Board of Education Meeting 2021-08-25

001to the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all miss kabanka here Mr Cory here rtis here is excused missano here miss here Mr Kisco here Mr Mina here miss Richardson here miss toer here Carbone Mr Barlo Miss Bo here miss Ferguson here miss kazooki here bsky here miss schy here thank you like to entertain a motion to approve the agenda all those in favor School Community Service public participation the board invites members of the community to speak on topics to be addressed in the agenda or other topics of Interest individuals wishing to make comments can dial in or email their comments with their name and address which must be stated

002at the beginning of their comment the board will not allow comments regarding specific staff members parents students or personal grievances Coury is expected in this limited public forum the participating time will be limited to 3 minutes per person and 10 minutes overall to guarantee efficient operation of the meeting we did not get any email comments sign [Music] h little [Music] thank you she's going she has to wear the mask on her face not just on her know it's harder with the straps if you can twist the straps maybe okay Liz Patterson you like okay I'd like to start by reading a statement from Connecticut state senator Rob Samson quote I'm calling upon local Boards of educator education all around Connecticut to stand for freedom and with parents and resisting any mask mandate for school children

003in this upcoming year enough is enough personal health choices are just that and should be left in the hands of the individuals and parents Boards of Education are responsible to their constituents they do not work for the governor or any other state agency I look forward to standing with them and doing what is right on behalf of the free citizens of Connecticut and their children and vote I've heard from many Board of Ed members that their hands are tied and with this mandate and that's total goll uh what have you done to stop this have you called the governor have you demanded change don't pretend you're advocating for our children if you have done nothing but sit back and approve every single guidance and recommendation passed down to you it would be foolish to assume

004this will end September 30th are you really okay with masking our kids indefinitely did anyone here read the FDA emergency use authorization on face masks after I spoke about it last time honestly show of hands who personally took the time to look into how ineffective masks are I also sent every member here a five-page legal letter regarding masks and the law who here read it and it's entirety who looked up us code title 21 section 360 regarding the right to refuse anyone who is taking this seriously is anyone worried about the consequences of your actions has anyone discussed what happens when kids come to school unmasked are you going to expel every single one of them show me the policy in writing that you have that says students will be denied in education if they

005utilize their Federal right to use this eua medical device you board members can choose not to follow this mask mandate I know this because I read the intimidating Shipman and Goodwin legal letter sent to schools that last week it reads quote if a board of education chooses not to follow or even affirmatively votes to override Bing guidance regarding facal coverings in school it exposes itself to liability were you listening carefully it doesn't say you can't override the mandate it says if you do you may be exposed to liability well I hate to break it to you but you guys are already exposed to liability liability over the child that has an asthma attack or breaks out in a painful skin rash or uh contracts a bacterial infection from these disgusting masks not to mention phys

006uh psychological harm or suicide you have other options someone on this board make a motion tonight you could have parents simply sign a waiver on on both sides or change the policy to allow the removal of masks when seated in the classroom torington Christian Academy did that last year even with a mask mandate in place a classroom is a cohort right so if one child gets sick the entire room is exposed so why not allow them to learn in the classroom without distraction and harm B masks do not reduce the transmission of viruses I know it you know it and the government knows it too and has made it clear if you just look it up refusing to budge on this issue or at the very least make some rational accommodations shows this town and

007our children that doing what is right is not as important as doing what you're told and I hope I don't have to remind you how many times in American history that ideology has been proven wrong please make a motion tonight and reconsider thank you hello I am Elana p in second grade I learned all about a lady called Rosa there were rules that said that she couldn't sit wherever she wanted on a bus and she didn't agree with those rules and many other unfair rules so she rose up for her independence and fought for her rights by saying no in third grade I want to rise it for my right and for my body and do right I know I know there may be consequences for my actions the parks was arrested for things am

008I going to be arrested too one day in second grade when I came back from racus I was hot and sweaty from running the next thing I know my teacher is telling me to put my mask on on my hot and sweaty face I can't breath I am hot and is very very uncomfortable at recess kids throw their masks off in the dirt and they put it back on their face it just gross in me out at lunch kids don't wipe their mouth with a napkin then they put their mask back on their mask is always dirty because they never wear them correctly what's the point of wearing a mask in the classroom spaced out at our desk when in the lunchroom we're sitting right next to each other lean around the pxy glass because

009we can't hear each other what's the point of wearing a mask at her desks when we're at recess playing tag and hanging out closely together without our masks on it doesn't make any sense masks are such a distraction in the classroom the kids never wear them right and they Tagle on each other constantly the teacher has to stop teaching to correct the class over and over and over again I just wish we could just get back to learning I was told if I don't have a good reason for something I'm doing I shouldn't be doing that and I should be asking questions so I'm asking you why are we being forced to do something that doesn't make any sense I know you're just trying to help us with these masks but you're actually hurting us

010we ask you to stop this ridiculous thank you not really but to keep an on all the time I will speak up thank you first of all thank you thank you for allowing me to my is Catherine I live in Street in uh I do not have children in this tor school system but I have five children who attended Tor schools p through 12 of those five all attended college and three half master's degrees in their chos I have the utmost respect for teachers administrators professionals and educational leadership of this school system uh you have all worked very hard to provide our children with a good education you wouldn't be doing all that you do in listening to us tonight if you didn't hear about so thank you um I'm not speaking as a parent

011I'm speaking as a licensed marriage of family therapist for work in this town I'm aware of a number of families who have withdrawn their children from school because of the mass issue fortunately a lot of them do this quietly they don't actually call up the school system and say I'm dying my child because he or she can't handle wearing a mask some of the issues involved kids with salivary problems the mask is so within an hour being in school um others experience breeding problems hyperventilation anxiety n refusal behavioral issues um so I ask that you make mask wearing optional so that children who can adapt can still be able to receive the quality they deserve so and what our platform your child feel at this place 18 months into this and there so much data

012in terms of masing and children Effy of masks CDC guidelines if you look for children who are infected with Co their rate of sustainability 9er chance we don't children ask them for year we need to Parents Choice masks it's their children it is their choice there's plenty of data and science the backs up mask wearing or non maskar understand for the greater good if masks really were effective I can see that we need to wear sharing superintendent so we start school next Thursday can't believe it or not um we August just totally flew by um we are very very excited to have our students return um we have our whole staff coming starting on Monday which will be convocation day that will be on the 30th so we're excited to welcome everybody back we had

013new teacher orientation today Kim and her team did a phenomenal job uh it was a huge group uh of folks so many thanks to the board uh for allowing us to hire our new staff so that was absolutely wonderful I do want to thank so many people who make the school year possible Ally and her it team our custodial staff um it's it's a rough go on these really hot days especially when we don't have air conditioning at um Forbes and the high school so uh custodians have done a really great job our secretaries I was at a there bunch of different schools today and there's still a lot of registrations coming in um folks who are moving to the area it it's wonderful we're welcoming them we're really happy about that but um our

014secretaries have been working long and hard to make sure that everybody's registered the administrators throughout the district who worked all summer my central office staff um and kudos to HR department it's been wonderful having teina um Kim and Lisa have done a great job this is we've had more people how many do we hire Kim this summer total certified and noncertified up to 72 which was awesome just amazing amazing amazing and certainly it does help to have our other funds or ERS and our Aras and things like that um which has been great uh some of you I saw at our um Community celebration right before this which was really really nice um some of our diversity equity and inclusion folks are over there but a lot of Community Service Partners um are mental health

015and wellness um fire department was there I saw the police chief uh it's just really nice to have everybody there cultur is beautiful uh Effie moano and and Gaza are there um they've been longtime residents and really working on making sure that everybody feels included and our student who was a part of our uh diversity e inclusion um who actually was one of my fmer for students so very very very nice um so we got a chance to chat as well so it's very excited about that so we're hoping that we'll have more students and maybe some students will even come and here uh with the board as well in the future so just really super excited to start um and welcome everybody back and uh we have convocation between 8:30 and probably 10 10:30

016uh it will be live streamed thanks to Ally and her team um so we will have a zoom link for folks anybody who's speaking can either use the zoom link or um we will be gathering in the High School uh classroom that mini classroom next to the library um so that might be a little bit easier I don't know oh is this the link I know just sorry I yeah so I just want to just a plugin for the convocation um so that being said I'm being prompted by offens of teaching and learning to move on to the next to the next part uh sure you said you had 72 new hes how many open positions do we still teachers it's two non-certified I didn't Che today but I want to say it's about 12

017or non-certified are most of those l are new par positions correct about and then right yes we have a n position were able to fil most no cafeteria too yes thank you yes we have some cafeteria position too and you're able to fill most of those um ell positions I know there so all the teaching positions yes some of the pair of vacancies we we filled of the of the eight elll bilingual PA of positions we F four of them so but we still have four left so if anybody knows anybody we're still live so but yeah that's yeah so we filled half of them um but we still have four to go but and we filled all the translators and we filled we even got a we able to get a tutor for high

018school so very excited really excited so yeah we did we did a really you know thank God for tea she she's been a godsend this summer so yeah so Lisa andina amazing thank you to the board yeah sure so office of teaching and learning okay everybody so we're getting we're gearing up last minute um preparations for next week when we welcome our full staff back on Monday um we you know have a conversation on Monday as suset and building based PD and meetings and that sort of thing that needs to happen and then Tuesday our entire staff is going to receive training and acceleration acceleration model approach that's kind of happening all over the country we're excited about that we also have some mandated type of things that staff needs to go through every couple

019of years so most of our staff needs to participate in that we're allowing time for that and then we have some newly District resources that we're allowing some time for teachers to um just become familiar with so that they um have a facility using these things um we as you know we had to hit pause on the curriculum writing in March of 2020 but we jumped right back in in the summer of 2020 we were able to do most of it remotely and then this past school year we did some remotely and then when things became safe enough for us to start gathering in person we continued in person and we've really really been aggressive about the curriculum work this summer um we have been writing curriculum and reviewing and updating curriculum in all core

