Torrington Board of Education Facilities & Technology and Budget Committee Meetings

001Facilities and technology committee meeting. It's 5:31. Roll call. We got Joe, Jeff, Lena, couple other guys. Um, approval of the agenda. We're going to modify the agenda. Uh six B and A are going to be flopped around. And in the facilities, we're going to move the solar project update to one, expiring contracts to two, and then TMS roof update, project updates, and snow upate. So moved. >> A second. >> All in favor? >> All right, we'll move on to the approval of the minutes. I'm looking for a motion to approve the minutes from last. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> All right. Public participation. Anyone? So then we'll move on to Dean with the solar project update. >> Okay. Um Oh, good. Adam's on board. Okay, everybody. So, what you have in front

002of you is a um a revised um um proposal for the solar project here at 50 Major Bessie Drive. Um what I handed out was some questions and answers. Um I put some questions together based on the warranty that I received from OMG and from the roofers that were here because there were some questions about that. So, when I got the warranty, I pulled out a bunch of questions and conflicts and what you have in front of you are the questions and Adam uh went through and he answered them in the red that's in front of you. Uh so along with that and along with the new proposal um I'd like to um kind of get started if anybody has any questions. I'll give you a second to absorb it. And again, Adam's on board.

003Thanks for coming, Adam. um to answer any the technical or any other questions you may have. >> Dean, do you have that proposal? I see the Q&A portion, but I don't seem to have >> Yeah, it'll be in the packet. >> I can cue it up on my screen, too. That's helpful for people. I don't think I saw it in the packet, Dean, to be honest. Am I missing it? >> Yeah, >> the very end. >> Yeah. Yeah, it's probably not in order because we moved it to the beginning. So maybe at the end, >> page 32. page 32. It's got a blue and white. >> I'm gonna share with Pat. Thank you. >> Can everybody hear me? >> Yes. >> I'm happy to put it up on my screen, too, if that's helpful. But

004I think the most important takeaway from the update um would be the second page. Everything about the project that we've discussed thus far is still is still the case except that the the rate at which you would buy the power is actually been revised downward again. um because Green Skies was actually not accounting for the distressed municipal adder within the incentive program. So when you factor that in, the PPA rate, Yep, there it is. The PPA rate is just under 4 cents per kilowatt hour. So the savings is actually improved fairly dramatically. So um I reran these numbers based on the methodology that we'd used before the you know the very sort of conservative absolute bare minimum expectation and also the um the scenario in which we capture some additional eversource related charges that although

005I can't you know foresee because they're demandbased and they may not coincide perfectly all the time with how the solar is producing but if you assume even a modest amount of those charges are picked up particularly in the summertime your savings is then approximately you know 115,000 per year so absolute you know minimum base case about 96,000 per year um what I think is a very realistic um outcome would also be 115 and I think you know the most important takeaway from all this is that you know you have an opportunity to purchase a significant amount of electricity uh that the school will need over time at a fixed price of under 4 cents per kilowatt hour, which is just, you know, I've been doing this a long time, about 15 years now, and this

006is pretty sure the lowest cost per for power that I've seen. So, significant savings right out of the gate, budgetary certainty for a significant portion of your spend at the facility. you know, the school was built with solar in mind. Um, you have a great vendor partner who's willing to and and able to take the steps necessary to get into the incentive program for this year, which does close on March 17th. Um, and it's the only opportunity we'll have this this year for that incentive. And that also affords the developer green skies enough time to invest in the project so that they can safe harbor equipment under the investment tax credit structure that's still in place from the federal government. And those two factors are really what drives the economics here. Federal benefit which is

007going to sunset in July um if you know we don't uh take the steps to safe harbor equipment before then. and then also the Connecticut in incentive, the NRES program. So, you know, we have a uh our timing is perfect essentially. Um the savings are really strong and um you know, we're ready to help you usher this through to the the next phase if um it's something that you guys want to do. >> Okay. I do I do have a question. Um and I know you answered it here. Um the question um was number three scheduling and sequence conflict um community skies will not start until the manufacturer warranties in place and punch list is complete. How does that relate to this March deadline? >> So the March deadline is just to apply into the

008incentive program. Once we get that incentive locked in, we'll have three years to use it. So, um, you know, if this project basically has a three-year shelf life, um, so, you know, I I don't foresee any situation in which, you know, we're approaching 2028 or 2029 and the building's still not turned over. Um, but that's just, you know, timing aspect of the project that we'll just want to be crystal clear on. But again, the most important part I think is that um you know, construction on the solar project won't start until you know the warranties fully in place and you guys have know full ownership of the building. >> Okay. Um I have another question too before you guys jump in if you don't mind. I know Jeff, you're gonna have a few, but um

009one of the questions um I I did get asked as far as disposal >> when this happens um is there anything in place that uh possibly like a decommission bond that uh could be had um for 30 years or whatever it may be. So, you know, I know that there's a lot of different stories and ideas about what the cost is to to get rid of these when the lifespan is up. And I know you I know you own them and Greens Guys own them and they're going to repair them, replace them, all that. But the decommission them and actually removing them from the site. >> Yep. So, there actually is that bond that would be put in place under the agreement. Um, and on top of that, it it would be Green Sky responsibility

010contractually and legally at their cost to handle the decommissioning disposal of the equipment at the end of the the contract term. So, the contract is initially for 20 years. If you were to do an extension, obviously, you know, their obligations would follow um in accordance with whatever amount of time you extend the agreement. But again, if if Green Skies is no longer Green Skies, is there a third party that would be bonding this to protect us? >> That's written into >> Okay. Those are the two big ones I had. Uh Adam, is there a fixed price on the removal of or remove and replace? A lot of these PPA agreements will explicitly say, "Hey, if you want to pull this section of the roof off, there's a fixed fee for removal and replacement." So, an

