001We're going to call the meeting to order. Before we get started, I just want to give everybody kind of an overview of what how this is going to go tonight. Um we are going to have um Dr. McNamera do an overview of the budget where it stands right now. Um and then we are going to go into public comment. Prior to public comment, I'm going to make a few remarks um about the past two weeks. So that's going to be, you know, the process for this evening. So we'll start with the um roll call. Mike Bullier. >> Mike Buller. He >> Rudy Delury. He >> Kirsten Erson. >> Pam Fington. Marorrow. >> Ken Folino. >> Drew Goffin. Marorrow. >> Jessica Hall. He >> Amy Romanuk. Marorrow. >> Scott Soyette. Andover. >> Lisa Touty. and Heather
002Summer for Hebrin. If we can all stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, Dr. Mcame, you want to? >> Absolutely. Eric, if you wouldn't mind putting up the presentation, it'd be great. All right, you good there? All right. I am pleased to present the updated proposed administrative budget for the 2026 2027 fiscal year to the board and members of the region 8 community. The proposed budget will support the district's mission and vision of partnering with families in the community to provide our students with a highquality education in a welcoming, safe, and equitable environment. It is critical that we keep these factors in
003mind as we move through the budget process over the next several weeks. It also supports the work of all district staff focused on ensuring that Ram graduates have the skills and dispositions necessary to be successful in life beyond high school. These skills and dispositions include critical thinking, motivation, communication, integrity, and collaboration. This budget was built with several priorities in mind. First, the budget supports the implementation of the goals identified in the district's strategic plan. These goals focus on improving in the areas of instruction, talent management, climate, and culture, and organizational systems. The budget also supports the academic and social emotional needs of students. It enables us to maintain a program of studies with a variety of course offerings and career pathways that ensure RAM students are college and career ready upon graduation. Finally, it enables
004us to improve and maintain the district's facilities and grounds. Uh the proposed uh the proposed budget for fiscal year 2627 is 33 million661,483 and represents a budget increase of 3.19%. This is a reduction from a budget that reflected a 4.77% increase that had initially been proposed to the board of education in January. This amount is a combination of a net operating budget of $33,161,483 and a capital bud budget of $500,000. I do feel that is important to note that the average budget increase presented to boards of education across the state is 5.23%. with a proposed budget increase of 3.19% proposed administrative budget is lower than 89% of school districts across the state of Connecticut that have reported information slide. The proposed uh reflects the removal reflected the removal of approximately $1.4 4 million personnel and
005services initially requested from budget owners, including the reduction of uh a number of positions, a science teacher, a business teacher, a school counseling position, a social studies teaching position, and three pareducator positions. Um it it all of these uh staff reductions were made through attrition. staff members that were in positions all but two of these positions were were through attrition or reductions were through attrition. Staff members in positions that were not eliminated through attrition are being assigned to other positions. Uh we do have other reductions that include uh reduction of our summer school uh credit uh recovery staffing reduction of six assignments and equipment, furniture and facilities maintenance and up maintenance and upgrades. Um without that $1.4 4 million in reductions, the proposed budget increase would be 7.42%. This table provides the financial impact to
006each of our three member towns. As you can see, both Andover, I'm sorry, uh, and Marorrow will realize a reduction in their member town levy. Uh, both Andover and Hebrin are going to see increases in their member um have slight increases to their member town levies. um due to uh the the shift with regards to Hebrin uh has increased because of the percentage of students attending RAM from Hebrin uh has increased and continues to increase. Go to the next slide, please. As the board knows, we recently discovered that the district unintentionally held on to funds that should have been applied as a credit offset to our member towns beginning in 2020. In that year, when determining the credit offset, the amount being applied uh was understated by 26 by approximately $216,000 due to a calculation
007error. In subsequent years, the credit offset was not calculated correctly and as a result, the fund balance was never fully drawn down and eventually increased to the current balance of just over $1.7 million. It is important to note that our finances are audited annually. The audit process is intended to identify issues related to district funds and or make recommendations to strengthen RAM's accounting practices and reporting. Completed audit reports are presented to the board each year and available for review on the district's website. Unfortunately, the audit reports did not provide any indication that the credit offset was being calculated incorrectly or that available funds were being uh unintentionally withheld instead of being included in the credit offsets that were being applied to each of the member towns. These funds were maintained by the district, however, and
008not used for any other purpose. The fund balance amounts that our member towns should have received since 2020 based on each year's enrollment will be applied to each town levy for for next year. The division of those funds will be as follows. Andover will receive a credit offset of $255,234. Hein will receive uh $849,497 and Marorrow 600,26 $600,25. Additionally, we worked with representatives from our bank who calculated interest earned on those funds to the amount of $23,676. That money will also be applied as a credit offset based on the enrollment for each of the member towns in the years that funds were held. The table on our next slide shows the impact of the credit offset on the levy for each member town. As you can see from the table, um Andover is going to
009have a reduction in their member town levy uh of $238,046. Um, Hebrin is going to have an increase to their membertown levy of $211,745 and Marorrow is going to have a reduction of $660,900. Next slide, please, Eric. There are a number of factors that can contribute to a budget surplus. Changes in staff and benefits associated with staff can be a primary one. Also, costs associated with special education can fluctuate as we are required to educate identified students in their least restrictive environment and work to bring students who have been outplaced back to district. We also realize savings with transportation when bus runs are combined on days when drivers are unavailable. The district may keep up to 2% of a previous year's total budget in a non-lapsing account. Any surplus beyond that amount must be applied
010as a credit offset to member town levies. Over the years, the district has strategically invested funds from the non-lapsing account to pay for capital projects and equipment, including but not limited to the replacement of the track, which was just completed this past year. Repairs and improvements to our athletic fields. We've made our middle school baseball fields ADA compliant. Uh we had to replace our irrigation wells because the water was no longer producing enough uh the wells were not producing enough water for field irrigation. We had a mandatory uh review of our HVAC. Uh we had high school roof repairs done and we certainly made safety and security improvements as well. By investing these funds from the non-lapsing account in in this we are able to address critical needs while our annual budget increases are are
011comparatively low. Over the past 10 years, our average budget percentage increase was 1.54%. We understand that this miscalculation should have been discovered sooner as a part of the annual audit project process. However, we cannot go back in time and change something that started six years ago. Now that we have discovered this error, we recognize that we need to take proactive steps to ensure that issues like this do not happen moving forward. One step being taken is to calculate our surplus and credit offset in conjunction with the closing of the current fiscal year as opposed to after the completion of the audit. This will enable the calculation to be reviewed as a part of the annual audit to ensure the proper formula is being used. Also, we are currently working to secure the services of another
012accounting firm to review the audit reports going back to 2020. Their feedback will be shared at a public board meeting, including any recommendations or corrective actions that need to be made. And the information will also be shared with the boards of each of our member towns. This chart shows the percentage distribution of the proposed budget by each object category in relation to the total budget. As you can see, approximately 73% of the proposed operating budget is allocated to employee salaries and benefits. These are fixed costs associated with staffing our schools. Some of our drivers that our budget uh we have both increases and decreases obviously as I just noted contractual salary increases, employee benefits. We're budgeting our health insurance increase of 21%. repair and maintenance that is done to our facilities and grounds, special education,
013outplacement tuition, transportation costs, and just overall equipment and uh supplies are are seeing increases. Decreases are coming in the area of magnet school tuition, special education transportation, special education purchase services and utilities. And we are also helping offset the budget even more with uh because we've increased the amount of base tuition revenue for students from Colombia. The development of the capital budget was a collaborative effort between district administration and members of the facilities and finance subcommittees. The proposed capital budget is $500,000. This budget will enable the district to address timely issues. the loading dock attached to the high school be replaced. Last spring, I shared images with the board that showed the current of the loading dock, and I've included two images which demonstrate the significant need for its replacement. Furthermore, catch basins that are
014located throughout campus to collect storm water and help mitigate the likelihood of flooding or in need of repair or replacement. And finally, parking and staffing pavement markings throughout campus need to be repainted to ensure the safety of students, staff, and visitors. It is important to note that next year will be the final year of paying debt related to the renovation of the Ram campus. Final payment is $416,163, essentially the same as our current year's payment. However, our school district has significant capital needs. While the buildings and grounds have been both maintained and improved in many ways, it is imperative that we continue to ensure that the needs of our buildings and grounds are addressed in a time frame where we are not forced to play catch-up. It is important to note that we are now
015faced with numerous highcost projects in the very near future that will require bonding. The facility subcommittee working with district administration prioritize bonding projects to include when going to referendum next year. These projects include, but are definitely not limited to, roof replace, HVAC systems, and controls, life safety, security, and communications, flooring, and stair treads. Uh we're looking at fully powering the middle school and the high school uh with a new generator, tennis courts, and fencing, additional parking, and a new wireless system uh for our technology. We are currently working with an architectural firm fire and associates to gain a better understanding of the financial impact of the capital projects that we need to be completed. Once this is done, we do anticipate having a special board meeting to discuss these projects in greater detail and develop
016a plan for moving forward. The district utilizes a service of NE services of NZDEC to provide enrollment projections. This chart shows region 8's October 1st enrollment from the 2019 2020 school year to the current school year. as well as projections through 20 2035 and 2036 school year. Current projections indicate the district enrollments remains relatively stable over the next 10 years. The October 1st, 2025 enrollment at Ram Middle School was 344 students. Enrollment at the middle school is currently projected to increase by approximately 50 students in the next 10 years. The October 1st, 2025 enrollment of Ram High School with 675 students. High school enrollment is currently projected to remain relatively stable over the next 10 years. These projections do not include potential future students living in Colombia who may choose to attend Ram High School.
