in the minutes, you can give a copy to Anna. Thank you. Thank you. Um, next item on our agenda is board presentation. I'll turn it over to Miss Butler and the team. Thank you, Fu. And I'll wait for that PowerPoint to get queued up.

026While that's happening, I just want to remind folks that there's nobody in this room that was responsible with that threearters of a million dollar cut, and it's a significant cut. Um, my goal was to to do uh to to put together a proposal for the board's consideration in the most humane way. And by that, I mean, uh, preserving the people who are moving forward next year, who did not resign, who did not retire. Um, and and this is this is still our proposal. We stand by it as as the best uh most humane way to to proceed. Uh we all love music. Uh I I rock out with MC Jagger on the way to work on a regular basis. Uh and it's a it's one discipline though of many that we have to consider as

027we move forward. And it's not only considering one discipline when we're when we're working with the building leaders and central office. It's a global global picture. all of the disciplines, all of the uh assignments, and all of the goals that we have to to make our our graduates have those self leadership skills that they are going to need when they graduate to be employed, enrolled, or enlisted in the services. Okay? So, I want I just want folks to know that um we do appreciate our music teachers. Anybody who's ever been into one of our general music uh teaching uh classrooms will be in awe of the the musical instrument instruction, the dance instruction, and the vocal instruction in those schools. So, uh and I know Emily's here, so thank you because you um are an

028outstanding teacher and uh and have even been known to tolerate some Irish dance lessons in your class um from time to time. So, thank you for that. Okay, if we just start with the first slide here, I just want to kind of go over our goals for this evening. Uh, and I've asked two board members to make keep me honest about my rapid pace of speaking because this is not an easy um these these four priorities or these four proposals are not easy to follow. And if you just read the slides before you got here, you are not going to have a full understanding of of where we're going with this. So, um, the first the first is to review the proposed budget and rationale behind that. Uh and it really is goes to that

029whole K12 vision of what we need to do. Um I know you keep asking me to do more for less. Uh I know that you have academics, future focused uh teaching and learning and community and family engagement as your priorities. It becomes increasingly difficult to do all those things when we have such a significant hit on our budget. So we're going to review um what the building principles and I and central office stand by as the best option for all of our children. We're also Mr. Mr. Smith in his typical role of historian. We'll go back um through the history of music um and and you know where we are from uh the the precoid days, the COVID days, the consolidation days up till now. Try to stay awake. Um we're going to also consider

030some other priorities and alternatives so that if you folks, you know, if if your will it it's business, right? It's business. if the will of the board is to keep that um instrumental position as it is, which we believe is an overstaffing um decision. But if you if that is your will, we have alternate um options for you to look at, but it will have other consequences. Um and then hopefully tonight one of those doors, door number one, door number two, or door number three or four will appeal to you. you can vote on it and we can move on and uh post positions that need to be posted and uh get get uh all the letters out to teachers that they need to have rightfully so. Okay, so that's it. Nothing personal. Uh this

031is this is our best thinking and um we're open to to obviously questions. The principles are also here and at the conclusion of Mr. Smith's um presentation uh they will be available to make some comments I think too about what they see from the reality boots on the ground in the building level. I know you when we had our non-meating really um respected and appreciated their input on what they see as best for kids, what their reality is from um that perspective as running running buildings or what they they believe is best. So the next slide, this is just to kind of recap and I'm going to again go very slowly because there's a lot to this. The net reduction is 4.2 teachers, full-time teachers. they're in various positions. Okay, so we're going to kind

032of walk through this. There's a reduction also in um half of a full-time custodian which is going to result in a change of the district hours. So, we're not going to be available without some payment um for town activities and things like that because we have to capture some money. Um there was a shuffle of priorities by the principles in order for them to preserve their improvement requests. anything from the increase uh in a point4 reading specialist at the middle school to to result in a full-time reading specialist to Alicia Dah's most you know anticipated video commercial video uh things moving around so they they they found a way and it's never easy something has to give but something has to give I am asking you to eliminate that magnet that one magnet school bus

033that does not impact very many kids um I also want to remind you that the learn does learn does have a hub. So those children do have an option um for transportation to those schools. Uh we are also decreased by not not a dramatic decrease the co-op um line for the sports teams at the high school. And then what seems to have captured everybody's interest is the restructuring of the military options. Military music options. Where did I get that? Okay, next slide please. Okay. what that means. And this is very I want you to I'm going to go slowly because there's there's pieces in here that the wording may not be clear to everybody, especially um those par parents who are here because you don't speak our jargon. So again, what did the what did

034the building principles tell us they could give up? What did they want to preserve? What do they want to repurpose? These are their priorities. Okay. So Miss Dods decided that she thinks she can cut back and do without any significant impact to the high school. um reduce a full-time math uh a 0.6 FTE in mathematics, that person will most likely be taking a vacancy that has opened up at the middle school. So again, nobody's losing their job. In fact, they're gaining um some employment and some compensation there. Reducing an art teacher at the middle school that will fill a vacancy at West Vine Street School. Just so you know that our teacher is teaching more STEMlike kinds of um offerings and that will be filled by another person as we kind of go down this

035hit parade here. We are eliminating two full-time positions in um in at Stonington Middle School. I want you to think about the middle school structure for just a minute. So play along. If you think about the team structure at middle school, when we talk about a team, it's a a social studies teacher, a science teacher, a language arts teacher, and a mathematics teacher. Mathematics, Mr. Jeff Parkinson, is merely a tool for science. Um, what we need to do is fill two vacancies at Deans Middle School with somebody with a K6 certification. So, that will probably be a math and a and an an ELA teacher. Um what we will do with those other two remaining members of the team meaning probably again a science teacher and a social studies teacher is fill those positions that

036we want to have to offer the encore. So it will be one person obviously the science person would be the STEM person and offer those encore pos uh offerings that the kids really love and then the social studies teacher would be offering social sciences, civics, public safety for encors. I'm using those as general headers. Okay. Um why that's important is because when we collapse when we collapse that team and repurpose that team, there are going to be teachers who have to teach two grade levels in order to make the numbers work. If you have any specific questions about that, Jeff can certainly feel those. Um again, Mr. Parkinson wants to make a hole um out of a part-time uh reading specialist. So, he asked for that point4 that is is an add-on um to to

037his staff. Um and then we want to realign uh the elementary levels to create a full-time STEM at the elementary each elementary school and also preserve the halftime halftime librarian at each school. In other words, just one librarian who splits her time. What I mean by realigning one grade level team, when I asked the elementary principles, you know, what are your feelings about having full-time, how how wellreceived is that programming at the elementary level, they said the kids absolutely love it. They absolutely love it. And I asked Damen because I know his class sizes are smaller than at Deans Mill. And I Jen seems to have a kind of a steady enrollment there at Deans Mill. I said, "Would you what do you think? could you could you or do you want to change a

038classroom teacher, so a classroom elementary position into a STEM position? And he did not hesitate and said yes. So that's another another in another content area if you want to think about it. Math has been hit, art has been hit, social studies has been hit, science has been hit, everybody's been hit, elementary's been hit, music's been hit. Okay, so that's that's that piece that I don't think was very clear last time. Um and those vacancies again from the middle school will be filled with the DMS folks. Okay. The music program we our our um option was to create an afterchool program. Now that can happen in a variety of ways. It can happen with one of our staff members in if if they agree because the contract as Bruce will concur um offers an option

039for people to have uh alternative schedules so they can come in later and leave later than the regular school day. So that could be their schedule. They would have to agree to that. We can't force them to do that. If we didn't have any takers on that, we would then go to how about added teaching? Would you like to make a little extra money? Do you want to split that assignment after school? We would also we've also had conversations with United. Um but that that's happy to help us out either supplement our own teachers instruction after school or take that on. What that would look like is dismissals at 3:15. There'd be a 45minute block of instruction and then the late bus would come and pick the kids up at 4:10 at the schools. So

040two days, I'm just making this up. Monday and Tuesdays would be Deans Mill. Wednesdays and Thursdays would be West Vine Street School. So to to alleviate the concern about equity and transportation, this actually provides for that. So the other option that the other plus of this that actually provides kids with more music is that the children who don't have access to the general music program now K5 in this proposal Mr. Smith is going to talk about other options in this proposal would actually get general music and the opportunity to take instrumental after school. An added benefit from my seat. I really really have a distaste for any student being pulled out of any content area for the benefit of instruction in another area, whether it's for reading help, whatever. I just feel like it's a

041bad message to teachers that their content area isn't as important as somebody else. That's just my pet peeve. We've had some very interesting and lively discussions with the elementary principles and sometimes reality intervenes and that has to happen. But I just want you to know philosophically I think all disciplines are important and all teachers should be respected. Does anybody have any questions on that? Because I know it's a lot. Katie, go ahead. Just again to clarify the reduction 1.0 FTE elementary music is essentially fourth and fifth grade band only. Correct. Correct. Correct. I mean that's that's what it was. And that's because of a resignation. That's not because we're Correct. Okay, thank you. Laying somebody off and next one. Okay. What I want to again reiterate and I think this is really important to keep

042in mind that our our goal our strategy statement that has been guiding all of our decisions not not just the budget decisions but our instructional decisions where we're putting money into professional development for teachers um where we've created new programming HBI CNA um wastewater licensing so on and so on. We really are committed even though we're a small district we are mighty and we are really committed to this idea that the kids will have those self leadership skills for post-secondary success in enrollment in enlistment and employment and why that's important is because I'm going to go and give you a preview which I didn't want to do but I think it makes a lot of sense on Tom Bouquet and his team the work he's done to put these career clusters together and the career

043strands that are related to those and show you the relationship between the STEM disciplines and how many of those career strands and clusters relate to STEM content areas versus music and art. Unfortunately, that's that's what it looks like. So, let's go through those. Next slide, please. I I put them in green so that they kind of stand out and be visually. So the Tom Buskeet will be here in September to give you a very detailed presentation on how this is going to actually roll out and look. But our our commitment is that we want from K all the way up to 12 that kids have some experiences in these kinds of pathways. So the first pathway again that aligns with your future focused teaching and learning is an applied science and technology strand uh cluster.

044under that cluster there are going to be five pathways and you're going to say it looks like there's four under each one of these pathways there is going to be an option for a plan your own adventure kind of thing. So if you have some courses or independent work that you want to do there's going to be some wiggle room for that. So marine science is the one one career pathway manufacturing production architecture and construction and then engineering. This is not only important. Keep in mind NEAS is going to be coming out in 2027, which isn't that far away. We don't know the date. We don't know whether it's fall or spring. Um, and they're going to be looking for this K 12 K12 alignment, and they're going to be looking for these pathways. These

045didn't come out of thin air. They're from national pathways, approved pathways. Next one, please. The next cluster is global communication, culture, and design. You see the four pathways again performing arts is one in blue video technology again a STEM related pathway and the next the third one um of this will be close to Farukq's heart business and hospitality uh business management and administration marketing and tourism finance and culinary your food science and hospitality again we have another hit under here for STEM and the last one human health human and public service we've got healthcare and biomedical science, careers pathway, education and training, government in the law, and then finally personal training and wellness. So again, this is to to kind of support a comprehensive K12 program. And the next slide, I just want to go

046over again. So this again is a repurposing the full-time STEM teacher at DMS or West Vine will be a probably either a current SMS core area teacher or an elementary teacher reassigned most likely an elementary teacher reassigned. Remember that that extra full-time STEM person is coming from a classroom position at West Vine Street School. the other um we also want because we want full-time STEM teachers at both schools and we want that complement to be running a through line through the middle school. So there'll be a STEM teacher at the middle school as well. Again that is going to be one of those team members reassigned. Next, um the full-time SMS encors again the social on the social studies end is going to be the the the mirror of the STEM p person and again