011owner can kind of have an idea if there is a leak in the roof, it's not caused by the panels, there's a fixed cost. I've seen it in other agreements. I didn't see it in this one. Is that something they've done before? >> Yeah. So, again, that's also something that's written into the the actual power purchase agreement that you'd execute. And the other feature of the PPA is that you know there is um a a time allowance factored in if there is you know periods throughout the year where you do need to decommission part of the system to address leaks. Um but if you go above and beyond that then you know again that the the parameters of that are written into the PPA. Um you know that's generally a very unlikely scenario and um

012you know from Basically, if you were to decommission, your average cost, you know, would be different if it was say July versus um, you know, January, just because, you know, the energy production there is different. But the worst case scenarios I've seen, even if you had to decommission for like a week in peak season, um, you know, it could be anywhere in the5 to $10,000 range. um which obviously in relative to your savings is very very minimal um and that's if you exceed the allowance so I think you know they they tries to be flexible in so far as you know they understand that in real world scenarios sometimes you know you need to move things around or decommission parts of a system if you have a leak um you know I I think it's

013a good thing generally that you're going to have at least your belt if not more um of a solar free roof. So, if for whatever reason, I don't know if leaks have been a problem thus far, um, you know, generally what I find is that if there are leaks in the roof, they tend to show, especially on a new building, they tend to show within the first 6 to 12 months. Um, in which case, you know, you're free and clear and have absolutely, you know, nothing on the roof to get in the way. But it's it's a very minor potential cost um if for whatever reason you did have to exercise that. And if you had to do it at the worst time of the year for for Green Skies because again the way that

014they're earning the revenue on the project is through selling you power. So naturally they don't want to have to decommission any part of the system but there are avenues in the agreement written in that help you do that. Uh last question from me Adam is the it talks about monitoring and you can see the production from the system but if a panel or two or 20 go offline or a piece of the micro inverters or whatever piece you guys are using who is detecting that and how often I mean you read some of the stories about these agreements and it's being monitored but half the systems offline for two weeks and nobody's done anything about it. So what does that arrangement look like? >> Yeah. So well there there's two facets of that. one, performance

015guarantees written into the agreement. Number one. Um, and number two, you know, just sort of considering the business model, um, how these companies operate, they only make money if they're selling power. So, asset management and the strategy behind that, maintenance, availability, turnaround, like proximity to company headquarters and things like that, those are all really critical. So, Green Skies has two two motivating forces behind them to make sure the system functions as it should. You know that uh the performance um guarantee and also their business not function they're not selling power. So like a scenario where let's say school district owns a solar project outright they contract for maintenance or decide to do it in house etc. you know, that's really when you're up to your own devices more or less um to make sure the

016system's functioning. But, you know, I think a structure like this keeps everybody aligned um and that the system will perform as it's supposed to. >> I do have another one, Jeff, to piggyback on that. Um so, service warrant service um contract with you guys. Um >> there's no service contract with Greens Skies because that all of that and the performance guarantees etc. all written into the power purchase agreement. So that's the only agreement that you would enter into. There's no supplemental um you know maintenance cost or agreement that you'd have to execute with them. >> And that's for how long? >> Um it covers the length of the PPA. So 20 years. >> Okay. Okay. So 20 years where they'll come out and is it based on 3 months service, a year service when things

017go down service? How is that broken down? >> Yeah. So they do uh just preventative maintenance once a quarter. So you know actually having physical eyes on on the asset to make sure that everything um you know looks good, there's no damage, etc. And then from equipment failure perspective, you know, everything's being monitored offsite, you know, via just an internet connection. Um, so if there are warnings or triggers or things like that from from the onboard system, then they would come out and fix those. Um, generally there's about 24hour turnaround time. Um, you know, we can specify in the agreement if you want to um, you know, tighten that up at all, but it's generally, you know, they're pretty responsive with coming out and their O andM headquarters is in, uh, North Haven, so they're

018not terribly far away. >> Okay. >> Dean, did OMG or GAF have any additional concerns or were these the concerns generated by both parties? >> They were generated by both parties, kind of putting them together. Were these answers adequate to both parties? >> Yeah. Um, he answered them pretty, you know, pretty sufficiently, my opinion. Um, everything seemed to be clear. Um, Adam, I know I sent you something today regarding Fast Academy. Were you able to put anything together on that? Sorry for the short. >> Yeah, that's okay. I'm just >> doing that with everybody >> email again. And just for whatever it's worth, I mean, Greens Guys and Titan, I mean, we GAF is, you know, one of the biggest players in this space, you know, with uh, you know, roof roof equipment and and

019roof materials. So, you know, we've worked with them countless times over. um Green Skies and Jif actually had a like a a a commercial partnership um you know that I don't know if it's still active or not but back when you know people were trying to kind of jointly market roof and solar as a single project. I don't know where that stands with them if that's still active or not but um GAF is no stranger to Greens and Greens guys is no stranger to them either. So, um, hopefully that helps a little bit. And Dean, I'm just pulling up your email here real quick. >> So, just to give you guys a heads up, we we have them at Forbes. I don't know if you're aware of that, but we we don't have Green Skies.

020We have solar panels at Forbes. And, um, we've been I broke into the hacked into the whole system this week with thanks to Rachel to figure out what, you know, what how we're reading it, what's going on with it. And uh I did I did send some numbers over that maybe and it was late um that maybe we can get some idea on what that's generating, what that equals, you know, and this and again that was put in in 2014 I believe um those panels. So they've been on the roof for for quite a few years already because I know that was a question that somebody asked too was like what I think it was you Jeff right like you know what's happening with them. So, um, we dug in a little bit. Um, the

021system, so you know, um, has been down since July. Um, there was a blip in there. We're not sure what happened. So, we got a bunch of readings back and as we're speaking, it's uploading and it takes a long time to upload that information, seeing that's been down so far. um as far as what it was generating, but we have I think there was from 2022 to 25 I think I sent uh over to kind of give the amount of you know savings or kilowatts we're saving at that building. >> Yeah. Um just I guess two things quickly. One, Dean, I saw the utility bill, but I also see that you sent me a link for Google Drive and it's um I just clicked on it. It it it is. >> Yeah. You know what?

