001Roman Marro Scotty Scotty Andover Summer. All right, we'll stand up for the pledge of 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. All right. So, next we have public comments. He Andover Marvel community engagement and attendance at board public meetings is welcomed. The public comment segment of the meeting agenda is set aside so the board may receive public comments. Procedurally public remarks will be limited to three minutes and citizens will be asked to identify themselves. Because the board is limited by the Freedom of Information Act to discussing only matters on the agenda, the board is not permitted to engage in a discussion of the comments presented. Is there anybody in person that like to
002make public comment? None. Anybody online? No, I don't have any. Great. Oh. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Uh, I apologize. Um, there is I I sent an email to the board earlier today. We do have an agenda item that needs to be added. Thank you for keeping me honest. Um, if you want to just read the motion. Yep. Uh, do I have a motion to add agenda item 10.5F policy 5470 wellness policy to the current agenda under new and unfinished business 10.5 first read policies? So move second. Make first second. Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. That's unanimous. Wonderful. Awesome. Oliver, please. Thank you. Appreciate that. So, May big month. Um, so much happenings. Um, you know, honestly, it's hard to pick something to start with, but I'm going to start with our honors breakfast.
003Um, tomorrow morning 11. Um after school on Wednesday we have our senior group of central we have autom and then the following day we have our general and then Friday this year starting off first time with that every day of the week. you know, there's something going on. Um, and then Monday is Memorial Day. So, the next one to that and further we have seniors walking on to school is it's great. So we'll have friends in kindergarten for college graduating and then um next Thursday on the 29th and then the last thing that was seniors college you know first college decision day I know a lot of people who are you know it's just so cool to alongside you and break like you're going to college or going somewhere else. Um it's just it's just
004a really great experience um to you know be a part of finally going home somewhere. So this is my final board meeting. I'm very sad but I just have some final words. I want to talk to the board and you know everybody's present. So tonight is very bittersw week for me. Serving on the board these past two years has been one of the most wonderful and eye opening experiences at my time at random. Not only have I learned about like policy and decision making that goes on and everything that does and you know in this big and the subsequ blows my mind. Um, but it also taught me what it means to be a voice of the people. You know, I'm the voice of my senior class and you know, the upper uh classman along
005with it's so it's mindboggling to me how I got here. It's uh I really, you know, incredible. Last year I was taught by a previous board representative AA and felt you know amazed by pre her contributions and the contributions board. This year I've had the honor of helping you know teach um board members which were lucky enough by our chairperson you know to add our middle school representative that it's just it's crazy to me you know how you know how well everybody's done and you know being a leader that it's amazing. Um and to the students watching and to you know anybody who's online um please keep speaking up. Our voices are powerful regardless you know as you think one voice is not powerful enough but together you really make a big impact. I've been
006lucky enough to take part in great programs such as Miss Me's curriculum instruction day. you know, really seeing the foundation of our classrooms and the instructional framework is, you know, it's it's eye opening, but it's really you see the time and the effort that the teachers and administration puts in and, you know, it gives you a newound appreciation for the due date they have. I'm sad that this chapter of my life is is closing, but I'm very proud of everything that both myself and the board and the students have brought, you know, um, to the table. I would like to thank the board for members who put in the time, put in the effort both at these meetings and the subcommittees. You know, I see you guys do so much on a daily basis and
007it's it's really incredible. Um, I'd like to thank the administration for their faith in me when they make I'm incredibly grateful for it and for the community for their support and everything. Um, thank you for letting me be part of something bigger than just myself. And for my final remark, I'd like everybody to applaud the board for their hard work and the effort they do every day. Thank you. [Applause] Yeah. Good. So, Oliver, we appreciate all your words and we're excited for you. I know that you said uh this chapter of your life is closing, but you have so many more exciting chapters in front of you. Um I'm quite envious of the position you're in. I had those many chapters left in front of me. Uh I do want to just give you a
008small gift as a token of our appreciation on behalf of the board, myself, the administration. It's just a little note and a little uh some RAM swag for you to bring to Yukon. And then we always want to make sure that we uh at the end of the meeting to this with you because you know you proud of I'll I'll have my report uh comments. I do have a couple of other things that I just want to highlight. I know we have a lot of people here and we want to get to the to the students that are here being recognized this evening for for a multitude of reasons. I do want to just make sure that this is our first public meeting since our board uh budget passed which I'm super excited about. I'm
009very excited. I appreciate the board's support of the administration and the staff through the budgeting process. Um the development of the budget is a lengthy process. It involves so many different people. Um, I I would be remiss if I didn't mention a few, but I know that I can't mention all of them. I want to first and foremost um point out uh Eva and all of the work that she does, her business office does, the central office team does because it is a flurry of activity in the months leading up to the budget being presented to the to the board and to the to the public. Um, and and they just do so much work. Um, I I jokingly said we get to relax now for the next four months, but it actually starts back
010up again in October, which is scary to think about. But again, I'm very excited about the budget passing. Um, and I appreciate everybody who was involved in the process, all the work that they put into it. Um, just again, a couple of things I want to highlight. Um, the week of May 9th to I'm sorry, the 5th to the 9th, we celebrated staff appreciation week. Uh, we had a lot of different activities going on. We had we had a lot of food. I remember last uh last board meeting we talked about how we've been working on a climate and culture in the district and a lot of it revolved around food and that was there was no exception to that during staff appreciation week. Uh we had lunches, we had staff giveaways, we had coffee
011carts, uh we had lots of more food. Uh we did have to delay having the Kona ice truck which was scheduled for Friday of that week to come and actually park outside of the middle school and serve uh uh chipped ice and and smoothies to our staff. But they came today. We canceled it on the day of the during the week because the weather was just cruddy and who wants to eat uh a cold ice on a day when it's 30 degrees in May. So, we didn't do it that week. Um but again, it was just a small token of the appreciation we have for all of our staff and we appreciate that the work that they do each and every day for the students and the uh community of RAM. Um there there's we
012are and Oliver noted this, we are heading into what I would consider to be the busy season of the school year. We have a lot of end of the year trips, a lot of end of the year activities, a lot of the end of the year awards ceremonies. Um, the the thing that I I try to remember to say at this point in the year and and I say it to people like Oliver and the rest of his senior class, but I want to say it to all of our students because even as adults, we see this weather turn and we start to get excited and celebrate the summer that's coming up. And we want to have that excitement and we want to have that celebration. But I always want to caution our students to
013make good decisions when we go into those celebrations because there are lots of opportunities for dancing and and celebrations and parties, but we do want to make sure that our students are all making good decisions um and don't make a decision that can have a negative impact on all of those chapters that they have in front of them. So um just a word of caution that I always give uh to people. Uh the last thing that I'll mention before we move on is just uh in front of all the board members seats is the latest edition of the Rambler, the high school uh magazine that is put out uh by our um uh journalism class. So please take that and enjoy it. It's the last edition for the school year. Um and that concludes my
014report of the superintendent and then we go right into the uh student program spotlight. So uh love to see this many people here. or something tells me you're not here for the financial reports. So, we're going to get to the exciting part of the meeting and why you're all here. We do have two things that we're actually highlighting in today's super uh the student program spotlight. Um the first one that we're going to do is we are going to recognize the recipients of this year's CAB student leadership awards for both Ram Middle School and Ram High School. And we're at this time I'm going to start off by introducing Dr. Michael Serusi, the principal of Ram Middle School, who is going to introduce and say a few things about our middle school student leadership award