017We are optimistic that as our partnership grows and develops with Colombia, we will continue to be an attractive high school option for their eighth grade students and draw more interest from Colombia families. Current projections for for the three elementary districts indicate that our prek to grade six enrollment will remain relatively stable over the next 10 years. As well as noted earlier, the proposed budget does eliminate seven full-time positions. However, it does include the addition of two new positions that are necessary to address current needs. The first is a buildings and grounds maintainer. The facilities department currently has one outdoor maintainer responsible for all grounds across our 52 acre campus. including parking lots, common areas, and 10 acres of athletic fields. These fields require mowing multiple times per week, regular painting, seating, and fertilizing to meet
018safety and turf standards along with year-round exterior maintenance. As our campus and maintenance uh demands continue to grow, this workload can no longer be sustained by one individual. Adding a buildings and grounds maintainer would provide consistent coverage, reduce the need to pull custodial staff from their core duties and ensure our buildings and grounds are properly maintained year round. This position would interior maintenance needs, improving safety, efficiency, and overall care of district facilities. The second position is an instructional technology specialist. Technology is woven into nearly every part of the school day for students and staff from instruction and assessment to communication and data analysis. As these tools continue to grow, our district need our district needs consistent highquality support to ensure technology is used effectively to enhance teaching and learning. At the same time, artificial intelligence
019is rapidly changing how students will learn, work, and think in the future. Colleges and employers now expect graduates to understand AI and use it responsibly and ethically. Creating this position would provide a dedicated in-house expertise to support teachers and students with technology, dig digital citizenship, academic integrity, and ethical AI used. This is a full-time position that would add significant value across the entire district and better prepare our students for what comes next. It is important to note that the needs of students can shift significantly and the administration always uh may need to hire additional unbudgeted staff to adequately meet student needs. It is important to highlight the return on the community's investment into our district as Ram Middle and High School provide tremendous opportunities for our students. We have we offer over 250 courses and
02038 concurrent enrollment opportunities at the high school. We had 356 advanced placement tests taken with 96% of students taking tests scoring at a three, four, a level three, four, or five. Our current eighth grade students will earn a total of 300 high school uh credits in math, world language, and arts. Earning high school credits during middle school enables our students to explore a higher number of electives from the high school's program of studies. RAM also provides a high quality experience for students beyond academic achievement as it has been recognized as a best community for music education for nine consecutive years. Our wide variety of fine and performing arts programs and classes enable students to achieve at high levels and be recognized statewide and nationally for their hard work and talents. RAM students are also provided
021with opportunities to demonstrate their skills and excel as student athletes. Our 13 middle school student teams provide a strong foundation in skill development and teamwork. Graham High School's 31 teams and and the athletes on them are competitively both regionally and statewide winning recognition accolades and championships. Numerous student athletes earn individual acclaim as state allconerence and triple threat athletes. Finally, the proposed budget represents a collaborative months-long effort by district leadership and staff to balance fiscal responsibility with a high standard of excellence expected by the RAM community. It is designed to offer the board of education and the public a transparent view of our strategic priorities and educational programming. We remain deeply grateful to the families in our community who serve uh we serve for their continued partnership and preparing our students to become impactful members of
022a global society. As the quote on this slide states, education is not a cost, it is an investment. The 26 27 region 8 proposed budget reflects a 3.19% increase over the current year is amongst the lowest increases in the state and it is a strategic investment that helps to ensure that our students continue to receive a highquality education families in this community have come to expect my presentation. Okay. >> All right. I would like to take a few minutes to reflect on the past two weeks. Um I think it's important that this uh goes on the record. It will also clarify the timeline for folks. On Monday, March 16th, there was a regular board meeting. There were some questions regarding the annual audit by board members. So, we invited the auditor to attend the meeting
023and receive questions. You can see in the minutes that were posted following that meeting that a board member asked about the specific line item in question identified as the assigned fund. This means the funds are assigned to the towns. There should always be money in that account. However, it appeared as if it was growing too large. The auditor didn't provide a strong enough explanation. We agreed to take the discussion offline with the auditor and we moved on with the meeting. On Wednesday, March 18th, Dr. Dr. McNamera called me to share that he did he did believe there was an issue with the audit. They were still doing research to see if there were any other concerns and I could expect a follow-up call the next day. On Thursday, March 19th, Dr. McNamera called me to
024explain the extent of the mistake and that he believed that they didn't have any additional issues. On Friday, March 20th, Dr. McNamera and I met the auditor together as well as the chair of our finance committee, Drew Gin, to hear from the audit firm and had the opportunity to ask questions directly to them. On Monday, March 23rd, we posted public notice of the RAM Board of Education hosting executive session. It was our intent to notify the board of the situation and allow them to ask questions directly to the audit firm. On Wednesday, March 25th, we held the executive session. On Thursday, March 26th, letter from Dr. McNamera and myself was sent to the three member towns. That happened at 10:06 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., Chairwoman Tilly emailed stating that this was concerning that they were
025just learning of the situation on the eve of their budget meeting and requested that we attend the meeting that night. At 3:49 p.m., Dr. McNamera communicated he wouldn't make the meeting that night as he was traveling out of state and I had a previous commitment. We offered to meet with representatives of the council and the board of finance. Chairwoman Tilly at 4:15 declined, stating that she wouldn't meet on important matters without her council present. I think what she meant to say was Hebrin's town council. On Friday, March 27th, the board, the chair of the board of finance sent 14 questions with a deliverable deadline. We had already answered 12 other questions on March 17th during our regular budget process. On March 30th, I declined to answer those questions and asked the council and the board
026of finance attend the RAM budget meeting tonight. Some of the questions were doing nothing but causing a distraction and taking the administration's attention away from determining the root cause and a corrective action. I made the decision that the administration needed to focus on the meetings with the original auditor, the prospective new auditors, and the bank. Questions about an agreement between the town and the school that was written in 1954 could wait. March 31st, the board of finance responded with three pertinent questions and they were answered that day. That is the timeline that Chairwoman Tilly claims is convenient and suspect. We prioritized this situation and communicated as quickly as responsible given the information we had, the research that was happening, and the required 24-hour meeting posting requirement. To infer that our management of this situation is
027suspect is a direct attack on our ethics and integrity. There are 11 volunteers on this board who thought they could add something positive to the Ram school system. As a board, we don't always agree on matters, but I have never seen any of these board members do anything as it relates to this board that would call their ethics or integrity into question. And what happened next shocked me. Let me start with the second DTC budget hearing meeting that I did not attend. The DTC stated it was a scheduling conflict. The fact is the invite was sent to a personal email address I have not used in more than five years. So the DTC never received confirmation of my participation but decided to promote the event with my name and photo photo associated with it. I
028find this entire situation bizarre as the invite for the first budget meeting went to my BOE email exactly where BOE business should be sent. The DTC did nothing to correct the situation as people continued to share the graphic on social media. I had to ask them to post that RAM wouldn't be there. They were entirely comfortable allowing me to look as if I was dodging a public discussion on the budget. The board and the administration have been accused of stealing money from taxpayers. We've been called thieves. 100% of the funds are in the assigned fund and have earned interest. The funds have not been used to cover any other expenses. They are right there. We came to the three member towns as quickly as we could. Marorrow and Andover asked questions, thanked us, and offered
029their help if we needed it. He proceeded to villainize the board and the administration. The most shocking thing to me was watching the recording of the joint town council and board of finance meeting. the chairwoman whispering into the mic, "Do we have a lawyer that could send them a letter?" "Yes, let's send them a letter from a lawyer." And others even joined in. "Well, send them a letter from a lawyer." Another council member complained, "Our answers to questions are too polished. We need to get them to sit in front of us so we can rub some of that polish off of their answers and get to the real answers. Where there is smoke, there is fire." I am confident that I hadn't thought through questions. If I hadn't thought through questions that the public would
030have asked and been ready with answers, you would have complained about that, too. Another council member suggested the state should take over running the district. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Probably goes something like, "Dear state officials, our school district had a mistake in a formula and didn't return the full credit back to the towns. you should take over management of the district. Well, no. No money was stolen. No, the superintendent and the board were not actually with the district when the mistake happened. No, the funds weren't used for any other purpose. No, the audit firm never identified any issues of the audit that the BO BOE did. Yes, they are crediting the towns and putting corrective action into place and giving them back their interest. That's kind
031of how that conversation will go. Social media ate this up. The anonymous posters and the AI postings have been a marvel to watch. The Hein voice even reached out to me on my personal channels, not my BOE email, to feain genuine interest in facts. I think if you want facts, you ask questions first and you post second. But I guess it's much more fun to fan the flames and let people repost and share information and just sit back and watch. This was a mistake in a formula. The funds are right there. They haven't been touched. They have earned interest. Everyone will get the benefit due to them. No one from the board or the school has benefited from this mistake. It was simply a mistake. To have the town council repeatedly state they are trying
032to work with RAM to be collaborative and a good partner is laughable. The council has been hostile, reckless, and it seems to me that this has given you the opportunity to create a narrative that detracts from the facts that you had an employee who actually did steal money from taxpayers. I am sure you will point to RAM during your re-election campaign to try and convince voters that you are fighting hard to benefit this town. I am not convinced. I will certainly be using my vote to support those that truly demonstrate a collaborative and helpful partnership. So from here we'll take um public comment. I'll start with the list and then we'll move to the folks that are online. >> Jennifer Cassension is still there. Someone wants to thank you. >> You have to go to
033the um it doesn't sound like the mic's going to project you but so people on the voice It's the people on the online that hear it from the >> Yeah, they do. So, you all hear me? This is online. I when I signed up, I didn't know that I was going to be first to speak. So, um I am happy that I am here to understand some of the things that have gone on. Um and I understand that you're kind of a little in a position, but I felt like that was a little that was a lot what you just read to us. And that's what happened. I I it did, but the emotion that came from you is going to set all of this a little high. This is my second time and I'm
034already like I was a little like taken back to be honest. Um there was a big mistake made. It's six-year mistake. There was also the person who did steal from the town also. So the town has taken a lot and I think we should take that into consideration. I really appreciate that we are going to get our money back and I appreciate that we found it and it can't happen again. One would hope, right? I own a business. I have to run my business with a budget. We all have to run our business like our homes as a budget. So, I hope going forward that we all can work together to make sure that our mill rate is where it needs to be. And of course, number two is going to be our town is
035where it needs to be and our students are part of our town. And unfortunately, when you talk about education, if you go for cuts or you say anything, it's you're against it. I loved my teachers. I'm so grateful I had them. But that doesn't mean we don't want to see education. Parks and w everything that is employable by the town, I think, is important to all of us. But we also need to be able to afford to live here. And sometimes you have to take a little bit of a stop, reook at things and make sure we are doing them right. And it's this side, it's that side. It should be all our sides. And if we could learn anything from it, we should just work together, get this done, and move forward because we
036are talking about school. And that's what we would tell our students. make a budget, go forward, do what's right. So, I don't have numbers. I don't have any of that, but I do know something's a little skew. So, hopefully we can all come to an agreement. Now, I'm going to say this, too. There's a lot more people that live in Hebrin, Marboro, and Andover that are here. So, who's ever online, it would have been nice if we came here, too. But I do think that makes a difference in how we represent our town. So, I want to thank you all and I want to thank you all for being here and doing this and and I hope the next person who goes up like we all just right everybody get to the point of what
037we have to figure this out. So, hopefully we can figure it out. >> Thank you. >> So, and I didn't mean to be number one. >> So, I just want I should have said how we're going to manage the Q&A due to the the increase in in public interest. We are going to still hold public comment to 3 minutes, but we are going to take questions. If people have questions, um, we will do our best to answer them. If you have questions, we're going to ask you to limit it to two and then give somebody else a chance. And if you're if you have other questions that don't get answered in the course of the evening, you'll be able to come back up at the end and reass. Um, and we've asked Amy Romanuk to