047that's because we have to eliminate one core of the team. So four teachers two of those positions are eliminated reassigned to the elementary level and two of them will be repurposed into the STEM and the social studies civics and public service core encore teachers next. Okay. Okay. So option one is the one that we proposed. Okay. Uh nobody loses their job. There's a reconfiguration of assignments that align with board priority 2. Um it also aligns with our um new career clusters at the high school and it prepares us for our NEAS visit and it pos this is I can't emphasize this enough. It positively impacts the most students. So by increasing by doubling that STEM you are hitting and investing in 700 about 745 kids. By investing in the music as of today's numbers it's

048projected at about 120 kids. That's the math. That's the reality. Do we like would we like both to happen? Absolutely. Absolutely. We'd like more of everything but it's just not um the reality. So, option number two, this is one you're really going to hate, but I have to give you choices. Um, we restore the full-time music at the um elementary level, the instrumental position, and we eliminate an instructional position um at the high school. I'm not mentioning the content area because I have a feeling you're going to have no tolerance for this one, and I don't want anybody's knickers in a knot unnecessarily because it would result in a in a termination of a position. If you if that appeals to you and you make me come back next week, I can actually put some

049more definition on that. But um it would also reduce course offerings most likely at the high school or it would increase class size and it you know I have two disciplines specifically in mind. I've already discussed this with Alicia Dah. Um then nobody's happy about that either. But if we if push comes to shove that is an option. Option three. Okay. Now stay with me on this. Okay, this one is a and and remember these assignments are are involuntary switches. People are not going to be happy about this and but but they have a they have a job. They have a job. Um some people will be happy because some people will see a change is good but other people may not be happy. This absolut this eliminates li the library media specialist. Okay. So

050if we want STEM and STEM at both schools, there is a possibility for either of our media specialists to either be DSAP durational shortage um certification or take the practice test. So they both have been um floated the idea by so that again can be a reassignment. Um it eliminates library as a special. It doesn't eliminate kids from checking out books. it doesn't eliminate, you know, access to the library by the core area teachers to learn how to research, to understand digital, you know, uh, literacy and in citizenship. Uh, and it aligns with the board goals in the career clusters. So again, that's not getting rid of anybody. It's morphing a librarian into a STEM person. And if you have questions about how that magically happens, I can I can give you that answer. Uh,

051and the final option, okay, this is a little weird, too. It avoids any anybody losing their job again. And it can it's kind of the status quo. We keep our um one STEM teacher that's divided between the two schools. We keep our one librarian that's divided by the schools. Um, and the eliminated position at the elementary school pays for the music to go back into the budget. Um, we miss an opportunity to lead. I had recent conversations with some um area leaders that you like to compare us to. Um and this is on their mind. This whole idea of turning library into STEM is on their mind. It's projected one or two years out. This is an opportunity. I know we're all competitive only when we're awake. This is an opportunity again that will be

052missed for Stonington to lead the way if uh if you don't if you don't go with our our first um our first or our third option here. Um the the caveat I know what you're going to say pot over their money bags. The caveat here is this is reliant on our teacher and residents uh formalizing our uh EB URI uh position. It I had a conversation with uh somebody related to this from EB this morning. The funding is through the workforce pipeline work. So it's not um something that I think federally would be threatened like some of the other programming. uh and but we just haven't signed on the dotted line yet. So, I just want to warn you that if for some reason this teacher and residence fell through or she changed her mind,

053which I don't think she's going to, there would be a cut. There would have to be a cut, a layoff. Okay? And not a layoff, an elimination, a termination. So, do I think it's going to happen? No. But I would be um irresponsible for not telling you that is a risk. And we're really going to try and button that up within the next week. I mean, we're we're on it. she has um committed over email to the program just so you know and I think it's the Mr. Smith show now. So that is what I was going to say and I you read my mind. Um this is one that we if if that doesn't come to fruition with that other uh program then it would be in an elimination and if that does come

054to fruition then it would kick the can of that elimination to next year's budget cycle. Right. And and just I just want the board to understand and everybody who's in the the gallery to understand the the financial situation isn't going to get any easier. And so we're we're unless I did meet with the uh town planner yesterday. Unless the you know these housing um developments bring a lot of kids, we're going to shrink and we're going to have to we're going to have to make these tough decisions every year. And so we are going to continue to look for that natural that attrition to not lay people off because there's nothing worse than somebody losing their job. It's not what we want to do. Mr. Smith. Okay. History. No, just kidding. Um, so my job

055here is to provide a little more context. Um, and I just want to again re-emphasize what Superintendent Butler just said. What we what our goal is is to reduce our teaching forces only through attrition. I know uh Mr. Donahghue has come out in years past as a strong advocate for not laying off teachers and looking for cuts in any other area. And that's a noble thought. But the reality is the teaching ranks is where we are over. It's where the cuts a it's the most money and most effective and b the reality is we are overstaffed. Now how overstaffed are we? That's debate. Clearly our friends at the board of finance uh feel that we're overstaffed to xderee and I think they're wrong. Um but we we do have when you look at the numbers

056we have not uh adjusted our staffing accordingly to our declining enrollment and there are reasons for that and one of the biggest reasons was the interruption of the pandemic. We actually added staff during the pandemic whether it was interventionists or uh keeping some teachers instead of reducing in in force to keep class sizes smaller for the pandemic recovery. that's in our rearview mirror now. Uh, and we're still um a little bit heavy on on our teacher ranks. So, that's that's really where we're at. And one of the the biggest issues with the music program is this question right here. One of the things that I I agree 100% with our music teachers who are all fabulous by the way um and everybody loves music and our guys uh and gals do a great job with

057music. The change that happened to the music program was the simultaneous realignment of the elementary schools from K4 to K5 pulling the fifth grade out of the middle schools. And then that allowed the consolidation of the two middle schools into a single middle school 6 through 8. So what the music teachers strongly believe at least the instrumental folks I don't want to put words in Emily's mouth or either Emily is that the way it used to be was that the first time students in Stonington picked up an instrument was in grade five where 10 and 11 year olds walked into Mystic Middle and Pogatuck Middle and picked up instruments for the first time. Traditionally, we didn't do any performances in fifth grade until the spring because they couldn't make a noise on those instruments. Uh,

058you know, in the first semester. So when we moved fifth grade back to the elementary, the elementary principles made the decision that they didn't want to change their master schedule and have a an elementary schedule K4 and then a separate schedule for fifth grade. And so what that uh produced was a change in the instructional minutes. When fifth grade was in the middle school, they got band in chorus for a 50inute period every other day. They also got some general music and depending on mystic and pogatuk were a little bit different because of the enrollment sizes. Uh they also got some um instrument lessons of some kind. So at the elementary level, as soon as we did that, the instrumental instruction is what has been short changed. the number of instructional minutes for the instrumental

059program has not been equitable comparable to the way it was. And that's why we continue to kind of flounder with our instrumental program uh at the elementary schools. We've had a number of teachers that we've hired and put in that position. It's been hard to get traction. The uh to try and get more traction, we decided to roll it down to fourth grade. There's pluses and minuses. For some fourth graders, that works. For a lot of fourth graders, it actually turns them off because they're incapable uh developmentally of really making enough progress to uh feel good about it. So, the design question is how can we kind of get closer to that support of fifth grade as being the starting point in serious instrumental instruction. Imagine that. So, this is the model where we'd like

060to get to back to is that all fifth and sixth graders, no matter what building they're in, have a choice of band or chorus. and that the instructional minutes in fifth grade are at least somewhat comparable to the instructional minutes that we can provide at the middle school level. I don't want to commit that it's going to be exact because the I think the elementary principles would revolt and come after me. But the but we we can find a way to do a better job and whether that's with that alternate schedule where someone starts later and does some of those lessons after school we or we supplement and or it's not an eitheror. It's an andor. We bring in uh some help from the United. are willing to have discussions about doing before school, after

061school, um whatever they can do. Uh I've had some very uh positive and interesting conversations with the folks at United. Uh they would love to be involved uh as champions of music themselves. And then again, as the model continues, seventh and eighth grade, uh they have a choice of band or chorus. At some point, we give them an option of skipping the large ensemble group uh and just taking a music elective and then again maintaining what we've always had at the high school where all music classes are electives that students can choose. There are a couple of different flavors of vocal groups and uh instrumental groups as well as other music electives. So, that's that's the model we want to support. What my position is is that we can support that with 6.0 FTEES. Either

062way we go, if we really want to commit to getting back to that model, the model that the music teachers say worked, it's going to require certain changes. Doesn't matter whether we have six full-time teachers or seven. In order for the model to work, the elementary schedule for fifth graders has to change. I can't talk to what that's going to look like. That's going to be up to the building leaders to run their building. But if we commit to music either way in either model, those schedules have to change and we have to increase the instructional minutes in fifth grade for band and chorus to be more effective. If we go with the 6.0, 0. The only way we can do that, and this is where it gets um dicey, is that all the music

063teachers are going to have to change what they do. It's going to affect pretty much all of them because they're going to have to split positions. They're going to have to uh support the elementary school. So just because we've cut the uh or not replaced the position at the elementary school, that's where the support needs to happen in order to have an instrumental program. So we need to bring a teacher back to the elementary schools to supplement what the two music teachers that are already there full-time do. And there are a variety of ways in which we can do that. And I am confident that sitting with our music educators and getting their input uh will come to it. No one's going to like to change, but it's very doable. And there's a lot of

064different ways to get to that. If the board uh moves in a direction to add that 1.0 back in, we're still going to have to change the schedule at the elementary schools. um and it's going to result in a cut somewhere else. So that's the the two choices, right? So here's want to give you some data to uh support the decisions in and talk about the comparables. So when we look around at our neighbors, we are the smallest school district by far. I didn't look up to North Stonington because we know that they're smaller than us. But, you know, the reason why they can have string programs in these other schools is because they have more kids. And the more kids thing is really more of a driver than the more teachers thing because the

065analogy I'll give you is we don't have a swim team because we don't have enough kids. We have a co-op. so that the couple of kids can swim. We don't have a wrestling team, so we don't have enough kids, but usually every once in a while, we have a wrestler that we can put either uh as a standalone team of one uh or some co-op arrangements. Our enrollment is now down to 1650 and we've already had several um housing projects come to completion that are fully occupied. Uh and they have had zero effect at reversing our our declining enrollment. our declining enrollment has continued in spite of. And I go by Spruce Meadows and I go by all the duplexes down the street from there and I see I'm stuck behind the school bus coming

066here and I see that we have a whole bunch of kids getting on our school buses there. Uh so there are kids that live there, but I don't know what the zero sum math on that is that in the drivers in this town in real estate, but that's the that's the reality. So, it would be great if all of these new uh subdivisions come online, multi-ousing units come online, and we start building, but in order to get, we're going to need a couple hundred more kids, 500 more kids to get back to where we were preconolidation. So, we were 2100 kids back then. So, we got to find 500 kids to get back to that level. So the next thing in the middle there is these that's the comparable for how many music teachers do

067the these districts have. We have the split because we could have six or we could have seven depending on your decision tonight. But Waterford has nine, East Lime has nine. Graten has 14. Another consideration in that is that we only have four buildings now. We used to have six, we only have four. All of these other districts have uh anywhere from seven to nine school buildings which again makes it necessary to have more teachers to get the coverage. And then the last data point is and this is kind of a gross data point. It's the number the student teacher ratio of the total student population in the district to music teachers. Not the kids enrolled in music. I'll I'll get to that in a minute, but just to have an applesto apples comparison. And as

068you can see, with six FTEES, we'd be at a 275, which puts us right kind of in the ballpark with all of these other districts. If we go to the seventh FTE, that drops our student uh teacher ratio to 235, substantially lower than the other districts. So this is again that gross data point of total students in the district to music teachers. As you can see prior to uh the pandemic, prior to the realignment and consolidation, we were at that 270 something uh moment and we reduced.5 in the consolidation uh when Mr. Aubin retired. That's when we dropped from 7.5 FTEES to.7. Uh we last year, I think it was last year, it seems like so long ago, the middle school uh at the time said that they could reduce their music teachers from three