020content areas throughout the summer and we have a plan to continue that this fall our summer learning um if you attended the school Improvement committee meeting you know that we had 7 close to 740 students participate um our high school students some of our high school students just finished up last Thursday so so we don't have all of that data analyzed yet but we'll have it for the upcoming School Improvement committee meeting um we had 70ish staff plus or minus um help with that effort was very exciting it ran anywhere from July 6th to August 19th so some of our kids were in school all summer long um and it was very exciting it was just very exciting because some of our some of the children who participated in fact many of them had not

021really entered a school building since March of 2020 so this was great um the state just just like in in just the other day uh released but not publicly released just to school officials School District officials the um espa data for children who had taken the test remotely you might remember we had said that they were hanging on to that and taking a look at that to see if they noticed any Trends um nothing significant so what they're doing is once it's released public it will all be um they're not going to separate out the remote from the impers test takers so we'll get that ready to bring to school Improvement um we're getting ready for our internal file test Administration our star our Dibbles all the internal assessments that we give so we can

022get a baseline on our kids and we'll be sharing that with you soon is once we can get that done part of that fall test Administration is a whole group administration of a screener to ident identify uh some of our student to identify students for tag so you've heard Laura talk about that we are purchasing an assessment so that will happen in the fall and then for some students going for we're kind of playing catch up a little bit with that and then going forward it will just be one grade level Every Spring to to get students identified and then Ally can speak to the I have to just before Ally starts just say our instructional technology um and information technologyart has been working 247 not that everybody else hasn't we all have but um

023it has been kind of on Fast Forward right I wish I would have gotten um hits for everybody first because we running from every classroom every building five times a day just to make sure the technology is ready um so actually going back to earlier today with newf orientation quick shout out to my team they did an amazing job um they were set up in the LMC at the high school and immediately were able to address um any kind of issue that new staff was having getting set up their emails copy codes been um device distribution we've been looking for power school and creating um enrollment lists and Blasters for every single classroom for advisory or other classroom going out into the hallway because this is being recorded it's hard to hear I would appreciate

024it thank you go ahead Ellie so for every classroom that'll have um a advisory we have put in all the devices we're good to go for that um and then from first day the teachers will be able to hand out devices to and report them we have asset tag every single device in every single charger with a bar code so we will be able to track every piece of equipment and and make sure it gets return um it that it can be fixed um and you really able to track everything looks beautiful um we've been like Su we're saying we're adding multiple learning platforms and so what happens with that is we have another platform that they need to log on to and everybody loves to have another username and password for that um so

025we're we're do single sign on with as much as possible so whatever username and password that you already have for Google you'll be able to utilize for any of these new platforms that's the goal to make it really easier and leverage the existing system that we have um we've been working with an outside vendor to configure new switches and routers for our eay project that has been going it's been inventor and some the Bas configuration has been taking place so that will um over the next two months replace our connectivity between the buildings um and give us a beautiful single pain of flass um and prepares for new building as well um one thing I said this morning in the midst of a couple other things was that as we're moving into a one toone

026Mac model for the high school we want to also have that single sign on um ability um for our students on those devices or also any other Mac that your school currently already have in the school so what'll happen is you'll be able to take a device brand new out of the box and the moment turn it on even though we've never ever touched it you see this on any device that we buy it automatically goes to our twinging Consignment because the machine is rolled into our system before it even down configuration and you're unable to byass it even if you so if you were to take any existing Mac that's turn right now and you wipe it you get the same thing it automatically Reen rolls and pushes down all the software that they

027need based on the user group so if you're if you're teacher you're getting different tools versus if you're student and it does all of that behind the scenes something that makes me kind of getting happy but it's fun beautiful thing so more to come I'm working on a process and I I'm I'm almost done with that I'm integrating this whole thing the power school um where teachers would be able to within Apple see those classes at their rosters and or the device get broken the moment a student logs into another device just based on their username everything comes right back so the power school think it's a beautiful thing that'll be a huge help yeah and we've been waiting to have our stuff asset tagged for I don't know if you've been on the board

028probably when you started on the board we were talking about it that sounds like something out of a Jason Bor movie doesn't it I said tagged I know seriously I do while you're looking for that Aly on Sue on the summer learning how does the 739 740 um how does that compare to previous years in summer school so in previous years we've not done Jenna summer school we've only done summer school for students whose I dictated that they needed a learning experience extended school year so this was a huge undertaking um you know maybe 60 students W yeah that's great so it's like 20% of our students and just to add to that um we found out yesterday that our ARS are approved and so all of the Extended Learning The Accelerated learning um so

029this will be able to go on for hopefully the next three Summers and we'll stretch out those funds and make sure that we have all of those opportunities for our students for a long time to come which would be great yeah I failed to mention too that while Al's looking that um okay just really quickly that every every student who attended some form of Summer learning this year the family received Outreach from somebody at the school so there was a lot of parent contact made you know to encourage participation in the summer learning and you know just kind of extending that arm to say we know your child has been disengaged from school for many months we really want to welcome him or her back and what resources might you need and how can the

030school system partner with you to set up a plan for your child to make your child be successful so that work is is in motion to and that communication is ongoing even though summer schools ended those relationships have continued yeah so we're hopeful anyone else have any questions UMC me of any of the computers that we need for this school year are we having any trouble getting them or you know do we feel like they're going to be delayed so there is a global shortage of a lot of electronics um and we're currently looking at a couple of week back order on R1 iPad on your what I'm sorry on our and iPads they are back order currently do not have an EPA um keep everyone posted as as but that's what that's what our

031asset tags look like so every device the bottom of the barcode which is unique to just to the device serial number same thing to our chargers and our tax are able do coded right the system yeah we can keep track of everything is wonderful got the screen that everyone see where reg everything prop Public Schools one say they are industry BL type table labels um they're non paper they're plastic labels um and they're industry adhesive that are really hard to get off thank you any grp questions for [Music] Al Kathy or Ed do you guys have any questions not for Ali but just going back to the kind start of school are we on track with everything like as far like I've heard from some parents that they haven't gotten their kids schedules yet and

032I was just wondering like I know we have a lot of falls in the air and so are we still doing okay with everything we are on track it's been a little glitchy we've had some Power School issues and just some other problems not from Alley's and just from you know once power school is gives us difficulty and um because everything this house there that just filters down so by Friday everybody should be fine for middle school and high school and um are we going to have a point in time where we get like some of the questions that the speaker raised about like what does happen if a child comes to school without a mask I think there's a lot of parents that have questions about things like that is there going to be

033a time where we will be able to discuss that yeah I I think it's pretty basic um it's just like non compliance for anything obviously you want to work to have your child child or have your student at school comply so we use that for any Behavior right um if a child is refusing to go to class or a child is refusing to move from one area to another you're going to employ those same strategies as you would for a mask we have other masks available um we will try to have the student comply um obviously if you get to a point where it's in a extreme situation then we would have to call a parent we hope that that's not the case we hope that the student will comply it's a mandate it's the

034law we have no other choice that's the same thing that we would be saying to the parent we hope that parents will not have their students act out really what their beliefs are they are a minor so hopefully they will ask their children to comply with the law that's about it n and then what about um like the bus like would they be allowed to even get on the bus if they're not wearing a mask there will be masks on the bus so they they have to wear a mask on the bus right but it's like the student is coming on without a mask they'll have to wear a mask just like they were before and students pick up a mask as they get in if they don't have a mask if they don't have

035a a mask and refuse to wear a mask and there's no parent at the bus stop then the student will sit in the front seat behind the bus driver or the first few seats so they're separate from the other students and then once the student gets to school the parent will be called unless the student like I said complies once the child is there but the parent will also be called because the student didn't write it on the bus so so parent communication will occur so I think based on everything that we've heard over the summer and just still hearing I think to jce point I think we need to have a strategy in place like I love your optimism that the kids will comply when they get to school but a big part of

036me feels like that's not going to happen because they've been all summer long told that they don't have to wear a mask what they get school or not so I I just I think that we probably need to have be a little more realistic about the fact that there are going to be kids coming in and and they're not going to wear it on the bus they're not going to wear it when they get to school are the are the administrators at each building going to be tied down every morning with however many families are sending their kids to school and telling them do not under any circumstances put on a mask so I think the the good news is from other superintendents because we are starting a little bit later than other districts and

037I have heard from all the superintendents of schools in this region who have already started the issue has not been masked at all they have not had mask issues what they've had is drop off and uh dismissal you know pick up because there's so many parents who are not having their students ride the buses and so then that's a bigger issue because it's hard to be patient it's hot people are testy little ones have been in school all day so so that's been an issue the mths have not been an issue so we hope that will continue however I know this is hard for you to believe but we do have sometimes students do not comply with what we ask them to do and we are well-versed in how to deal with that so we

038work on that and it's just like any other time that a student that says I'm not complying so that is our plan we do it all the time we do it day in day out this just happens to be about masks so so you like a tier one disciplinary sure yes I mean I think that's a concrete answer to that question yeah you know and I I would like to see us discuss I know a lot of other boards are having some huge conversations about this topic and I kind of interested to see how some of those other conversations can out without having one of our own well it's mostly the public not the boards the boards there's not a board in Advocate that does not understand that this is required like other requirements we

039have in the schools there's some members of the public that are upset but there's also members of the public that are upset about the possibility of so I think as a board of education it's important that we stay we have to serve all of the kids under an executive order we're following that order if people are upset about that order it's through September 30th so we would encourage them to contact the governor and address with the governor and their state reps and everyone that's involved at a state but as far I mean anyone work feels differently but it's I think we have to enforce it like we do every other that we have schools because if you're young then it becomes a bigger problem there any you know we have issue today busing issues and

040all sorts of things that can't be looked at individual cases if someone truly does not want to wear a mask they can get an exemption enough to get either a medical exemption or whatever other me tool they can obtain right but they have to get it from their doctor from because when I hear like concerns about you know like like salary issues and things like that and Asthma things like that if a child didn't really have a genuine we had right I was just gonna say that was still in effect so yep so that part hasn't changed you have shields for students that can't wear a face mask yeah so they have that option as well a clear Shield it's not the same but it's something other questions comments Kathy and Ed sorry I don't