038keep time. So, when you get close to your three minutes, um, she'll she'll let you know that you're getting to the end. And if you have a Q&A and there's a back and forth, we're going to go to five minutes for each one of those. >> Excuse me. I didn't know there was a three minute thing. >> You weren't anywhere near three minutes. >> You were more time. >> There's also still There's also still a pad in the back. If you didn't sign up on this list, Tiffany, I saw that you were up there. I've added you to this one here. So, you're all set. Um, the next person on the list is Ken Ystrom. A lot of people have trouble with that. Uh, if you could just pass this down and I'll get to
039why I'm passing that off. My name is Candy Olstrom from Malboro. I'm a member of the Baltimore Board of Finance, but I'm speaking as an individual. Uh when we got this uh news about the mistake, a lot of people would see it as a windfall, as a godsend. I saw it as a concern on our boards finance at three times put a lot of effort in working on our budgets and we need to be able to trust the numbers that come in from RAM. Things like this shape that confidence. Um, what I passed out uh is a email that came from in March of 2020 from Patricia Law who's the then superintendent of RAM to the three towns. I'll just read one paragraph out of it. Good afternoon all. On Monday this week, region 8
040was reviewing the calculations in the budget book for the insurance and several questions that come up about this. In this review, it was found that 28 people have been accidentally double counted due to the complex spreadsheet process used. This the district has reviewed and updated the process. This calculation moving forward so this type of error doesn't happen again. The good news is that this has reduced the RAM budget by just over $617,000. So this was an error that was done back in 2020. Now we've got this error that was discovered that accumulated over several years. So I don't think this error is the first time there's been a significant mistake. So again this creates a lot of skepticism and and just insecurities about what we're given when we're given numbers to work with. The only
041other thing I would say is I was a little bit taken back by the uh message put forward by the chairperson. I felt it got kind of political uh very defensive. I don't think it helped things and I think it might just stir additional flames. Uh I think a lot of it was irrelevant. So I was shocked by it really. I don't think it helped. So anyway, thank you >> Angela Quarantine. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I believe it's important that we keep the financial burden on taxpayers at the forefront of this discussion. Families in our community are already facing rising costs in many areas and increasing taxes or maintaining a budget level that requires it can also place strain on household finances. You have a responsibility to
042be careful stewards of public funds and to ensure that we are living within our means whenever possible. One of the most prominent concerns is the financial impact on taxpayers. The proposed budget contri contributes to a substantial increase in overall town spending which in turn leads to higher property taxes for many residents particularly those of us on fixed incomes or facing rising living costs. Even a moderate tax increase can present a serious burden. When a budget results in a noticeable jump in taxes, voters may feel that the increase is too steep relative to their ability to pay, prompting them to vote against it. Not because residents are anti-kid, anti-teer, or anti-school, but rather quite the opposite. We want a budget that is sustainable for the long run. A particularly significant concern for many is the recent
043discovery of over $2 billion in funds that did not been clearly accounted for in prior budget discussions. The emergence of such substantial amount raises serious questions about financial oversight and transparency. Lowering the school budget, when done thoughtfully, is one way to help maintain tax stability. That doesn't mean compromising the quality of education for our students, but it does mean taking a closer look at how we resources are allocated. The questions that should be asked deal with inefficiencies, redundancies, and non-essential expenditures that can be reduced without impacting core academic programs. At the same time, transparency and accountability are critical. Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent and to have confidence that every dollar is being used effectively. This can be accomplished by listening to the residents in making the appropriate budget reductions. Ultimately,
044the goal is to find a sustainable path forward, one that perseveres a strong educational outcome while keeping taxes at a reasonable and manageable level. With the proposed budget, those goals will not be p uh achieved. Thank you. >> Uh Rob Puer. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening. My name is Rob Pudre and I live in Amstand. I'm here tonight as a resident and chair of Heburn Voice. I guess thanks for the shout out. I want to talk tonight about something much more important than any single number in this trust. because without trust none of this works. Over the past several weeks we've learned that the Ramur bus funds were not appropriately reflected over time and that has real consequences for the town that this district at the time at the same time spending has
045been going up while enrollment has been going down. I want to mention something I personally observed at a recent budget workshop. When the human chair of the board of finance began asking questions about those surplus bonds, asking reasonable, appropriate questions, the response wasn't open or transparent. It was defensive and the conversation was effectively shut down. That moment matters because when reasonable questions are met with resistance instead of clarity, it reinforces the concern people are already feeling that the full picture isn't being shared. Trust isn't built temptations for long- winded answers to simple questions. It's built through openness. It's built by sharing complete and current information. It's built by answering hard questions directly, even when answers aren't convenient. Right now, that trust has been damaged. When trust is damaged, it changes how people view everything else,
046including this budget. This isn't about being for or against education. It's about confidence. Confidence that the numbers are accurate. Confidence that the full picture is being shared. Confidence that decisions are being made transparently. When that confidence isn't there, becomes very difficult for residents like me to support increased spending. And right now, the issue isn't just the numbers. is whether the the public can trust the numbers. This is an opportunity for RAM to reset, to acknowledge concerns, to commit to clearer, more transparent reporting, and to rebuild trust with the communities you serve. Because at the end of the day, trust isn't optional. It's the foundation. And rebuilding it has to start now. I would encourage you, during board of education, take a step back, review the numbers carefully, and come forward with a budget that's more
047transparent, accountable, and sustainable for our communities. Thank you, >> Brian O'Reilly. >> I actually have no public comment. I thought that was just a sign sheet. I apologize. >> I have my glasses. >> I feel your pain. Sue Constance. >> Okay. >> And Bill even though I didn't know first. >> Uh Todd, >> you're you're in. >> But I'm in. >> I listened to the presentation. Todd Hop. Thank you. I listened to the presentation that Colum, Dr. Amimer gave to the court at the budget meeting and it being simple person and not understanding everything. It was a very polished a very wellresented uh almost uh practice polished speech and it brought so many questions to my mind. Um you talk about a new maintainer. I I that school is 20 plus years old. This and
048I don't know what's changed as far as the grounds and the way the grounds are maintained and why we need another position for that. Um I see in the fall we subcontract leaf cleanup and snow plowing. So that's not part of the maintainer's job. So I'm concerned why we need one person after 20 years. If one could handle it for 20 years, what changed? I I understand the need for an AI program. I agree. There's got to be programs that we have that are now obsolete. AI is up and forefront and coming. Sure, we should use it well. We should use it properly and we should be educated about it. But transistor radio repair, I'm just giving you a stupid example, but there's got to be things. And when we talk about cutting programs, are
049we talking about we just add we wanted to add 10 but we only added six so we cut four or I that really confuses me and so I I want to know if we're adding an AI program. Is that one new one that we are adding? It's I don't understand the speed that you folks use when you talk to us. I don't need answers right now, but I appreciate you listening. Um, I I want our kids to have a good education and I want them to have the background 250 programs with attendance. I'm hearing and I don't know if it's accurate 9 10 12 students in a class maybe low number classes need to be reduced so that we can have higher participation in the classes that are moving forward. Those are things that I
050expect the board to look at. I don't know what you all do. I appreciate all the work you put in. Volunteering is incredibly painful. I've been doing it for a couple years only and it's very difficult. Um the average increase is we're 89 lower than 89% of other towns. That number doesn't affect me. I want to know what this town is going to spend. I don't care what other towns are spending or what their budget is and how they're getting there. Taxes are important to us. We have a lot of expenses coming up and it's awfully costly to live in this town. >> Thank you. >> I'm all set. Thank you, >> Eric. Eric Sheno and um certain people here we're frustrated with this financial situation. Um I I understand but what I'd like to
051emphasize is that people don't make mistakes on purpose. That applies here. It applies a lot of times in life. I was a member of this board. Prior to that, I was a member of the handover board for finance and uh I was here during a portion of this time when this was made and I was one of the board members who focused on finance and uh so if there's if there's anger it could be to me as well as anyone else but what I can also tell you is that we were doing our our best. We we thought we were doing well. We um uh we made this mistake and uh it's uh it's not something that I'm happy about. However, I can tell you that I don't believe anyone had any kind of ill
052intent with this situation. Something that happened. It was a mistake. What I would like to move on here was there's a there's a bigger picture. I believe we want to lose sh and that is academic excellence which is always been the thing that I have uh uh been most concerned and I can tell you in my view that RAM is an excellent school and the kids graduate from here have a tendency to do green block. And in my view, it's easier to maintain excellence than it is to drop an excellence and then try to get that back. So I welcome people to be frustrated with this mistake. It's it's it's valid. at the same time. And I would welcome people to keep in sight that we have this excellence and that that the people of
053Andover and and have especially Andover have supported to make it what it is and it's been a priority of the citizens of our three towns to make excuse Excuse me. >> Because often school the way it is. So please keep that in sight as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Adam Aman. >> Hello. My name is Adam Mcman. I live on 500 Oak Valley Road in Hebrin. Uh I'm a he of finance member. I'm speaking as an individual. I am not going to talk about the uh newly discovered well the discovered credit offset. U it is an important topic. I'm not going to minimize that. Uh but I want to talk more about uh the ongoing budget. And pardon me. I'm going to uh uh diverge a little bit from my prepared comments. Um
054I am concerned about the frequency of large surpluses going through the ramp budgets. Uh it seems to me like that is indicative of of over over conservativism in um trying to meet your potential needs. But on the back end, it causes lots of difficulty on the account financing side. It's the the issues constant surpluses are causing volatile increases. It's causing large increases. You're seeing that on the side. Um, I am asking that you be a little bit more careful about how much is likely to go into surplus going forward. Uh, and I would be happy to consider this a question. I'd be happy to hear about your philosophy on how your budgeting with regard to how it's uh resulting in the surpluses. Second, I'm concerned about uh class sizes in the midst of the recent
055declining enrollments. Uh I took a look at what a class size would look like if we assume uh all the high school students, all the middle school students took one of the four four subjects, math, science, history or social studies, and English. I ended up with a bit of a low number for class sizes assuming that uh looking at the number of teachers that are budgeted and assuming they each teach five sections a day. I used the same methods. I ended up with higher uh class sizes, substantially higher class sizes in other towns. I ended up with higher class sizes in Heid Elementary. It suggests a bit of an imbalance with this uh how the RAM's being run versus uh what's going on in the evening schools and it can be somewhat frustrating in addition
056to uh what's going on with the surpluses. I'm not suggesting that you do anything specific to core subjects. >> I'm sorry sir, your time is up. Uh I just want to remark that I don't say these things lightly as a perspective that I want rant to be strong and sustainable but also efficient for the tenants. Thank you. >> Um you want to do this just talk about how the simple sample. >> Yeah. So, so, um, I'm going to actually go back a question because you he had asked a couple of questions that I'd like to address. So, so I think your first question was why the additional maintainer for so it's a it's a very good question. The size of the the the campus has hasn't grown, but what has expanded though was the amount
057of the footprint that we're using actually has. We we we use an excessive amount of outdoor space during the context. So we have our obviously our athletic fields are a huge portion as I said in my statements I think we have about 10 acres of of athletic fields. We actually used to have it was the town was helping out a lot with so for for several years we were working with was it parking w so we were working with the human parks and recck department that provided a lot of assistance to us with regards to fertilization and maintenance of our athletic fields because they actually had somebody with some in-house expertise in that particular area and it was a great partnership that well that person left the position we didn't we weren't getting that support
058anymore and that's not to say anything disparaging against just the per we didn't have the resource no longer existed for us. So now we're actually taking on a lot of that responsibility of of care of our of our athletic fields. And when you talk about the work that needs to be done with our athletic fields, practice fields, competition fields, um baseball fields, they have to be lined multiple times a week. They have to be lined for multiple sports multiple times a week. Um you know, we we could have a soccer game on a on a Tuesday and then we have to uh we have to reline it again because there's going to be another soccer game on on Thursday. Believe it or not, sometimes we have to line that field the competition field multiple times.