069to two. We did that and then the board reinstated a music teacher and we were back to seven uh effective going forward. And so that's with the pro the enrollment projections that we have going out at if we keep the six, we're going to be back down to the 255 in a year or two. Okay. So on the left, this is the student teacher ratio by building. As you can see at the elementary level, even with this is what currently we had this year. We had 1.5 music teachers at each school. That.5 person being the one doing the instrumental instruction in grades four and five. And we still had uh substantially higher um student teacher ratio. The outlier by a mile is the high school. And we have, you know, this year we have 108

070kids involved in music. That's total classes. That's band, chorus, honors, uh all the electives, everything added together. 108 with two teachers. And it was a little funky this year with uh Mrs. Gotautle uh uh on leave. So they really uh had 1.8, not two. Mr. Manning was 0.2. to supporting the middle school, but I rounded uh for the sake of this conversation. So, at the middle school with 2.0, again, it's 191 kids per music teacher. Um, and again, at the high school, it's only 54 kids per music teacher. And then on the right hand side, you see how that compares to every other department at the high school. So these are our current numbers second semester this year where again you can see what an outlier music is as far as where are kids in

071class. So again um if we agree to go forward as proposed with the 6.0 O I believe our music teachers can find a way to support fifth grade band instruction uh in a much better and much more comprehensive way than we have in the last few years. And there's a wide variety of ways to get there. If we add back the seventh FTE, [Music] uh, one of the things that I think very strongly about is that we need, uh, that permanent piece person, we need to move one of our permanent employees into that instrumental thing. we've had the revolving door of hiring someone and then they're not working out or they're leaving to find a more unified position. So, um it doesn't matter if we if if the board so chooses to reinstate the music

072teacher schedules are going to change anyway. So, any questions? Yeah, [Music] sorry Tim. Real quick back a slide. Number of students enrolled currently were at music 108 world language 376. That's current second semester numbers. The the high school numbers on the right. Yes. Yes, that's correct. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And I I did a quick ballpark check. First semester, it seems like there's a little bit more enrollment in other departments. Kids take more electives first semester and try to take more study halls. Second semester being kids the way they are in spring. Yeah, you can't hate them for it, you know. Um but when I did a representative sampling, it was it was pretty comparable. So I I feel confident looking at second semester. So what what I mean by second semester is if it's

073a year-long course those kids that are in that number and if it's a halfyear second semester elective those kids are in that number. Okay. So for music like music tech may have run first semester with eight kids second semester history of rock and roll may be running and again it's six or eight kids. So the numbers are comparable but most of the departments try to offer one elective in the fall and one in the spring. Thank you. Can you go up a couple of slides where you mentioned the potential changes to scheduling? Uh yeah, this one. Um, without getting into the nitty-gritty of how schedules work, that's a nightmare. Uh, help me understand this. So, this, um, does the on the left, does this assume, um, instead of the, uh, fourth and fifth graders would

074take general music if they wanted instrument instruction, it' be after school. Does the uh what you point out on the left, does this assume the fifth grade uh compulsory bander chorus choice? That's a great question uh Mr. Thank you for that. So in my mind doing the math by realigning the positions fifth graders would have a choice of bandor chorus with more instructional minutes than they're getting currently now with 7.0 FTEES. Okay. And I I I could be totally making this up. Did you say the music teachers in the past have advocated for that choice of bander chorus back at the fifth grade level? Yes. The the especially what the the high school music teachers um again here's the number uh pre consolidation pre-alignment there were 700 kids at the high school and we had

075150 some odd kids involved in the music program. maybe 200 kids. So, you know, about a 20% number. We've got 550 kids at the high school number. So, no matter what the high the high school music teachers can do whatever they want, they're only going to be able to get those numbers up so far because there's only 500 kids there. And so part of the problem we have in recognizing the the dwindling of the music program is part of it the dwindling is we've got fewer kids. The music teachers at the high school, if I understand their position correctly, and I think I do, have been saying that part of the reason for some of the the dwindling of kids staying with music throughout high school is that they they're not getting to the same

076level of proficiency because of the reduction in instructional dedicated instructional minutes for instrumental in grade five. Okay. Assume for a moment that we went to the 6.0. Mhm. Is there a choice to be made between fourth and fifth, everyone takes general music? If you want instruments, there's an after school program for that versus fourth grade general music and fifth grade choose. Is that a choice to be made? If we went 6.0, Yeah, I think it's it's not an or, it's an and that we can have a instrumental program in fifth grade. Um, I don't know if we could I think the limitation would be we probably couldn't do both in fifth grade, a full general music curriculum and instrumental. Um, as far as after school, I think that would supplement the instruction, not take the

077place of the instruction. So, if we go to 6.0, it doesn't, if I can answer your question this way, if we go to 6.0, it doesn't necessarily mean that the only instrumental instruction is going to happen after school. Yeah. Okay. I got you. We we I think we've got to commit to saying if fifth grade is the instrumental uh on-ramp then we have to fully support that. And I believe we can do that with 6.0 teachers. They would like 7.0. And would it be easier with 7.0? It would probably be less um disruptive to individuals. Um, but one thing to also keep in mind with even graten with 14 music teachers, probably more than half of them are in split positions. How would you engage the music department and trying to figure out what to

078do with fifth grade? We've we've done it in the past. we'd have to do it again is get them all in a room uh and um let them come up with their own options. I will provide them a menu of options to choose from and somewhere we can come to a consensus of what's the best thing to do programmatically for instrumental instruction for the district. Okay. And the last question on this point, if they chose to keep just general music, fourth and fifth grade, any instruments is after school. Let's just say they decided that would it require existing music teachers to change assignments. Yes. Why? Alicia's got her hand. Well, part of it part of it depends, Kevin, on whether or not any of the teachers want to take advantage of that flex schedule, right?

079Because that's we'd have to they have to be willing to do that. Yeah. And have class later in the day, right? If they don't, they might want to do it for added teaching. They might. I don't know. If they don't, then it would be the United. What would be really nice is if it could be a combination of both because that community engagement piece with the United is only going to give another avenue for our our high-f flyers to take advantage of to to take other programming and make be recognized and invited to to participate in other opportunities. Okay. The I'll stick my head in the lion's mouth on this one. One of the conflicts with the music teachers as a group is they're all certified to teach music K12. They tend to specialize, especially

080in the secondary level with coral instruction or instrumental instruction. Stonington has like a double bonus in that Chris Stanley, who is our vocal guy, because of his involvement both regionally and with us in musical theater, has more experience directing instrumental uh performances than most high school chorus teachers. There are a lot of high schools our size who only have one music teacher and they teach band chorus and like two music electives and that's their full schedule. They have five teaching periods can make that work. That's a model that could be discussed among music teachers is you know one of the things if we want to rebuild the um instrumental program. One of the things that one of the options that we'll be discussing and it'll be a discussion is we can't fill currently we cannot

081fill a full-time schedule for one of the music teachers at the high school. We arbitrarily divide the concert band into two sections, which really should be one, just to fill the schedule. So, we could fill that schedule on an every other day basis and have instrumental band music at the high school on A days and have that same person do all of the band instruction at the middle school on B days. And then that gives that one person creative control to build the program 612. So there and I don't want to want to get too much because it's really a discussion to be had with the music teachers, but the there's a million ways we can get there. I just wanted I had promised the building principles that they could say something if they would

082like to come up and just talk about the boots on the ground. Um why they came up with the the proposal that they did. Alicia, do you want to stand? Yeah. And you're pretty loud, but you know, the mic does help the people who are listening at home. Okay, can you hear me? Is this on? Okay, we hear you. All right, great. Um, so ju let me just go back to math. Um, so the the proposed um cut, uh, we have been very fortunate to have 6.6 six math teachers at the high school. They're amazing. Uh but as you could see um on a couple of slides ago, uh we could afford to cut that 6. Fortunately, that 6 person will have a full-time job uh at the middle school. And it also keeps our

083classes existing with six teachers next year without us cutting any math classes. It will still keep our math classes under 21. um and most of them under 18. So I just for any any I know my I've been meeting with my math department often uh the past two weeks. Uh a couple of things um in looking at our numbers with music. I know everybody has the data. Um and again I am very fortunate to have Chris Stanley and Katrina at the high school. They do an incredible job. Um, and I would be remiss to say how much I still call her my Emily. Even though she may be yours, she really is mine. Um, so we are very blessed to have them. Um, Rich Manning did an incredible job this year as a point8. I

084am confident that we can still run the same program that we have at the high school without cutting any of our classes as long as we are creative with the schedule and we work together. Okay. So, in in looking at the numbers, I know you've you have plenty of data in front of you. Our math our math our music numbers specifically band, honors band, and jazz at the high school. If you do a five-year look back, it has fluctuated between 36 and 51 students. Uh the last two years in particular, we increased, we had 36 last year and we increased to 42 this year. Um our chorus chamber students have remained relatively stable over the years. That is probably one of our more uh hefty um courses that are run at the high school. And

085looking at our electives, um, we offer seven different opportunities of electives to our students and we typically run four simply because the classes don't fill. of the electives that we have been offering specifically the last two years and the ones that we'll be offering next year are guitar with roughly 10 students, theater which is a brand new course, uh introduction to theater with Chris Stanley will be 11 students, music tech with eight students and piano with eight. So we are still continuing to run the electives even though the numbers are still small. So the point I when I had my hand up when Mr. Smith did a a beautiful job um elaborating what that scheduling could potentially look like. Our schedule won't our offerings won't change. It's a matter of being creative with the schedule.

086So, our students will still have the same opportunities at the high school with the proposed budget cut, if that makes sense. Any questions? Thanks, Alicia. Anybody else want to say anything? Jen, you look like you could get up and move. You want to say anything? Jen and Damian, you can go together. You can tag team it. And then we'll finish up with the the middle child. Um, so I think I, you know, obviously we we spoke a lot last time about music and unfortunately it feels like we're kind of targeting music and I wish we were talking about like how we could continue to make our elementary schools more future focused and all of the opportunities we could prevent stu present to students and I heard a lot of different proposals and a lot of

087different ideas. Um, but I think when we're thinking about making the decisions for the best interests of all students, I stand by that like our general music positions. I wish any of you were at the concert last night. They are probably more robust than any elementary school that I've ever heard of, been to. When students are playing ukuleles, they're playing drums, they're playing orf instruments, they're singing. I mean, our students are getting significant music experiences at the elementary level with or without instrumental. I was an instrumental music person. I love music. Um I think we have to balance what our priorities are in terms of when we brought our fifth graders back to elementary school. One of the things we really wanted was to restore that elementary school model for them. And unfortunately, there are

088concessions that had to make based on the schedule. as Tim said, you know, we weren't able to or we could have continued to have two survey rotations a day um and have of that, but we also looked at like what's best for students developmentally and we made a significant change in their trajectory of how many students were showing mastery in reading and language arts by restoring that fifth graders to that elementary model and increasing those instructional minutes and the foundational skills. So, just know that something has to give, right? like we only have so many days uh so many days of the year and so many hours and we have to kind of figure that out. So, um, when looking at science the needs, I just want to share a couple of things. Um, one

089is, you know, regardless of staffing, things like that, fourth graders taking instrument, in my opinion and what I've heard and what I've seen and anecdotally and talking with families is it's exciting. It's a choice. A lot of times they're making that choice not necessarily based on like, oh, I've always wanted to play the trombone. We have those students, absolutely. But some of the students are just like, I get a choice. This is great, right? They're elementary kids. they want to do something new. Um, I have also had lots of conversations with families that are kind of like I tried to tell my child not yet because I didn't think they were emotionally immature ready and then students are, you know, not as successful because there's competing interest. They're doing sports. They're doing other activities. They're

090not recognizing the they don't have the intrinsic motivation and they don't recognize that piece of it. Um I will share with you that you know out of the 82 students that I have currently in instructional music this year I have heard from I received one email from a parent whose child was not instructional music concerned about it. I had one parent approach me at the concert last night. I saw all of our music parents last night. kind of had one parent concerned and offered some support and have some connections to local music things like United Theater and the Coastg Guard band that if we were looking at alternative ways that would love to be engaged in that process. Um I have not heard from any of the other parents about that. I think that they