022Yeah, you're right. Your your thing kicked me out. You won't accept Google Drive. My fault. I was going to follow up on that. >> Long story short, I'm happy to take a look at it and quantify for you. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um I guess my point is it's up and running. It's generating um you know, we're producing electricity. I came up with some numbers on my own and it's, you know, in a neighborhood, again, I don't want to misspeak here, but it look like in a neighborhood somewhere about 10 grand a year on that system. That's 2014. So, I don't know if that's accurate with, you know, as old as that system is, with new technology generating that much more and obviously the amount of solar panels we have here, it almost makes sense. >>

023Yeah. And I would I mean, intuitively that that does make sense, but I just I can help you put a finer point on that. you know, two two points I'd want to make just as it relates to that system is um you know, my understanding is that the district owns that system. Um so that kind of hearkens back to what I said before about um you know, who who does the onus of a performance fall on in that case. And you know I think with a power purchase agreement you know the the motivation and the responsibility of regular monitoring regular maintenance you know green skies being in the asset you know really if you think about green skies and most solar developers as a company it's sort of a you know a a two-headed animal

024here you have development and and actually building is kind of one of those heads and then the other is asset management. So I mean that's what they do professionally all day every day and that's what their banks and their investors demand of them. So you know I think you just you get a little bit of a different experience with the power of purchase agreement in terms of you know how the systems function. But the other point that I would make I made it to Dean and maybe I'll just make it here again as a suggestion. If you do contract with Green Skies to build the the project that we're contemplating here, my suggestion would be, you know, get an O andM agreement in place with them. So they, you know, they take over the operation

025and maintenance of of this asset here, too. Um, it's a pretty nominal cost for routine maintenance plan. It's usually, you know, a few thousand dollars a year. um and it, you know, takes the responsibility off your plate and make sure the system works. So, just a suggestion for everybody um for the future. >> And Jeff, that system right now, um there's three uh three panels down that haven't been working and there's four panels that are running at like 80%. There's three cells in them. You lose the first one, you may get life after the second one, it's shot. So there has been things with this that because we own it. Who monitors it, right? Who sees it? I mean, I see it now, but I, you know, it would be a good idea in the

026future, like you said, to have something like that. So, I don't want to mix the two together, but I did want to give you a little bit of background on on what's going on at Fast Academy. >> We can catch up on Fast Academy afterwards, though, but I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? What what would be next? Uh Dean and Adam, I know this is to go to the city at some point. If this board wanted to entertain it, just maybe you could outline the next steps if that's the direction the board chooses to go. >> Sure. I mean, I could I could take that one. So, um the absolute deadline for us to submit the project into the incentive program is March 17th. Um and in advance of that,

027you know, we'd obviously need any board, um you know, formal whatever your process is for formal approval, vote, etc. Whatever body or you know, either like the the city or board of ed needs to weigh in. Um, we definitely need to get that squared away as soon as we can because in order to enter into Green Skies needs to have even if we're we still have to work through the actual power purchase agreement, they need at at minimum um, you know, an LOI so they can demonstrate to the NRES program that the city um, and the board of ed are on board with this. you know, we can't submit an application without um that that bare minimum LOI. So, moving to get whatever approvals would be next. That would be my my recommendation as a

028priority. And perhaps simultaneously, um if not, you know, soon as possible, get any of the agreements related to this project over to corp counsel so uh he or she can take a spin through them. Um, and that's really, you know, kind of where the rubber hits the road for the project right now. >> So, Dean, your group is comfortable with solar panels on the roof after these clarif clarifying state >> after these clarifications and any questions that you guys had. Yeah. Um, you know, now it's just a matter of going to the city and getting their blessing on that. So, I guess that's where it stands. Uh, you know, if we agree here, then we'll bring it to the city. Um, you know, I know the mayor's already, um, the boss has talked to the

029mayor about it. I talked to the facility guy a little bit about it. So, they're, you know, they're aware of it and, um, you know, pretty much for it. I guess it depends on they're waiting for our answer. No other questions. Um motion to move it to the full board. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor. >> Opposed. passes. >> Motion passes. Thanks, Adam. >> Okay. Thank you. And uh always in touch, you know, feel free to reach out. You have any other questions that pop up or um you want help with your other the existing system, I'm here for that. So, thanks for inviting me. I appreciate it. >> Thanks, Adam. Thank you. All right, moving along. Um, expiring contracts. >> That's you again, Dean. >> Yep. Um, okay. So, you have

030in your packet uh some of the um contracts that are coming up. Um, so do I. That right here. Um so the first one in front of us is um Hussy uh who takes care of our bleachers inspections and repairs along with um our outside um system that we have here at the high school for football, the grandstand. Um so it's a a three-year maintenance plan. We've used them in the past. Um, this is uh and they actually I think they were I know they they were the installers of the new system here in the building. So, this is for each one of our buildings. You'll see that there's probably five of them in here. Some of them are lumped together. Any questions on those? Uh, the middle school bleachers are fairly new. So would

031this would these be staggered such that we wouldn't be paying for maintenance prior to the one year? >> So he he mentioned that but it has been in use now for you know over a year. The high the high school ones we just might turn open up but these these bleaches have been and he recommended you know come in with an inspection anyway as far as maintenance goes probably not but at least an inspect. >> And you've used this vendor for a number of years. >> Yeah. Yes. What's with the bleachers that are installed here in this building project? What's included in the building project as far as warranty and inspections? >> Well, I think this building here again has been turned over to us and these bleachers have been turned over to us. >>

032Okay. So, the bleacher guy have a warranty or maintenance contract that was part of the bid process. >> Um, I think it was just the year. There wasn't anything additional that was put into that. It was when the year's up along with the other warranties. >> One year from the date of the substantial >> they turned it over. So, yeah. So he would probably do this in the summertime. They would come and do inspections during the summer time is what they normally do. >> So the high school gymnasium is on here. So does that need to be removed and we postpone that for a year? >> Um again I think that was more of an inspection um to take a look not as far as maintenance. >> Yeah, the high school is listed as maintenance

033to your point. adjustment. Um yeah, let let me let me look into that. I thought that we made an adjustment on the high school end of it. Um if if that price is reduced there because of that. Yeah, if we if we move this forward, just have it, you know, for the full board meeting, just have that adjusted. >> Yep. No problem. >> Would there be an maintenance agreement or maintenance plan after that or this one? The first page showed three-year maintenance year three like it's the third year of an existing maintenance plan. >> It's up. This year is up. >> Is that what you're asking? >> Sure. Well, the one on the first page, it's up now or it's up I can't I couldn't tell. The expiration date of the quote said 12:31 2026.