041mean to be pointing you out I just can't tell all good topics we just discuss hey special education update hey everybody um I hope that you had the opportunity to rest a little bit this summer I um wanted to rather than just giving you the June 1st to June 21st instead I put together our numbers for the year uh so you can see some of the accomplishments that we were able to um do despite this this craziness this past year uh we our special ed numbers overall in District from September till June 21st d dropped by 30 um with 20 of those being in District five of them being out placements and then the other ones um being um differences in the uh Choice kids with IEPs or with the court placements so uh we're

042pretty happy with that if you look back to when we started um in the district in um 2019 we were at 919 um so we are um in a much better place than when we started our prevalence rate um is down from 16.1 at the beginning of the year to 15.4 why that's important is that is one of the things that is on our special education report card the APR um annual performance report that we get from the state department and there are different factors that we need to comply with um or else we uh can have sanctions put on us things we need to improve so when we came on board um there were a lot of things we were not in compliance with so we've really worked very hard on that the past

043two years when we came on board in 2019 our prevalence rate which is the percentage of students identified um as having a disability was at 22% we were amongst the four highest out of 169 districts in in the state of Connecticut and as of June we were down to 1538 and the state Target average that they would like districts at is 16% so we are below what is required sorry there's my clock um then we also um have been working very hard on our out placements as you know um and it's like it's kind of surprising to only see minus5 you have to remember that we'll lose some and then somebody else moves in that we um are inheriting an outplacement however having said that again in 2019 we were at 16% if you think

044about that our percentage of outplacement was as high as what the state felt the entire special education identification should be for each district so we were really over in our out placements we had reduced it to 13.74% and um the state average is 133% so we've really made some nice movement in our numbers and um really have been able to focus our attention on the kids that truly need it if you go to the next page Al um we have our exits so I kept track every year last year we had exited 51 students students and that means no longer needing special education that's not that they moved um it's that they no longer required special education this year we were able to exit 55 and we're really happy with that considering that how crazy

045school has been the past couple of years that our kids have still made some growth um so over the past two years we've exited 106 kids and we have identified 86 new ones so that's good to see because in looking at our numbers in the past every year we were exiting fewer and fewer and picking up more and more and our numbers just kept growing so we have it much more under control another um area on the APR that we had to concentrate on was the time with non-disabled peers so you hear me talk a lot about LR the least restrictive environment and it's the law that to the maximum extent possible students with disabilities are integrated with their non-disabled peers in their home school so you know that's obviously what we are trying to

046do and what the state is looking for is that they want to see that 72% or more of all the identified students will spend at least 80% of their school day with their non-disabled peers and so that's why you know we're always talking about ways to improve differentiation and um you know have our supports going into the classroom perhaps rather than pulling out and so anyway our time with non-disabled peers was at 53 um perc and again the state is requiring us to be at 72% that's the Target and as of June 21st we were at 72% so we've increased our time with non-disabled peers by 19% uh one of our biggest challenge areas was prek though some of the pl the U programming that we have arranged for this year is going to increase

047our pre K time with non-disabled peers so that's exciting um the extended school year I just wanted to clarify so we this year the district was able to offer summer school which was fantastic and absolutely any child can go to that obviously we had a large number and they clearly benefited extended school year services are um it's a very different um type of programming it is really um intended only for your most significant students with disabilities and the purpose of it is to prevent continued slide or loss um and the inability to jump back to where they were at the end of the school year so for example um the child doesn't get any instruction during the school year and they come back and you know it's like the the past school year didn't even

048um happen and the child's back to the starting point there's very very stringent criteria that needs to be looked at and um when we first came on um really torington was kind of using it almost like summer school and if you had an i you got it now our students with IEPs can attend summer school but it doesn't mean that they qualify for esy so we've really tightened up um the criteria for that and we are currently at a much more appropriate um number for students that would qualify for that esy piece uh we talked about the referral process and all year I shared that with you ultimately parent referrals ended up allotting um to 29% of those children actually qualified for special ed and the school referral was almost 70% so again you know

049to just emphasize that as a district we have to encourage our our parents to trust in the school and and try our multi-tiered systems of supports and you know we're we're going to go to evaluation when we need to and when we do go to evaluation students do tend to qualify but just jumping early isn't always the best way to go um and then the last thing I just wanted to point out um about our past year was the Connecticut alternate assessment that's another area that is on our report card and um we are supposed to have less than 2% of all students taking the alternate assessment we were at 10% so we really had to um look at that the state had given the district some things to look at to improve that before

050we came on board and now the state also has um more of a clear-cut criteria that they provided that we have to go through with every family before we recommend that students take the ctaa and so that's been really helpful we got kids down to where they wanted to be um at our September meeting I will talk about some of the um things that we're hoping to concentrate on going forward this year as um Sue had already mentioned we're excited about piloting our tag program um in five and six I mean in four and five sorry and so um we're going to have that group um IQ well group measure which is going to be administered to our fourth and fifth graders at the beginning of the year and based on that and the remaining

051criteria we'll have that pilot program start so that's exciting I feel like um this is further than I thought we were going to be because I wasn't sure we were going to be able to go to a pilot at this point so thank you to the board and um T Sue and and everybody that's making that happen I think that's great for our kids and then the only other thing is excited this year special ed will be working um quite often at at least a couple times a month month with OTL um to really work on ways to improve learning for all of our students and um you know to really kind of fine-tune our process of when we need to jump to that special ed um that special ed referral so that's it Laura

052would you mind sending this report to Marissa so that she can send the board an electronic copy sure Ally allly has it and it's on it's on the table too I left copies um but Ally can you just send it is it okay yeah she just sends it to Marissa she can get it to everybody just because Ed and Kathy don't have a copy in sure um the extended school year something I know we're investing in from the arpa funds good chunk of the money is this really just fed and we're seeing the need in the non-s special education for really that program okay I want to just ask asks a clarifying question so laur's talked about extended school year it's more of a specialized thing right so are are you asking if the if

053we're gonna what's your question I guess my question is we're investing in the extended school year $1.4 million of the arpa funds is going to the extended school year to Summer to summer school summer school okay so is that just summer school then not extended year yeah it's both so EX extended school year right so you have extended day programs and then you have extended school year and some of that is in Alliance some of that is in arpa right and so it's mandated through arpa that you're spending a certain percentage right so we're doing that and making sure that we're offering as many supports as possible so that students have an opportunity to any you know lost learning or any gaps or to play catchup or whatever but special Le is different than the

054regular right okay that's that was my question I think that's your question seeing these numbers being on such a decline is like okay do we really need all that investment but it's really because it's it's totally separate right and so what we're hoping is that we're addressing students needs at the appropriate level and targeting instruction so that we don't go back to where we were before in terms of especially let's the only game of town so everybody needs to qualify for special ed because the gaps are huge and they can't be made up that can in recent years the only student students who attended a summer experience who were not kids with IEPs would have been our high school students who were attending a credit recovery we didn't have anything for other kids other grad

055okay got itow other questions Kathy Ed are you guys I'm it thank you good board of education budget 2021 2022 so um we didn't spend a very long time on budget for this year since the year has just started um so Lynn gave the monthly financials which are in the packet and our next um you want just give a a quick overview in terms of I mean yeah well as you shared at budget as of 731 we had spent 3.4 million of our 2021 2022 budget and it's it it will not start to really kick in until school starts again very soon so you'll get those updates in the next coming months the um 6:30 2021 ending date for six as of 731 2021 we still had 377,000 $756 encumbered and there was an ending

056budget balance of 438,000 we set that there was a line it's on the last page of the one that's in the packet um sorry page six of the expense budget performance report the donations line yeah the donations line of a million dollars I believe that was we we found out what that was that was the expenditures that were made for Co and um oh that's right they can't change the descriptions once they're in with this system so it it was just put in that line under donations but that was Co expenditures for the previous year the ones that the masks the shields the um not that what we not what we got reimbursed so the city wanted us to track separately all Co so any Co expenses went into that bucket so that possible down

057the road it would all be separate correct right because then we got some reimbursement and then we still had expenses and so it was going back and forth so had put it right in that line because it was coming and going it was just easier to keep track the city check there is that way also qualifying it all as etif and the only one that can apply for the FEMA money is the town so they would need to have it separate to see then how much of this million dollars would we would get freed it it wouldn't come back to us it would go to the town go to the city yes I'm sorry the city no yeah so if we have any additional Co expenses this year which we might know everything wire then

058that will and then at some point they'll sub a big submission to F so we'd have to I guess You' hear from the city if any of about it's them that would do it they just wanted to make sure that we tracked it so that we had a dollar amount give them at the end of this that's the over and above Mount because when you had the corona relief money none of that could could be utilized for for female purposes so this is the above and [Music] beyond3 all re City and then the that get back to us but spent the money right they would do [Music] one categor what kind of reimbursement may there's no guarantee that you'll get anything not when every single town and city in the country is asking for exactly2

059million or questions financials anything to no I think I think Lynn said it all it's early on for you say Lyn $3.4 million spent far yes we'll start rolling again next week yes it vaccine mandates mandate for employees so this was a surprise um to us surprise um and uh superintendent found out a couple of hours before it was going to be released and we really didn't get all of the information so it was kind of like okay this is coming but watch the press release um so it was confusing um and it still is confusing for a variety of different reasons so it came out on the 19th and um so in the original The Proposal was that employees and obviously we're in arm of the state so it's all of the School District

060employees as well so you could either have had a full vaccine and you have to provide that verification that you've had that vaccine um been fully vaccinated or you could submit a religious exemption or a an ad testing ation that you um p a significantly held belief or sincerely held belief and that's their words um and then or a medical exemption and it has to be verified by a doctor that you have this medical condition so you can have the exemption so originally or you could test weekly so there's some confusion in the documentation um because then when we met on Tuesday superintendent the following Tuesday that was reiterated after that Wednesday Thursday wherever we're at right now um there was some push back from the state because the state said no no um at