091all recognize it's an awesome opportunity but there are so many different opportunities. And when I look at all of the work that we're doing in our district about being future focused and problem solving by increasing STEM in those other areas, we're also providing great opportunities for students that are providing those those opportunities. So, you know, I think one of the things that I try to think about is all elementary students are getting robust music instruction. They're getting instrumental. They're practicing. They're learning to read music. They're doing lots of great things regardless of the band instruction. If we could provide that after school and provide that enrichment opportunity and get them in a really great way, we are our kids are going to be in a really great place to do that. Um, you know, yes,

092in some for some kids, is that delaying the choice? Maybe, maybe by delaying that choice, some of those students also might stick with it a little bit longer. I have had more communications this year with current fourth and fifth grade parents about it's not working. It's not what we thought. my child didn't realize the responsibility they needed to be. Can I switch out? And we've really tried to say like we need to honor the commitment. We need to try it. We need to really strategize. Um but we've had a I've had a lot more honest conversations about that as well. Um lastly, I just wanted to say that um one of the things that I also kind of really look at is, you know, by providing those after school activities, my in talking with Jeff,

093the students have those entry points to continue that robust information. You know, I heard a lot of great ideas from Tim and and if that's what the direction that the board wants to do about trying to bring back that exact model that they had in middle school. I'm just telling you in quite honesty something is it's going to impact instructional music minutes in something because I unless you're going to increase the school day. So, you know, their ELA Brock might be less. They may get less minutes in art. They might get less minutes in something else like there is only competing things. So, there will probably be some positives of that for sure. our music numbers, our students may be really performing, but there also could be some negative consequences of that. You know, we

094could see some of our test scores drop, we could see some other things. So I just feel like when I'm looking at the needs of all the students, the priorities of the district, the conversations and the work that we're doing on future focus and building students executive functioning skills and getting students ready for the the competencies for high school and the vision of the graduate that really focusing on increasing our STEM education and providing equal opportunities to music as well as all the other arts and things would be the best benefit for our children and that's you know why I really feel that the the model that we presented is in the best interest of all children. Top that. Damian, did you have any questions for her? No, I'm, you know, I'm new to Stonington,

095so I don't have the history that you all have with music going back. I hear it. I sit in football meetings and I hear about the discussions that we've had here and there. Um, what I will say is I know that I do support music. Um, which is why when I came on I thought it was odd that our fifth grade students had to take band or general music. Didn't make much sense to me. They're in fifth grade. They should have access to both. I was in a position at West Vine to be able to do that. So, they had band and they had general music. Not all the time. They had to miss other specials. There were some trade-offs for these things, but I felt it was really important that students at the elementary

096level had an opportunity to experience everything. And then, you know, we get hit with $750,000 that we have to cut. And that's not our issue here. I mean, it is our issue, but not our fault, right? That's the board of finance. So, we're trying to deal with what they gave to us. And I really like all the teachers at WestVine and I don't want to have anybody be cut. So when we came down and had to have a conversation about this, we came up with a plan where in my mind kids actually get more access to music and band at the elementary level and we don't have to cut any teachers. Yes, it's an afterchool program. It's different. It's rethinking the way we do things. But those who want to try band are fourth and

097fifth grade get to try band. If they can get a ride home, fantastic. From their parents at WestVine, that's not always the case, and you all know that, which is why we have a late bus for those students who want to take it and can take a late bus and get home. The access to band would be exactly the same as they have right now. It wouldn't be any less, but every student at Deans Mill and at Westbine would also have access to general music. I I thought that was a pretty good thing that we came up with. And I know we're talking about band here because that's what we're talking about. So at the elementary level with the proposal that we made, they would get the exact same amount of band that they're getting

098right now. At the middle school, they would get exactly the same amount of band that they're getting right now. And at high school, they would get exactly the same amount of band that they're getting right now. We see at the elementary level that at fourth grade, they're excited. Like Jen said, at fifth grade the numbers go down and then they go to the middle school and Jeff will have numbers for these things, but they have to take right now band at sixth grade in seventh grade and maybe at eighth grade. I I don't really know, but maybe they have a choice at 8th grade. So, they're all those who want to do band choose band and then they go to the high school and they still have that opportunity to choose band if they want

099to do it. It just sort of seems to me coming from the outside that kids right now are not choosing band. And I don't I don't know what to say about that. We we'd like them to take band. I think it's really important. We value those things, but kids are choosing what they want to take. It's other areas. It's STEM related. You know, we talked about the elective classes. Those things that are coming up. You saw the numbers up there. That's where they're going right now. Now, the other cool thing about the plan that we come up with is that we're trying to get some vertical alignment between elementary and the high school with the career paths. And yes, we have to repurpose and restructure things, but it's a great opportunity, like Jen was saying,

100to really support the great work that's being done at the high school. And why not start at the elementary level giving kids full-time STEM all year long so they can have that experience? Because that's where kids are going right now. That's where the world is going right now. And I think we'd be remiss as a district if we weren't investing in that. Um kind of feel like I'm on a soap box right now. I don't I don't really need to be right now, but that's that's where I feel that we are right now. Like I really like the plan. It's a tough plan. It's a difficult decision. I'm hearing the word cut. Yes, technically the elementary teacher resigned. So we're not filling that position. So we're not cutting that position, but at a department level,

101it is a cut. So I understand why we're saying that. I do get that piece there. And it is a hard situation right now where we do maybe need to reduce at the band and music level and the music department by one person. But like I said, the kids in Stington will continue to get the same amount of music that they're getting right now. So thank you. Jeff. Um, so a lot of this is talk about the elementary school music and the high schools enrollment. Typical typical middle child fashion. I'm going to try to make this about me. Okay. So, um, just to I I I can't speak about the fifth grade schedule. You know, I won't be involved in designing that and being a part of that and and that's theirs. I I truly

102can't fully speak about the high school's enrollment numbers because again that's not my building. But what I can tell you is um the clear drop off obviously in enrollment is from 8th grade to 9th grade, right? We can all see that in the numbers. Why that's happening, I don't pretend to be a music educator. I'm not an expert on that. I'm also not an expert on the high school students psyches. I I can't tell you exactly why they're doing that. I am an expert on math. So I can tell you some numbers. And there's two things I'm very confident in is that um that drop off is not happening because of the quality of the music instruction we have. Um the teachers I have in my building, Beth Bramley, um Larry Sheay before he left

103in the fall and Sylvia Gopala Christian that's been with us the rest of this year and Rich Manning will be with us at a at a more full-time level next year are all fantastic. They run fantastic programs whether that be chorus with with Beth and her uh drama program. Go see Adam's family this weekend, Friday, Saturday. Don't forget SHS. Um so and then our band program, our instrumental program, all fantastic. So that is not the issue. It is also very importantly not the amount of exposure and access the students get to music. So we talked about on-ramps, right? The on-ramp in fifth grade versus the on-ramp in sixth grade, right? Our students currently at Stonington Middle School. Now we run a six-day rotation, days 1 through six. Our classes meet seven blocks a day, generally

104roughly 50 minutes. So, I'm going to use that as our approximation just for keep the math simple. In our core classes, that's English language arts, math, science, and social studies, 300 minutes of contact time per rotation. Music is our second ranked at 200 minutes, followed by art at 150 minutes. World language at 150 minutes. PE, which by the way has a statemandated number of minutes, and we and and required number of minutes is at 100 minutes. Health is at 50. So what you'll see is music gets twothirds of what our core content areas get in terms of uh contact minutes and exposure for our students. It gets you know double that of PE. It gets more than um art world language. It gets four times that of our health curriculum. So we do expose students

105to a lot of music in grades 6, seven, and eight. Rightfully so because it is an important content area. But all our content areas are important. Um just to break that down over the course of the year um our students get 1500 more minutes. That's 25 hours of more instruction and music than art and world language. They get 50 hours approximately more than PE and 75 hours more than health. So the only point I'm trying to make with this is in grades six, seven, and eight, our students are given ample opportunity to participate in thrive in through the time and the great educators we have in the music disciplines. And if they're choosing not to continue with that, the reason is not that we haven't given them the opportunity to do it. That is the

106point I'm trying to make here. At the middle school, we give them plenty of music access. Every student takes band or chorus with the exception of a handful of eighth graders who who do not take it and take general music. Um, so and and again, just to speak on the whole idea of cuts, I think no one who's come up here and spoke, no one who's sitting here is advocating for cuts, right? I think a lot of people say the word advocate and nobody's advocating for cuts, right? Nobody'd be cutting at all if our budget wasn't cut. We're triaging. That's what we're doing right now. We're looking at a situation that's difficult and we're triaging what can we what can we handle? What can we do? How can we make this work? Um, so, you

107know, I I I think the plan we've put forth is the best plan for the overall student body here at Stonington Public Schools. And and to to piggy back what Kevin said, it's not a this or nothing. It's a this or that. We will have to come up with something else if we don't go down this road. Thank you guys. Any questions? So my I guess I'm going to go back to elementary because that's truly what we're sort of talking about in this in this whole reformat. In 2324 in fourth grade at Deans Mill, and I'm only picking on it cuz it's right in front of me, there were 56 band students. That current number is 33. At West Fine in 2324, there were 30 band students. That current number is 17. Do we think

108the reason why consistently year-over-year fourth to fifth grade drops off anywhere from 20 to 35% is based on that choice, excitement, newness, maturity? I don't know. I I'm not I'm not I'm not asking it like there's a right or wrong answer. It's just, you know, why why is there such a drop off from fourth to fifth grade in band? But go for it, Alicia. Take it. Take it. And again, this is just so my opinion. I think it is that excitement. Oh my gosh. My girls are excited, right? it just like this and that. They're excited. And then I think after that they're like shiny at that point and honestly I don't know at that point my And I think they're betterons to remember too, especially at the elementary levels. So there's not a lot

109of like homework and things like that. So that's the other difference, right? So first graders are making band. You're not going to learn an instrument if you're in never goes home, right? Has to go home. You have to practice for 15 minutes every single day. And a lot of kids were like, "Well, I didn't know I want to practice or I am soccer." You know, it's it's that competing thing. It's that again that that are they that intrinsically motivated yet for it. I think the other thing is we have really solid robust general music options, right? So, kids are having to make that choice and it's a difficult choice because then their friends are playing ukulele or they're doing some other thing. So, um, you know, I think they they try it. You know, could

110you force them to keep with it? I mean, I have really I tried this year to say to families and kids like you made a commitment and you can try to see through. Have we had kids drop this year? Absolutely. Have we had a lot of families reach out and I encourage them and work with them to say like we're going to get through this, we're going to try, you can have another choice next year, absolutely too. So, um, you know, it's, you know, anecdotally, I would say it's a kind of a combination of things. Any other thoughts? I got a billion. Um, uh, okay. Um, it's a bit weird for me because I think for the first time in my life, I'm not going to focus solely on the data part of this, um,

111and, uh, more qualitatively. Um, but before I get to a lot of my questions about the the specific options, I I want to address uh a couple of the questions that came up from public comment. Uh, first I um I believe her name is Ashley. I think she's still here. Um, if there were anything offered after school, it would be offered to students for free. Yes. Okay. And then with transportation for all students after school, there is a late bus available. Yes. Okay. And then uh if the um if the fourth and fifth grade uh how it currently works, if the fourth and fifth grade choice of instruments is moved from during the school day to after school, what music exposure would those fourth and fifth graders get? And there's I think it's either well

112it's kind of up for discussion, but they'd at the very least get general music. Yes. Okay. Um and then to uh I believe her name actually I'm 100% sure her name was Anne Murphy. Um, my middle name is Murphy. My mom's maiden name is Murphy. I'm not gonna forget a Murphy name. Um, uh, I just wanted to to mention I very much so, uh, empathize with her story and I appreciate her sharing it. I don't know if she's still here. Um, uh, but music in this district played a profound effect on my life. Um, Mr. Dumis was awesome. Uh, he came to my house once and listened to me play drums even. Uh, so the dedication from Mr. Dumis, I know, lives on in our current six or seven. uh music positions. Um so I