034>> So it was um yeah within this time frame. I don't have the exact date when when it was up. They did their last inspection. >> All right. I can check on that. >> That would be great. Okay. So, is this something you're going to approve individual ones or are we going to do the whole thing? How how how does this work? Because there's a few of them in here. >> I think it would be individual in this case. Mr. Cron, you probably would approve the first page where there's no concern and then I think Dean would get us information on the second one. So for the Hussy, we'll approve that. Um motion to approve for the for the threeear would it be a three-year extension, >> Dean? >> Yes, sir. >> Is that another

035three years? that that'll be starting this year for a three-year extension. Yes. >> So approve >> for a three-year plan. >> Motion to approve the maintenance for Forbes >> Elementary School, Toringford Intermediate School, and Google. >> So moved. >> Second. All >> in favor? I approve. Next one. >> Okay, the next one is in front of you is uh IPS, which is Innovative Playground Services. They come out and they do our annual inspections and maintenance. Um again, this is a renewal of um we've used these in the past. So, take a look at that. It's for each one of our playgrounds. Any questions? >> Dean, this is for the maintenance of the equip the inspection that's required by the state for the all the jungle bars and the >> correct >> those things like that.

036Do do we handle the mulching things on those playgrounds ourselves? Some most of them are mulch I believe underneath them. Yeah. If it's not if it's not the playground rubber, we handle the um >> the playground material that we bring in that you're calling mulch. >> So, they're not inspecting >> res resistance to fall injuries or or the what do they call that impaction rate, I think it was. They're not checking that. They're just checking the equipment. >> They're checking equipment. Um and again, if it's the rubber, then they check the shock absorbing during that. It says, you know, um, and I I do believe when they do the inspections, they'll give you a recommendation u when it comes to the base through their inspections. >> Works for me. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >>

037All right. So, motion to approve IPS as Second. All those in favor motion approved. >> Oh, central office. >> Everyone's favorite TMS roof update. >> Okay, the next one I have, you guys ready? Next one I have is for our um termite and pest eliminations. Um it's Yale Pest Services. You see it in front of you. They take care of our schools. Um they come in um they come in monthly. They check. They do their, you know, they do their thing. And we also call them if there's something they didn't catch or we have other vers running around. Any questions? >> No, I'm good on this one. >> You've had them for a long time, right, Mr. Bolola? >> Yes. >> No issues. >> No problems with the vendor. >> No. No. Very responsive. Um,

038very responsive. Like almost almost the same day sometimes. So, been very happy with >> Excellent. So, motion to approve. Terminate and pest elimination is our vendor there. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> All right. Motion to approve. >> Okay, we good. >> Yep. >> All right. Sorry. All right. All right, the last one we have is um is for our landscaping. Um, I included a little bit of a history of where this contract started and where it goes along with a proposal from our landscaping landscaping contractor um, Jesperson um, to extend this one year um, which I recommend extending it this year. You know, obviously for the reason we are not 100% here at this complex um, to put it out to bid right now and go through that process.

039I I don't think it it it would it would uh it would do us any good. So, you'll see on my uh my data sheet here that shows, you know, when it started, his contract started and a few changes. E school is one of them. Some service reduction because of the high school. Um and he is proposing um coming in this year for the same price that it was last year. uh in maintaining the same scope of work that was um itemized last year. >> Question. >> Um I just Dean, I didn't see in the original contract where we had an option to extend. So I'm not sure how a lot of our contracts that we execute have an option to extend for two years and they're renewable yearbyear. I just didn't see that in

040the original contract. I may have missed it, but I didn't see that. So, I'm not sure how we go about extending a contract for a year if there was no extension option. >> Yeah, I'm not sure either. Um, I'd have to pull a contract. Um, did you actually look at it, Jeff? I did. I didn't see it. You didn't see it. Okay. I'll trust you. I'll trust you didn't see it. Um, >> so I don't know how you'd move forward with that. Mr. Corey, I saw you walk in and you are much better at uh contract stuff than I. Do you have any information on the legality of extending a contract with no extension pre-in? >> I actually don't. Um my gut says that I that we can't, but there may be the ability to

041do so. Um I just I don't know. I'd have to ask the board's legal counsel. Um, so we'll check the contract first and make sure that that the assessment is right that there's not an option to extend already in it and then uh we can reach out to the board's council and see what the rules are for extensions. Um, I know I know there are rules for contract extensions. I just don't know if they would permit us to do one if it wasn't in the original. So, we would have to inquire. >> Okay. Mr. Pollola, I have a question on the Jesperson. I'm assuming that's not snow removal. >> Uh, no, that is not snow removal. >> Thank you for clarifying. >> Is there a breakdown by building in the I see the overall dollar

042amount, but do we have a breakdown of the cost by building? >> Um, I think we might have something broken down. Yes. I don't have it readily available, but I can get something that's broken down per building. I would like to see a breakdown by building and then obviously we would need to know if it's even possible to extend it. So I don't see how we could really vote on an extension tonight. >> That's just my opinion. >> Yeah. Any other questions? >> Not so much a question, but um I know there's probably a little bit of a time crunch as we get out of the snow season. So, it would be possible to place this on the board's regular agenda if we can get these questions answered. I don't want to override the committee's