059We have to do with practice fields. We have because we're not getting that assistance from from that partnership with Hebrin. We're having to do a lot of the maintenance on it as well. >> Ben, >> what's that? >> Is that Ben? >> So, we we do work with we do work with um and we provide some of the uh supplies I believe, but they do the maintenance themselves. So, so Parks and Wreck does the maintenance to vets, but we actually provide like field paint and and other parts of the supplies and materials because of that partnership that we have with them allowing us to use vets. Um, so so that's really a substantial reason for the outdoor m that additional outdoor maintainer is is is to get that support. >> Outdoor fields are not used
060all year round. >> Correct. So, so what happens during the context of the winter time is all of the there's still work that's being done outside during the context of the winter time. So, there's still a need for our outdoor maintainer works full-time as an outdoor maintainer. This position, we we see them supporting the outdoor maintainer, the full-time outdoor maintainer during the fall and during the spring, which is when we're using those fields. And then the um during the context of the winter time when the fields aren't being used for for athletic purposes, believe it or not, we're doing a significant amount of service and maintenance to the um to the uh equipment that we use. We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment, which we're actually saving money by doing the in-house maintenance.
061We don't farm it out to a a contractor or a mechanic if we're capable of doing it in in-house. So, that's one of the things that we do. and this person would support the outdoor maintainer um during those busy seasons in the fall and the spring. Um they'd learn how to do the work that our outdoor maintainer does. One of the things actually that we discovered this year was we our outdoor maintainer was out for about two weeks and we were in a pretty big buy. We didn't have anybody internally that could do it. Again, we worked with Hebrin. They were a great partner for us. They actually provided us with help and assistance with doing things like maintenance and painting the fields when we needed it. Um, but it's but then during the winter
062time when that work isn't when the outdoor workload isn't as substantial. They're going to be supporting the we actually have indoor maintainers as well and they're going to be helping out with the the the work that needs to be done um doing all the basic maintenance work that needs to be done inside the buildings. So that that that explains hopefully that provides at least a context for >> it's an answer. >> Yeah. >> I don't know all the ins and outs of it. >> Understood. Understood. as far as the art. So, we're not looking to have an artificial intelligence program. We're actually looking to have a staff member dedicated to supporting uh teachers and students and staff with the use of technology integration, which is all parts of our school day. >> Yeah, >> I
063understood that part of it. It was the offset for older programs that we don't need to support. >> Oh, yeah. No, we do that. If there's a if there's a program that we're no longer using, it's not something that we're utilizing. We we absolutely don't continue to pay for programs that we're not utilizing. >> Yep. You're welcome. Um surplus, Adam, I'll address the surplus question. So, it's it's a valid your your point is a is a is an understandable and valid one, and I do get that. Um, the thing that I could say is the the primary I I would say the primary driver for the surpluses that we've had over the past several years have been related to to the three things that I've mentioned, but I can delve into them a little bit
064more. So, so staffing is a is a is a is a huge one. We build the budget based off of what we currently know, right? So we base it off of the fact that we have, you know, x number of teachers at a certain level at a certain rate of pay with who are getting certain insurance benefit program benefit packages. And so if we end up having a a person who is a top step sixyear teacher, they're they're hovering right around $95,000 a year for for a salary. If that person resigns or leaves us after the budget has been established, when we hire out somebody, when we hire a new person to replace them, well, first first of all, I'll talk a little bit about client enrollment. Anytime we have a retirement or a resignation,
065I sit down with the administrative team and the department coordinators and we'd say, is this a position for certified staff? Is this a position we need to replace? Is this a position that we can get away with not replacing? What would that do to class sizes? In some cases and in many cases over the past four years that I've been here, we've eliminated positions. We've said, you know what, we can get rid of a position. It's not something that we need to maintain. In other cases, we look at it, we say, "This is a position that we need to maintain." It it's but we go through that exercise every single time we have the retirement or resignation of a certified staff member. And it could go either way. It just depends. Um, as far as
066the small class sizes, um, we we do have some small class sizes there. No doubt about it. It's it's one of the things that happens when you offer a significant program of studies whether like I said we have 250 course offerings. We're offering concurrent enrollment opportunities which is concurrent enrollment opportunities is when you're earning a college credit while you're taking a high school class. Um the benefit of doing that is we're having kids that are graduating college in three years. They're they're leaving they're leaving Ram High School with a year's worth of college credits which is quite remarkable. Um but so we go through that exercise. we say, "Is this a position we need to replace or is it not a position we need to replace?" Um, and and if if it's a position that
067we don't need to replace, it's not an uncommon thing that I might hire somebody or ultimately the candidate that gets identified to to to to replace somebody that retired or resigned and we are replacing the position. Um, they might not come in at top step sixyear. They could come in at beginning step bachelor's degree. That's a variance of about $50,000 in a salary. That person also might come into the position and say, "Well, uh, where the the the veteran teacher top sixyear could be um co the health insurance plan that that individual might be on could be a $20,000 cost to the district because it's a family plan." And we're paying, you know, could be 78% of the the premium cost for them, which is we budget about we figure about $20,000 for a family
068plan. Well, the new person that comes in, they're a beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree, so they're only making $50,000. So, there's a $50,000 savings. And they're also coming in and saying, you know, hey, I'm 23 years old and I'm going to stay on mom and dad's insurance plan. A lot of a lot of people are doing that. Uh, and and so maybe there's no insurance costs or maybe they are married and their spouse is carrying their health insurance benefits. So that's about $70,000 for that one staffing shift with regards to health insurance benefits and and salary. And and that happens quite often. We don't intentionally go out and say, "Hey, we're only going to hire firstear teachers." My feeling about this is we're going to hire the best person because of exactly what Eric
069was talking about, which is we want a high quality education. And I'm not going to say you need to only hire beginning teachers. There are also times where it swings in the other direction. we we lose somebody who's a relatively low paying paid employee and we bring in somebody at a higher staff. So, it could go in either direction, but we've we've seen a lot of of of change with staffing. The other thing is there has been a significant shortage since the pandemic of of of adequate substitutes. I if you can that is a universal problem that school districts are encountering and it's not uncommon unfortunately for us to not be able to identify a certified person to come into a position which means we're paying somebody you know the substitute rate of pay which
070is $125 a day$15 $125 a day. So, so you have a $90,000 budget line for a teacher and for half the year you're paying a fraction of that because you just don't have somebody certified to take the job. We also have situation where there's a significant shortage of para educators. Again, it's a problem that all school districts are encountering. So, we might budget $25,000 for a pareducator salary. We might budget $20,000 for insurance. And those positions might be unfilled for an entire school year. It doesn't mean that we don't need to fill those positions because it's stretching who we have really really thin but we we had uh three positions o for over a course of I think it was last year or the year before that we we just three or four vacancies that
071we couldn't fill. Now what we've done is in the past two years we've reduced three positions. So we've reduced some of those PAR educator positions because we've said we can't fill it. And so that's helped us bring down our budget requests and hopefully be better about not getting that surplus, which again I do understand is problematic. As I said, the the the special education costs are significant um for for students that are outplaced out of district. We we you know, we have we have student outplacements. You know, it could be $50,000, $70,000, $80,000, $100,000 that it's costing the district to outplace these students in specialized programs. Our goal is to always bring those students back. if it's in their best interest because we're required by federal law to provide them an education in what's called
072the least restrictive environment. And when we bring those kids back, we're saving significant amounts of money because all of a sudden that $100,000 price tag that we've had with sending to an outplacement district is is no longer being uh applied to us. So So that's $100,000 in savings and that that's a that's a hu a huge huge savings for us when we can bring kids in. and we want to bring students in not just because of the fact that it's saving us money although it's certainly a reason but it's because of the fact it's the right thing to do try to provide for our students here in district um and transportation is is is the other one it is uh I I get text messages at 5:'lock in the morning bus you know Hein bus
0738 is not running today um you know so Hein bus 11 is picking up bus eight students and every time that happens when we don't run a bus and it happens quite often because again there's a shortage of bus drivers too and bus driver substitutes. All of those add up to a significant amount of savings because it's money that we budget to do a certain number of runs two times a day and we're not doing that number of runs two times a day. It adds up and saves us money. So like the to the totality of those things kind of comes together and leaves us with a surplus. Um, and and it's not because of the fact that we're overbudgeting. We're certainly not overinflating our budget. We try to go in every year and say,
074what do we need in order to be to continue to be the best district that we can be? But we're certainly not inflating our budget. Um, and I recognize the fact that, you know, people are calling in a question. Hey, you keep having these surpluses, and I do understand that. Um, but it's certainly not something that we're intentionally doing. I don't know if that answered all the questions. size. Uh yeah, about class sizes. Can you tell like I invite you to tell me if I'm getting the wrong number if I try to calculate your class size? >> I I don't know how you did the calculation, but I will tell you that there are certain classes that are that are definitely small. You know, somebody mentioned, you know, there are there some classes with five
075students, are there some classes with nine students? There absolutely are. One of the things that you run into when you have a comprehensive high school that has a significant number of class offerings and a wide variety of class offerings is you do have some what I would say are like niche classes where students might take and students might not take and and so we try the best that we can at times to make good decisions that we can based off of our our staffing. Um, as I said, uh, to the board, when we initially brought students in from Colombia, um, we have the capacity, uh, um, to to to to take in students from Colombia. So, next year, we're going to end up having 20 students from Colombia. It's not going to have any negative