113I just appreciate uh Ann for sharing that story. Um so thank you Ann if you're still listening to the options. Uh okay. Um tell me where I'm wrong. Uh if I'm understanding this I I'm assuming I'm wrong in a couple of places but just help me understand option one. Um which can we put Yeah. Can we put them back on the on the That would help me at the very least. So, uh, wait a second. Sorry. Okay. Um, option one. Okay. Tell me where I'm wrong. Anyone can tell me where I'm wrong as always. Uh, okay. So, if we removed the or I guess I should say not backfill the music position at the elementary school and go down to the 6.0. Um, instead of fourth or fifth graders having the option between general music

114and instruments during the day, they would take general music probably. Uh, during the school day, there would be some sort of choice after school, maybe some choice in fifth grade, but something. Regardless, uh, there would still be, uh, music for fourth and fifth graders uh, during the school day. And if they wanted more, they could choose to have more either during the school day if they make some fifth grade option work or something after school with free transportation. I'm correct still, right? Yes. Uh, option one also, I guess you could say, doubles the library/ STEM offering for every elementary school child. It would double the STEM offering for every for all 745 students. it would maintain the library because that librarian would still be split. Okay. So, library would remain the same as this year,

115double the STEM for every single student at both elementary schools. Correct. And I think I I'm could be wrong, but I want to say that Rachel currently meets with them 20 times a semester. So, that would be Is that right, Jen? 20 times. So, it would be 40. Yeah. Just half the year. So, it would be twice that. Okay. All year. Uh and and then I do also want to point out a slight disagreement I have with a statement that students at the elementary school uh would be offered the same amount of music because I suppose there could be kids that this year or if if if the choice of general music and instruments was available during the school day. I assume there could be some kids who in a world where that exists would

116have chosen instruments because it's during the school day. But in the world where it's after school, they wouldn't choose instruments given that it's after school. So I just want to point out I think if I understand how everything would work with option one, it is possible for probably a small number of students but students nonetheless to choose not to have access to instruments because it might only be offered after school. Am I correct in that? Yes. Okay. Yes. Um, again, it's a student choice, I understand, but for a fourth grader uh to choose to stay after school, I understand that could be a difficult decision. Some families might not be comfortable with that. Again, given it's a small number of kids, but still it is possible that moving instruments to just after school could negatively

117affect probably a very small number of students. Correct. Okay. Option two. Number two, this one lays off a person. I don't have any further questions about this one. I'm not really even considering it, but this one lays off a current person. Yes, correct. Yeah. Okay, move on. Um, option three. Okay, rolling up the sleeves for this one. Um, yeah, I know this gets confusing. It gets confusing. [Music] Okay, bullet point number one. Uh, this one removes the librarian at the elementary school. Transforms the library. Well, transforms. I shouldn't say remove. You're right. It doesn't remove the librarian. It changes the librarian's assignment. Correct. Right. Okay. Uh, it would the plan, the goal would be to turn that librarian into a DSAP or emergency certified STEM teacher. Correct. To service both elementary schools. Correct. Uh, wait,

118wait. Yes, wait, wait, wait. No, no. there. It would be a full-time STEM at each school because we're morphing the librarian that is currently split between the two elementary schools into a STEM person. So, there's a STEM person in each building, but no librarian. Okay. So, removes a librarian, adds STEM because we transformed the librarian. Correct. Okay. But to transform the librarian to a STEM uh requires that librarian to become eligible for the DSAP version. Correct. Would you like to know how that magically happens? Um, please explain. Okay, there's two avenues for that to happen. Um, if a person, if one of the librarians says has three credits in SC, uh, I'm sorry, 12 credits in their undergrad or graduate work in science, then I can DSAP that person. If they have 12 credits in

119mathematics, I can DSAP that person. If DSAP is emergency, yes, it's a short, right? Exactly. Um, short term. I think we can do it for two years. Um the other the other piece is if they um are certified, there's a plethora of disciplines in the technology area that again if they have uh 12 credits in their DSAP. If they don't have that, which we actually do have one of our librarians does have that meets that criteria in science in the science discipline. Um, if they don't have those credits, they can accumulate those credits if they so choose, or they can sit for a practice test in one of those content areas at the middle school level, and they if they pass that, then they're certified. It's like a fast track. Um, well, they're certified in

120that discipline, so they be certified in math or science or tech. But that additional endorsement, Katie, allows them to do that. Um, now any of our K6 teachers who have an elementary ticket can teach STEM because they are by law qualified to teach science, math. See, so it's a one of those nuances. It's very bizarre. Okay. Thank you. Uh, all right. So the STEM programming would be extended from the current year but it removes the li removes right by transforming the librarian transforming the librarian position. Option three also would keep the 1.0 music to maintain probably the current setup I assume. Um offer the choice of instruments in fourth and fifth grade uh or instrumental music probably is how that would function. Correct. And so that that reduction in the elementary position at West Vine

121Street School would be quote unquote paying for the music. Okay. Uh so in a nutshell, option three maintains music, increases STEM, but it's with an emergency certified teacher. And not that I don't have faith and the librarian, uh but it still requires some hurdle to become emergency certified. It's a form. It's a Okay. it still requires something. Um, but it removes the library position by Okay. Uh, and then just to to clarify, if that were to happen with that DSAP STEM position, what does that set us up for decision-wise related to maintaining that then current level of STEM next year and the year beyond that? So again, that would that would involve what is going to happen when the one of those STEM positions would have to be vacated to bring Rachel back for the

122because she's going to be the residents, right? Exactly. Exactly. Okay. Are we setting ourselves up with having to put in a improvement request basically next year, the year after, the year after to maintain a current level of STEM? Most No. Moneybag says no. Hold on. Go ahead. Grab it. Grab But Alicia, before I shoot myself in the foot, no, because essentially you're paying for the STEM position with what you used to pay for the librarian position. Okay. So, we would forever lose the librarian. If we wanted the librarian back, then we would have to do an improvement request. Gotcha. Okay. What do we lose by losing a librarian? I mean there are there are some in remember and you know from teaching and learning we've we've tried to make that library less traditional of a

123library and you've heard of media playground we're trying to get that instructor to make um to use what are called provocations in a book to do more design kind of or problem solving activities. So it would be more readalouds, things like that that happen in the cl in the in the normal classroom. Anyways, um certainly the parent educators that we can post in both of the buildings can uh uh manage checkout as far as books so that the kids have access to taking we want them to have access to more books obviously, but as far as digital literacy or digital citizenship, those particular content pieces can be embedded in other content areas where they make sense. We have a habit of of isolating certain kinds of skills outside of a content area and that doesn't

124really make sense. They need to use them within a content area. It's like teaching seal strategies. They need to do them in a context of uh interpersonal situation or you know something that makes sense so that they know how to use them. Go ahead. I I want to jump on the Kevin train. Um, so does that mean the current model where kids go to the library continue to exist? It would probably what what I envision and we'd have to iron this out with the principles. What I would envision it would become part of that STEM block because they would physically be in the library. The the maker spaces are in the library. So I would envision that as a built-in add-on to okay and now you need, I don't know, 15 minutes to take out

125your book or whatever. Here's how to use for the little ones. here's how you lose use the library or something like that. But again, I don't think if you look at the research, if you look at how kids research now, that's online. It's not I when I was little, you had to go to the public library on the weekends and that kind of thing. It's a whole different way. And again, in conversations with area superintendent, this is where they want to go. So, we're not we're not like bizarre people thinking out of the box here. It's a different inst it's a different situation at the high school. The high school still for NEAS certification needs a librarian. They will catch up eventually, but that is that is why Alicia is going to have to hold

126on to that that position. Damian, would you like to go to the mic on that? Do you want me to repeat that just so that everybody can hear? No, that's okay. Um, uh, Mr. Rearen was just saying that on the the semester where the STEM person is in place, there is there already are in place accommodations for children to check out library books and and have that experience. So, um, thank you. So, the the librarian is already interested or in and getting certified or is that something you brought up before? I've had um well uh Jen had conversations with her person who said she'd be willing to do some coursework this summer. I don't know if she was willing to take the test or not. Um the high school person I I don't know Alicia

127how if you were comfortable in saying uh she's the person that we could put in there tomorrow if we needed to. She also has done some STEMlike um activities. I don't Tim, you weren't principal with the penguin uh flipper, right? Um she she was one of the first people to bring a um 3D Thank you. 3D printer into district and actually I think they was it uh it was at Mystic Middle and they designed the kids designed a flipper uh for a a penguin that was injured, right? Yeah. Jen, were you principal here for that? Okay. Yeah. Thanks, Alicia. And the tricky thing is, and I I called the state department of education for this because the last thing I want to do is put a teacher in jeopardy of their TRB not being recognized

128in teaching outside of their cert certification. That's a that's a big no no. And I can honestly say that there are people who do not have the right certification who are library media specialists. They're not in Stonington um that are doing that work and and they're being coded as as librarians when they're actually doing STEM work. I don't want Stonington to be in that situation. I don't want any teacher to be in that situation. So, just let to let you know if you hear of other programs, well, their librarians doing it. Well, they might be, but they might not be doing it above four. I mean, if if we can get past that little hurdle, I mean, three seems like a really strong option. You know, I thought so, too, except again, correct me if

129I'm wrong. Three does seem correct. It seems like a win-win win-winwin. However, this means next year when Rachel comes back, we have three STEM people for two STEM positions with no librarian position for the third one to go to. So, we're risking laying off a person next year. Correct. Okay. Same with option four, I believe. Okay. Um, option four. Okay. That's all I had. I think. Okay. Uh, okay. So, option three again sounds great. It increases STEM, maintains music, but high risk for laying off an actual person next year, not just removing a position. That's We're not going to backfill. I I don't really love that last piece. Um, option four. Uh, this one again in a nutshell, and correct me if I'm wrong, this one is basically do what we did this year. Correct.

130So, it doesn't improve STEM. Nope. It doesn't necessarily music. Same thing we're doing this year probably. Um, and then what's the external funding piece on this one? I think you mentioned something about that. Somebody mentioned a Oh. Oh, okay. Do you want to explain the the the um teacher and residence? So, what I kept saying when we were meeting in preparation for this was you have to pretend that's not happening. That isn't signed yet. Um that's just like I heard that Jane is going to resign in July. We can't plan for that. We would still have to replace that person. And so, there would still be an expense. It's not like it would be $100,000 saved because somebody is going to do a different program for a year, right? So essentially what option four is

131is a layoff. However, we know that this is probably going to happen and so that layoff could be avoided by moving them into that one-year open position. But then when she comes back the following year, you have the same problem as priority three or option three. You're back to square one and you you're But that's the case on all four options with her going. Yeah. How wouldn't that be the same on option one as well? which is why I said we needed to take this even that possibility out of option four because that truth is every that that's in every option that's for yeah that's for every option it's not going to change whether we choose option one we also don't know what the budget's going to be next year so right so essentially We

132we have to really have that as an aside. It's that position being open for one year is what would hopefully allow us not to lay anybody off in option four. That's it. That's all it does. Because other than that, say that person who's um going to URI for a year makes 80,000, we still have to bring somebody in to teach that class in the other options. And maybe we bring somebody in at 60,000. So maybe it's a $20,000 save, but it's not the $95,000 save from the music teacher. Does that make sense? Looking at you like it does not No, it it is. It's a delta though. It's not a full bolt. It's not like Right. So it's a different Right. So it's not a save that we're using in in our um budget reduction

133calculations because number one, it's temporary. Number two, the amount is completely unknown. And number three, the amount is much lower than our proposed option. And then you might have retirement next year, right? So like you'll have retirements where where it's like just dominoes. That's why I said that the whole model of using the attritions, right, is going to be in play again next year. And so it might be that Yep. we can keep the STEM program and something else is going to be adjusted. So I heard option two is off the table for you. Me 100%. Yeah. So you just not agreed option two. Okay. So we have that's progress. That's progress. That's right. Progress. So we have one, three, and four. I have one. So one of the STEM teachers though would essentially be