043work. So, if if the committee is okay with that, right, if we get the answers to these questions in time for our next monthly board meeting, we we wouldn't necessarily need to have another committee meeting to discuss it. um we could just place it on the board's agenda, but again I I would want to be comfortable doing that with the committee's uh support for that course of action in the name of speed. >> If we can get all the information in two weeks, I I don't have a problem with that. If anybody else on the committee does >> so motion to approve pending, >> I don't think you do anything. >> No. I just >> I just personally wouldn't have been comfortable doing that without the committee support for that course of action. >> Hold

044on a second. Uh it may be in the contract. Um is there something if we if it's in the contract I can look up now and we can approve this tonight or do we still want to table? It >> might take me a minute. >> Yeah, if you can find it, we can come back to it. Yeah, I do actually. Is that's okay? Is that okay? >> So, let's see. The contract shall be in place for three years beginning on July 1st, 2022, ending on two June 30th, 2025. There is an option for a two-year extension of this contract until June 30th, 2027, which can only be approved by the superintendent of schools. Um, check one more. >> What's what section you're reading in? uh right below the schools uh specifications and then right below

045it um I don't know why it would be listed in the term section but I'm not seeing exhibit Well, he's looking that up. What is this proposed scope change for this year, Dean? What is that? Meaning, what is the I saw it talks about in the extension at $100 an hour for any additional work, but what are we expecting that to look like as the year goes on while you guys are looking for it? Um, so again, it's the same as last year as far as the reduction. So if is that what you're asking as far as >> Well, I'm assuming, but I know that some of the grass gets turned over. There's very little grass here, but some of that gets turned over to us. And what does that look like? What does that

046>> Yeah. So, so you're right and and it it is kind of not a clear path. Um, and we also planted new grass last year that we added. So, you know, he's going to maintain what we need him to maintain this year. So, the place looks up to par obviously. Um, and he's been very good at adjusting along with this construction. He obviously he took things away, but even last year he did some clean up for us that was, let's just say, not our responsibility. Um, so I feel confident that, you know, those ins and outs will be taken care of as we go through it without any additional charges on on things. Um, you know, granted if and they still own a lot of the landscaping here. When I say they OMG and and

047the contract still, they haven't turned that over for us. So, and that's another reason why going out to bid right now is a kind of a tough one just because there's certain obstacles we got to get over before we're going to accept the final product. And then obviously the warranty starts there and our maintenance start there. So they really, you know, I don't expect Jesperson here uh this year to continue uh to to do the most of the yard work. It should be them still until it gets turned over. When I say them again, OMG's as a subcontractor for it. And as far as the other schools, um you know, um exactly what we did last year. Usually it's stated in section one term. So Dean, for instance, I know some of the the new

048fields haven't been turned over, like you said, which is contingent on work for the warmer weather. I would imagine once those do get turned over, there's obviously minimal maintenance on something that's brand new. >> Well, not only that, but it's turf, >> right? Yeah. So there's even minimal, you know, but there's there's, you know, something that >> is not included in this contract is is fluffing the turf up and things of that nature, but they're really, but there are, listen, there's once it gets cleared out, you're going to see there's a grassy plane over here and there's there's that over there and >> you know that it's not established yet. >> Okay. >> For the most part. Um so I I see the credit right at uh 17,600 that was issued last year uh related

049to the reduction in workload here at this site. Um, so I guess my concern would be that as we add work scope, as we take over areas of the site that we don't currently control, um, that we're going to do more than 176 hours of additional work. Um, and that that that we would then be exceeding what we were previously paying before we ever started the project here. Um, do we have a sense of how much additional work we might need? Uh, is there room to >> Well, I I think not to interrupt you, but but I think that >> again um the contractor still owns this for a sub substantial amount of time. So, the additional work that gets turned over, let's just say it was nice out today. They plant the grass. We're

050not touching that for another year. >> I can't see. >> So, by that time, we can go out to bid for what will be our responsibility. Right now, it's still it's still not our responsibility. >> Right. >> No, I I understand that. I just like I said I I just uh and I understand the the reason why right we're charging an hourly rate for additional work. You have to schedule people who may not have been scheduled for that work. You may have to shuffle equipment around. I get the charges. But what I don't want to do if we can avoid it is pay more than uh what 218,182. Yeah. Uh, so that that's I guess my point is that I I don't want to end up putting ourselves in a situation where we're actually obligated

051to pay more than we were paying before we, you know, changed over to turf and really reduce the scope of the work because we're paying a premium for these unexpected work hours. Uh, so that's why I guess I I was hoping there's some sense of how much extra work we might need. Uh, do Okay, then let me let me pivot. What did we budget for landscaping for next year? I know you're about to present the budget, but do we have a a number or or if you don't have it immediately available, if we could put a pin in that question for the budget presentation? Um, I just want to make sure that we're going to budget the appropriate amount next year for landscaping. That's all I got. >> Can I ask a question as well?

052is to dean by square footage. I would assume the intermediate school and this complex historically have been the largest um as far as being taken care of. And just if that is the case, I guess I'm surprised to see the the credit be the number that it is if this was there's a ton of fields here previously that got mowed and taken care of. Correct. This is the largest facility. Yes. >> Uh yes. Uh yeah, it was I think it still is the largest facility and I think it was at the time. Um you know, one of the one of the expenses again that is on that sheet is for material that we're saving. Also that comes into account. Um you know, estimated again $15,000 in in in clay and turf and stuff like that

053we didn't pay for last year. >> Yeah. But that's not part of the contract. >> No, no, no, no. But but No, you're right. You're right. Um but the actual installation of that is where that credit comes in. >> So um you can see the breakdown of lining and mowing and cleanup. Neither neither was in the contract is is installing the clay also. >> Right. So >> yeah, that's that's above and beyond the contract. >> That's above and beyond the contract. So neither. So >> I think Jeff's questioning is if there's a $17,000 credit for high school, which is one of the largest facilities, and we have six facilities. If you did 17,000 times six, we're only at $100,000. So, how do we get to the $200,000 contract value? Like, as far as an itemized,