076impact. We're not going to have to hire more teachers. I said it actually at the the joint meeting that I attended in in Hebrin is is at an elementary level when you have a certain number of students leaving the school and a and a significantly d different number of students coming in whether it's greater or or greater or less there are going to be as I said I think I said it in your meeting I was an elementary school principal it's you do just say well we're losing this class which you know requires us to have five teachers for this group of students but we're gaining a class size that might only require three teachers so we can reduce by two teachers. It doesn't work that way at a high school and a comp at
077a comprehensive high school. You you you have the ability to um have a significant swing in enrollment 60 70 80 90 students and you don't have a negative impact on staffing and what I mean you don't have to necessarily hire somebody new. So again, I don't know how you did your math calculations, so I can't speak to but but I but I'm you're there are there we do have small class sizes. >> You're curious if I may. It's it's very simple. I took the number of teachers he had in that in that fourth class uh multiplied it by five assuming they teach five sections and uh then I think there's 11 typically 11 teachers in each of the four main >> so in the high school similar in school >> middle school is uh I
078ended up with a very similar >> and u just divided a single all the all the students uh it's very rough justice but assume all the students take one class I got uh I got a pretty low number >> yeah I I with with regards to the middle school is a little bit different so I don't quite know when the inquiry team was created but the inquiry team is a it's a it's a it's a team of in the middle school that has actually both seventh and eighth graders in most we have five five teams in total in the middle school. Typically, a middle school team has just seventh graders or just eighth graders. Well, the inquiry team has both seventh and eighth graders. It's a combination. It's just a different approach to learning. It's
079more personalized and and and basically if a family wants their child to go into the inquiry team instead of going into one of the traditional teams, they can apply for admission into the inquiry team when they're coming in from sixth grade coming up in seventh grade. Um the inquiry team is it's a smaller it's a smaller team as well. Um but that's because of the fact that we have that that additional team. It it does reduce it it's a small that's a smaller team but it also reduces the the size of the other traditional teams as well. Again, my my attitude about the the the middle school staffing is at this community, the com the community of Heber, Andover, and Marbor, the Ram community, the Ram board of ed at some point said, "We feel
080like the inquiry team is a worthwhile investment in this community." And and and so because of that, we naturally now just have smaller classes. So again, it's if if I am ever tasked with the board with with, you know, having to make reductions, whether it's at the high school or at the middle school, you know, could reductions be made in staffing, they could be made. You know, instead of me sitting down and looking analytically at class sizes and staffing and making sure that we can offer courses, because again, I didn't mention this before, some of our teachers teach courses that are very, very specific to their to their area. We have a we have one teacher in our district who can teach our EMT classes, our C classes, and next year he's going to be
081offering a firefighting class. Um we we have we have one teacher that can teach our our our wood our wood shop classes. We have one teacher that can teach our manufacturing classes where he's teaching welding and and machining. Um, so you know, the the we can't eliminate staff members based off of a lot of things because if we if we get rid of one of those teachers, then that eliminates a significant number of classes that we currently offer to students. And the the reason that we I try to avoid having reduced FTEES, like what I mean by that is instead of having a 1.0 Oft which is a full-time teacher to your point teaching five classes a less than a full-time teacher might be a point 8 and they're teaching four classes or they're a
082point 6 and they're teaching three classes. What happens to schools and districts when you start to do that with staff to say well hey I'm going to reduce you manufacturing teacher from a 1.0 to a 6. My manufacturing teacher is going to go well I have this I I need a job. I need full-time work. working at a point six is not going to be sufficient to pay my mortgage bills. So, I'm gonna leave and I'm gonna find a full-time job doing something else at another school district. And the chances of me finding another manufacturing teacher to come into the district at a point 8 or 6 or anything less than a 1.0 FTE is minimal at best. minimally if I if I reduce the the the FTE of the SER teacher, I'm sorry, the
083the teacher who's doing, you know, who's teaching, you know, any of our classes, they're gonna say, "I'm I need to work full-time." And and the other thing that it does, and I again I think I mentioned this at at at your meeting as well, is when you start to do those like just little reductions, what ends up happening is the teachers who might not be getting impacted by a reduction in staffing. They all start to look at each other and go, are you going to sit around and wait to have your position eliminated or are you going to be proactive and and look for another job? and that that so we'll see if we start chipping away and reducing staff, we're going to end up seeing an exodus of teachers because people need job stability.
084So it's it's do we have small class sizes? Absolutely. Is it one of the things that I think is it appeal to to to makes it appealing in the district? Is it is it one of the things that makes us the strong school district that we are? Is it one of the things the wide variety of course offerings and the small classes? Is that one of the reasons I believe that we're getting $300,000 in revenue for next year from Colombia based off of the 20 kids that are coming here? Hopefully the year after that it'll be another $150,000. You know, we're talking a substantial amount of money because that's all funding that is not coming out of the taxpayers of Heernando and Marorrow when we bring in more students. I went and presented the other
085week at and I I mentioned this actually at your at your at your board meeting where we have another school district that's interested and and so we want to remain an attractive district. We want to have a variety of course offerings. We are always looking at some staff. It's not something that we're not just we're simply >> Could we I Yeah, go ahead. You already spoke so >> Yeah. Yeah, please. >> Okay. Um, I was just going to ask, can can the school accommodate more students and how many more can it accommodate? >> I can't. Well, what I can tell you is that Ram I think was built for a maximum capac Ram High School, excuse me. It was built for a maximum capacity of about,00 students in its heyday because when it was if
086you build it they will come. I think capacity at the high school got up to,300 students. So it actually exceeded maximum capacity within a relatively short time period. Obviously it's dropped since then. So we have the capacity to take more students. What I can't tell you if if the question you're asking is what's the magic number between before you have to look at well maybe I don't have a magic number. It really just comes down to looking in the same manner of saying hey you know some of these class sizes are getting pretty unwieldy. We need to look at we need to look at adding a staff. But again, like we have the four teaching positions we eliminated this year. We eliminated a math teaching position last year. We eliminated a world language position last
087year. We eliminated a world language position the year before that. And I think a social studies position as well. So, as I said, we've gone through this exercise of of of looking at every single position um and saying, is this a position that we can we can eliminate and not have it negatively impact us? If the answer to that question is yes, we could do it, we'll eliminate that position. >> Yep. >> Okay. I'm going to go back to public comment. Um, next up on the list is Tiffany Tilly. >> Good evening everybody. Uh, Tiffany Ty, 626 Gilead Street. Um, good evening to everyone who's here. I'm really thrilled to see everybody just here participating in >> person. Sorry, >> we have this problem with our meetings, too. Um, so I want to make clear
088that although a lot of you know me as chairwoman of the keeping town council, I just want to make clear I'm speaking as an individual tonight. Um, so you know, first and foremost, I'll just state calmly and I'm not going to apologize for any of my comments, not ones I said on March 26, nor for ones I said to the River East, and not for the ones I'm about to make. Um, this is not personal to me. It's not political. Um, it's strictly business. Um, despite the defensiveness, facts are stubborn things. And the facts are this mistake resulted in the overcharging of three towns and their taxpayers. That's a fact and facts are stubborn things. Um, and it is very true that I will not meet without the members of the town council because I
089believe in that collaboration. So, a few other items I'd like to point out in my comments this evening. Um, speaking specifically as a taxpayer, I don't appreciate your approach to information sharing. The timeline that was shared with us tonight um should have been shared in writing with all elected officials. It was not. Rather than provide answers to fellow board members in writing, you instead insisted on this public forum requiring already busy individuals to take more time out of their busy schedules during budget season to hear answers they're entitled to receive. For the insistence you have on collaboration, this is not what I would define as collaborative. Secondly, there is this concept that we should be thankful that we're getting a significant credit this year. And while I may not be true, I just want to
090make two quick points. First, we should not have to thank you for what is rightfully ours. The funds are our tax dollars. And second, let's discuss what happens next year to taxpayers because I think we're all aware of what's coming. is potentially a fiscal cliff because it's becoming quite clear that Rants administration is struggling to allocate funds appropriately and with consideration for taxpayers. In looking at their budgets, I'm here to stand on business, the taxpayers business. It's time for your board to take a closer look at how you allocate resources. Budgets are about hard choices from class sizes to administrative raises. And I don't take any pleasure in speaking on this topic. I have been a strident supporter of education as many people know. I have stood before hostile boards of ed finance asking them
091to cut the town government budget to fund the education budget. But this is a matter of trust and the trust with the RAM budget has been broken. You have the opportunity to restore that trust. I hope you take it. Thank you, >> Terry. Um, Terry McManis. >> Oh, can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Thank you. Um, Madame Chair, I just want to say something about you and the board members, all boards actually in town. I think all of you serve and have served. Eric, I know you're in the audience with great integrity and with great earnestness towards doing the best job. And I, as a citizen, thank all of you. I appreciate it. Um, but Madam Chair, I do have a question. Do any of the Facebook conversations have any validity with
092you? Because they're not all AI generated. and I see a lot of legitimate concerns. So, actually that is a question I if you could answer. >> Okay. Um the Facebook first off for for us I don't respond to anything that's on social media. >> No, no, no. You you mentioned earlier that it almost sounded as if you were dismissing the medium. >> No, I'm not. In fact, when we went through to do our, you know, gather the questions that we thought people would ask, we used the social media to address the concerns. I do think the concerns, you know, are valid. What I take issue with are people um kind of making things up, banning the flames. It's not all truth that's out there. Is it valid to ask a question, how did this surplus