061least some people from the state said you still have to get tested even if it's a medical exemption or religious exemption so at this point it's now the lawyers are trying to get that clarification from the state department so we have Shipman and Goodwin we have Tom Mooney who's the The Guru from Chipman a Goodwin you have fman kley you have every legal entity the big wigs in Connecticut now asking the state what's the clarification so leaving all of us to kind of scramble at this point so we are waiting for clarification forthcoming so we're hoping to get it really soon um so in the meantime we said okay so what do people do opt for the testing so Amanda who does our benefits program um has been calling sna who's our provider um and

062we finally got an answer today and actually I haven't even been able to share this with staff yet but what they said to us is that if the testing is for Diagnostic reasons you are having symptoms somebody in your family you feel like you're a you know you're contact close contact then it will be paid for by our insurance however if you're asymptomatic and you're testing weekly then our insurance will not pay for it um so that's a whole another piece that I need to share with staff tomorrow I haven't even been able to tell him that um even if you have a medical exemption so this is the problem right okay so that's why no but I'm glad you're bringing that up so then these are the problems and the dilemmas it's not as

063easy as it sounds right it's just one or the other and that's why now legal the attorneys are involved in all of this now all of this is supposed to be resolved by September 27th right everybody's supposed to be fully vaccinated or you've got your exemptions in place or you've got your testing in place um I'm hoping that we get an answer they understand that we needed the answer like yesterday we needed it on the 19th but I don't think that they had anticipated exactly what you're saying some of those questions where it's like H it's not so clear um so we had already planned on offering clinics for vaccination vaccination clinics after school so that could be available for staff members we were thinking particular at the middle school and at the high school

064um our student athletes would have an opportunity that's downtown parents it would certainly be open to everyone but but it does benefit our students and um any parents or any staff members who now choose to get the vaccine for some people now that it's been at least fiser has been FDA approved that may be something that people want to get um certainly there are reasons why people can't get the um the vaccine genetical reasons so it it's it's very messy at this point so we are really looking forward to guidance um um we meet in our Tuesday meetings um with the commissioner with dph um and various other epidemiologists Etc um and like I said originally on those calls it was very clear that yes it you were going to be able to fall into

065any one of those four categories and if you got the exemption you didn't have to test so now it's very muddy and this last Tuesday 's call um it was basically they said at the beginning we're not going to have the mass Dan information for you so don't ask and we'll get that to you we know that you you need it yesterday and we do and that's where we're at I think we' said this before but do we know what percentage of our staff is vaccinated yes um so I don't know the new update since when we did the whole big blast but we had 7 % of our staff um which was easy to track at that time because we were doing the clinics at Charlotte Hungerford and um then people were forthcoming about

066the information so it was very helpful um so at this at that point we could not necessarily ask now at this point because it's a mandate now we will know what our percentages are uh but we were just talking at this last event before this meeting we were just talking with some folks from Charlotte hunger bird and and they were saying you know we have such a a very high number of folks vaccinated um in our particular area that 70 to 75 even maybe 75 to 80 so we're doing well so eight out of every 10 um so that's a high number or the whole in we were just talking for our County because we were talking to folks from from Charlotte Hungerford um so good yeah so that's what they are finding we'll get

067some clearer numbers as we go on U and then we'll be able to share that so I had you answered some of my questions just some of the same thought that I had because it doesn't make sense to me the whole testing versus the exemption if your concern is viral spread which is asembly why we're doing this right right then whether somebody has a specific belief or not shouldn't makees no has no bearing on whether or not they can carry the virus right but then I'm concerned because I if if this is something that the employees themselves have to pay for right I'm concerned now that we would be placing an undue financial burden on People based upon their religious or medical status sure which feels discriminatory to me and so I would I don't

068know I'm interested to hear how the lawyers shake that out I wonder if there's a way that we can be I'd like to see us be proactive in two ways one I'd like to make it very clear what documentation we requiring of people to that that verifies their sincerely help belief that we will accept and that we are generous in what we accept because 30% of our staff is a lot of staff not vaccinated and if we got to a place where you may have maybe half of those people we'll say okay fine I'll get it and what Happ if we don't that's what perent of our staff and we can't afford to lose those people or to not have them be in the building and if we had staff that you know for whatever

069reason couldn't be vaccinated whatever and we said okay you have to I don't know what we would do I mean I don't know what the next step would be but if you had a situation where you people are you know okay well remotely or you this or you do things to work for us but you can't enter the building there would be a financial cost incurred to the district there's going to that's going to cost the district money so I wonder if there's a way that we could seek out like a large quantity of inexpensive tests that we could have for the staff that aren't able to be vaccinated or that have convictions that lead them to not be able to be vaccinated that we can make available them because you can buy a rapid

070test for you can buy I bought two for $25 on Amazon so like when push comes to shove if we could have those buy buy them in bulk make them available to our staff and if we did get to a place where you it was okay you guys you know if you're not able to get the shot or willing to get the shot you are going to have to test you know pop by the nurse's office on your way out on a Friday afternoon and right so I new yeah it concerns me the idea of saying because you're a certain thing or because you have a certain medical condition you are now going to have to go and pay for a test out of your own pocket every single week and and this is not

071a condition that people were aware of when they were but you don't have to pay to go to the pharmacy to get a test you do but if it will be the test testing options are much more limited now than they were six months ago and what Sue was just saying is that if you have insurance they'll ask you for your insurance and sign is not going to cover it they ask you for your insurance but they don't bill you not if it's on a weekly basis so I think I think we have to wait to see what the lawyer says and really I'm hoping you know in the next week we got that information so thing is also if you're going to accept the that was other discussion but You' be chasing your tail

072by the time you got right so that was raised the other day as well so there there's just so many tentacles to this so Le let's just you know we can have a a policy meeting you know we can bring this up at policy I in all honesty I'm going to be updating you routinely on this as we get more information and I'm really thinking that Tom Mooney with his stature within the state um he is like I said the legal Guru I think that they are really working very hard to pull apart some of this to at least get us through these initial pieces of things so let's see and then certainly you know whatever the board wants to do in terms of setting up parameters or setting up a policy or or whatever

073in terms of um what we want to do for those pieces we can certainly do that so is it clear to staff now like what they have to do because like I I was curious because you guys sent us the form board members the you know what we like what how they would submit it and I I wanted to see like what the exemption I've had people ask right my family's vaccinated I have no issue with the vaccine personally but I know people at house sure and so like I clicked it just I wanted to see what it looked like and it it didn't say anywhere on there what kind of paperwork was required because there is no sample for any of that they've left it totally open we've asked for a sample for religious

074attestation or um exemption and all they've said is the medical that you know it has to be and they listed a couple of different things like you said the swallowing the asthma the you know respiratory kind of things um lung issues um but yes the the religious is very very very very nebulous um and I think I don't know why that is if it may be on purpose may not be but um I think we're looking for some more guidance in terms of of that um but so far nothing so is it like because that form is live now right yes I mean there's staff that could be submitting something right now sure is there um is that something that we process that our HR department processes and approves are denies or so we process

075it no it doesn't go on to the state however they do say in the documentation that if you are not following this process with Fidelity although they haven't given us the particulars you will be fined as a district by the state so we're hoping for a little more clarification so that we're not fined and we're following but we're also being respectful of employees it does say in here that you could be fined um a minimum of no more than $10,000 no less no less than 1,000 no more than 10 per per person yeah per person right so you also have to be careful because you don't want to be on the list where they've had to find you because remember all this other the arpa funding and what have you comes from you know is

076approved by the state so you know you would be in danger of also losing your funding so we we want to follow what the Mandate is and what the guidance is however you know we need more guidance on the Mandate doesn't it is person um how are we advising the staff so so what I sent to you is what we're telling the staff at this point um because that was what we got on the 19th so that's what I shared um and the sign information they didn't have because we didn't have it and um we'll offer the clinics and we're waiting for more legal advice so I'm really hoping by Friday we have a little bit more clearcut so they can give them an update people who have concerns that's what I told that's why

077I told them to just reach out to me people are reaching out to me and they're asking and some whatever I know I can share with them and then sometimes I'm telling them you know what just hang on um because we don't have that guidance yet or sometimes I'm really able to allay their fears and say you know we've got this we've got some other options for you and you know got vaccines that are going to be offered you know clinics that are going to be offered and we're trying at that point we're trying to get the information so yeah so as we get more information we'll be emailing you um and updating you to so that you know and then you know if it becomes a policy issue or wherever it can fall into

078those subcommittees and then we have to have an emergeny meeting we can you know sorry for another meeting it's just it's crazy we really we did not see this coming we thought that that meeting was actually going to be uh maybe an update about possible remote we're 100% in person we are not offering remote unless it's a special special ed or medical um issue and Laura has good handle on those things special ed 504s those kind of things which we were honoring even before Co obviously maybe this is different than some of the others I know there have been other situations where they have said not Co related where Boards of Education members could be help individually liable for this that was the Tom Mooney one right so this does not you're right this sounds

079more we are though we operate outside isn't that what the ship um yes that's what sh that in their letter the tomone letter right but this one that you're looking at here doesn't say individually but yeah is but I think that's why I'm getting confused there's two different sources of information it's not all very it is and I know like you guys I think everybody knows that you guys get this St Dum on you you know we trying but it's it's uh the timing of it right before the beginning of the school year I think is really one of the part of state and that's the word I and and the deadline is a little short yeah it's it's intended to put pressure Beyond people I don't you're got a mandated adults that are professionals

080I think that's very for you so yeah the most information that we can put out there I think the better and the most that we can respect our autonomy and beliefs of our employees our professional adult employees I think we sure absolutely other questions comments all right education [Music] specifications building project okay we get to have Ed come back so just quickly so in June of 20120 the board approved the building you guys no come sit over here we have the everybody knows Amy chair yeah see us we' missed you Ed we do I'll bring cheesecake that's right all right now we know why we're invited exactly the cheesecake connection so just give you a quick update where the Ed specs in June of 2020 would have Ed approved the Ed specs because we had