054hey, this school is takes this many man hours and this much work. We only got a $17,000 credit for the high school, which I don't think there was any work done last year, at least last year. So, and we got a $17,000 credit. I mean, just >> that is the basis of the question. Just on the contract aspect, a board member has showed me an emailed copy, but the signed executed copy posted to the Torington Board of Education website dated December 1st, 2022 has no mention of a contract extension. Now, >> okay. >> Yeah. >> Well, I guess we'll get let let's get that cleared up then. First of all, if there's a contract extension Okay. And then I can get you a per building breakdown on that. >> Yeah, I appreciate it. We're just

055just asking for the information, Dean, not >> Yep. Just so we all are being responsible about where the next steps are. >> So Jeff, what's that? So the executed copy does not have it. >> No. >> But what copy did you look at that does have it? >> This is the RFP. What was emailed over to us that has the date and which was referenced to the extension is the RFP, not the actual executed contract. So I understand that this was what was bid on because it is in the RFP. Whether or not that was transferred over to the actual contract itself is what needs to be answered. >> Yeah, >> it could be on the RFP. It's not on the contract. I'm not sure if that counts as all. I'd imagine it would be,

056but it just needs to be confirmed as all. >> We find the RFP. >> You you're correct. So, I think that's that's the appropriate time to let the legal look at it. I believe since it was bid on with that in mind, there is there could be an argument that the scope would include that. However, let's let the the legal people make that argument as opposed to us. But I think if Dean can definitely button those up um as Mr. Corey suggested and we can bring that to the full board next Wednesday to expedite this process. I believe that's the smoothest and easiest way to transition into this with those questions answered as well from Mr. Putnham and uh Mr. Cronin and Mr. Burgerer down there. So I I I think I think you're 100%

057right, Mr. Klesia. I think that's the easiest way to do it. I do believe there would be an argument that the RFP would also be embedded in the contract, but I would rather legal say that as opposed to us. Um, and then we can answer those questions and make a decision to move forward or not. >> Yeah, if we can get the answers and just trying to avoid trouble. We one of our goals is to avoid problems. So, okay. >> Any other questions? >> No. Um and that is the final contract I had. Um you know the next uh we can either go to project updates or snowplow updates. So let's uh let's stay with snowplowing I guess update. So, as you guys uh everybody knows, we um um the original contractor we had doing

058our snow plow this year, no is no longer doing it. He he uh he backed out. So, um, we went out and I got, uh, some prices again, uh, quickly and we put, we put it together, um, between two different contractors and we were able to get, uh, coverage, uh, to to do our snow plowing on a per inch basis, broken down to a couple different ways. And, um, and Jesperson uh, came in uh, most competitive. So, he was able to um, fortunately uh, that they the guy quit on us. Um I called him up and he was able to show up and we were able to open school on Wednesday uh because of the mess that this guy left behind obviously. Uh we had to get school open and he was able to show

059up with loaders and trucks and equipment and get rid of it and from that point until um you know about a week ago uh he put together some numbers for us. Um again I had another contractor look at it also and um you know um he was the most competitive on that. So, uh, he right now is handling our snow removal per per storm basis, not as a, um, dollar set, uh, amount like our contracts have been in the past. Um, any questions on that? >> Um, thank you to Mr. Jesperson for helping out in a time of need. Much appreciated. Um, do you have those numbers to share, Mr. Pergola, or Um, >> I, uh, I don't have them. I can get them to you. >> Great. that would be much appreciated. >> Yeah.

060>> Any other questions? >> Uh just just to clarify, so we you you contacted two potential contractors, but you only engaged one. Is that right for our snow plowing needs for the rest of the season? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um what did what how much money was left uh in that budget line when we uh concluded our relationship with the previous contractor? >> Um I want to say it was >> I think it was close to 80. >> Okay. All right. So So we we ended up having to pay less to that previous contractor than we thought we did at the time. Okay. So, uh, do we feel that the amount paid relative to the services rendered was reasonable? There was no like dramatic overpayment before he quit, right? >> No, he he again for

061the number that he gave us, he probably ate it up in the first four events and we had, I think, 12 events. Um, and again, events are, you know, you got to come and salt. Uh, you have to come salt again. you know, those are all events. So, the number he came in at, and it's my opinion, um it's not feasible to do our our uh our district with it. So, uh no, I think we I think uh I think we made out okay on that end. >> So, yeah. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. All right. Uh next is uh project updates. Um, I'll let you guys ask me questions. I won't go through them. You tell me if you have any questions on what is going on. Anyone? Any questions? I have a question.

062I guess I don't know if it's actually listed here. I didn't see it. Uh but the seaman's retrocommissioning project and we had an issue with uh with heat over at TIS. What did that turn out to be related to Mr. forgola as far as the was that related to the retrocommissioning project or how >> no I mean it's all relative because it's part of the mechanical system but no it didn't have anything directly to do with the retrocommissioning so we're still putting our eyes on it we we've we've patched it so we have heat it's working um but we're looking into the exact cause of it now >> I just with reprogramming of the system I want to make sure that if it vendor was responsible for >> Yeah. No, that's the first thing I

063looked at, Jeeoff. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't anything to do with programming or any of the, you know, anything of that nature of balancing and things of that nature. So, >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else? >> Okay. Uh, think that's it for me, right? Update. Oh, roof update. Sorry. Um, so going referendum. >> Yeah. So March 23rd is the date for referendum. Um and that's kind of where we stand on that. >> I I can I can just add something to um >> for the roof project uh the referendum. Anyway, um I did work with the city clerk's office on the educational language for the voters. Um you know, they had a lot of the financial information handy. Um and reached out to us uh just for some background on uh why

064the project needs to be done. Um those things can be a little tricky because you have to be pretty factual. um you can't uh express opinions, but the point is um they did make good on that and reach out to to the board of ed uh to sort of partner up on that explanatory text for the voters. Um so I just thought you guys would want to know that. >> All right, so moving on technology. >> Hello. Um, okay. So, first for the social media update, um, just wanted to point out, uh, Torington Middle School. Um, they're they're just doing a great job with their their reach and their views. Um, if you take a closer look at theirs, um, they have, um, Instagram linked to their Facebook page as well. So when they post