093happen? How was there a miscalculation? You know, those are those are all valid questions. And when we, you know, were addressing the River East, we would use those things that were posted and be ready with answers for that. >> It's not I >> appreciate that. It's not >> I appreciate that, Madam Chair. And it's uh I'm glad to hear that because it's turning out that I'm learning an awful lot from the the medium. I'm just experimenting with it now. So your input on that is going to help me out. But as far as my comments or actually questions since 2020, um Ram has had an average increase in their budget of about 1.6%. And that's really commendable. But at the same time, you retired $2.16 million in debt. And that reduction was never seen basically
094because costs were shipped to other operational lines. And that's okay. It's legal. Tom does it also. But you pride yourselves on keeping the budget low. If you were take take a look at that debt reduction as a actual increase, then your average increase over that time frame is 2.65%. And the only thing that I have wrong with that is that I I I would just like to be an informed taxpayer. Uh Colin, as far as your comment on education is not a cost, it's an investment. I agree with you. It is an investment. But it is a cost. There have been citizens that have come to your board over the last few years almost begging for your board and your administration to show some cost restraint and it just hasn't come. Uh I really hope
095that we can reduce this budget and actually make some of the hard choices that you outlined Colin because they really need to be done. I know in my home budget, I made reductions this year because last year's tax increases and those choices were hard to make. Also, thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the members of the board. I really do appreciate your work. >> Um Okay. Um is there anybody else online that >> people online who want to comment? if you could raise your digital hand and then we can call on you as we see you. There's a little button at the bottom of your screen that is a hand that you can press. Nobody. Okay. Is there anybody else in the room that has any additional comments? >> I didn't get my
096name down. Sorry. >> That's okay. >> Um Amy Doyle. Um I'm a citizen of Hebrin. I also work for Hebrin Public Schools at Gilead. Um I feel as though I am overinvested, you might say, um in the budget and sometimes it's just me um when it's not budget season listening to Hein Board of Ed meetings or finance meetings because I moved to this town uh for my kids education. I work in this town. I love everything about it. But it is hard to listen to the budget that happens in Hebrin versus the budget that happens in RAM and the whole process class sizes. You stated that we are so fortunate to get 10 more students for Colombia with no problem. And down the road in Hein, we are fighting for an extra kindergarten section. Citizens
097are mad at us because we want to add another kindergarten section because our enrollment is growing. But here we have this luxury of just adding 10 more students and that's fine. Um, so this just really hard for me to kind of swallow. Um, these kindergarten classes that have 17, 18 kids already, our youngest learners don't get to have 10 students in a class. Our students are adjusting to academics, adjusting to what school life is like. And we have 17 to 22 students on average in Gilead and Hubernell. Our youngest learners are losing intervention at Gilead. We are losing social workers at Gilead. Um, every position is looked at with a fine tooth comb. And I just don't feel like the same thing is happening here. It's hard to get that clear answer of class sizes.
098I get it. It's different. It's completely different. But do we need classes that have six kids in them? I want a great education for my kids. I have two kids coming up in this system. But I'm not sure that they need six kids in a classroom. And if we are fighting to hire paras at Gilead to to be there with our special ed kids, but here I just feel like we're living this kind of luxurious life and I don't understand how we're living side by side. Um the surplus, your explanation for the surplus, I get it. People retire, people are coming in. That happens in every town. Happens in Hebrin. It happens in Marvel. It happens at towns across the state. Um uh we don't have a surplus at Gilead where we get to just
099fix our athletic fields. We do have garbage cans in the hallway collecting rain water falling though if you want to see that. My windows are open all winter because we can't control the heat. So I literally watch my tax dollars fly out the window because I have to pay to heat the building, but we can't control it. So I have my windows open. Um, so it's I'm just struggling of being kind of on the same page in the same town, but doing things completely different. I'm sorry I'm loud and I get animated. It wasn't anger. I'm just passionate. Thank you for your time. >> Did we have another person online? I cannot read the name from this far away. >> Nope. >> Yes or no? >> It's raised. What's What's the name on it? >>
100I'm sorry. Um, Bernier, the last name, Bernier. >> Yes. Hello. Thank you so much. >> Okay, go ahead. Could you state your name and your town? >> Yes, absolutely. Lucy Bernier. Um, I live in 22 Settlers Bath in Amston and I had the pleasure of working at Ram Middle School and now I have the pleasure of working at Hebrin. Um, Gilead Hill in Hebrin. Um, I do believe that it's well within reason for the superintendent or for the school board to provide at least an average class sizes for core classes, average size for elective classes, average size for AP classes. I don't believe that that uh request is really outside of the realm of possibility for everybody to kind of gather their brains and really break down the senses of each class. um to kind
101of take stock um because again I I have kids that are in the district and I love the district. I I work at it. I'm part of the community. But I do believe that um there's been enough questions about the class sizes, especially some of the electives that um it would just give taxpayers a little bit more clarity >> going forward, especially with the budget process and the constant excess in funds at the end. >> Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. Is that the pay underneath? >> Kimberly, >> Kimry Baza Amston. >> I just want to say that I agree. I think the fact that you can't give class sizes, even just an average is a little bit ridiculous. Um, and the fact that you have five kids in one class
102or maybe nine kids in another, um, because they're niche classes, maybe we need to get rid of these niche classes because we're paying for them. So maybe we don't need to offer 250 courses. Maybe we need to offer less because not every one of those courses is being utilized by the students. >> And that is a bit ridiculous. >> Lucy, you're still on. >> So it's it's really I mean 250 courses, that's wonderful. But if only five kids are utilizing one of those courses, then maybe we need to get rid of it. Or nine kids are utilizing another one, maybe it's time to, you know, move on and get rid of that course because I mean, you guys can't even give an average class size, but we're having five kids in niche classes. It's It's
103really ridiculous. That's it. >> Thank you. Is there anybody else in the room that has a question or would like to make comment? >> Yeah. Hi, Craig Taki Hston. I didn't put my name on the list towards the end. >> Um I'm new to this. I've been attending the the Hein board meetings and I share a lot of people's concerns, right? Um some things that I didn't hear get addressed tonight that are on Facebook and are on social media that I want to ask you guys to clarify. Um, one, there's a lot of data out there that shows increasing administrative costs >> while there's decreasing student costs and program costs. Can you address that over a five-year period? Down enrollment, teachers, bars being cut, we all want education in quality like you do, >> but
1046% self-given raises, administrative costs going through the roof. How do you >> Well, I don't I don't give myself a raise. Um, and >> it wasn't a 6%. I So, but what I could what I could say is I' I've heard that there's questions about the latest administrator contract. There were some misunder I think there were some questions about the the the administrator contract that was just approved by the board this year. Um, there was questions about why the athletic director is getting a a mark basically a market adjustment to her salary to to that salary. So anytime we have well let me look I'll take a step back. I I have been an advocate it since I've come into this district for RAM staff to have uh compensation that is uh comparative to the
105market. Prior to the last teachers negotiation that we did, Ram teachers in all of region 8 districts and in all of the local, you know, your Colchesterers, your your East Hampton, Lebanon, Ram teachers and staff were the lowest paid comparatively speaking. There there was a difference where schools in in our region in some of the elementary districts teachers at the same with the same amount of experience and and same level of education were making 10 $15,000 more than RAM teachers and and I vocalized to the board like I think that we need to do better by the people that work for us and so I have definitely advocated to have to to market adjust salaries for teachers for para educators for custodians for clerical staff to to get paid at a rate that is commensurate
106with the market and and this board has this board and the board members that have been here before have been very supportive of that because I think that we want to make sure that we can attract and maintain high quality teachers and we're fortunate that we're we're we're now more competitive. Um the exact same exercise is what I went through with regards to the the administrator's contract. So, in looking at the rate of pay, the compensation levels for the athletic director position, it was significantly below the market. And I was able to uh through the negotiation process, you know, with the administrators uh bargaining unit to basically say we need to be able to excuse me, attract and maintain high quality people applying for positions. And so we did a market adjustment for that particular
107position over a three-year span. Instead of doing it in a single year, we broke up the market adjustment. So we're doing an increase for next year and then we're doing an increase another market adjustment the year after that and then bringing it up to a level where it should be in the third year of the contract. Is that if that makes sense? >> No, I appreciate it. Um I just I wish this could be a bit more of a debate, but it can. Um so I would just like to close with a couple more comments. >> Sure. One being, you know, I hadn't seen this board until now. I haven't been before you until now. I've heard about the air that comes from this board and now I've seen it with your comments, Madam Chair.
108Totally inappropriate to address the public in my opinion. So disappointed very much so in that. I would also recommend and suggest for future meetings that that Dr. McMurray and the board you also hold yourself to three minutes of comments when giving longer answers. So I appreciate that. Is there anybody? Yes. Go ahead. >> You want me to go? >> Yes. It's so the people online can hear me. >> Hi, I'm I'm Stephanie Gold. I am from um Settlement in Amsterdam. Um I just had a couple of questions. Um and there's probably somewhere I can find out, but I don't know. So, I'm going to ask um when you talk about the surplus and that 2% can go into your budget um what is the actual amount that you have in the surplus at this moment
109like in your surplus account? Do you know that? >> Off the top of my head, I don't have that number. I can tell you that the uh we just took uh it was $235,000 >> and there was not there there wasn't a substantial amount left in there because we paid for the track project which was about a $700,000 of that. So that was a $1.5 million project and we utilized about $700,000 from the non-lapsing account to pay for that. Um but again the from the surplus that we had from last year it was it was about $25,000 and that money just went in. >> Okay. And then the other question is um and I just don't know how it works. So that's why I'm asking is you know the the taxpayers have been having trouble.