015uh award recipients clear. Where's CL? So the one too um the cave student leadership award is given each year to two seventh graders that basically demonstrate outstanding skills in the areas of academics along with leadership. These are students that are willing to take on challenges, capable of making difficult decisions, have consume concern for others, etc., etc. This year's recipient is is from gold, one of them is from gold team. Claire Claire Sept is an outstanding student on the seventh grade gold team. Her favorite subjects are science and algebra 1. I applaud her for that. Outside of school, she started playing soccer at the age of seven on the RAM wreck team and then the year round comp team. Most recently, she played on a middle school seventh and eighth grade girls soccer team. In the
016winter, she loves to ski with her two sisters, their family on their family's annual trips to Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Maine. Um, this year, she also participated in the Ram Ski Club. Claire is an avid reader who enjoys art and painting, walking her dog, and exercising her green thumb. The gold team teacher stated that Clare is an inquisitive and proactive learner with a strong, positive attitude. She approaches every class with preparation and enthusiasm, eager to explore new concepts and ideas. Claire thrives in team environments and is always contributes to a positive atmosphere. Claire is a valued peer and role model in all of her classes. Congratulations, Claire. Adeline Gutierrez is a seventh grade high honor student on the red team. The red team teacher stated that Adeline has consistently achieved high honors throughout her time at
017Rand Middle School, demonstrating her dedication to academic excellence. She cheerfully contributes every class and always willing to work with others. Adeline's dedication, perseverance, kindness, and passion make her an exceptional student and a valued member of the RAM community. Beyond the classroom, Adeline is an athlete, musician, and artist. Her hobbies include reading and crocheting stuffed animals, which she particularly enjoys because each new project brings on different obstacles to tackle. She loves playing sports, especially volleyball, tennis, and soccer. This past fall, she was on the middle school soccer team, as well as on the town rec. In addition to her achievements on the field, Ellen is a talented alto saxoponist who plays in both concert and jazz bands. As a member of the math club, she participated in a number of competitions this year. At the regional
018meet, Adeline placed 16th out of 105 middle schoolers in the regional math competition. Education is extremely important to Adeline, and her goal is to one day study neuroscience in college. Congratulations. So, we have certificates and letters for both Evelyn and Claire that just are from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. The letter describes the award. So, we'll have Dr. Prisel come up and uh introduce our high school recipients now. Good evening. I'm going to start first with Trevor. So Trevor, would you like to come up and join me? He's very well dressed this evening showing off. So Trevor Hooker was chosen for the Cab Student Leadership Award this year because his leadership and dedication will leave a lasting impact on our school community through his involvement in various activities including future problem solvers solvers
019rack trial varsity boys tennis and national honor society to just name a you. Trevor has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence as class treasurer, voice of RAM, and a member of the school culture committee, the principal's advisory, and the district strategic planning committee. Trevor has taken on leadership roles that require not only hard work, but also the ability to collaborate with others and serve the needs of the community. Trevor has balanced these responsibilities with grace, always showing a deep care for others, a clear understanding of complex issues and the diplomacy necessary to foster a positive environment. His ability to commit time and energy to each project, honor commitments, and work toward common goals has earned both peers and teachers admiration and respect. So, it is with great pride that we present this leadership award
020to Trevor Hooker. Would parents like to come up and take a picture? Maybe. Who do you want to do at the end? We do pictures for that. Do everybody at the end. Okay. Pictures for the end. All right. And now for Eliza. Would you like to come on up? Mom's got the camera going. I should get Trevor. So, I'm proud to introduce Eliza Rammy, our Cape Student Leadership Award recipient and a senior whose leadership and dedication will leave a memorable mark on our school community. Throughout her high school career, Eliza has demonstrated a remarkable willingness to take on challenges and responsibilities. Whether leading her peers in Model UN, participating in Drama United productions, serving as a committed leader on the Varsity Nighthawks ice hockey team, or contributing to the Andover Advisory Committee, Eliza has continuously
021shown the capability to manage challenging situations and bring people together. In addition to her numerous extracurricular commitments, Eliza has demonstrated exceptional academic achievement, ranking in the top five of the senior class. Her intellectual curiosity is evident in her rigorous coursework, having taken nine advanced placement and two early college experience classes. This academic excellence is paired with her role as an afterchool tutor tutor where she dedicates her time and expertise to help fellow students succeed. Beyond her academic and extracurricular commitments, Eliza has a black belt in karate. Watch out. um which speaks to her discipline and perseverance. For all these reasons and more, we are thrilled to present Eliza Arammy with this award. [Applause] Now, would we like everybody? Yeah. Can we get any student recipients to come on up and pose for your family pictures?
022Why did all our student recipients come up? It feels like another a picture of the board. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. We get board members come on up and sorry guys, you're very popular. No, no, no. Students students not Thank you everybody. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you guys so much for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Is that your Yes. Oh, okay. That too. Loves coffee, loves water. Pick you up and then pick you down. So, we will transition into the second student program spotlight that we're going to discuss tonight. So for our second one, um I I really had the the great pleasure of um sitting in on some senior portfolio presentations this year. Um Mr. Rammy and Miss Cody gave me some dates and said, "Here's where we are
023we're going to be doing them." And I was able to sit in on some and it was really just a a great opportunity to hear some students stories about their time in RAM and some of the um some of the ways that they are demonstrating and have acquired their skill the skills and dispositions of a RAM graduate. So, I said to both Erin um and and Jen after this happened, I said, I'd love to love to have this be highlighted at the board. So, first and foremost, I appreciate you guys coming to the board meeting this evening. I know being at a board meeting on a beautiful spring night probably isn't the most exciting place in the world to be, but this is great. We so appreciate you being here. Um, and it is an
024experience that actually all of our RAM students go through is doing the presentation of their portfolio. Um, so at this time I'm going to invite uh Jenna Rammy and Aaron Cody to come up to the podium a little bit and talk about it. And then we have some student presentations who are going to students who are going to present for us. Hi, my name is Jenna Rammy. I'm an English teacher at Ram High School and I'm one of the co-organizers of the portfolio. Um, so we had a previous portfolio. The students would just answer questions and submit it and it it seemed pretty meaningless. The kids believe that you couldn't fail your portfolio and did almost nothing. So we revamped it. Administration. Uh, we got together and talked about how we could make it meaningful
025using our skills and dispositions of communication, critical thinking, collaboration, motivation, and integrity. We had questions that the students had to answer to show how they've learned these skills at RAM. We wanted them to stand. You have the next slide. Uh we wanted them to present it in front of people to take pride in what they've learned at RAM. Um so we use those questions to to guide them. Um and they could also talk about their experiences in RAM and also outside through sports, jobs, any experiences they have. They also get to tell us where they're going afterwards. So for the teachers, I get to see some of the students beyond just the English classroom and it's absolutely wonderful. Um hopefully next year we'll be able to invite the board members and we're hoping to also
026invite the middle school teachers so they can see where the kids are going. Yeah. And just some of the positives that um we've gotten from staff feedback. Um, you know, it it's really fun for especially the freshman and sophomore teachers to see where these kids end up by senior year. Um, there's so much growth that happens. Um, and you know, we only get them for 47 minutes a day. Um, and to see how they shine outside of just our classrooms is really amazing. Um, we also have them present in really small groups, so it's a more intimate setting. Um, and they really take ownership um, of their presentations. All of the kids take it really seriously. Um, and they want to do well. Um, and they're also really supportive of one another. Um, I think