065on either one, it's also posted on. So if you post on Facebook, it's posted to Instagram as vice versa. Um which is working because we can see that you know uh 1,200 of the views alone was from um Instagram. So really nice. Um Vogle's right behind them with about uh 4,300 views. um as well as the district page at about 4,300 views as well um for the grand opening of the um transition academy at FEST. Any questions on social media? Oh, I did also want to say that um we're going to be getting um a food service page going um so that we can inform the public about Kristen's lovely farmtotable um initiative she has going on. So, um, we can hopefully look for that in the next packet. Okay. Um, so, tech updates. Um,

066one of the bigger things that we completed this past month is we repurposed access switches that came out of our high school building, um, and put them into Fast Academy in order to accommodate, um, a bunch of new security cameras that are being added in there, um, that were through a grant, a security grant from the state. Um, and, uh, yeah, so those are up and running. Um, tomorrow I meet with the company to make sure everything is configured properly. Um, and we'll have a bunch of brand new cameras over there. Um, some other things that have been going on. Um, we are officially completely moved out of East. Um, some of my team and I went over there and removed all of our remaining um, equipment that we had over there to service when

067Transition Academy was there. Um, so we took all of that out. um went through a transfer of everything with the director of IT over there as well as facilities. Um so we are officially out of east. >> Are we also officially out of uh Miden as far as technology goes? Are we >> Yes. Yeah. Yep. That was done um Christmas break. >> I guess I probably should have asked Dean if we're on the cuff >> technology wise I should say his side is almost done. I'm sorry to go out of order here, but the topic came up. >> Uh we we spent Saturday with the shredding company, four trucks, over 120 bins, and we still have more to go. So, we're looking at this Saturday, depending on the weather. I'm waiting to hear. It's supposed

068to be crappy, so they didn't want to come out if it was going to be that bad, but hopefully by this Saturday, anything that has to be shredded will be out of there. And then we do have some stuff we have to archive. Uh Donna got has gotten me a name of somebody from the state. They're going to come and take anything that's like 1945 backwards like you know earlier. They they they don't they don't want us to scrap it. So they're going to take it. So and but then but then we have you know tables and desk and chairs and things of that nature that are still in there that have to be figured out what to do with. So that's where we stand on that. >> Thank you. Um, and then lastly, um,

069we've been working with, um, the staff from the St. Jude's Teleathon, um, which I want to reiterate is March 1st over at TIS. Um, as well as the staff from the, um, National History Day, which is going to be on March 14th. Um, so just wanted to put that out there again, those dates. Um, we're just working with staff on network configurations and things of that sort. So, and that's about all I have for updates. Any questions? >> Um, >> I just want to clarify the referendum is on March 24th for the roof, not the 28th. Sorry about that. March 24th. Um, and then district website. >> Um, I had a question on the I asked Mr. Cronin to add it to the to the agenda. Just had two questions about it. Um, the board

070meeting minutes, we are we do a very good job of getting that stuff available to folks, but the the video link when you hit video archive, it goes back to the prior year. That doesn't appear to be a link on the site that I noticed. Again, I'll preface this with I did look, but I didn't spend hours on it. I didn't see a spot on the site where you can see this year's meeting history. You seem to have to go to the once you click the current meeting, go to the goo to the YouTube page, then you can kind of find them there. But how do we handle the archiving? How does that flow of information land there? >> Uh, so once the video um finishes, it's it goes through like an initializing process. Um

071Josh downloads it and adds it to the archive. Um, so I can work with Josh to make sure that we have um the 25 26 year up, >> right? It just makes it easier for the public to get out, which is which is great. And then >> absolutely >> the other piece on the district website is I'm not sure whose responsibility it is. It's not the end of the world, but even our contracts like the the snow plowing contract still shows the vendor before the past vendor. Okay. >> So, I'm not sure how we what process we have for keeping those up to date, but in the interest of transparency to the public, just trying to keep those up to date, that's all. >> Absolutely. I can take care of that as well. >> Thank

072you very much. >> Of course. >> All right, moving on. Topics for future meetings technology pretty much stay the same. Anything to add on? >> No. Ra, would it be too much to have an idea on how we're doing with the device protection policy for the March meeting? We're getting kind of close to the >> Sure. >> I could do that. >> That would be great. >> Absolutely. >> Comments for go to the order. >> Mr. Start with you. Good meeting and uh thanks for all the help and all the effort on all these things. A lot of things going on. >> Thanks for letting me crash your meeting. >> Good meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good meeting. >> All right. Thank you everyone. Motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> All in

073favor? All right, we're at >> and we're at 6:37. Good evening and welcome to this Wednesday, February 18th meeting of the Torington Public Schools Budget Committee. Like to call to order the meeting at 6:44 p.m. Uh roll call. We have I believe everybody here and Mrs. Maggan is on uh Zoom. There are no absences tonight. We need an approval of the agenda. >> I know. Second on that. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I need approval of the minutes from last month. Everybody's had a chance to review them. >> Second. All those in favor? Do we have anybody here for public participation either online or in the building who' like to take a moment and speak to the board? Hearing none, we'll move on to discussion. Next steps, review and approve the monthly

074financials. Take it away, Mrs. Levy. >> Good evening, everybody. Um, everybody had the chance to review the monthly financials dated to January 31st, 2026. And um before I just jump into a couple line items that stood out, I wanted to answer a question from the previous meeting. We had a question from a board member that wanted to know about the cap on VOAG and if it pertained to um our special ed department as well as regular ed. And the answer is the cap is the cap. So um it does pertain to both. So, moving on, I just had a couple updates on page 9 in your packet. There's a line item um 5112.03 and we've reviewed this before and it is the um certified occupational therapist assistant. You'll notice that it is trending over and

075we did have somebody that needed to be reclassed to another line item and so we um I had thought that had been done but it hadn't so we're going to do it and the other line item that it would be reclassed to is running under so we are actually balanced. That would just be a regular occupational therapist line item. On page 11 we're going to be looking at line item 5231.0. and that's the administrator annuity and you will notice that that is um trending high as well and it was just because it was budgeted a little low and we've um you'll see in the presentation uh for next year that we've adjusted for that and again right below that you're going to see 5231.02 for non-union um annuity and that is uh the same case.