134a oneyear position. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Not not not not one year and you're out, but but that's all we can commit to. Correct. For that person. Correct. Alicia was shaking her head in a stain. Can you ask the question again? Make sure I understand it correctly. The stem, the two stem, what did you call them? Not repurposed. What' you call them? Um, transformed. I like that word better. Magical. Repurposed. Yeah. However you want to re reimagine it. One of those when the teacher and residence program ends to go somewhere. Has to go someplace, right? Repurpose. And that's the hope by them possibly being certified to teach multiple. If you're talking about option four, then it's a one-year solution. In all the other options, we're not even considering it. The only reason that even comes

135into play is because it hopefully helps us to avoid a layoff for option four. Other than that, it's a moot point as far as budget reductions go in the STEM temporary 627 school year. Wait, in 2526 school year, that that's not a budget reduction because we still have to replace that person, no matter what. And Katie, that person option three, right? Yes. She's talking about option three. So in option three, you need to go back to option three, please. In option three, the media the library media special is going to become STEM and then the STEM person that's here going to come back. Then this STEM person gets repurposed. No. Well, yes. Because that person the the temporary STEM person is not necessarily the lowest tenur person. I just want to make sure that like

136it's hard when you don't have a name a name or Right. Right. But that person, and I'm thinking of a person because I know there's somebody that might be interested, isn't necessarily going to be the low man on the totem pole and in the elementary because remember they'll be a K6er most likely, right? So they won't necessarily be the low man on the totem pole, but somebody will be eliminated. I just, you know, I I'm hesitant for a solution that looks like a good one-year solution that puts us someplace, but we don't know it next. I know. I mean, it every year is a different puzzle. Every year is a different puzzle. Well, I don't like this year's puzzle. Just for the record, Mr. Kelly is there. Thank you for all the information. I don't

137know if it's made it better or worse for me. It's arsenic or strict nine or you know cyanide is basically what your choices are. It's between all the between all the emails and all the comments from the citizens and and and you know having witnessed as a parent and as a um you know someone in the community for years. um what the music program has done for Stonington and in let's see my son turned 21 last Thursday while in New Orleans and um we were living in Grten when he was born and uh my wife was from Pocket Tuck and I was from Graten. I'm a proud uh graduate of Fitch High School and I got a pretty decent education there. Um but when it came time for, you know, what are we going to

138do with my son and his education? We looked at Fischer's Island. We looked at all sorts of options and uh my wife's like we're going to Pocket Duck. I said all right. So we came to Stonington and one of the main reasons why one was her family and the other part was the school system that we wanted to have him uh educated in the Stonington public school system. Um so I don't want to jeopardize that for any student now listening to some of the emotional testimony tonight and then just you know seeing some of the emails that we've gotten. Um, you know, I just I want to maintain the status quo in our music department and um would love to enhance it. Actually, board of finances are are are not the bad guys that a

139lot of people up here have made them out to be. We have one in the audience and uh he was one of our supporters. Um so thank you Chris for supporting um our budget in front of the board of finance but you know their their budget cuts went to the citizens of Stonington and the citizens of Stonington agreed and contrary to what um Mr. Smith said last week I think we could have voted the budget down and and uh it was a concerted effort instead of having to deal with this uh $750,000 budget cut that we're facing. Um, I think I just recently heard that what we're talking about is like $95,000. Is that the number we're we're we're looking at in this position of uh cutting the music. Give me just a minute to

140look at my list, but yes, it's around that number. Something around there. And the only options I alternatives that we're getting are library or STEM, right? Where are the other options? I know you guys have looked at them. So um can you just clarify that Dan? Are you talking about other meaning um other bargaining units or are you talking about other content areas because we have we have already proposed as part of the packet you know again an elementary teacher an art teacher two content area teachers at the middle school and a math teacher at the high school. So, um, and in addition to that in that bundle, I think what got lost is all of the other things that are part of the the packet. And I have the I have the slides from

141last meeting here if you just want to see where the reductions are again. Would that be helpful? No. U maybe uh to find out I mean not you're talking seems like we're talking just frontline cuts. No, no, no. Okay. So, that I'm just Have we talked um you know, I know part of it was uh $1,000 for for uh what was it? The co-op stuff or you know, 10,000 for Alicia's video um and some of these other ones. But I'm just passing out so you can see exactly what the composition is. Did did we did we take a look in in the administration anywhere for any potential question my question I knew you were trying to get there. Yeah. No, there's no there's no wiggle room in administration to always wiggle room in administration. Um

142how many administrators do we have at the middle school now? We have three. Um and Mr. History Lesson, we've done administration at the middle school with two. Correct. For how many years? Just recently, right? And it was only recently that we reinstituted the third administrator. Um, we had two at each middle school. So, we had four, but when we came here, we had three, but then we went to two and for a year, right? And it was a disaster. So, we went back. I also just want to I want to just approach this in a in like kind of a reality check about where we are because we're in such an unusual situation with that middle school Dan. Whatever happens and we're going to discuss this in in a minute of not a well I

143hope a minute but um shortly about um what we're going to be asking for in the bond. No matter what direction we go in, our our middle school, whether it's here or whether it's at Pocket Talk, won't be ready for the start of school. And if you and you know, you've worked in a middle school, um behaviors, you know, we're going to have change probably like in November, a move, an internal move. Um change uh develops uh into behaviors of students. And I can tell you, and I'm going to ask Jeff if he has anything he wants to add. I can tell you that for the first time in my career, I have had more contact with law enforcement and um and serious issues with behavioral issues at the middle school level, which are typically

144kinds of behaviors that we see at the high school level. And so again, it's not the number of kids, it's the kinds of behaviors that we're seeing. It's just the kids are different now. They're different within in the over the last five years. It's not and I know you you want you have a your heart is in the the place of like preserving what you moved here for and the in the the vision of the the program expanding that program but the bottom line is we're seeing I mean you heard Allison you heard the principles when we had our non-me about the kinds of behavioral changes I understand all that and I you need you need manpower to manage that. Well, I've heard and I've heard the changes that we've had at the middle school

145have worked and with different leadership here that things have changed and for the better and you know it's just sometimes it's the the people at the top or the people involved and you know how they administrate and what they do. That's just one. And the other thing is is what other areas have we I mean I know we have some of these other cuts, but um you know, god forbid I say something about like athletics, you know. I know. I know. You know, and and cutting freshman sports or cutting helmets or cutting, you know, or whatever. Um but I just don't think we have enough other options. It's it seems like it's coming down to you cut this music teacher and you you know can do something with library and STEM. Um you know have

146we done anything with you and I know we've done a half a maintenance person for central office and what have you? I think Alicia's also given up overtime for her staff and then the other part was uh do you want just want to speak to that because it's not it's not really it's not really clear on this the spreadsheet. I just want to say too that I I want you to remind you that if you were to reduce an administrator at the middle school, that person then bumps I'm not saying that. I'm just saying, have we looked at it? Are we looking at, you know, can we go to a half administrator at the middle school? If you reduce administrator at the middle school, can you send someone over from central office to help do

147it? Um, what is, you know, I know we've uh hired what a a new position in central office, right? HR person was not a an existing position before. It was like a conglomeration of things that that was Yeah, we have looked at all of those, Dan. And the problem is we're still we haven't been we haven't been presented with those. So, well, because internally we looked at them and we are still we are still suffering from not having a centralized HR department. I went to a file the other day and material was missing from it. Um, so we really are recovering from the lack of centralization in those positions. So, I wouldn't want to cut those. So just because you're not being presented with them, I don't want you to think that we haven't discussed

148them. Well, I think it's important for us to be presented with them because, you know, we're being asked tonight or next week to make this cut, which is a significant cut to our music department and a significant cut to what Stonington Public Schools are known for and are about and and you know, I so I I just, you know, would need more information. And I know you guys have had your meetings and you have looked at stuff, but I I haven't seen it. I haven't seen the some of the other harder numbers to And then this one here too, the um I think I just heard an aside a little while ago that the music teacher that we're talking about at the high at the elementary school is resigning or he resigned. He resigned. So,

149it's like, are [Music] we looking at this position because that person is leaving voluntarily and we're not having to do layoffs and we can't do layoffs or we don't want to do layoffs. So, it's like, well, when we have all the people that are leaving, it's, you know, this is easy because we're not having to make a tougher decision by laying somebody off. Well, I I do think it was the most humane option. We did look at like filling vacancies when people who have a a certification that can serve in a role that's different than they are currently serving in. Um so yes, we absolutely that's the first place we looked because it is not harming somebody, you know, not not threatening their their job to present you with all the other things that we

150we looked at and said that's you know that's not ridiculous or that's that's not likely to happen. I don't even know where that would end because that would be you know it would be basically fruitless. I mean, we could look at Allison's department. I can tell you right now. Do you want to say anything, Alison? You know, about like I mean, it that that's a that's kind of a a fool's errand. So, we're bringing you options because we know that there's a strong sentiment on the board to preserve that music position, but something else when you get to that amount of money, something else has to go. And we're we're a lean we're a lean machine. And if it's athletics, it's a lot of athletics to get to that number. Well, it's I'm not saying

151it's just athletics. I'm not saying it's just the administration. I'm not just saying it's this one thing. What we are saying proposing is is a significant cut to the music in this in the town. And you know, can that 95,000 be spread out over other areas like like you guys did with the rest of the the the cuts here, whether it's $2,000 for equipment or the co-op funding or $1,500 for printing and binding. um you know what can we task you with coming up with more numbers before next Wednesday's that meeting Wednesday or Thursday of next week um to to give us some more options because you know I'm either a two or a four on the on the uh option category right now I I do not want to two not two two was

152keeping the position wasn't it was getting two three and four Dan keep the position music position Yeah. Two and four kept the position. Two, three, and four. Three and four. I know, but we already said, didn't we already say we're getting rid of three? No, it was two. So, it's three and four. All right. So, three and four would be, you know, an option that that I could support. I I just, you know, I know we had a lot thrown at us, you know, tonight and I'm just not comfortable with uh cutting the music department like it is and making it voluntary after school program and it's just, you know, I I heard what all the administrators advocated for and um so that's where I'm at. I I would just like to get more information.

153Um if if I'm asked to vote tonight, I'm going to vote that we uh keep the music department as is. And so I guess you guys would have to make the financial cuts where you see fit. I mean, I don't know. I heard you. Um Sarah, do you have an one of those options as an option that you would consider? Um I yeah I'm not feeling I would consider option number one or three. One or three. Uh but not two or four. Okay. Katie, what's your one or three? Second. Uh yeah, a couple things. I do just want to point out another line item that has been cut and that was the elimination of some position benefits on the admin line. Um, we've already asked the administration at least once at this point to present

154a bunch of options. That's where a lot of this came from. Um, the administration, including the building principles, put together and edited and revised their budget to get here. We've already made that request of them. Um, and they've already trimmed a bunch of the line items that they probably shouldn't have had to trim in the first place. Um, secondly, we've had the budget in our hands for I don't know what, two, three months by this point. We could have recommended a bunch of things ourselves um by today. Um, thirdly, when I look at the uh trying to make a decision and pick between, no offense to the administration for awful options, I hate being in this position. Um, but you understand what I mean by that. You agree? Um, right. There's there is no correct

155decision. Um, there is no easy decision. Like I said, I'm trying not to rely solely on data like I usually do. I don't necessarily think looking at enrollment is the best way to gauge success is the wrong word, but what we should do with a program. Um I think sometimes especially at the high school we're a victim of the breadth of uh offerings Stonington is lucky to provide. Uh thus less students might be picking music for example. Uh it's by no means at any level an indictment of the success the uh quality of any of the music positions and nobody thinks that. I hope uh it's really just stoning is lucky to offer so many things and leaving it up to student choice sometimes you're with declining enrollment you're going to get less kids involved

156in music. So, I I I don't necessarily agree with looking at enrollment numbers uh as a main driver for deciding what to do with the program. So, that's why I'm not totally focused on the data. Um, which is weird coming out of my mouth, makes me comfortable. I don't know. Um, it sounds weird. What what I'm what I'm trying to do, and I hopefully you can understand my position. um is what positively affects the most students and what negatively affects the least. Option one improves STEM that affects every single kid at the elementary school, every single grade. It might negatively affect the handful of students who would not choose to do instruments after school who would have otherwise chosen to do it at school if they had that option. We don't know whether the option