027it's powerful for them to be able to stand up and be proud of all of the accomplishments that they've made um, throughout their high school experience. Um, so at this time, we'd like to have our student representatives come on up. Um, well, first Jason, you want to come on up, Jason? This is Jason Churchill. [Music] So, I'm Jason Churchill. This is my uh portfolio that I did for the well, for the portfolio, I guess. Okay. Um, so I had to cut down a couple of my things because I talked for a very very long time. So, um, I'm going to have a shorter presentation slides wise, but hopefully I can talk for a lot more. Um, but one of the main things I focused on was critical thinking. Um, a lot of the critical thinking
028stuff is like hard to pick a topic for or pick like a thing for, I guess. So, I decided to go for my house design that I did in my architecture class last year. Um, that's not a great picture. So, I decided to actually bring in the design. This is the not the finished design. Um, the picture I do believe the picture is the finished design. That one I had to make a couple adjustments to um because I didn't actually like I didn't fully think about uh things like window placement or uh like door placement. The whole top floor I had to redesign. Um, and like if you look on the model, there's a couple of windows that are covered up by a roof partially. Um, but I feel like, you know, I had to
029I had to use quite a bit of critical thinking in order to actually put everything where it needed to be. Uh, communication. Uh, this is the presentation I did on Audi Murphy. He was one of the He was the most dedic uh dedicated decorated World War I um soldier and or World War II soldier, my apologies. And I was supposed to speak for about five minutes. This wasn't a class this year. This was in my um themes and literature communications class with Miss Gavin and Mr. Condan. This is the only reason that I'm actually able to speak like this for a presentation properly. It's because they um they like really really helped me through it and taught me through it and the class helped me actually like be confident in my own presenting. Um I
030was supposed it was supposed to be for about five minutes. I went for a lot longer. I feel like it's not the best slide but I or the best presentation that I had but I used um the better ones for a later one which I think is the next one. Uh yeah. So motivation for this one I used two different um is it two different presentations that I did. Um the first one I'm going to start with the one that I did um earliest in the school year or in my school career which is my wonder presentation. I did it in Miss Coffey's class 10th grade. Um the reason I was very very motivated for this presentation because I I knew something about it. I was very interested in it. I'm very very good at
031latching on to something that I actually find interesting for a presentation. It helps me present better. Um, and the other one is my Ruby Ridge case presentation. Um, it was supposed to be about an 8minute presentation about a court case. So, I talked for about 15 minutes about not the court case, about the thing that happened before it because I was really really interested in this and I really really liked talking about this. Uh, and then I talked for another, I think, five to 10 minutes about the actual court case that h that happened after the incident. Um, we can go on to the next one. Uh, my personal accomplishments is in the beginning of the school year, I got my own welding equipment. I helped a close family friend. It's not all the stuff
032that I want, but it was a great start and it helped me get my own welding job, which is also up there. Um, I couldn't get a picture of it because it's uh like half an hour from here and I didn't exactly have the time to run down and get a picture in time to like turn this in, I guess. Um, but I did I did the job almost entirely on my own. All that I did was the only help that I had was I had my grandpa up there so I wouldn't like kill myself with it on accident. Um, or like if I hurt myself, I'd be able to like, you know, get help instead of having to run down to the house. Um, and I set up my own invoice for the person
033because it was another close family member that wanted help with it. So, I uh and he wanted me to set set up my own invoice so I'd have like experience with it. So, when I started doing jobs when I was older, I need to actually do the tax part of it. Um, and so I could have my own records for everything. I had I set it up um by myself and then hand it in to him. And then uh my impact the impact of RAM itself on my post high school plans or the YPI class has helped a lot. Um not yet it's going to help a lot. Um it's a pipeline class which is basically we learn all of the um like all of the stuff I guess all of the safety standards, how
034to use all the tools properly um and how to like work properly in a bit like business setting I guess specifically but specifically for manufacturing. Uh it's taught by Mr. Hannish who is um was also my welding three teacher. Um the first welding teacher that I had um wasn't the best I would say for it. But Mr. Hannish really really taught me like actually taught me how to use the tools properly, how to weld properly, the science behind it rather than just saying here have some metal stick it together. Um I also want to put up for um a teacher that like helped influence me um is there's a couple uh would be like Mr. Paluso is always a great teacher. He um was in my uh he helped me through the um Nazis and
035fascism communism class, which sounds horrible when you say it out loud, but he's the one that taught me through it or that taught it. Uh he was he's a great teacher. He's really really fun, but also like wants you to get the work done and will get you like have you get the work done, but he's a fun teacher as long as you don't screw around and annoy him. Um, and then I don't know how much longer I've been up here for, but uh, what was it? And then Miss Gavin, Mr. Conan of course again helped me actually present like this. I think it's my last slide. Well, yeah, I will gladly answer any questions if I have the time for it at all. Why don't we have um both presentations happen and then we
036can do questions at the end. Would that work? You okay with that? Great, Jason. That was fantastic. [Applause] And then up next we have Emma Bernier. Hi everyone. My name is Emma Bernier and this is my senior portfolio. All right. So for critical thinking, I used um an essay from AP Lang last year and it was all about like whether we would identify ourselves as a transcendentalist or not. And so before the assignment, we were given like a lot of other little assignments and like there was outside journaling and everything. We didn't know where it was like leading up to. Um, and then we had to use critical thinking to reflect on all of those assignments once we got like the argument assignment to see like where your views all came from and you had
037to like dig through your own work. So like I used like we did outside journaling and I said that these bugs were annoying me. So I used that to like help um take my stance on not identifying myself as a transcendentalist. Um yeah so for communication I was asked by Dr. Bris Gale to be part of the RAM strategic planning committee last year also as a student voice along with two other students and with it being like a very diverse group um administration, teachers, students, parents and board of ed members um we had to all like work together, communicate properly with like some controversial topics, delicate topics and I like had to listen to other people's views and be able to respectfully share my own. So that was just um a big communication moment I
038guess for motivation in Yukon English this year. I got a 90 on my habits of mind essay which is an essay that we did and normally other kids would be like great 90 like that's awesome I'm so excited but since the class like focused a lot on the process of assignments rather than just getting your final grade we're all given the opportunity to rewrite our essays and like get more credit if we chose to. So, it was most people get a 90 and think like that's fine, but I was motivated to look at the comments that Miss Clifton left me and like revise it to get full credit on my essay. For collaboration, cheer is probably one of the only sports, one of the only like team sports I know that you have to rely
039on each individual person to um perform well with like no substitutes or backups or anything. And like with that means collaboration's especially important to be safe and to just put on a good routine. Like you're stunting and you have like girls that you're holding in the air. So you have to like put differences aside and work together for everything and everyone on the mat has to like all hold their own weight for everything to go smoothly. So we had to collaborate a lot on that integrity. I am a part or was I guess it's kind of over a part of our power of words ceremony which I've shown um honesty, integrity and empathy while teaching like the underassman how their actions affect others and how they can help make a positive impact on others like
040in this ceremony and by volunteering to be a part of this or like event I guess um I have to stand by my word like I'm telling the sophomore more that they have to be nice to people. So I have to be nice to people like it it's not one-sided. It goes both ways. So I have to enforce um you know being a good person in my own life. So personal accomplishments, one of my proudest accomplishments would be getting fourth place in my event with my partner at the um state DECA conference last year. And DECA is like our business club. It's so it's like just a big like business competition. I guess you could say if you don't know what it is. And I thought it was just super important to me because it's