110I've been here for five years and my taxes are I just can't even tell you. I I love this place and I regret being here at the same time because every year it's like a struggle, you know, just to get through uh tax season and know how much more it's going to be added. Um, is it ever a possibility for RAM to use some of their surplus to cover whatever additional costes after the zero base? Like so say you guys have to go up 2%, you know, is it ever thought to use some of that money to help taxpayers out so that it's not as high of enough. >> It's it's permissible to use them in that route. >> I just just a question. >> Y >> All right. Thank you for your time. You
111said you can't use that. I'm sorry. No, I said it's permissible. It is. So when when when the laws changed around that relatively recently, um initially the the the funds that were able to be put into the non-lapsing account could only be used for capital expenditures, you know, bigger ticket items, which is how we have been using them. That's why we ended up doing a lot with the the athletic fields because we knew that we really would struggle to get funding for those things and it really were issu they were issues that needed to be addressed. There was a change in legislation, I believe it was last year, I I believe it was last summer, that does allow districts now, regional districts, so regional districts are allowed to set up this account. Um, and and
112and we're allowed to it's now a fund for educational expenditures. So, it is permissible to use the funds for more than just capital. >> Okay. There was somebody Oh, over here. Go ahead. Hi, my name is Paul Hannish. I'm a human resident. I live on Wall Street and I'm the metals manufacturing and welding teacher at uh Ram High School. I wasn't planning on making any public comment tonight. My plan was to just see and be seen. Uh but there were a couple of questions about attendance in some of our CTE classes. So I would just like to give a little information for that just so that we're all working with time of knowledge. So right now uh this year I'm teaching between two semesters three sections of welding one. So introduction to welding each of
113those sections had 14 students in it and there were weight lists. I have one section of welding two and three which are combined class. We teach advanced welding techniques that has presently uh 13 students in it. I taught two sections of intro to manufacturing. Both of those had uh fullboat 14 students. I had one section of advanced manufacturing that had 10 students and right now we're running our senior pipeline which at the beginning of the year had 13 students enrolled in it. Uh presently I have 10. Two students decided to graduate early and not take the class and one dropped out mid year. So, our CTE program is full uh for next year. I haven't gotten the full numbers yet uh for what that's going to look like. I do know that for the first
114time in a couple years, we're able to run manufacturing, too. We have enough students who've signed up for that. And we had to kind of look at where students were going to be in there because we had weight lists for several of our CT classes. So, >> question. Do you is it by law that you only have 14 or 10 or is that because of what you teach being welding is something that I'm sure needs over >> uh yes so I mean if you're talking all classes that are extras >> so if you're talking about the CP program our metals manufacturing lab uh mostly due to safety concerns um I don't have a regular parentally it's just me in the class if we had a student who through their IEP or through whatever determines they
115need a one-on-one. That's really the only other time I have any assistance in there. So, it's me supervising 14 students with blades and bills and >> which is very >> and I think I have one of the greatest jobs in the world. So, uh, when you're talking about students who are enrolled in our electives and our our, um, our other programs, uh, we have full. So, I hope that answers some of your questions. U, I'm more than happy to talk to anybody who has any questions about what it is that we >> You have a full vote and you're teaching life skills and I congratulate you on that. This is exactly what we should be doing. Can you or anyone else give us an example of one of those classes that has five people? >>
116Not off the top of my head. I couldn't tell you. I don't get out of my uh my corner very often. >> I I couldn't Well, I heard I kind of shut down after you said real life skills because I think that's pretty insulting to the other teachers who are not teaching fact manufacturing classes. >> Lot of respect for manufacturing. >> As do I. But I also have respect for people who teach art and music and physical education. question is you said we have smaller classes five six maybe I'm asking you can you give me some examples of those classes that have class sizes that small >> sure uh there's some science classes probably that have small numbers I know some of our art classes have small numbers especially when you get into the higher
117level classes where they're where they're taking classes like you know studio art 4 um a lot of times what we do though is exactly what Mr. Housesh said which is we combine courses so he he'll run a manufacturing course so it's two different levels and so times where we take and we'll even put three classes together so it might be a class of three a class of three and a class of three so in total there might be nine students in the class but they're technically all taking different classes doesn't happen all the time but we do that when it's when it's uh when it's feasible >> do you have a register for look at that has each class and all the students in those classes >> the information can be requested. >> I'm requesting
118right now. >> You you send me an email and just you can send me an email and I'd be happy to provide it for you. >> And and quickly you can go on your website which I was when I was doing here that you guys do give an a list of um under the science under the English under CTE um all the different options and classes that the kids can take. I don't know if it's the full one but it's it could it could add up to it could add up to it. But I understand the class size part of it. But it is nice to have that information of what the kids um for the kids to get. >> Okay. Thank you. Um is there anybody else in the Go ahead. >> Good evening.
119My name is David Saul. I live in here. I thank the board for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. We live in a time of extraordinary financial pressures. Home heating fuel is more expensive than diesel. Gas is four to five bucks a gallon. It's increasing weekly at this point. Food prices rise almost as quickly and insurance costs have doubled. Now the property taxes are following the same trend primarily driven by education costs. We need to find a way to compromise. I praise our new town council as they went through the town budget line by line and reduced the town request. But unfortunately, we are once again kicking the can down the road. First and foremost, we are a community. All members of the community must be heard, respected, and supported. I will point out
120that 53% of our community is over 50 years of age. About 38% are over 55. Many are retired and on fixed incomes. My tax liability has increased 21% over the last three years and unfortunately at an increasing rate each year and others in town have experienced even greater tax increases. This will result some of our senior citizens having to leave their homes where they have lived for decades. Honestly, I cannot vote for a budget that hurts and that toneless. I thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? Anybody online? >> Uh, Terry Terry. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Terry McManis, 169 North Street. Our discussions here tonight. I just want to point out, we we've talked about the repairs of the uh ball fields. There was a bond issue attempted to
121be passed years ago to do that, and it was defeated. And yet Ram has decided to use these special funds, these savings accounts, and they will have those ball fields repaired. I question this as is this really what we should be doing after the taxpayers have uh spoken. And Colum, I wish I I am really glad that I'm I'm not you because there are hard decisions to be made. An RIF is one of the worst things for an employee to live through. I hear you. I understand you. Making the decision on who to let go is tough. Earlier in the year, I suggested a freeze. I lived through both situations in different companies and I'll guarantee you that when you ask your employees to make s shared sacrifice, you'll be surprised by what they come
122up with. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the board. >> Thank you. >> So, Mr. Mr. McManus, I know you didn't ask a question, but I just want to point out that the referendum that you're referring to was to, I believe, uh, put turf, lights, and new bleachers on the competition field. That work has not been done with any of the non-lapsing account funds. We've improved the turf. We've improved the quality of the grass by doing work because the referendum failed. Um, so that's the the work that we've had done to the athletic fields is not the work that didn't pass the referendum back in 2022, I believe, is what is the year. >> I I understand what you're saying. I I understand what you're saying, Colin, but in the uh this very
123hearing in 2022, I asked the acting superintendent what the intention of these funds were for after the bond issue uh was defeated. And essentially I said so the taxpayers have said they don't want this work done and the superintendent replied we're going to do it anyways in so many words. I your distinction is well noted and I don't disagree with that but the point is what is important to the community staying in our homes or taking care of lawns. Thank you madam chair. Everything online? Oh, good. >> Oh, there's two more. >> I think you have a couple others. >> Kimberly, >> Kimry Bos and Amston, I just had a question. The athletic director was just hired this year. Correct. >> Correct. >> Um, why was she not hired at the rate that you say
124she should have been? >> Because there's a contract in place and I can't just make up salaries. But you you made that contract with her, correct? >> No, it's the contract is negotiated between the board of education and the uh administrative bargaining unit. >> And they didn't feel that she should be at the rate that she's going to be at. >> The contract, so the salary for this year had already been established a couple of years ago. But if it wasn't a contract with her, >> it's No, it's it's a it's a it's a contract with a bargaining unit with the union. >> And so >> correct. So so so it's it's it's building administrators, athletic director, director instruction, special ed administrators. Correct. >> So now over the next three years, she'll continue to get
125raises is what you're saying. >> Correct. As will other people in the district. I mean, it's negotiated negotiated increases. >> But what what got her this this large increase this year is what I'm saying. >> Her her salary was well below the market. Like I don't have the data in front of me, but substantially low >> and our previous athletic director was not >> it was >> he left the position to get a job where he's making substantially more money. >> Gotcha. Okay, thank you. Um, Keith, >> hi Keith Pettit, 92 Colchester Road, Hebrin. Um, I'm on a number of different things, but I'm speaking as an individual and specific to the athletic director topic. Um yeah, I I had some of the same kind of concerns, you know, um normally and and maybe that's
126something that the board should look forward to in future contract negotiations is that employment contracts with large groups of employees should have salary ranges that apply to titles so that individual contracts can be negotiated and you're not locked into things like that. But your answer also kind of raises the question of okay so you're doing a salary adjustment over the next three years. So there was a contract amendment to that employment agreement for the entire administrator's contract that addresses specifically an increase for one title over the course of three years. Um it I mean I guess that's one way to do it. Uh it's not a way that I've heard of before. Um and additionally like bringing someone up to market specs. I mean this person accepted the job with the understanding that you know
127the pay was at a certain level and whether it may or may not be contingent on certain things being renegotiated at a later time the person accepted the job. um saying that an employee is, you know, operating at a certain level. I also would ask if that level is being realized by the board. Uh I know that there's a lot of parents out there that have made comments. There have been a couple of incidents. Um, I know that the girls volleyball team did exceptionally well this year, but has the athletic director in their current tenure had any other positive influence on other sports teams standing statewide or positive influence where parents have come to the administration and said, "This is a fantastic fit for our organization." If you could just comment on that. >> What
128What would you like me to comment on, Keith? why you think this person needs to be raised up to the market rate and I guess just a little more intricacies of how you're doing that with your current contract obligations. >> Well, it's it's not it's I think you use the term amendment to a contract. It wasn't an amendment to a contract. The the the current contract is a three-year contract that ends at the conclusion of this current school year. So that we negotiated a new three-year contract that starts next year. So it's a it's a new contract. What I would say to you is it's not when you negotiate contracts with bargaining units, you don't do it for people in the position. You do it for the position itself. you just as I said earlier,