157to have instruments or dedicated band at the elementary school won't happen if we dropped to six, but it is a possibility. So, it's possible that some students would be negatively affected. Very few probably would be negatively affected by one, but the most students would benefit by one in my opinion. Option two, I already said we'll throw that one out. Option three, uh, does improve STEM. That's good. It uh maintains at the very least the current music offering, which is good. However, in my very severe opposition to option two, I don't like option three because it puts our faculty and staff at risk next year with a high risk of a riff somewhere, probably at the elementary school and we don't know where that's that would land. I don't like that option because I don't really

158want to lay anybody off um ever. Uh certainly if we absolutely do not have to. And option four doesn't necessarily improve anything. So there really isn't a net benefit to students, but there's also not necessarily a negative to students. So weighing all these options here, most benefit to students is option one because every every single kid at the elementary school benefits with the addition of STEM. And the kids that would choose music could still choose to do that with very little if any effect to the students who wouldn't choose music after school, who would have otherwise chosen it during. I understand this puts the music teachers in an awkward position, but they do have some choice in what they want to do with that programming. Less than ideal, kind of like the situation I'm in

159right now between a rock and a hard place. Um, but it does put some choice at the uh music teacher level on what to do, how to best organize who goes where. Again, I know that's less than ideal, but I'm more focused on the students and who benefits, and that's a majority of the students at the elementary school. Option three, I don't want to lay anyone off next year. Option four doesn't improve anything. I'm ungain, I don't want this. I'm not advocating for it. I've already supported the 7.0 music of the options. I'm for option one. Chris. Yeah, I'm the same. Uh, three or four. Um, I'm not for reducing any more of the music program. I mean, it last year, now this year, too. Um, not I I I think STEM's impeccable. That's why

160I'd probably lean more towards three. Um, but I I just don't think that because once you take away that position, it's not coming back. And uh, you know, I understand the administrator administration has tough decisions to make. Um, but I listen to the community as much as I can. I, you know, I and I and I hear a lot of outcry and support for the music program. I think, you know, we give it another year, give it another shot, see if there more interest builds up for it. So, I'm with either uh option three or option four. Um, for the majority of the board members, I think I heard num number three as potentially something that some some of you would be comfortable voting for. is that I would be comfortable for voting for option

161one or option three. Um Kevin, thank you for your points about being long-term with this thought process and this thinking. It um that was really helpful for me and thank you for this presentation and everyone else's questions. It allowed me to rest my voice uh because the questions were my questions were either answered by all of you tonight or asked by my colleagues. So, I I really appreciate it. Um, some of us are not going to be at this table next year when you make a decision about the budget. So, I feel that it is an imperative with the way that I exercise my vote at this point that I make sure that I'm voting for things that are longterm best decisions for the school district and not something that might shortterm save the number

162of emails or phone calls I might temporarily get. And then this the next board is sitting in a position and a situation of having to make even more difficult decisions than the one that we have to make tonight or that the administration has to spend so much time and energy making even more difficult decisions than than we have to do tonight. Um if we're doing our job right, the decisions will always be difficult. Um no one is ever happy. you will never get 100% consensus on any decision you make. And maybe that's the hallmark of how you know you're making the best and right decision in the moment that you find yourself in. If people are 100% pleased with you, you probably haven't done your critical and analytical thinking as much as you should to

163get yourself um to that place. Um so I'm going to be a little bold and I'm going to call the question and I am going to make a motion that we approve option number one. Is there a second to that motion? All those in favor of option number one, please indicate by saying I. I. All those against? Nay. All right. And uh the option uh the motion fails. Um we can ask for abstension. Anyone abstain? I um yeah, I should have asked for abstension. Sorry. So motion fails. Um is there a I'll put a motion to u exercise option three. Is there a second to that motion? Second. There's a second. All those in favor by exercising options three, please indicate by saying I. I. I. All those against. You were an I. Sorry. All

164right. We'll read. Are you transforming over there? I I'll repeat the motion. So it's a motion to exercise option one failed to pass. So I'll asking for a motion to ex since one and three were an option. So option three there was a motion and there was a second please indicate if uh all those in favor of opt exercising option three in in budget cuts please indicate by saying I. I I that was an I Katie and I Sarah. Uh anyone against? Any abstensions? Um motion passes with five eyes and one uh abstension. All right. Uh uh where we are where we are is on uh item number six on our agenda, superintendent report. Okay. Um, I just wanted to give some I know we've met like short time ago, but I wanted to give

165a couple of updates on um things that have been developing mostly for the public's consumption because the board already knows about this, but um we've had uh uh Katie and Jay Quinland come forward and offer to uh use the Stonington Soccer Tournament proceeds uh to support a girls and boys soccer team at the middle school next year. Um I want to thank them. We're still working out the details, but it's pretty exciting for our kids to have um more options um in athletics uh for the the fall semester. So, thank you Katie and Jay. Um they've been enormously helpful uh and uh and generous and generous. For those of the um following the the home game, the remaining useful life study uh report is in and it's posted on our website under the news um

166section on our website. Uh it um gives the numbers about what would be involved for um actually you know uh remediating this this particular site the foundation which would cost between one and a half and $2.5 million should that be a choice um down the road. Uh it also gives the estimate for this this slab replacement that the engineers and and Steve can give you more information on this but um are basically uh I don't want to say insisting but somewhat insisting that we get fixed um because it is only going to get worse. Um and then also um this will kind of play into the bond but I I am happy to say that it is available. We have a call uh scheduled with Fussen O'Neal to just have some uh review and questions

167and answers about that. And then just as a commercial to this board, um an uh hopefully an invitation for you to um have your legacy as this sitting board to craft a new vision and mission for the district. It hasn't been looked at in over a decade. Um I think we can do better. Um and we do have some great strategy statements. You've got the vision of the graduate that you can look at. You've got your board priorities. I think that would be a really great spring retreat to and project to kind of start to connect all of our dots and all the work that we've been doing. So, um if you would like I can work with Farooq to kind of figure out who, when, how, why, all of that good stuff. Um and

168that's it. That's all I have for uh my report. Any questions for Superintendent Butler? Next item on our agenda is um the bond request that we'll be sending to the board of finance and the and I'm going to kick that over to Steve select board. Do you want to just talk everybody through the figures um that I will be bringing to the uh select people uh not next week but um shortly shortly. Sure. So, I've been through the dark murky waters of uh purchasing, rent, and leasing uh portable classroom. Um, as you can see with with the documentation you got, there is like a murky uh wherever like um pricing schedule from different manufacturers, different uh lease rates, different inclusions and not included. Um, at this point, we've reviewed the possibility of a five-year lease,

169a three-year rental home, and a portable purchase. Um, just to give you guys some insights to the portable purchase. The expected life of a portable classroom is around 20 years. The decades was the answer from the other uh portable vendor. The HVAC HVAC system um is roughly about a 5year warranty. They said 5 to 10, so I'm going with five. And there is a 12 month um uh bumper to bumper, so to speak, on the building itself for a construction warranty. Um the there is a benefit to purchasing. Um as a building, 40 street is currently supplied by three-phase power. The standard classroom that comes um from the rental fleet is on a singlephase 240 122 240 um which makes it hard for us to supply power to that portable from the building. There is

170an increased cost for us going with a standard lease model that we're not keeping where it be the three-year rental. So there is an a cost to transform that power. If we go with the purchase, we can order the portable with a three-phase setup inside of the portable, which makes it easier for us to power the portable up and move forward. Um, where we're at with the portables right now, um, the land survey has been done, the electrical evaluation has been done. I've met with fire police. um they've recommended what they need for the portable being placed where it is being placed whereas you'll see on the the the cost associations where it would be a extension to the the fire road around the building. Um I think I've met with everybody and and got

171us to a point where I'm stalled. um we need some sort of um commitment to move forward because at this point the survey is sitting without a foundation plot on it. I can't go any further until I have a commitment because then I have to pay from engineering to either vendor and not only you seeing pricing but there's about another 20 pages of it's 2x4 studs, it's 2x6 studs. So there is a breakdown in the building construction which included in the price is um uh going back with collers to help review that um part of it. Plus moving forward there will be um if it right now it is not crossing the prevailing wage rate but if there's any inclusions that we cross prevailing wage rate then all part everything part in everything in this

172project has to be covered by prevailing wage. So, I'm I'm I'm not a certified public accountant. I don't want to manage manage that. So, I I'll add that to my list. Um, but at this point, just getting the analytics from a company that does this all the time on the not only is the pricing murky, but the also all the options and the thickness of the steel underneath the trailer and the thickness. Well, the walls are pretty standard, but the the heating units, it just it's better for you have somebody who does it every single day analyze it. So, that is included in the cost of the purchase. Um, and if you look through the the purchase prices, even some of that doesn't even make sense to me because right now we're basing it on

173a 30 to 50 ft can canopy because what happens is not having a footing plan and not knowing exact. We have surveyed the land but leaving the sidewalk of the school to walk towards the portable. We're planning on putting one access ramp only. That ramp has to be handicap accessible which means we have a/2 in and a/4 in per foot rise on the ramp. So the building itself height ultimate end on the height on the the grade of the land basically plays into the fact the length of the ramp to the building and without a location or a plan for the building. I can't actually give you a ramp a lamp or a a length of ramp or a length of canopy till that's actually been fixed. There is still a lot of variables in

174this in and need that next step to move forward. So just so the board of education understands that the process is that you need to direct us what will be included in our request to the board of finance and the town for the the bond expenditure. And so this is a formality of you to approve what we've put together so that we can actually ask the first selectman to have that meeting and we can get the ball rolling on this and start moving on those portables. and and I I did go with a higher price just because the comparison of the units have not been done yet. So in that comparison, even though there is a lesser price, there could be a lot of fails in that unit. So for me to pass a bond

175on a lower price or go for a bond on a lower price only to find out that unit did not comply with what we need, I just don't want to come back and ask you to do it again. So what you're approving is three particular items, correct, Steve? Yes. the the the portables to buy the portables um and to repair the slab in this building on the second story and then to do a renovation to one of the rooms at the middle school. Correct. Correct. So, and that is in line with the portable. So, if the portables do get approved and and passed, we are going to put it was a larger classroom. Um Jeff wrote a blurb for me. Yeah. You want to just blur it out, Jeff? Yeah. one of our few one

176of our few large classroom spaces right now is being used by a regular ed teacher by by dividing that classroom into two with a wall. Um I'll be able to essentially have two smaller classrooms. I can use those for interventionists or people who work with small groups. Um and then when we do have the portables, it will open up rooms in the building so that teacher can move to there. Um they'll still have a classroom. This is the long the long and short of that would be at the end of all of that it would open up our library learning commons stingray cove whatever we want to call it. Um, it would open that up to then actually be a space, you know, we would fully be able to get all our move all our

177special educators out there, our interventionists out of there and and have that be a usable common space for us. And the 10,300 is best estimate. That that's a true estimate. That is a true estimate from vendors locksmith. [Music] So, the um would I'd ask for a motion to approve a 1,288,478 uh dollar in bond uh request. So, moved. Second. There's a first, a second. All those in uh any questions? Any questions? Question. Um so, is this commit to the I mean I I'm sorry I had to step out for work. um a minute ago. Um I missed the report on the remaining useful life study. Is that like finalized? And um do we know? Uh it was sent to you on Friday. It's also posted on our website for the public. Um and I will

178be going to well the board. Yeah. Yes. So yes, it is. You have it. I know I have it but I mean to summarize it and what's our So the summary is that the um basic recommendation is that as soon as we possibly can to re we we repair the second floor in this building to maintain any use in this building whatsoever whether we stay here or we move the children back here. Um the remediation for the foundation is estimated between 1.5 and $2.5 million. If that renovation is done, the life expectancy is about 20 years. If it is not done, it is under 10. And how long would that was there a timeline on when that could be done if we if the work was chosen to be done? And is that part of

179the bond or is that part of a separate issue? The second Go ahead, Steve. We've actually got a follow-up meeting coming with the engineer. It's part of the study was mailed to us or sent to us to review. We have a follow-up study with the engineer um to ask questions and go through timelines and expectations of what would be us what would what would happen if we move forward. The study regardless of uh the study is uh very clear that we need to repair the slab in order for us to be able to continue to use the building on that side. Um the study indicates that repairing the slab will allow us to use the building for about 10 years and it does not say it says you can continue to use the building after

180the 10 years. However, the maintenance cost is going to be very expensive. So that's why the useful life is 10 years is because you can continue to use the building after the 10 years. Well, that's for that's if we don't do anything. No. And then if we did the 1.5 to 2.5, it will increase the useful life to 20. If you spend two and a half million. Yes. But we don't have two and a half million. Well, that I mean that's so that's not part of his bond no request. Correct. So it's three things, Dan. It's the repair to the second floor here. It's the purchase of the portables and it's the renovation that Jeff just described. So the 317600 that's for fixing the slab total. That's the slab. Correct. Because I was under the

181impression that that was going to be a lot more expensive. Did it come in? No. No. It was always right around that area. They floated. They floated around 300. Okay. Got it. Got it. And the 960578. I'm gonna have missed when Steve was talking about it. We were at 800 at one point. What? So that that number is because he did calculation of a three-year lease, a 5-year lease with a $1 buyout at the end or a purchase of the portables. The economic the economic Sorry, sorry to interrupt. What's that $1 buyout mean? So that so so that means you pay a lease for five years. the end of 5 years, you'll have the option to either return the portables or buy them for a dollar. So you you're fully paid off after $1. Correct.