041more of an individual accomplishment as opposed to like a team thing where it's like everyone did it or like some more basic accomplishments. I don't really know. And it's it was a really competitive event. We got we got fourth place. So if we got third, we would have gone to nationals. But um it was just that was a big day for me especially since it was in a financial event and that's kind of where my path is headed towards business and finance. So I felt like it was like preparing me for the future with that experience. So my reflections at RAM um if I were to do anything over again it would be to continue to be involved. I like to be busy and there were a lot of great activities that I joined here
042like cheer, tennis, national honor society, national business honor society, power words, peer helpers, student council. I was a de officer. I am a de officer. Um, and I've done like lots of volunteer work like through teen coaching, youth cheer, like I've done that all four years. So, I like to be involved in this community. I love this community and if I could change anything, I would actually try to get involved sooner cuz most things I joined would were um junior year. So, junior and senior year, but and I'd also be less stressed, but that's easier said than done for me. Um my people that had an impact on me, if just to pick two, I would say Miss Mont, my guidance counselor, and Mr. Landry, the business teacher here. Um Mr. Landry helped me develop
043my passion for business and lead me to be successful in his classes at the state DECA conference and gave me the opportunity to be a leader in the business program here um by being a DECA officer and he played a huge role in my decision to go into business and to get so many acceptances into great business focused universities. And Miss Mom, my guidance counselor, has been just so amazing the past four years. I really don't know what I would have done without her. and answering all my questions and schedule changes and everything. Like, I'm going to miss her in college next year for sure. So, Ram's impact on my post high school plans. So, I made these slides before I actually decided where I was going, but I'll be going to Bryant University in
044the fall and majoring in business. With the knowledge and passion that this RAM's business program has given me, um, including like DECA and the business classes offered, I've had like one of the biggest impacts on my post high school plans. And I've like with that I've gotten so many college credits from the business courses specifically other classes too, but so many from the business course that um they they'll transfer to Bryant and then I'll have a head start to complete their 3+ 1 MBA program to get my MBA in four years, but it'll set me up so that it won't be a lot of extra classes cuz all of these will transfer. And then in general, Ram has taught me the importance of hard work, leadership, and personal management. Um, Ram has encouraged me to
045get involved in so many different extracurriculars and leadership roles. Um, like all while managing my academics and social life. And these skills like that I got from RAM, I think will definitely help me succeed in college next year. Thanks for listening. [Music] So, what do we have? Jason, Emma, sorry, I can't run away yet. Jason, Emma, Miss Cody, and Mr. Rammy, why don't you all go up there? Didn't Are there anybody else questions? Anybody? I think Jason answered when I he saw the YMPI. I think he answered what that was. But, uh, Emma, you mentioned the AP Lang course, and I don't know what that covers. What is that class? Oh, that's um an AP English class. Language and composition. Yes. Okay. And you're not a transcendentalist. I know. I I guess not. That's what
046I pulled from my writings. Wonderful. No, congratulations. Yes. Congratulations. So, this was great. So, I had the pleasure of actually hearing Jason do his original portfolio presentation, which is So, Jason, you actually sparked this idea. So, I appreciate you coming back and doing this tonight. Um, I know Emma, you said you're going to go to Bryant and do business. You mentioned a Are you going to work in the welding industry when you graduate? I'm hoping. I'm pretty sure that I am. Nice. I don't know what's going to happen. Hopefully. Awesome. So, the question I would have is it about the portfolio presentation process? Like, was it difficult for you guys to go through this? not not the actual presentation but the actual like putting together the portfolio because you were drawing and Jason I think
047you mentioned actually something about a class that you took as a 10th grader that you included in your presentation so when you had to think about all the different examples of the different skills and dispositions was that a difficult thing to kind of sort through that either one I don't think it was difficult um I wish I had started um like giving myself examples earlier on though because then it was kind of hard to like look back, but I don't think it's that bad. Personally, like it wasn't like a hard thing to do when I actually sat down and did it, but because I I really really did not want to put down the assignments in like the portfolio things throughout the years and I didn't want to actually do the portfolio. Um it made
048it a little bit more difficult, but I managed to get it done and clearly I did it pretty well with the help of um their uh template for it. So, so I do have a question. So when does this process start? When when do you when do you start putting together this actual we are now starting with freshman class but because it's a new portfolio right last year was our first official year doing we did a little pilot year with a small group the year before but last year was our first year where they were doing their presentations. So now we have um a Google classroom set up so they can start putting work in and links to the work and and even make comments on it so they remember three years later. That's great.
049So they think about this throughout the entire starting. Yeah. Questions. Well, thank you all for coming in and doing and don't feel compelled to stay. As exciting as the financial reports are going to be nice to you. Thank you so much for being here every Sorry. So we just pulled the fire alarm. [Music] Yeah. Sure. All right. So I will just keep going right along. So um in the I'll just quickly go through some of the items in the consent agenda and then hopefully we'll get a motion to approve the consent agenda. So there are a number of different meeting minutes that um are uh uh we would need uh have been drafted and would need approval. There is also a memo for that I wrote to the board. It's a request for an extended
050uh leave of absence for a teacher to take after the birth of her child. I would encourage the board to approve this leave request. It is required per the teachers contract that boards of education improve that the board approves ex extended leave of absence, but I'm certainly uh recommending it. And then finally is the approval of policies after revision or deletion. These are second reads for um for a handful of policies that are that have been listed in the agenda. There was some feedback that I received. that was primarily around like um formatting issues, what I would call housekeeping issues. Scott, I appreciate your feedback. Uh we did go through and make some of the changes um uh specifically in 9342 uh which is the policy related to time and place of meetings. Um there
051were some adjustments to clean up references to regional school uh boards of education. um when we get the model policies from shipment of Goodwin, they sometimes will say if regional do this or if local do this and I we just didn't catch even though I had looked through it, the policy subcommittee had looked through it and gone through a first reading. It's always good to have many eyes puts on it many times. So we we did make the the fixes there. And then the other thing was in policy number 3561 related to federal procurements. There were some links at the end of the policy which brought um which were supposed to bring to actual documents that that are legal references and some of the links are outdated. So what we did is I don't like
052having links because of that exact reason because they could change. So we just simply remove the links and by having the name of the document and even the year even if it says 2016 but it gets updated it's the most updated one is going to be the applicable one. So we we made those tweaks and adjustments and I would recommend that uh those policies be approved as a second read and then we can put them uh make the changes and deletions in the policy book. I can certainly take any questions but if there's a motion. All right. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Scott and seconded to make comments. Um, is that that this notion that we have a request for extended leave there, which is fine and I
053sure will approve it without a problem. But this notion that oh the contract says that we must approve it. There's something weird there. What happens if we don't? You know, you know, that's just a very odd thing and I'm wondering how that language gets into our contract. Well, so you want me to respond? I guess. So, so, so what I would say is what you're describing of somebody's requesting a leave of absence for for the for the circumstances that that that are being requested, 100% I'm going to I'm going to recommend the board approve it. However, there could be circumstances where it might not be in the best situation of the district for an extended leave of absence to to to be re to be approved. I don't ask me what those circumstances are. Um
054but but that but I would presume that it was built into the language of the contract because of the fact that it's it's a it's a balancing act, right? We we need to make sure that we have staff to adequately support student needs. And so I I agree with you. I've never been in a situation in my 15 years of working as a central office administrator where I would have ever said to a board of education, no, I wouldn't recommend that you approve this leave of absence. But it is very typical for extended leave of absences to have to be approved by boards of education just because of the fact that again the goal of the board is to also look out for the for the the best interest of the district in its entirety.