081to fill out the form for the State uh November was passed so in December we hired slam January they started reviewing the Ed specs they had over 20 meetings with staff members uh throughout the district for 7 through 12 they've come up with name changes really because of the alignment of the programs and Amy you w to just right I'll just confirm that that's the case um there are were a few adjustments to the program in terms of number of offices or or number of support spaces um that we put into the program and then updated the edpc with those revisions um so where the edec may have in the past written um um a pathway space we've now um provided program areas for that teaching space as well as storage or equipment areas for

082those spaces that kind of thing so we've basically just taken what you had and aligned it with the discussions that we had with the teachers so so for example like at the high school in the stem so originally we called it a maker base and we had an equipment room and now we have it as the engineering lab because it's more than just a maker space and a Hands-On it's got all of these other components because we're offering more so we're trying to incorporate it and have the best name to fit what we're doing in that space so that the state can better understand what we're doing and where we're going so it's it's a lot of tweaking and enhancing um and just the input from um the teachers which has been really invaluable I

083just have to say kudos to slam they've been very patient and really working with us it's wonderful that they have experts on their panel so that they really can help us help to guide us um they did another meeting with our our music and um arts department the other day and they were talking about sound systems and a lot of technical things lighting and and stuff and um so they we're starting to get down to some of that nitty-gritty um but just to have that in uh the edcs right for the state it is so um the state process as you know requires that we build to meet the edpc um so the edpe has to align with the program that we're delivering in order to maximize your reimbursement um so we don't want to

084have any wounds in the building that were not mentioned in the ECT this way we're sure that you get your full reimbursement and we don't risk any kind of concerns or discussions from the state about what's being provided and why because when they do the order at the end they will take the it spec and they will look at the building and they will go room by room by room by room I do um and I and I apologize because I haven't been at the building committee meetings on that committee but um I noticed that some of the past ways were removed and it could be because they were renamed or for another reason maybe because of the the El wut that we have in town um like the automotive and the carpentry and those

085so were they renamed or removed and it remov combination It's a combination and I'll I'll just give a quick answer and I'll let Sue expand on it um but the engineering and stem Tech um teched uh department or pathway I think is really going to start to morph into something that's a a little bit more technical in nature um Robotics and Hands-On um learning for for that so I think the state is also really concerned about not building something across the street from wch that that has the same program so you want to make sure that they are in favor of what we're building here here because they know it's different than what's across the street right so essentially what Amy said um when we were zooming with Costa he asked me Point Blank he

086said why should I bother giving you money for this project if you're going to replicate what's across the street that's ridiculous so we already give them money so we're not giving you money too how are you different so where there were duplicates you we we remove those Pathways or so I would say that the path way has just evolved yes um I don't think I think your CTE teachers will still remain and they'll just um evolve their teachers yeah will still are still there and so what's happening is that you know we're building for 50 years from now so if you know what's his name Elon Musk Tesla if he has his way right we're going to have electric cars and um so Automotive will probably look really different and as Amy is saying you

087know all kidding aside we're really looking at the digital and the technological rather than the I'm going to go into the engine of the car and you know figure out how I can work with the carburetor and the you know okay and now I'm out of my realm okay after that so then the other piece is with the um we are still having opportunities for students that have Hands-On opportuni ities we were meeting with um the person who does the construction The Woodworking today as well as our graphic arts person and our robotics our drones you know so we've got a a robust plan in terms of that so they're helping us design this area so that we're still offering all of this for our students the other wonderful thing that Ed has done is

088really working with the unions we met with them earlier in the week and so our students don't necessarily have to have a lab inside the school because of the wonderful opportunities and apprenticeships that our students will have outside they will go to a facility for 40 hours stay there like a hotel they'll take care of them they'll learn they'll become apprentices and then when they come out uh they could make 2025 an hour as an apprentice and then they they also at that time the benefits 403b 401k and so we're working on that with them that's great Yeah the more we can get our students into those programs the better at for torington and the city they'll have to have kids that buy houses right they'll stay and right yeah develop here yeah so in

089the next year we've already established two career fairs that will be offered one in the fall one in the spring and so then students will have that opportunity one in the spring uh and it's set up so they they have to turn 18 but they can sign up when they're 17 and so forth they have to be 18 to participate correct to go away for a week sure right yeah okay all right yes so I actually Su you completely read my mind because when I read through this earlier that was one of the biggest questions that I had because I saw a reduction in several of things that are I think very popular with students and very much Hands-On and very practical and it looked like we were adding other things maybe that were a

090bit more esoteric technological in a way that people unless this is your job you're probably not going to use drones M right so I would have a concern about omitting those things and I do understand not creating an entire pathway for automotive when you have a tech a text schol across the street but gosh the classes on basic autoare that we have now that's like super super useful for high school students it's incredibly useful and a kid shouldn't have to go to a college bound kid should be able to take a class on basic fing I have a college kid that's very you know what I mean so just like are we well so one of the issues is space so if you want to have the automotive takes up a lot of so if

091you want to have Automotive you have to give up other things in the building right so one of the things that I didn't mention but that we in order to maximize your reimbursement the state does have an allowable area for student that we're required to meet and that gives us a total net square foot of building area that we can build to which we have maximized and gone an eek over we're trying to Rin it back in but um you know State's been very supportive of this project and so we plan to continue to push forward you know and stay within their guidelines but be able to keep their funding right so if we if the determination to it sounds like to reimplement Automotive or carpentry really isn't an option and I understand that because

092it is across the street and didn't even occur to me until I saw that it was removed that it makes sense that it's not there because but then again you have you know Playing devil's advocate are we going to lose kids to Tech we do now I mean you could go on and on and on but anyway my point I guess my question is if we don't really have a choice if we want to optimize our reimbursement you were told Point Blank I'm not going to pay you for that if they have it across the street right so kind of and I will point out that you have a great maker space in the Middle School portion of the building and uh two classes and a graphics computer lab there as well that is a

093great theater program for what we're describing as engineering classes in the High School site so hopefully you'll retain those students who get excited by taking the maker space classes and those um Hands-On learning classes in the middle school and see what they can do next as they move into the high school side yeah that would be my only concern is that we lose kids but there's so many other things being offered that they would that's why I think we put the seven through 12 because we're going to keep those kids in our buildings the other I just wanted to add this sorry just the um the other piece is we've worked with Kathy aad who is the regional director for manufacturing in the area and CA Rosa for um the chamber so that she both

094of them could really inform our decisions in terms of what's marketable in this area so our kids can get jobs as they go out who are our manufacturers who are our business owners what do they want in terms of helping them be employed in their own town so we're not looking at maybe a lifescale OG I can tune my car we're really looking at okay we want to make sure that a a student can go out and get a job at our local businesses I I think this is going to lose some of the very kids that we're supposedly trying to help I honestly do I mean we keep talking about kids that aren't College Bound or kids that are more handson that are not so much academic and a lot of that stem like

095a lot of that sounds very es and engineering and if you take a kid who struggles in the classroom but is really good with his hands you talk to him about you do some space and engineer unless you're going to find a I I think that is going to lose a lot of and I feel like that's kind of the opposite of what we were trying to do and so I I I don't know I really would like to put see that back in somehow I feel like there has to be a way because we're taking away something I can I don't think our community was aware that we were going to be taking away W shop and auto from the high school I mean that's something that when we've done like you know High

096School fairs that's one of the first pictures you put up on there and the kids working in the auto shop and we just saw that in the last like six months there there's got to be a way to not take things away from our kids so through this process I do have one response I just want to let you know that there will be woodworking equipment and they'll still be able to do projects like um the the pens and the stools and yes exactly um so they'll be doing those Hands-On things um in what you now call Wood Shop which will just be in a Hands-On learning environment that will have woodworking equipment right lamps tables yes that's right he mentioned lamps I thought that was really cool because then they also can use skills

097and put the electric um wiring in so um the teacher really had some great ideas great ideas for still implementing that Hands-On learning that you're talking about right and same thing for even though it's called an engineering lab our robotics will go in there so that they're building and they're creating which will still be you know it's not a low level it it's can't on and I think it jazzes the kids and our kids at every level have been able to participate in that our our electives are full um at the high school so they're they're pretty Jazz about what's going on actually yeah it depends on what year you look at right and traditionally that has not been the case um but we're really talking about things that are going to be jobs of

098the future so we're trying to prepare for that we understand that people hate to lose the automotive but I think that we really have to look at as Fiona is saying the space issue of that that's a huge space exhaust ventilation Nikki AR Su do we have um the pathways curriculum might be like too deep into the levels but like the pathway plan um that this these educational specs support like what is that overarching goal of the high school because I know we had originally like medical you know you had the thought on the automotive do we have that presentation of what we're going after and what this you know what these details support So if you remember that picture it actually gave a graphic of what each pathway was and then underneath what the

099career was that was possibly linked to that so those things are still in existence um criminal justice like you say the medical pathway that's all within our structure we have a great um the trainers room for your athletic training is also going to be a classroom with 16 correct me I don't quote me on that a number of stations if if we determined that 16 was the right number per students in that class um it might have been 20 but that they'll have um taping stations and and um the exam tables and so that's that is a a space that's definitely growing that you don't have now right yeah so that'll be incorporated I just want to make sure because I do remember that in DET that was right of think before the referendum I

100just want to make sure that we're still in lock step with kind of that that plan that put together and that um you know if there was any changes to that that that's being shared justware I don't have John yeah um yeah to your point Jess I do agree you know lost the automotive is not a good thing but you got to remember Automotive is is going to I put this electronics and electrical and not so much mechanical anymore I mean a lot of the cars now most of your issues are electronic issues so actually this would be beneficial for our students to get that electronic and electrical background even if they want to go to the automotive field the other thing is we have a manufacturer in town uh wh battenfield that actually makes