182But the 5year lease, if you look at the document, is more expensive than buying it. Yep. So that's why he's choosing to buy them in and if le if you lease them for three 3 years the delta between the buying of right out or leasing for 3 years isund and change 200,000 call it the challenge with that is are we going to be anywhere better in 3 years right? So buying economically for the district and uh is is the better choice and and the way that works it's not like it's you put that money right up front. You're not like financing it or something like that. Correct. That's the bond. So you take the bond money the 960 uh I'm sorry 96578 and you buy the portable and that's on the there were two two

183options here. He chose the higher priced option just because he's not sure why. Mhm. So when we approve it, he might, you know, we'll ask for the 960. We might use the 960 or less. Mhm. And then you don't have to use the entire bond money. And and did we just um for food of thought, did we look at it if we don't need it, you know, after we buy it, is there any resale value? What's kind of depreciation on something like that? Is it tough? Because there are districts out there that have portable. They're trying to sell them after 5 year of usage. Nobody really wants to buy them. They become problematic. I think uh it depends when we have the capacity to bond as a town and what do we do and what

184is the eventually the building committee will decide to do with the building with Stonington Middle School. Those are futuristic things and then when that all decided you know I think um I I I don't think there will be a value for the buildings because I can tell you Gen has buildings and they cannot get rid of them. Wow. All right. We went over and looked at them after five years. It's just no value. So the portables are roughly a million dollars 960. Correct. Correct. And then to do the slab slab repair is 300,000. 317600. Right. Where did that $1.5 to $2.5 million? I thought that was that's just to repair the footing. The foundation that's the foundation. That's part of the study that we did. If we do the slab repair, that's going to give

185us 10 years. Or is that going to give us that's not going to give us 20 years? No, 20 years. If you do the 2 and a half million, the 1.25 to 2.5, that's the foundation repair. You you remove the dirt, you inject cement, you raise it, you put the dirt back, and that could extend the useful life to 20 years. But we're not asking for that yet because we don't know for sure what's going on because we're still in the process of getting more information and the bond does not allow for that actually because we have more information that we need. Uh the bond I think is 2 million for the school. So it doesn't give you even and the and the the study says that you must repair the slab. It's not an

186option basically to continue to use the building. But that number of one 1.5 to 2.5 to do the foundation correct would give us a light longer like on this building here and therefore we would move the students out of miss uh field street move out of field street back here potentially. Just Dan I just want to add a couple things to that. This building has been cannibalized for getting the kids moved over to Pocket Tuck. Um, and Chris can talk to you more eloquently than I, but all of the whiteboards, all of the clocks, um, the phone system, the safety, uh, upgrades at that building have been invested in and this building would have to have, um, Steve, feel free to chime in. Ventilation. There's other things that that would need to be addressed um,

187here outside of the foundation. going through it with Tim. Um, a rough a rough estimate just to open this building back up for a 20 year lifespan after we replace units. um restructurize the floor because not only is the um the floors are actually even though the floors on the lower level are not being repaired, they do have um they have lowered they have a deflection in them and structurally they're they're moving. So if we do do the HVAC, I don't know uh engineer would give us approval because right now we don't have return duck work in the skull. So, it's a general return air system. So, we have to put duck work or AC is past its life expectancy. There's water coming in a brand new bit. We got brand new roof, but we

188got water coming through the units. There's buckets on the second floor. So, the units are past the life expectancy. They have to be replaced. The cost is around 8 to 10 million. That has to happen if the kids are coming back in the building. So, that's 8 to 10. Then they add the weight to the floors of the duck work. that's already got a deflection in it. Probably means we have to change the floors. We've straightened the walls in the elevator. The elevator needs evaluated. Security-wise, the building needs updated. So, I can keep going. Just keep going. And Right. Right. So, I'm I'm being real in what you as a town, you have to invest in this building to live in it, you know. And a few years ago, we did uh we had to

189do all the roofs at Deans Mill because the building was leaking and they had parachutes up to collect the water and then we tear it down and and spend all the money to build a new one. So we But I guess that's the board of finances job, right? Figure out. No, I'm just concerned that we're spending a million dollars for portables and and where are we going? You know, are we coming back here? Are we not coming back here? Um you know, are we building? I know we have a building committee request. Yeah, that will happen next Wednesday to the um board of selectman. So, I just I just don't want to I mean, after arguing over or debating over $95,000 for our music program, we're now going to spend a million dollars for portables

190that are going to last us 5 years. Yeah. And the other the other point behind the purchase stand is we keep hearing about all of this building more building more building more building. Um the the town planner is willing to help contribute to our ED specs and just basically do a summary of current projects and then projected projects. If we get into a situation where the pocket tuck side of town keeps getting more and more building going on, it may be that we have to move those portables over to the West Vine Street School. Hopefully we'll have some movement in 5 years with the building committee, but uh it might actually end up being a really smart investment with the way the town's moving. Hold one sec. This is not a knock on you, but

191didn't and didn't Tim just say that we keep building stuff, but the enrollment's not going up. Yeah. No, currently it's not. But again, meeting with the town planner, there's there are rumors going on about certain projects and there's also um he has some projections about the kind of changes that he envisions for the town. So, our enrollment probably will go up in the future. We don't know. We don't know. Historically, it hasn't. Yeah. Historically, it hasn't, but things can change. No. Uh there's a motion. There's a second. U when would this go to the town? Uh I would have to call Danielle. It would be a special meeting that it would go to them. So the sooner the better so that we can get rolling on this. Um follow any further discussion? The the slab

192on the second floor will be used the the purpose of fixing that is to support more adult education programs. I think you're Well, I mean, if first of all, for anybody to be on that part of the building, it has to be fixed. Yeah. What we because there's so many unknowns with funding for special ed um and magnet tuition and things like that. I wouldn't be surprised if we need to move our administrators upstairs next year to allow Allison to grow her program. We would want the kids to be, you know, have access to the gym and all of that and the cafeteria on one floor rather than starts. Yeah. Right. Right. If you if you had the chance to read the the useful life report, there really is very clear that that slab must

193be um all those in favor of approving the bond recommendation of 1,288,478, please indicate by saying I. I I anyone against? Thank you. So that was uh the motion passes 5 to one. Um next item on our agenda is consent agenda. So move. Is there a second? Second. Third. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. I. Motion passes unanimously. Um, subcommittee reports, teaching learning. Uh, yeah, we have a six curricula for first read, no vote required. Uh, please review those ahead of next meeting. Uh, there are four curricula for vote. Math, K1, and two, their second read. Um, and as well as, uh, geometry. Uh, there was a motion. No motion. Kevinotion. No, it could be technically I don't think so. You want to make one? Okay. All right. A second. Thank

194you, Dan. There's a second. All those in favor of the indicate by saying I. I. I. Motion uh passes unanimously. Thank you. Kevin uh Chris, any update on finance subcommittee? We we didn't uh meet today. So, no. And I mean, we've been talking about finance and subcommittee facilities all meeting. So, I think you guys are well updated. We're all updated. Um all right. Um Mr. Kelly, policy subcommittee updates. Policies one, section one, A2B. Um visitors and observations in schools, um, school security, safety, education, research, and district schools, bloodborne pathogens, restorative practices, response. Uh, a vote is required. I will uh so move those five policies. Is there a second to that? There's a second. All those in favor, please indicate saying I. I. I. That was unanimous vote. Under uh number two, a policy for

195second read vote required is P-5132 school climate which will be effective July 1st of this year and the existing policy is uh voided. So that's why this one needs to be voted on. I so move. Is there a second? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. I. Motion passes. And then because our superintendent has had us working um that uh number 3 A through double E uh are being repealed due to the fact like I explained at the last meeting that they're either outdated, have been superseded by others, uh put in a proper location in the policy book, various reasons. Um so at the last meeting we did a first readin. This is the second reading and we need a vote to repeal 3A through double E. I so move. Is there

196a second? Second. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. I. Motion U passes unanimously. Oh, and then with the one we just voted on for for number 2A, which is takes effect July 1st. This number 4A uh P5131.9 bullying prevention intervention will um be repealed effective July 1st of this year. So I so move the repeal of 4A. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor of repealing uh the policy P5131.9, please indicate by saying I. I. And then lastly, not soon until our next policy meeting and and uh we have another uh plethora of policies to look at. Uh 5A through V are policies for um second reading for alphabetizing and new number assignments and a vote is required. We had these at our last meeting for

197the first read. Now they're here for the second read. I so move 5A through 5V as in Victor. There's a motion on the floor. Is there a second? Second. All in favor of uh that motion, please indicate saying I. I. That was unanimous for the record. Um any report from welcoming school leazison? Okay. Any report from learn tomorrow? Tomorrow. Um monthly reports are item number 10 on your agenda. Any questions on monthly reports? Item 11 on our agenda is board comments and items for future agenda. Is there a reason for a meeting next week? Uh there isn't a reason for a meeting next week. No. Um however, uh there's there's a question I actually had and it might not relate to the meeting, but it might relate to the meeting. Um there is no me

198need for a meeting next week. Uh, but I was looking at our school calendar and were we going to vote on that school calendar to change down to 180 days or no? So that everybody leaves on the isn't on my hit parade list, but um we will be and we'll be paying people for one day. That's up to the board. Um so I know you'd make a lot of people happy. I know, but there may be um bargaining implications to this. So, you might want to hold off. Wait, look at that first. Yeah, sure. Sounds like contractual days. Um, no. Just because there was an added day of snow day, that's why I'm asking. So, originally we added half a day half. Yeah, because it's ending on a Monday. Graduation's on the Friday and then

199everybody's coming back on that Monday. All right. So we can also have a special meeting if you decide to change it. Um but there's no so that you could also vote on it on the the last board meeting which is the evening before graduation and then just give everybody a really good surprise. I see mumbling. So there's definitely contractual implications. So we can get I can get back to you on that. Yeah. All right. Um, plus this this is a special meeting. Would either voting on that or canceling next week be adding an agenda item that we can't do. It's a special meeting. We can't do that special. Yeah, that's right. So, if we want to cancel next week, we have to cancel next week at another time. Um, yeah, we can cancel next week

200without a motion, I think. No need a motion. So, that's that's usually just an email from Frug. Okay. Yeah, just bring it out. Yeah, Sarah. Motion to adjourn this evening. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor indicate by saying hi I that was unanimous for that was a marathon.