055I think I misread that the leave must be approved by the board of education as more that to get the leave the board must approve it rather than the board of education must approve you know is is how I read the thing in there and somebody agrees. Eric, can you mute that, Eric? I think so. So, I just I I think I just misread that I was saying that the board we must approve this. Yeah. And it it or deny or Yeah. We must approve or deny it, but you know, it it read as though this is that we didn't have a choice. Like we didn't have a choice. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You can see the different emphasis different emphasis on Absolutely. But was a little odd. Gotcha. No, you Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha.
056Gotcha. My former experience with the board of ed. Yeah. Um had a chairman who um told us went around and said, "Okay, well, this legally has to be approved. We have to do this, you know, and the board must approve this thing and it's something uncomfortable to approve." And he went around and pointed everyone. Everyone approved. Everyone said yes. And then he said no. Pam. Oh, no. I just wanted to say Scott, I I read it exactly the same way and I was concerned um how something like that got into a contract saying that we had to approve something. So, I read it the same way. Yeah. Okay. I'm glad I'm glad I'm not alone. All in favor? I I opposed. Yes. Right. So, new and unfinished business. So, the first item is uh adoption
057of the 2526 uh regional school district budget. So, we actually have a curve policy which later on in our agenda I'm going to recommend that we delete, but we'll get to that later. Um our but one of our current policies, which is policy 3150, requires the board after the referendum has passed that the board of education then adopt the budget. Now, I will ex I don't know why we it's I'm assuming it's charter with the school district. It must be a regional thing. Um but nonetheless, that is something that is required. We will continue to have to go through this exercise because this um I'm not by deleting the policy later in in the meeting. It doesn't mean we won't have to continue to do it. It's I'm just combining this policy into another policy
058that exists. But there is a recommended motion in our board packet because we are required by policy to adopt the budget that has passed referendum. So all right. So do I have a motion to adopt the approved regional school district 8 2025 2026 operating in capital budget totaling 32,620,72 second. Second. Scott second. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? I opposed abstain. Perfect. Passes. So, um the next item on the agenda doesn't really require any action. It's just really something that we wanted to put on the board's uh the board as a whole. Uh your your your respective radar. So, this was something that actually came to the facility subcommittee meeting when we had our meeting last week. Eric, do you want to just put up the pictures just so the public can can have
059them? You can. Um but in your packet is um enclosure 10.2 which is simply images or just pictures that I took of the loading dock in its current condition. Um, for the past several years, the board has been prioritizing uh athletic field upgrades and improvements as um channeling both uh uh any surplus remaining um from from previous years as well as uh capital improvement planning funds have have really funneled to go that we can do things like update the track, do the the drainage around the competition field. There still does need work uh work still does need to be done to some of our athletic uh fields. We have a drainage issue with our baseball field and and a and a host of other things that we need to continue to address. But uh the
060loading dock is definitely uh come on our radar as a priority. Um the recommendation of the administration to the facility subcommittee uh last week was that we need to prioritize funding this project either through uh a capital non-recurring fund that we have from surplus money that we have left over or potentially through CIP if it's not done through that mechanism. Um, but the project in totality is is anticipated to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 for the loading block and the concrete apron leading up to the loading dock. Um, and you could see from the images there are the the loading dock has significant cracking. It's actually starting to deteriorate in some places um where you could see like the the the sediment from the loading dock is settled um at the base of
061the loading dock. Um it's board members may ask is this due to the crumbling foundation issues that are impacting some homes in this general area. It is not from that. It's actually just through age and deterioration, salt applications, freezing and thawing. Um and it's just in need of of repair. So uh again this is a a costly project but one that we are putting um putting up there on the list of priorities. Um I could certainly uh take any questions that board members may have. This was something again discussed at the facility subcommittee last week. The committee certainly understands and recognizes and supports this as being a priority for uh for us, but we just wanted to put it on everybody else's uh radar questions. All right. Like I said, oh, sorry. So, are we
062going to vote on or are we going to get a contract that we have to then give approval to go out and process here? We're we're we're not there yet. So, we're we're I'm anticipating going through the budget process next year. This project will either be included in the in the CIP budget or we may end up going through the budgeting process and say, "Hey, you know, there was surplus left over from this year. Maybe we can that money would go into our non-recurring account. We could potentially funnel the money that way. So, there's no action that needs to be taken by the board at this point. I just wanted to put it on everybody's radar because it is something that we are going to want to make sure that we address through next year's
063budget process. Any other questions? All right. I I can move on to 10.3, which is discuss an impossible action regarding meal prices. Um I'll just note that there is an enclosure 10.3 within your uh board packet and at that point I'll turn it over to Eva and she could uh give more specifics about it. Okay. So through the USDA there is a tool it's called a price lunch equity to paid lunch equity tool sorry PL um so it's paid lunch equity tool. So unfortunately this year this tool has not arrived on time I guess from the USDA. Um, so the state has provided us guidance to use last year's tool because not much changes from year to year to be honest with you. Um, but basically we need to make sure that the lunches that
064we charge the students cover the meals that we provide the students. So based on going through the exercise of doing the price lunch equity, paid lunch equity, we um discovered that we're going to have to adjust the lunch prices. Um, we're not touching breakfast. For some reason, the tool doesn't look at breakfast. It only does lunch. Um, so we're going to adjust 45 cents for a regular lunch, which is just it's not a premium lunch. And so premium lunches would go up, um, 15 cents. Um, so um, in essence, it's just to make sure that we cover the basis of the cost of the food, um, to ensure that the kids are eating properly and that we're giving them the proper meals. Any questions? Yes. So, I'm having trouble understanding this. So, the USDA has
065a regulation that says we have to collect a certain amount of money for lunch. Is it somehow tied to money we get from them? Yes. In what way? How is that? So when I when we claim the meals then they reimburse us some money towards meals. So on a monthly basis so every meal that we sell and it has to be a proper meal otherwise it's considered all a cart. So it has to have five components that every meal has to have. True. Um so premium lunch for some reason we've always had two tiers here. So it's a little bit of a fancier meal but it still has to have the components of all the meals. Okay. So, and what's the the there's a weighted average in this of something? Yeah. So, that's all part
066of the tool and that's how we get to getting here and and so we have to do this each year even though they didn't up it looks like they didn't complete their part of the bargain. Correct. So, how can they twist our arm for to comply with something they haven't complied with? I I don't not know but we have to follow the rules and unfortunately those are the rules laid out to us. Interesting. Civil disobedience comes to mind those transcendentalists. Okay. Yeah. And and do you have any idea what the difference is between a regular lunch and a premium lunch? I mean is it just more food for bigger kids? No, it's not more food. It's the type of food. So in in in the past um so it depends on there's different stations. So
067you can get a burger um with fries or pizza, a slice of pizza um with all the trimmings. You can get a salad. That's all your like a salad bar. That's all your regular meal. A premium would be something that they called your coyote grill. Um, so something that they So whether it's the nachos and cheese sauce, the chicken dumplings that come with different vegetables there, it's sort of a more affluent kind of a meal than your regular. It's a little bit more variety. Yes, maybe that's the better word. It's not quite so big. And we've done we've had this two-tier lunch for since I've been here. Since before I was here. That's interesting. I think we used to have three tier at one point. Really? Yeah. Wow. Okay. It seems a little unfair maybe