101robotic um automated um assembly lines for companies and they're always looking for people so this would be a good start for a lot of our kids to get a job there and don't have to go to college get a start so just just a couple notes there so I sue answered my question actually Nikki the way she proposed it it was around the career-based sure still in exist still driving us I want to say that we have talked about changes that we anticipate in all these Pathways and will the SIC meetings because that's where these things come [Music] come I know um in reading the minutes from the building committee I know that there was some discussion around um combined uh 7 to 12 space that was part of the plan and it like reading

102through the um minutes it seemed like that conversation was tabled so does this include any space that is 7 to 12 so anytime that there is a shared space in the building that that both the middle school and the high school will use they will not be using it at the same time so for example your band room which is a very large space over 4,000 square feet to accommodate the huge wonderful bands that you have is really the most robust program I've ever worked on in 26 years so a lot of students use that bandr but the full band only gets together once a day each of the grade levels so that room will be used by both the high school band and the middle school band but at different times um and there

103are doors from both Wings to enter that room so they won't even be using the same Corridor to get to the room um the auditorium is a shared in c um but if there is an assembly that the middle school is attending the high school won't be there and vice versa um the stage will be shared as a chorus practice rehearsal room for both schools again at different times in the same way that the B is and there's access from both sides to that and in any projects that you've worked on for the seven is that standard practice to have shared spaces it is actually nightmare what is unusual ual is that um the separation that is desired here in torington is a little bit more extreme or or um than what I've done in

104the past you know we've had a cafeteria that was shared 7 to 12 um for example School in Enfield but here we're careful to separate those groups so the sery will have entrances from both separate sides the U shape to go around and get your lunch trays not connected at all from one school to the other and the dining we also put in a stairwell the second floor to go down so they won't even see the high school kids so they go right into the cafeteria then they can go use that same stairwell to go into the gym which is right next to one yeah so I think we're you know it's it's evolving as we as we understand the program and as we start to implement it in the building we've definitely um improved

105as we've gone along and I think that we're it's always a moving Target but we're we're getting there I'll never say I'm done designers are never done you know it's always bugging me do you have those drawings I want to print them for the building committee meeting I'm like well well all right you know when like not last meeting but the meeting before we had a discussion about Co mingling the 7th or 12 we ended that meeting Amy myself s and Mario we all met that's how we came up with that and then the day before we came up with how to separate them in the lunchroom which we're doing so uh slam's been very uh Progressive in what we're doing and the reason we need the reason we need these specs approved because we're

106going to the state for their uh schematic design design this won't be the last time no you'll see more times you'll see him at design development go coming right but I really do I'm confident that this is the last time the Ed spec will be re you know replaced or or um updated I should say because once we get it approved at the SDR meeting or I'm sorry approved by you first and then brought it bring it to the state for their approval um that's really what we're working toward it and we won't be adding more rooms or anything like that at this point now it's a matter of just detailing what's inside the building where are the cabinets where are the marker boards and um so that's the kind of work that we'll get

107more into the building once this gets approved right so this so this is just really defining each of those spaces so this is kind of the last pass at defining each to those spes that's correct because I I think we had so many meetings we did you know interviews with all of the Departments and so I think that we now have the right terminology and um the right spaces to support each of the pathways and all of the typical academic and science labs so I think this is those that was defining the rooms and now as we move forward we're going to Define what's inside the rooms we're going to start detailing the exterior wall Construction and water type you know construction and and making the building come alive yes so I see um The

108Culinary Kitchen restaurant Community Center were removed and it looks like Foods lab was put in is that basically because we don't have a restaurant currently is that basically like initially we thought maybe we want a restaurant but then we took that out but then we still have Foods correct equivalent to what we have now you have you will actually have something much more enhanced from what you have now because it will be um commercial kitchen equipment and it will be training that someone could use to work in a kitchen of a restaurant but the restaurant portion of the original Ed speec was taken out because it would have required more staff on on your end um there would have had to be a separate teacher The Culinary teacher couldn't handle both the prep work the

109kitchen and the teaching of the culinary skills and Running a Restaurant you know that would need its own management and and then students to take a different class to learn serving and hosting and these kind of skills so on that also for the same reason of Automotive construction all of that that's across the street okay just remembering that for our Foods we're really trying to teach kids the health benefits they're going to be working with the science department and the plant science courses and things like with the health of you know the um Health classes that are taught so that will be falling into the health and medical you know pathway type of thing so somebody may want to become a nutritionist and so that's a different vent so it just starts hopefully to give

110you an idea of what we're trying to do to say we're different and so these are other things that we're offering that really help people hopefully help our kids be successful as they get ready for the world John I just G to say what Sue said a restaurant facil to be redundant in our school because Oliver exists the street it's beautiful replicated and the other thing is nobody should ever think that a school building even when it's done even when you walk away from F bulldo away they're never done there always things that are that are being changed and repurposed and sometimes those are major modifications so it shouldn't surprise us to hear that happened along the way to use some part of the exactly can you just run down again what the pathways are

111specifically that we're targeting right now oh you're going to test me right now I haven't looked at it in a while so you're GNA help me Sue Ferguson so it's medical and health it's um criminal justice it's umal Justice and public service right and it's so that fits into our R CPS it's our um applied Arts it's our manufacturing stem business and finance and then education last but not least right yes with prek thank you yeah and we can share that graphic again because I think it's a nice way to just kind of summarize it so we can remember yeah and so then we try to have the courses and as you see through se you know we present the courses that we're hoping to grow and build before we even get the high school

112and try and at least get them on the books and then maybe test them out any other [Music] questions Kathy do you guys have any questions on ads yes I'm good I'm good thank you contract building project right uh as you're aware of the building committee approved the contract uh city council and the mayor approved it and signed it now we're just the board of a just has to approve it and sign it so that's the last contract decides when we have the construction but that's that's a uh at risk and om is responsible for those contracts right the subcontract I just um I noticed that the Ed specs were modified as of August 1st but the contracts were signed before that correct correct do they have to go back and review changes okay they

113saw the same changes that we saw Yes they're at all the mayor she signed this she sign I just noticed the dates were it has to go through city council right right and the mayor receives everything right May receives everything all the time questions on cont thank you is it okay that I'll stay but is it okay that Amy leaves abely well I just want to make sure we all do it right everybody no other questions thank you very much thank you yes really again the board member gets all of the uh minutes and all that stuff so need anything else just give a call put in your quest now hopefully almond gave you the stuff is not here I the official distributor all right possible truck purchase options um I did go and get

114different quote from the local cord dealership and it is significantly higher than the one I got from tasa Ford unfortunately the the vehicle at tasa is no longer available so we would have to order it and it's quite a long time before it can get [Music] here if you want me to go through the process of ordering it I will if you don't want me to I won't um did did you um look at what it would be for us to I think you had talked about leasing it were we talking about leasing it at one point they have a lease versus buying it outright the the lease it's currently I think 4 and a half% and you you pay it and after the end of five years you pay a dollar and you own

115it the leas to own correct correct yeah so what do we what would we be paying at the end of four or five years you said how many sent out an email with all the specific yeah but I well before our last meeting right send another one she got of you're looking at yeah you you have it right there this yeah yeah so I'm asking about interest like leasing it versus buying it outright like spending $442,000 or if we lease it and pay 4 and a half% interest are we going to spend $75,000 that's all I want to know I would have to call them and get the exact amount because the interest rates change right but I just I I just want an idea when I did when I first asked um people didn't

116want the leasing option they they asked for the Flatout purchase so is that what we're doing if we're not leasing it then I don't care work trucks are very difficult to lease because of damage flowing yeah so then the if the plan is to buy it then that's a point but I didn't the memo thaty purchase agreement it's not a regular lease there's no um mileage or anything you just you own it after the end and pay that last dollar so it's just like finan exactly right but again are we gonna pay $42,000 or are we gonna pay $72,000 you're gonna pay more because that's that's my point so why would we spend an extra $30,000 that's two trucks for right Mi AR did we um talked I missed the conversation the budget so I

117apologize if you already talked about this did we go to torington Ford and tell them that the um price to beat I guess I did tell him the the bid price with the state of Connecticut he said he could not beat it or meet it this was his best offer I have I have a question now do um because you had said that there's a uh some sort of Maintenance that comes along with the vehicle like a I remember we were talking at budget I don't think we knew that we had to find out if maintenance was included it's the regular standard um free oil changes and things like that right right yes but it's in Berlin right and that's the issue I mean it would be at least a loss of a half a

118day of someone's time to drive out to Berlin to get change not a loss of their time they get paid and no no we're paying for it nobody no no no I'm talking about our time our money our money and you know that was my that was my concern is that you're going to pay it out in labor if you're going to bring it out there for service right how many miles put on the truck truck we have now is 12 years old and has how many miles on it not a lot we only going around tourt so it's not like a car that you're going to have to change all that 12 years well if it's free oil if I mean I guess it depends on what is it Ford that's offering the maintenance

119or is it the Tas of Ford I would have to get clarification on because if it's Ford we can use torington Ford again I'm still not thrilled about buying the car from someone right out of town the truck from out of town right yeah I just think the board has to be we don't have a vehicle for the central office guy there's a shortage of vehicles across the country not just in Connecticut so I think we have to decide a direction and move because it's going to take time to get any vehic could months out the tasa doesn't have one right well they did neither take it they both told me it could take up to 30 weeks to get it because of the chip shortages so actually I was just gonna ask you so

120there's no availability with either place no so either either way we have to place none of them no and and we'd have to get it would probably be a 2022 model coming next year they're not making there's a backlog on the chips yeah for all the vehicles so everything's backlogged so now they don't even have used inventory because that's corre there's no new inventory so that 30 weeks is what almost eight months can we even afford to be without a car for eight months we have we have we have one we have the one but it's all rusted under we have torington Fort still has theirs available no neither one anymore had a truck available but we didn't want to move on used you can't find you can't find used ones they're harder to find