129I I advocated for and worked very collaboratively with um the board and uh we made a market adjustment for um our RAM teachers. We made a market adjustment for people who are in coaching roles because again they were woefully underpaid when you compared their salaries to the market. Um, but I didn't look at the performance of individual coaches and say,"Hey, you're doing really great, so I'm going to give you this much money." Or I didn't say to certain teachers, "Hey, I really like you, so I'm and you're doing a great job, so I'm going to give you this much money." You you negotiate based off of the position. And that's the same tact that we took with the athletic director. It's not for an an individual. It's for the position of athletic director. >> But
130I think you'll agree that it is negotiated in a salary range. Not all of your teachers are paid the same amount. It depends on years of service, education level, other contributing factors. Um the same would be said of any administrative position. And if you look at any other employment contracts that are, you know, not specific to an individual person, they are negotiated salary ranges. And then your board would set the budget within that range. >> It's usually not a range. It's usually steps. And the administrator's contract does not have any steps for the administrative positions. and they'd have >> I would recommend that your board look into amending that for future, you know, flexibility. >> Just so you understand, it's not something that we as a district or the board or myself as the administration
131can just do without like the the the union has to be agreeable to it in the negotiations process. I I can't just arbitrarily or the board just can't arbitrarily insert steps into a contract just as we couldn't take away steps from a teachers contract. It's it's all part of the negotiation process. But I appreciate your perspective. >> Can I comment on that? >> Absolutely. Um, you know, you question Keith whether or not there have been people who have come to us to say that they're happy with the AD and the performance there. Um, you know, we all most of us saw that there was um a lot of discussion about the AD and the board did evaluate Dr. McNamera's handling of that situation and you know we were in agreement that it was handled well
132and one of the biggest things that came to me was there was an awful lot of people who did step forward and write emails and communicate that they were very happy with the ad. Um, and it, you know, you don't hear that as much because you seem to just hear the people who are angry and mad, but the people who are happy are a little reticent to to speak publicly. And we definitely saw that happen during in the conversations about the new ad. >> That's good to hear. Thank you. >> Uh, Terry Madam Chair, just um for clarification, there's been a some discussion or about market rate and I think I understand you're looking to get the best teachers that you can into the system and that's laudable, but the market has to bear the
133rate. And so by comparing ourselves to other markets without comparing ourselves to the to their ability to pay I think is specious in attempting to figure out how much he or Graham district can afford those teachers market rate really doesn't fit into this although I do understand the dilemma but can we pay for what other towns wealth can pay for. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> The heat. >> Thank you, Terry. Um, >> yes. Can you You have to come up here so people online can hear you. >> Jordan from West Street. I just have a quick question about the Columbia kids. It's just my lack of understanding. Hopefully clarify. Do we have uh the right to refusal of students? Because I know how some students cost more than others, right? And I know from our
134board finance or town meeting like they're you $15,000 per student we get >> approximately. >> Yeah. So just curious, is there a right to refuse this? >> Well, we wouldn't want to put ourselves into a situation where we could ever be where we'd ever want to be doing something that potentially could be discriminatory. So it I wouldn't be in a situation where we'd say somebody who meets the criteria and what what the criteria is um what the criteria has been is you know we're allowing students who are freshman or new to Colombia like so if somebody moves in from out of state and they come into Colombia they have to choose a high school um so they're new coming into the district they have to choose high school again so we're allowing freshmen to come
135in we're not letting kids come in who are who are seniors who chose was Eio Smith and you know say you know two or three years into it hey I really don't like Eio Smith I'm coming here. So that's that's >> if we were if we were in a situation where I was saying no I don't want you because you're going to cost us too much money then I'm going to be discriminated against student that would do that. What we do though is we do have additional fees on top of what we the $15,000 approximately is what we call the base tuition for students. if students are coming in with any identified special education needs where they're getting services any types of you know services through special education counseling um working with a school psychologist
136working with a a board certified behavior analysis analyst there's additional fees that they are that the district that Colombia is charged so the 15,000 and change is the base tuition and then if there are additional costs associated with that student then we charge additionally to Colombia so they pay extra. >> I'm nervous about bringing in other other towns as a Cuban res specifically because we have the highest mill rate. >> Like in the short term, I don't think it makes that much of a difference. But in the long term, if someone's coming in because they like Ram as a school, any, you know, fiscally minded person would pick even last. You know, no rates the highest again. think I'm going to get discount in Columbia or Bland or which is going to be last on
137the list. So, I'm hoping you consider that when you're looking at uh the towns that you're bringing other students in that you're really going to put us at at the end of the list and I hope it doesn't affect house prices or leave our houses at the market longer. You know, just may not affect today, but long term if there's all these other options, you know, I'm just worried about in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there anybody else that would >> just state your name and and the town you're from, please. >> My name is Beth Fitzgerald and I'm from Head list of names. Anthony Bambber, Laura Gretzner, Peter Braglio, Eric Bre, Matt Breglio, Britney Fowler, Ryan Cummings, Nicole Bambber, and Kristen Selene. These are all doctors, veterinarians, or MGPHDs. Dan
138Jordan, Erin Duffy, Alli Rudolph, Diane Coffee are all PhDs. They all went to RAM. I have always been grateful that my kids went to RAM. We had our ups and downs. There's definitely um it's school, right? They don't like it, they like it. But my five kids got a great education. RAM does a great job with um not a lot of resources and not a lot of money spent on it. Heather, I owe you an apology. I um thought that you didn't come to the meeting in March. Um I just thought you were avoiding it. So I am sorry about that. I think that people thought that and that was a a really um unfair perception. I am disappointed in voices. I thought voices could be a really great thing except that um you wrote
139me really quick. Um we are being sto Why are they always stealing from us? It's fun to say why are they stealing but when you put the people on the board of ed category as three people who have been arrested and charged with crimes who are way out of line. I can't trust anything you write or say because it's not really accurate, is it? That's not fair. The board of advice has a really hard job. They have not a lot of resources. And our educational system is set up so that we pit our elementary school against our high school. She wants the um when your kids are little and cute, everybody's mom and dad goes in and volunteers in the classroom. When they get to high school physics, nobody's mother. There are small classes because
140our really great kids who have done really well all along now get to French five or trigonometry or AP government. And there's only five kids that are interested, but we need this so that our kids are competitive when they go out into the world. My own child had to teach herself AP government all by herself. No big deal. She did it. They can all do these things, but we have the resources and the ability. A few years ago, we had a park project and people were all excited about the park. We're going to vote for the parks. We're gonna get everybody we know to work on the parks. And guess what? We have a park. Then we have a field initiative. And unfortunately, the field initiative failed. It would have been great to have a
141turf field and lights and all the things that help enhance our facilities. We don't have that. And now I see sometimes people are like, "Well, I got mine, so I'm moving on." I chaired the RAM building committee a million years ago. And it failed the first time, it passed the second time. We have a great facility, but we have to maintain it. And that's going to be another thing. It's more than 20 years old. More than a thousand kids use it every year. So, we have to work with what we have. And it's a little tiny, but it budget and the whole thing. It seems really huge. I I think perhaps the best thing to do would be to combine K to 12 all three towns, and we'd save some money there and we would
142be pitting ourselves against each other. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> Just a couple follow-ups. >> Sure. >> Thank you. Appreciate the extra time. Um, so regarding that, right, you question on bringing folks to market like totally commendable that we want to bring great teachers in, but you're comparing markets. Ram is unique, right? six through 12 and there is that pitting of our elementary schools against our middle and high schools. So are you comparing apples to apples when you're looking at a 6 through 12 organization versus a K through 12? >> I don't believe that I am because um in a traditional K to2 school district the salary rates whether you like there's a delineation there's not a delineation with regards to teachers. So teachers, if you're an elementary school teacher in
143Colchester and you have a master's degree and 12 years of experience, you're making as much money as a secondary school teacher, middle school or high school teacher who has a similar education and similar experience. So um it's it's not that's they don't delineate by what grade you teach or what content you teach. When you look at what do you >> the reason I ask is if you look at other towns that have a full program full K through 12 their costs per student um prior to administrative overhead ad is in line with what RAM is spending for just K through 12. So you would think that given the the less capacity it would result in a reduced cost structure, but our surrounding towns are paying the same or less at K through 12 versus 6
144through 12. So it's just interesting. >> Yeah, I can't remember what I follow. So thank you. >> Anyone else? Anybody online is finished? Thank you very much for coming out. Um, we appreciate your comments. Um, and with that, we have a motion. >> Is it too late? Aaron Edber and other Connecticut. >> Uh, sure. Go ahead. >> Yeah. So, I I have several concerns. Um, I appreciate the person that said the board is, you know, up against the wall and um it's a struggle and but as far as I'm concerned, uh, they are a bunch of yesmen that work for the superintendent. Um, and I'm questioning why Dr. Sherusi wasn't made the superintendent. Uh, but that's neither here nor there. My understanding is that uh rumor has it that Colin was escorted in by some
145uh board member's friend who every time for his interview who was dressed in fatigues or a member of the military or uh >> Michaelhoffer told me uh that he was grossly underpaid and that uh the um EVA and Tom went to the board and got him a raise like instantly overnight. Um, I'm questioning the the level of growth in pay between teachers and administrators versus uh the number of students that have gone to the school over the years or the growth of those students um that number of students. Uh it seems like the um maintenance and facilities staff have pretty much stated a stagnant pay and the same number of staff and there's been really no growth there. Um, it seems like the union is in bed with the school district. It seems like uh
146the administrators have their own separate bargaining unit, which is very confusing to most people. Perhaps you guys could expand on that. Um, that that's it. >> Did you have a specific question? >> Sure. Uh, did you uh have the um outside maintenance person paint a helicopter landing pad and take a helicopter flight on taxpayers dime? Uh, I mean there's a bunch of questions. I don't know. I could go on for hours, but we'll talk at the next meeting. Um, we were fortunate enough to have a member of the community who is a helicopter pilot and a helicopter owner come in uh and fly into the district, land his helicopter on one of our practice fields. And so, yes, we painted a an area so that he knew where to land his helicopter safely. >> Did
147you take a flight? >> It was for It was for our students. We We have an aeronautics um class at the high school and so >> that's wonderful. Did you join that flight? >> I did. It was really fun. >> Wow. That's awesome. On taxpayers dime. Like this is what we're paying for. >> We didn't pay for it. >> It was a donation. I wouldn't >> Well, no. We're paying his We're paying his uh salary though, right? We're paying his Any other time? I'll be at the next. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Okay, we will Do we have a motion to adjourn? >> No. >> Do we have We're to adjourn this meeting. >> So move. >> I'll second. >> That was Rudy. Um and then the second was >> whatever >> Mike Bolier.
148No, Sky. Give it to Scott. >> Thank you very much for coming, everybody.