068to people who don't have the means to get the next one up. Okay. When we have free and reduced price lunches, do they apply to both tiers? Okay. So, so it's it's not a particular financial hardship to you can't overtly identify anyone. So anyone who goes up and as long as they have the full meal, they're allowed to get the full it's more the student's choice of which which they prefer. Right. Interesting. All right. So, do I have the motion to increase meal prices for lunches proposed for the start of the 2025 2026 school year? So move. I'll second. All right. All right. First, Gabe second. Um, any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Opposed? Stain. All right, that motion passes. So, the next agenda item is 10.4. It's a personnel report. Um, we
069do have one resignation to report out. uh Bupal Baba Yabar uh business uh career and technical education teacher and department coordinator for Ram Middle and High School has been has resigned effective June 30th 2025. Uh he has been employed by the district since uh July of 2023. Uh that concludes my personal report for this this um the next agenda item is first reads of policy. So I can go through the recommended changes for each one of the policies and then I could either take them one at a questions one at a time if people have them or we can just take questions collectively at the end. These are all policies that have been brought to the policy subcommittee. Um and we also have our wellness policy which was added as an agenda item. So here
070is just I just the hard copies for the wellness policy are coming around the redline versions of the wellness policy. I'll let Eva speak to that. Has this changed since we saw the policy committee? No, no, it's just uh No, it just didn't get out. It's total misstep. Drew caught it. Thank you, Drew. I appreciate it. Um, so the first policy where we are recommending revisions is policy 3330 for it's its purchasing. So, so the easiest way for us to address this was just by essentially um crossing off the entire um existing policy and just uh basically utilizing the new policy language that's being uh recommended by Shipment and Goodwin. Um uh we are recommending that that that changes obviously are made to align with the shipment policy on purchasing. What we are also doing
071um is we are uh requesting that the board increase um from $10,000 currently to $15,000 um with a new policy for direct uh the threshold for procurement amounts um for and for direct purchases from a vendor with no quotes or bidding to increase from $10,000 to $15,000. We're requesting that also the threshold amount for competitive bidding uh for for competitive quotes is increased for what it currently is at $25,000 to $35,000. And then we're um requesting the um increase for over um $35,000 for competitive bidding. So we're just looking for a higher threshold with regards to um the the purchasing process. Uh and and the reason that we're making this request and and even and I talked about this, it just provides the district administration with a slighter degree of flexibility when making purchases or
072working with contractors. So um that is uh the reason for that request. The policy also does incorporate language from policy 3320 which is purchase orders uh because you can see later on in the agenda later on in the policy first reads I am recommending that for deletion. Um, any specific questions about the recommendations for this policy revision? This is the one you didn't address on my notes and it's a very minor thing that I think we should really redo the Is it the formatting thing? Well, the um the outline style I think we we we did you did that one wasn't mentioned in your response to Oh, I apologize. That's okay. We did go through and and and on the updated one um which hopefully is in front of you, it should have been I
073didn't pass any. Yeah, I Yeah, you passed out. Passed out the wellness one. Oh, that's the wellness one. Oh, so I apologize. It's updated online. We we updated the board. The point was just that you know section one was ABCD and section two was one two three and something else was 1 A and just try to get that cleaned up. That's Yeah, absolutely. and and just and I mentioned this to you in my email communication that you know if there ever is something like that even if it was to get adopted by the board that's a housekeeping issue so I can go in and clean it up but we did make that adjustment. Okay. And so if there's an issue with it based off of the changes that we made certainly give us that feedback
074and we can work on it for the secondary. How how quickly after we approve them do they end up getting onto the policy site on the the board on the website? Usually Jess is pretty quick about it days. Usually within a couple of days. Yeah. like I I meet with her after every board meeting and sometimes I'll say, "Hey, we need to get those policies updated." And she's like, "I've already done that." So, it just depends on how busy things are, but we try to be quick. Um the next policy is 3110 board uh budget procedures and line item transfers. So, this is another policy that was recommended to be updated and and aligned with uh the shipment and Goodwin model policy. Um, one of the things that we are doing within the context of
075this policy change is it also combines other policies 3121 which is approval of the budget and 3150 adoption of the budget that one that I just mentioned we have to go through. So if we approve the uh the recommended changes to 3110, it will enable us to delete uh 3121 approval of the budget and 3150 because we incorporated those languages from those policy into this into this one policy. Just we're streamlining the budget book. We're trying to be more efficient with with things. Any any questions about that? Um I've already talked about these other ones. By making the changes for the first two policies, it would enable us to delete 3320, 3121, and 3150. And then finally, the the last policy uh that we're recommending for revision is the one that we added as an
076agenda item, which is 5470 wellness policy. I'm going to ask Eva to to speak a little bit to this one. So, the folks on the policy subcommittee heard my spiel before, but um so it's going to be the same. So, this is something again that the USDA makes us do. It's a wellness policy. It's a good policy to have. Um, in addition to that, we'd have to do a trianual assessment. So, this is our triannual assessment time. So, we have to, we were told in February to start working on it. They delayed it until the end of February. And we're supposed to follow a model policy. The model policy was not completed until the week before the policy subcommittee. we were able to push through the changes that you see in front of you to
077have it up and ready so we can have it adopted before June 30th, our deadline. Are there any questions? Just love bureaucracy. Yeah. So again, if there's if there's no questions, um these policies will come to the board at the June meeting as a second reading and will be adopted. them. And if there's feedback based off of anything, like Scott, if you see issues with that formatting on that one, just let me know if uh and we can we can certainly try to make any necessary. Um all right. I don't believe I am happy to turn it over to the financial. Okay. So in your enclosure 10.6A is expenditure and revenue report as of April. Don't forget your name and thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. We'll see you soon. All right. So,
078um the expenditure and revenue report as of April 30th, 2025. Um there is a projected net favorable position of $669,085. The revenue will be finalized and set in next month's because we are currently awaiting the final well a payment that normally is the final payment for excess cost comes at the end of May. But this year we're also going to get um an adjusted dollar amount um that the governor and the legislative pass for this fiscal year. So that was about $65,000 more that's coming in. So we're going to have um negate some of our loss by that dollar amount. the expenditures. Um so all department heads are finalizing their spending for this fiscal year. The cuto off is May 23rd to have all um POS encumbered and um hopefully everything is paid out on
079time no later than June 30th because otherwise that goes into their next year's budget. Um the capital improvement fund, the MI middle school baseball field ADA project is set to start on June on or about June 16. The reserve for general education fund as reported um the BOE material containment center is supposed to start it was supposed to start last week. Unfortunately due to the weather the contractor has been pushed back so it's supposed to start later this week but somehow I have a feeling it'll be next week based on the weather. Um and having stated all of that are there any questions that the board may have at this time. So the excess cost payment does that mean directly to RAM or does it go through the towns? Yeah, that's there's two different ones.