121the new ones they're they're paying people $5,000 more than they paid for a car that they bought two years ago right now yeah just because they can't get the chips to put in the vehicles yeah used vehicles are 30% higher than they were year it's insane I'm going to put it out there that I think we should place an order with c l can I ask a question sorry is there a reason why we have to stay with a Ford I mean we keep talking about just the Fords is there a reason why that is yeah no it could be any vehicle this was just what was on state contract okay other and I'm just wondering if there's a local dealership that would have perhaps a Chevy truck or I'm just throw that out there

122why does it I mean if we can't get it through the state bid anyway why and we're thinking about wanting to do it locally why would we not check with some of the other dealerships in town I can do that what kind of it's a Ford what F250 F250 you need enough to support the Clow yeah you need so you're going to need at least like 2500 PM or 2500 Ram you're going to need at least that size um to support what we need Towing and everything so so you have the towing capacity and I mean there are I I believe I mean all of the dealers I would think would have a large truck that would be somewhat comparable to that the problem is just they can't get them that's the issue I mean

123do we want to extend to be able to look into that are we now pushing on another month till the next budget meeting so my prefer I mean my concern is we've been told by the garage that this the underneath of this truck is rested out and that the codian should not be driving so I think we should have get a replacement vehicle and maybe it's that we authorize them to you know be on the lowest price whatever we want but authorize them to move on something so at least we can get in line to order something delaying it another month just puts out another I can get the information quickly about other makes and models of vehicles and send it out to the board for you to make a decision if you wanted to

124call yourself a special meeting and I don't know how involved the board wants to be in this but I think typically this should be something that the business office takes care of and we have a threshold for what we expect am in the budget have amount allocated in the budget for this vehicle no we were going to take it from the maintenance line so that we we would assume that without the need to maintain the vehicle that was old that we would fund it through that pretty much it sounds like our preference is obviously supporting you know a dealer in town but other than that I mean I think we have to go with the lowest price and quickest delivery well the lowest price but I still and I hate I'm sorry I hung up

125on this and I feel like I've asked it a hundred times but I just want to know how much the interest is going to be because why not write a check for $36,000 today as opposed to spending 70 or 75 because sometimes the interest is crazy yeah and just be done with that it's changed in my when I've done this I I set it in motion the board voted on it when I said it in motion it was 2.5 when the board voted on it it was 5.4 and I had a huge problem and the price is going to be different if the finance it because the dealerships make money on the financing so if you're not financing it it's through Ford Motor Credit yeah so with this one that I know of because I've

126done it in in other districts and um the the dealership isn't involved at all it's Ford Motor Credit yeah is it Ford Motor credit for both of these um for for torington Ford is that's their price um task a for that's State contract State contract with the understanding that you finance your motor credit or is it just just a state contract regardless of how you pay for it you can pay for it cash yeah 36,3 absolutely which I think if we're going to go that route that's the best way to do it is just to pay then you save the you save the interest what do we we don't have this budgeted so we're going to pay for the whole [Music] thing 11 [Music] 11 I just have the yeah I know I don't have

127the 26 pag yeah you're 58,000 what's the line what's the line number 543 [Music] that's all the maintenance of all the build yeah so that's how about is that repair 5430 yeah4 repair which is what 103,000 exactly because it maybe include other things um because it may include check as well as you know building cars well because it says 103 but that's the prior year total we've only spent 26,000 in that account so take 26 away from then you got your June end of month yeah this might actually not even be 20 I'm actually looking at the new year which is how much is the new 13557 spent 20 no we spent 26,000 well we've encumbered 26,000 we've only spent 2,200 but still they get you to the 749 yep this one was under EXA

128I'm pretty sure that's not the KE have to figure out [Music] what're geten off well they go scho so he does go to the other schools it's on city streets sometimes he runs errands delivering things in that truck puts a lot of weight in it well could we take one of the better trucks right just switch them out and he also does the trailering desks things between by that truck is there a vehicle at another in another building that we can switch out that doesn't leave the property to one of the other think they all leave they all leave probably there that red truck the red yeah red truck isn't that the one that's yeah it's going to the schol there's a white one and a red one okay I think the red ones going

129to the middle sidewalks [Music] yeah got our money out of the first Tru do we have to buy a brand new truck can't get any truck [Music] now District yeah so 31 so we have to yeah swing it so so in the repair equipment under uh 5430 under maintenance we have 31,000 so you know as we're still looking at the Staffing pieces and we do believe that we will have some staffing savings there um You probably have some wiggle room in that ,000 yeah if we needed to um but some of this other may come in at less also so we may have to offset even within the all our um District Maintenance lines is there a prepayment penalty right so could we Finance it and then just budget for it next year and pay

130it off ver taking money that we haven't budgeted for this year to buy something probably yeah we we prepaid one year when we had excess funds at year ENT yeah in the last District yeah that's probably the way to go then and then we can pay it off when we have funds and probably not going get to truck till next year any F am that just gets into your monthly payment is it like it's the same dollar amount every month yeah the same thing yeah I thought it was just a fixed interest for some reason that so you can pay it off early but unless you pay it off real early you're not going to save a whole lot like right now it's like all interest yeah a a much larger portion is interest versus

131towards the end of it but we could pay it off in a year but then we get it we' probably be looking at six months but at least then with the budget for [Music] not deplete that account that we don't know what's going to happen this year with any of our you know you don't have to pay for it to take delivery right say time to Bud for it absolutely so we'll we'll have a better idea once we get the truck where we're at how much will you have to give them to order it I did not get that information yet I I think the last time I did it it was like $7,000 I I I was paying for the um the plow package the Dual batteries Power Equipment all the extras and then

132the rest of it was put into the but I I will ask tomorrow I'll get an answer for you right away and I'll I'll send it out so I guess that's my next question I I think that the board has spent so much time talking about this in comparison to our whole budget some point you have to turn it over and let set a direction and let them move on it because if they've got to keep coming back to us we're just going to keep going this process make a motion later to authorize the business office to you know to make a move on a truck that meets meets our specs at the lowest POS at the lowest price price they're not going to well no I just me cath's idea yeah I mean I

133don't think we have to be specific actually I don't know I don't think any other manufacturer has to state F that stateid you know what I'm saying that it's just for has has the state bid and so that's why they have because they sell so many to the state Town they're able to offer more cheaply manufactur any other last minute questions on the truck numberers so we have talked during budget season about some people wer sure if they want to do Contin membership or not continue membership um we do have it in the budget but we haven't actually paid the membership for this year I'm going to ask the board to consider keeping a paid membership at least through the pandemic because there has been a lot of helpful accessibility items to me I know

134John has participa in a lot of those calls as well the opportunities that we would not have had to have a direct here of the commissioner of Education of the head of the department but I also think the list serve the board chair list serve has been very valuable in people sharing other legal opinion so that we can see what other attorneys were saying um sometimes before our attorneys put out an official statement so I think for that purpose and as we're going through the Pand I think it's a membership I'll agree with that I from what I've seen and what I've participated in you have gotten some use out of P especially in the current situation season coming up soon enough we'll have a chance to discuss this quite consciously in that [Music] process

135are there are there um services that we are not taking advantage of that as board members we should really look into so then we can kind of really evaluated next year see we got any value yeah so they offer a lot of workshops they offer policies the only concern about the policies is our attorneys would represent those issu so them looking at the policies you could use case and have them reviewed by them but their website has a lot of information um they do have a lot of workshops I know I attended something and I had a pay so I forget what it was early on with the commissioner with the whole pandemic and I still had to pay even as a member so I didn't see the value there I get the other thing

136is we could submit uh things that they want to bring up to the state that are um hampering us so to speak and uh fulfilling our duties whether it's financially unfunded mandates whatever the case may be so we can we can submit them um you we probably should and we don't take advantage of that and I think that's one thing we should it's kind of like a a lobbying piece for us we already miss the deadine for that year I was just gon to say in response to the payment just there's usually a member price at a non yes just so you know and it's usually a pretty so you probably did have to pay but just the non-member price is is a large difference because I've attended several cave webinars uh and different events

137and things and I always get the member price and I know it's a pretty bigs just clarify that and it may be something too that the board should budget for professional development as well so that we're not paying individually out of our for this kind of stuff it wouldn't be a lot May a little and maybe it's not just and they also come out obviously and works okay I just think all these uncertain times it has been very helpful to be able to every [Music] so I think it's been valuable for that piece if nothing else right now I could just add I know friends in other districts who sit on Boards of Education find it to be really valuable to and this is pre-co really to attend some of the conventions that K has

138offered even if it's just to network with other boards of Ed across the state you know yeah there's a big one in November coming off they have regist [Music] any other questions on membership technically we don't really need to V down it but because it was brought up and never kind of resolved it because it is in our budget now I assume because it was in our budget that that was our decision but I respect your perspective as far as it [Music] said we right that's why we didn't send the check yet because we said we either need to pay it or we're not okay any other questions on C calendar 2021 2022 so the just a simple thing um you need to look at the one that says draft if you don't have one

139just let me know um I'm not sure if it made it to the packet um one uh the one without draft is the existing calendar just so you have it for reference the one with the word draft on it just moves the welcome back Nights from Wednesday to Thursday because then we are keep our Wednesday sacred and then we have our back to school nights on that Thursday it's easier for parents they know that we have our early release on Thursdays and then it just is in keeping with that um and the only wrinkle and I think somebody had mentioned this earlier is um yes building committee on the 9th and then um the elementary early dismissal has to be at 1:10 because we still have the other schools in session so we are noting

140that on the calendar so that parents remember we'll get out several you know power announcements about that um just to remind parents that it will be um different than the 135 early dismissal that traditionally happens um for elementary students so that's the only change on this calendar that we're [Music] proposing yeah just makes it easier all right renovation proposal and allocation of funds from 2018 refer okay so um this was presented at city council and I know that um we had spoken a number of different times about TMS roof Windows what was going into arpa all of that so just so that the board is informed um city council um voted to approve number six number seven and number eight so um so um in the packet you see basically the the resolution um which