080One is excess cost cost and the other is ECS ECS. Yeah. And we have a lot of people in our town who are confused with that. So So this is the excess cost for the special ed. Correct. And this come the check comes straight to rate. Okay. We do direct deposit nowadays but Yeah. Okay. Wow. Fancy fancy fancy. All right. Are there any other questions? Okay. So, hearing none. 10.6B is the food service monthly sales as of April 30th, 2025. Um, so currently the program is reflecting a loss of $53,459.89. Um, at this time last year was a loss of $86,261. Are there any questions that the board may have? hearing none. Um 10.6 C is the student activity account and the student activity account is in balance with the bank. Are there any questions
081that the board may have on that? So hearing none, 10.6D is the short-term investment fund account as of April 30th, 2025. We currently reinvested dividends of $1,927.87. Does the board have any questions on that? Hearing none, we go on to 10.6E, which is the budget appropriation transfers for March and April. So, this is our normal um routine um that we put into play. So, the transfers total $495,44257 um for all the transactions that are included in here. And do we still have any questions? Well, I asked a question. I got an answer some somewhere along the way. I'll I'll I'll get it in my head. But so figuring out looking at the thing that says credit and there's a got a negative next to it and a debit is trying to figure out which is
082moving from where to where. So, if it helps, I'm gonna try to make it as simple as possible. I thought about this on the way home Friday. Okay. I didn't want to make it too simple, but then I thought this is the only simple way to do it. So, your left column, your debit is your two column because we're dealing with expenditures of budget in a in an expenditure account. And your right column, your credit column is your from. So, does that help? To then from that's that you know that's if I can remember that then I'm good. All right. And so the board needs to um take some action. Oh, you have a Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, so um these are these are these are not done all at once. These are dated, right?
083So, because what I noticed was like we went to unallocated, then we took out personnel unallocated, then we took some out. So as as so as you're dealing with each individual need, you know, the money for a repair or whatever, you're actually doing these journal entries as you go along. Okay. So I got that process. The other thing is there's a there's almost 200 thou there's actually a little over 200,000 here for uh repairs and unanticipated uh things that we need. And we heard about the loading dock earlier. I mean it's it's an old building. I expect we need to do this stuff, but this seems a little bit of a sort of a thousand cuts thing. Do we have any sort of physical, you know, like you go to the doctor and you get
084a physical, right? You know, do we do a colonoscopy on this building so we know what's coming? Yes, we do our best to do it. So, take there's a transformer that does the field irrigation out here. It just went. It just went, right? Is it old? It's 20 years old. Okay. 23. Yes, it's old. So, do we have other stuff? I mean, do we would we expect that the rate of, you know, this a should we have a going rate of a 100,000 a month? Uh, you know, say of of sort of we expect things to break. So, I always expect things to break. Yeah. Yeah. Well, me too. I mean, we all a lot of us live in homes, right? I was going to say Michael, our director of facilities, does a lovely job.
085He truly does. I'm trying to anticipate things. He he just has a wealth of knowledge in his head and is able to recall things that I'm jealous because my brain cells don't work like that anymore. Um but he has uncanny foresight. And so I kept saying, "We have to hold some money aside, Michael, because when you change over to air conditioning, we're gonna have the same leaks that we had last year." And the building just opened up and it was leaking. and he literally looked at me and he said, "No, it's been cool. The pipes aren't going to be hot. It's not going to leak." I'm like, "I still don't believe you and not wood. We haven't had any issues." So this year, so where I was panicking thinking we're going to need money, we
086didn't need any. But unfortunately, there's stuff that you can look at it 12 times and the fourth time it's just it just blows up on and you can't you can't count for that. So yes, is there always some savings because something will come in a little bit less? um the position unfortunately that we may have had the person for left us early. We couldn't hire someone. So there's always some savings somewhere, but Michael has a good ability of knowing where he's got some savings and some a little bit of cushion to help offset some of these. But as the building ages, the dollar amount. Yeah. I the only the what I hear sometimes from people in my town and and they're also thinking about their elementary school. I'm sure it's true for Heburn and over.
087I mean, is why do we keep needing this stuff? I mean, what's going on? I keep saying the building's old. I mean, it's like your house, you know, when your furnace is 15, 20 years old, you need a new one, right? So, but I'm I'm just trying to get my head around how we can create a story so that it's not, you know, sort of it looks like it just we're just reactive because obviously there is planning here. There is, right? And there is anticipation, right? So, so we did have a report from Michael three or four months ago. That's what I was just going to say. So, we just we actually just did for that exact reason. So, the last time we had a really a comprehensive building evaluation, I think was 2015 prior
088to this was more recent. And so the facility subcommittee, we we knew like, hey, this this information, this data that we have from this last comprehensive building report or inspection report is is really not as current as we needed to be. So we went out the, you know, the facility subcommittee wanted to get this done and we had a comprehensive one done. So we do have that colonoscopy and and and had that done and and that's one of the things that is going to drive our capital planning moving forward. With that being said, the transformer is a great example of like you just or even and it was I think it was before your time at the board, but the well when the well went it just dried up on us and then you know
089we drilled down to get a new well and it didn't work so we had to frack and you know so so those those types of things what I would say you know when you have a a multi-million dollar building and and and grounds operation it's kind of does relate to like oh you know this you know outlet in my house just went out on me, so I'm going to have to fix it. So, some of those larger ticket items that you've heard us talking about constantly, boilers, chillers, uh, you know, uh, temperature control systems, alarm systems, roof, solar systems, like we we will absolutely, we've talked about those things at length and we're going to continue to talk about those things because those are going to be so significant in cost that we're going to
090have to bond out. Like, we're going to have to do that. Yeah. And that's one of the reasons this story that we have to try to spin or not even spin is just tell right is it is better to be proactive than reactive. We can be reactive when a I don't even know how much the transformer was but let's just say even yeah when when a when a when that dollar amount we can say okay we've got some cushion in our current budget we can address it even though it's an unanticipated repair. We can't do that with a roof that needs to be completely replaced. We can't do it with boilers. We can't do it with chillers. So, we do think long-term big projects and in the meantime, we also think about what I would
091consider to be smaller but big ticket items like a loading dock because until we brought this loading dock to your attention today and the facility subcommittee meeting last week, we anticipated having the loading dock be a part of that bonding project that we we were talking. In fact, it was one of the things that I said is going to be included when we bond out. The problem is is that if we don't bond out for a couple of years that that's we're we're we're pushing it too far down the line and and so those types of things are going to continue to evolve and change and we just have to be flexible and resilient and say, "All right, well, we were thinking like the next thing would be the baseball drainage issue in the in
092the in the outfield, but this loading dock has to get fixed because that's a safety issue." Because one thing I didn't even mention is that loading dock actually holds up a major support column of of a quarter of of a second story of the building. So, um I I think we have done that deep dive. We have a a good plan and we're going to continue to move forward with putting in. Yeah. Okay. I I just my concern is the other schools at least I know in Marboro they have the same sort of issues and I I'm sure it's true in I think even new schools have issues like that. you put up a new school and you find out that you know these things didn't flush well and and you need to replace smaller
093things but even even new schools have that I think back in you know 200 three when school was brand new or whatever whenever went up and it's and I I I understand that concern and I don't disagree with with having it um it's one of the reasons why even when I was presenting the budget this year I was talking about two years down the line that we anticipate needing to bond. You know, I I didn't want that to be something like, "Hey, we've never talked about it ugly before, but by the way, we need to bond out there, chillers, roofs, etc." Um, it's one of the reasons why I very intentionally said as soon as we finish paying off the debt that we owe on the current on the construction that was done, we need
094to immediately go out and bond. And and we have identified things that we know are going to need to be fixed when we go out to bonding and addressed. and there might be some things that get added to that list in the next year and a half while we are working to put it together. So, um, it's it is it is a very healthy conversation to have. Um, and I've talked about that exact concern about, you know, competing demands from the towns versus the district versus region 8. I've I've already begun to have begun to have that dialogue with regional superintendents. I can see the reports now. Last night, the Ramort discussed colonoscopy. You don't have to call me. and Drew Coffin. Any other questions? So, we need a motion for this, right? To approve
095the transfers. Yeah. So, do I have a motion to approve the transfers in the total amount of $495,44257? So, moved. Moved by Scott and a second. I'll second. Two seconds. Um, any discussion? All in favor I opposed abstained and that passes unanimous. Thank you very much. So enclosure 10.6F. So this is uh the CIP and the reserve for educational expenditure reallocation of funds. So basically we have the approved budget. Currently, the taxpayers voted on it, but as was discussed during the um budget time frame, um we needed to take some money from these two funds to help finish paying for the track to so that we didn't retax the taxpayer more money. So, basically now the board needs to take action to move um these dollar amounts from these funds to um reallocate them to
096the track project. So basically, you're telling me that it's okay to put this money towards the track project in paper. So do I have a motion to approve the reallocation of $90,44.96 from capital improvement unallocated funds and 968,43967 from the reserve fund for education expenses to the track replacement project. So moved to K marks. One second. Second by Amy. Um any discussion? All in favor? I opposed abstained passes. Thank you very much for that. Okay. So enclosure 10.6G. So this is um a budget appropriation transfer for unanticipated expenditures. So, normally every year we do a walkth through with um the vendor that does our concrete. And so during this year's walkth through, a couple more items came up that weren't just concrete related. Um so we have stairs and railings near the middle school. So
097if you're looking at the high school behind you, come up the loading dock. Right next door to loading dock is a back entrance where uh we let AHM rent out some um preschool space. And so there's a back door that you can go up some stairs. Well, the stairs have settled. So there's a gap between the sidewalk and the stair. And then the railings are now um loose. So those have to be replaced. The middle school cafeteria. So, if you were looking up the uh hallway, actually, if you go down this hallway and look out the back, there's a staircase to nowhere, but behind that is um it's the middle school cafeteria entrance, and there's a very long railing probably um yeah, probably a good chunk of this table. And unfortunately, that also has come
098loose. Um so, that needs to be um removed, brought to code. And then um there's going to be some hand work, more so fabrication to bring it to code and to put back in um into the concrete. In addition, there's a loading dock door that goes out onto our crumbling loading dock that is um the door frame is original to the building and it is rotting. The whole the whole frame of the door is rotting. So that needs to be replaced. And in the high school cafeteria, there's a there's a good chunk probably like this size um of the bottom of the door that somehow compromises the the integrity of the door to a storage closet. So in total, all of that comes to $55,990 of unanticipated um surprises that happen after winter of heaving
099and frosting. Um, in addition in doing some research for a new system, um, we would like to transition from the current absent management and hiring platform that we utilize to a newer company. Um, and I'm asking um, to be able to spend $5,000 of this year's funding to be able to pay for the implementation cost so that we can start utilizing it on July 1st. instead of having to wait um later into the year. We already have the system budgeted. Again, it's a savings from what we currently utilize to go to the new platform. Um it's just the $5,000 would be an implementation implementation fee. Um the money is sitting in account, so I don't have to do a transfer there. I'm just asking the board's permission to use money from this year for next
100year's expenditure. So again, are there any questions at this time? What are the two platforms? Yeah. So, we currently utilize Front Line and we would be switching over to Red Rover and you guys have Red Rover. Just curious. Don't know either of them, but I know some other ones. So, is the 15,000 for the subscription um already in the budget for for the front line? Yes. Is it the same cost? It's actually a little bit cheaper. The same cheaper. So, okay. So the only addition is this transition. Correct. Yep. Any other questions? All right. So, do I have a motion to approve the transfer as presented in the total amount of $55,990? So, move. Second. All in favor? I um opposed abstained. It's unanimous. And then do I have a motion to approve the utilization
101of funds from fiscal year 2425 as presented in the total amount of $5,000 for the implementation of a new HR program. So move. Do I have a second? We'll second. Second by Amy. Um all in favor? Opposed, abstained. Perfect. Thank you very much. And now I give it back to committee reports. You want to do facilities? Yeah. So I talk about facilities. Um, as you saw today, we talked about the loading dock that needs repairs. We also talked about the next step in the track which I believe is just getting the contract signed and begin. When do they start? So the goal is to start after school. It's out until the week of the 60 and it's a three-month project. Correct. Or is it 6 to 8 weeks? Uh six to eight weeks. Okay. We
102did not meet uh the budget stuff. [Music] uh policy I don't I don't think Car's here so here any of us can we presented everything policy really doesn't need reports you see it here I don't think Harry's here to do ceformational items if you'd like so you know it's Oliver talked a lot about the in you know the stuff going on that I would mention just forformational items there is a lot going on in the remaining short period of time that we have school. We start our honors breakfast tomorrow morning at the high school. We have awards recognition for team awards ceremonies coming up in the next couple of weeks for all the different teams and the families are going to be coming in. It is a busy place. Um we had junior prom what
103a week ago I I believe and we junior prom was a week ago. Senior prom is coming up right next Saturday. Not Saturday. next Saturday, not not world day weekend. Next Saturday we have prom. Um Oliver mentioned it. I'm super excited again to have the uh the senior walkthrough of the elementary schools. That was fantastic. We had our middle school concert. Uh last week we had our alltown jazz concert the other week. We have our evening at the arts which it's not too late board members. If you are interested and able to come, let us know and we will make sure that we get a ticket for people. Um in touch with Jessica. Yeah. just just if you touch base with her, she knows she's shared it. So, if you've already given if you haven't
104reached out, just remember if I have or not. So, uh just just shoot her an email. I'm sure. Um Oliver mentioned this as well. It's this coming um Friday is uh the governor a couple years ago stated basically the Friday before Memorial Day is get outside and play day uh at schools across the state. Um I as RAM always does, Ram has taken this to an entirely new level. Um it is Raptor Recreation Day at the high school. Do you guys call it that at the middle school, Dr. Trusy, or it's get outside and play day? So, but it is it is an undertaking. It is uh it is fun. Um and I think the weather forecast looks good. So, I'm cautiously optimistic. Okay. Well, at least it's not Thursday. We don't have a nor
105easter challenging us. Dr. Rouseri had a field trip to some place on Thursday. We are being nimble. It's already been rescheduled for for next Wednesday, I believe. Yes. So, so it's uh with all this fun and exciting activity also comes the hope and prayer for really good weather with everything that we've got going on. Um but but that that's a lot of it, but that is certainly not everything. Um and then obviously the big event coming up, but I'll see you guys before that. We do have one more meeting is graduation on the 13th. Obviously board members are always invited to graduation. if you're able to make it, you can be up on stage uh and and be a part of that that wonderful uh event. Hopefully the weather will be agreeable for us this
106year, but we know that if it's not, we can do it indoors because we did a great job of it last year. Um the last thing I'll mention is just the the uh school information about suspensions uh uh in both middle school and the high school. Um the information within this report is inclusive of incidents go up through um April. So that concludes my report. I think I'm done. And the um um suspensions went down. That's good to see. It's good to see and knock on fake wood. Hopefully it'll trend in that direction. All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second, Kate. All in favor? I thank you everybody.