141the first one is just to vote to adopt the um the I'm going to actually turn to the resolution because I think it's easier resolution repurposing the $700,000 appropriation and bond authorization previously approved by the voters on November 6 2018 from the window replacement project at the middle school to roof Replacements at torington Public Schools so that was number six and then if you move forward number seven was the re resolution repurposing the 700,000 appropriation and bond authorization previously approved by the voters on November 6 2018 from the window replacement project at the middle school to the roof replacement at torington Public Schools as well as reestablishing sorry establishing a date for the referendum and other matters so um both both of those were approved um Edie and I were both at the meeting um

142before they created the the resolutions and um both of us had shared that the board had discussed this previously and that we didn't necessarily feel that uh going for referendum was the best way to go at this point um but both of those were approved by city council so we just wanted to let you know the the ending the resolution if you will of both of those issues um and then the last piece was is the very last part of that packet um so city council voted to uh take the $569,999 and put that into the city's arpa funds which is very beneficial for us um because we are able to um fund our English as a second language teachers um or English as a second language Paris and tutors and the social worker for

143the high school and the middle school um for the alternative program as students are transitioning back from remote uh and so that was also approved uh they don't have to submit their ARA application until oober um So currently we you know we are still paying for those folks and um so it will come out of our budget until they get approval so because they voted on it and came up with this resolution corck for lack of a better word I don't I don't know we have no input on whether or not this referendum goes forward or if we want to repurpose the funding the money okay so I called the state just to find out what was the city council role what was the Board of Ed rol so basically what they said is city

144council has the right to put forward any referendum item they want Board of Ed you know whatever it involves they can put it forward that's they can vote on it that's all well and good when and so the taxpayers can can vote on it and then once it's voted on and if everybody says yes we would like to move forward then Board of EDS superintendent sends in the application to the state if they so desire so sends in an application for to move this forward to the state they would we would send in an application that says okay if we're going to do this then it's going to be this much money the Middle School group is going to be one point again we're asking for the same money we asked for in 2018 correct

145so that would be an application in this they're asking for us to repurpose the money so hopefully we have enough funding when I last spoke with John he said in terms of the Vogal Wetmore roof that's the flat roof it would be a replacement that's at 1.5 million if we are doing the Middle School roof which you talk to with everybody a lot that's the Fasteners and so then that just a a right exactly it's just a repair and that's 1.5 million so you got a lot going on there the Middle School roof the metal roof is the one that is more of an urgency um and then the Vogal Wetmore was not going to be addressed until the 2223 school year that was in our Capital plan we had a little bit of time

146there so and just to carve it out because this is way more complicated so you have to subsection them out so the Middle School rout is not going to referend the repair of Middle School roof the Middle School roof is being done do grow Capital budgeting but in this case we're going to do net capital budget so we're going to take the difference of what our actual portion of the grot cost will be and then we're going to pull money from capital reserve our capital reserve which is a reimbursement from a previous project that we did put that together form the building committee and get the Middle School roof car so that's part one yeah so we're basically doing net budgeting Pap for our middle schools and the repurposing of the $700,000 towards other routs

147which would be theob web which we have out a couple of years we didn't have out we didn't what roof was not in our current capit out so that will go what was the what was the the referendum in 2018 what was the question what was that for the Middle School Windows window now the Middle School windows are coming out of the city Al together it's in our ARA money so I did just put in writing that you know the money that using for these type of repairs is less money that we're able to spend on remediation so we're spending that money and our money for the windows so that comes out of the city problem now it's it's 500,000 more it's 1.2 million it that price is going to keep changing so it's like

148you're chasing a moving Target and then this referendum is asking for what because every first of all the entire city is going to think that we're the ones that are asking for this referendum right when we asked for it and got it three years ago it's asking for the window money to be moved the window money to be moved and repurposed toward can't use that money because the people Ved on you can't use that so that's the only thing the referendum is asking to repurpose the money we're not asking for more money huh what was the second part well then you how it gets paid for is through the net budgeting it's it's it's the cost minus our reimbursement our reimbursement approximately 72 the real cost us and that's what 700 so the problem that

149can come in with that I'm out but the problem that can come in with that which happened to us before is our reimbursement rate came back at a different yeah so we thought we were getting 74% I'm just using example we got a lesser amount and the Board of Ed had to pay the city back the so but the city can fix the buildings as they see F they're choosing to put out the referendum if the referendum doesn't pass then what then to figure out we can't use the ARA funds for the roof no not our AR right not our AR funds so I haven't found other I've been talking to other board chairs so most people are so worried about remediation that's the any questions we have to like we have to do both

150these like I've heard about the roof we have to do the Windows like these things are not the Windows window aren't safe so ridiculous fall out there's no cres because they had to take them out so that nobody opened them they'll literally fall out okay I just broken no so those two projects are Global wet roof isn't as much of a priority it's just at its age but it's not Curr but doesn't mean that right right now it's just an AG so what do we I mean jumping ahead but what are we actually voting on we're not we're not voting we're not doing even down the road we don't have anything here inform it's just it's just an update because this actually happened so that you know and it involves our buildings and also that

151the city was willing to put the 181,000 in their arpa fund so hopefully that will also get approved what it's not kind of our money anyway it's a city it's the city's arpa Grand the city city million out of their money we got 500,000 that's nice I water break what what water got lot more no that's what they gave but they got a lot more yeah but if you look at it as a percent they got 10 million and we got 500,000 they gave scho I mean you'll see it you can look and see what all the towns are coming out how they're splitting that money up so this was just information information it just makes my blood every talk so we need to be sure that we're saying the right thing like I don't

152want people thinking that the middle school rof is being replaced because we have a difference in years before it's going to need to be redone again it was 20 years it's 20 if they do the repair versus 50 years if we repl the middle school so some of us will pushing up the Daisies by the time this comes up but others of you will be around so so it's important though that people understand but it's just important that we're not saying that we're replacing the RO because we're not replacing the right because that would cost 4 million to four and a half and a half million exactly so that's a whole different yeah and the panels are good they should last at least 50 years and they're good it's the riveting what they ini put

153on instead of doing the adhesive without riveting which you know makes holes they use riveting that was not any of our fault so it's just you know yeah so we have to deal with what what we were given this basically pushes it off 20 years all right committee reports budget budget uh we talked about trucks talked about the New Year not a lot going on so far um Miss yeah um ARA update had uh that's it going on please in check next month I'm John and here School Improvement most recent meeting we talked about summer school and everything accept the high school and that seemed to go very well a good report and next meeting we will hear wrap up on the High School summer program which was just finishing the day we met and

154also we will get the Middle School Improvement I've been looking good buing committee on that g remove the Leon reports I have something just yeah it's specific sorry it's specific to all the schools the toring to Women's Club did a collection yest last night and um collected I think they filled the back of a a Suburban SUV with um school supplies that were I don't know where they were being delivered um but they were going to take a look at um contact some of the building administrators and see where the need was but there were backpacks and but just cases of supplies for teachers and students so great um so at the middle school they get sixth grade orientation on Monday um uh summer school is a success um there's several new programs going into

155the middle school this year and they've seen growth in M I'll just really quickly for Google just um kindergarten orientation is tomorrow morning so they are able to offer tours for the incoming students in families um and then Monday 30th from 2 to 4 is open house so it's a meet and greet for um the students to meet their teachers so I think that's really great that they're able to do it this year and ease some of the angst you know on they're doing smaller groups but it's still good that's great summer graduation high school 1 to 230 Advance director on channel three today talking about is that advances Cooper with cs the South new work a motion to approve finan second all those in favor hi hi a motion to approve the educational specifications

156to the building project second all in favor I I one a motion to approve the contract moved second Kathy sure second to authorize the business office to move forward with the purchase of a truck using the parameters discussed at tonight's meeting all those in favor I a motion to pay the invoice for the paid membership second all those in favor I I I a motion to approve the calendar for 20 21 2022 all those in favor I I entertain a motion to approve the Board of Education regular meeting minutes of June 21st 2021 all those in favor I entertain a motion to approve the Board of Education special meeting minutes of June 16th and August 4th all those in favor motion to Rees all those in favor I entertain a motion to approve the consent

157agenda all those in favor I I I Marissa did you all right items for upcoming agenda monthly financials I'm sure we'll have mask and vaccination updates truck update truck update truck update um School opening update sir comments for the good of the order Cathy I'm good thanks good meeting lots of great information have a good trip I'm getting I'm going to my vacation now I'll see you all later good night almost said thank you set yes um this is going to sound a little off topic but I know we've probably all seen the news of what's going on in Afghanistan and it made me wonder because we have so many International students if we have any students that are have family members that are impacted by that and if that's something that our social workers

158are are looking at so you don't have to respond to that but I just wanted to throw the SP out there John CA will be having a for for the board of that candidates who are up for election reelection or election this year and that'll be October 20th done this the last few Cycles it's a good session more information on that later obviously it would have been in September except you don't know who all the be at this October what so anyway more on that later but just if you can't set that date aside Wednesday we don't I think last year was probably around 6 o' right it'll be around there last year two years just here to a good school year can't believe it's already starting summer flew by and um just welcome to

159all the new hires 70 plus is a lot so thank you for doing all your work to fill those positions and we welcome them excited to have them thank you everybody Welcome to all the new newbies yeah very exciting for a new year um and I want to thank the board too this is a a complicated difficult time so thank you for your patience um we're trying to get you the information as soon as we can we would love to know it too so we will be sure to share it with you as soon as we get it and many thanks to my team um especially my my central office admins that keep on trucking um and have over the last few weeks getting ready for everything so very exciting oh I just want to

160say um to Ally and her it team again good job because I I've worked in it and I know all that goes into every little thing that you did and it's just it's a ton of work and good job thanks for getting it done much appreciate it all right so I just want to wish everyone a happy new school year healthy new school year and hopefully can get through in person all right future meetings are outlin entertain a motion toour second inor