076So, we were um actually that one is going to be fixed as well for the uh that one was overfunded. So, we're going to adjust it correctly for the FY27 budget. Moving on to page 12, we're going to be looking at line 5350. 5350, technical services. you'll see that there is definitely um we haven't been spending that down and we're making an adjustment for next year and a lot of that is because we were able to enter into some three-year contracts that gave us a great savings there. Uh so we're accommodating for the FY27 budget on that line item. And then moving on to page 13. Am I going too fast for everybody? Okay, page 13. uh 5530.05 and again that's licensing and you will notice that um you know we underbudgeted uh we are

077adding the OTL the office of teaching and learning uh licenses. So you'll see in the FY27 budget um we broke it out so that it could be more delineated um for that and that we can see it more clearly. And then on page 14 5580.01 um admin travel with it which is just the monthly stipens for the um administrators that um that was under budgeted as well but you will see in the FY27 budget uh we we fixed that. So I I just wanted to point out some things that are relevant to this month's budget but also what you'll be looking at later in the presentation. Um, and those were just the highlights that I saw that sort of jumped out that I haven't already covered in previous meetings. Does anybody have any questions? >>

078Jeff, >> Mr. Cory, go ahead. >> Um, just on that last one, the administrator's travel, um, which positions were added that became stipent eligible midway through the year. So for those um I do believe that it was just underbudgeted. I don't believe that there was an additional um staff that were in there. Um but I can get back to you with actual >> Okay. No, that's fine. I believe you. Uh so these are these are all fixed contractually, right? For uh any unionized administrators who receive it, it's in their contract. And for the non-union, correct? It's in their individual contracts. That's right. >> Okay. Um I just want to make sure that then we are accounting that adequately for next year because it is such a fixed expense um that it just it's one of

079those things that seems unnecessary to go over on. That's all. Thank you. Anyone else have any questions on the January 31st budget? >> Thank you for the clarifications. You've actually got all my follow-up questions. I only have one question this month um that you haven't already addressed and that was just on instructional supplies 56101. Are we do we have anything else this significant coming for that line item? I know that some of those things happen at various times in the year. Maybe I'll the follow-up question to it will be at some point can we get an idea the licenses are very adequately now being split up to what department they're going in. Maybe we can get like a summary of what kinds of licenses are on these accounts just so we get an idea, you

080know, which ones go where because we have moved them several times in the last couple years to be better accounting for them. >> Absolutely. We can give you a detail on that. And um as far as the supplies go, I know that line really helps out with consumables, but I can check in with the sites to get an accurate read on what we're going to be purchasing moving forward. >> And I'm sure there's a mid-year repurchase. I mean, we don't buy it all up front, so just trying to get an idea. >> Sounds good. >> Anybody else have any questions on last month's financials? >> If not, looking for a motion to approve the January 31st financials. >> All those in favor? >> All right, we'll pass those along to the full board. Thank you,

081everybody. Next up is a presentation or some information on the -ate reimbursement. I asked for this one last month. Appreciate you guys getting the information for us. >> Yes. So, no problem. I I think one of the concerns was some of the federal funding and what it was going to be covering moving forward. Um, so I I am going to hand it over to uh our IT director uh Miss Vienn so that she can update you on that. >> Hello. Um, yes. So, um, anything that we currently have through -ate was not affected by any new rules, regulations, anything of that sort. Um, we, uh, under category one, uh, get a 90% reimbursement rate on, um, whatever the service contracts that we have through. Um, category 2 is 100% reimbursement. Um, but we have not,

082uh, completed category 2 at this time. Um, I know you brought up the hot spots and things of that sort. Um, we we no longer uh partake in that. >> Great. And I know there's a lag in the reimbursement and how do we account for the reimbursement in the budget? So, >> I have a line item um in the budget for rate specifically so that we don't get caught up in that. >> Okay. What uh if some point if somebody could just let me know what what account it lands in. That's all. I didn't notice it. >> Uh technical services, I believe. >> Okay. It's a sub account. Okay. >> Yep. >> Anybody have any questions? We don't we don't anticipate that funding to change significantly for the next couple years. It's been pretty stable.

083>> No. Um after speaking with our -ate representative, um it was a little dicey for a while. Um and then she called me with the good news and said that there was uh plenty of funding. Uh so we should be good for the foreseeable future. Do you know approximately how much we receive in -ate funding? >> Um, it's a per student. She did give me the dollar amount, but I do not know it off the top of my head. Um, but I can I can get it for you if you'd like. >> Awesome. That would be great. >> Sure. >> Anybody here or online have any questions? I see I keep forgetting to look up at you, Sandy. I'm sorry. All right, then we will hand this over to the budget presentation. Up to you,

084Mr. Wilson. >> Good evening. Thank you. We're very excited tonight. Before I start, Sandy, happy birthday. Thank you for joining us on your birthday, Sandy. Awesome. Um, so we're going to work from up here. Uh, the entire team is going to come up and jump in at different times. So, as this board has heard me say numerous times, it is all about the team. So before we even start, I'm going to introduce the team just for those of our friends watching online as Mr. Putnham suggested earlier. So Dean Pgola, come on up. Director of facilities. Rachel Vienn, director of technology. Donna Labby, director of finance. Kristen Gagnan, director of food services. Kim Schulty, director of HR. Susan Ferguson, assistant superintendent and Dr. Michelle Baker, chief uh student services. So this here is the team everybody

085and we are going to uh take turns as we present and we will all jump in as the time goes. So we hope everyone likes the added uh promotional items that we put onto the budget packet really promoting our brand. We know brand marketing is pretty big and we wanted to just really promote our Torington pride as we went through the budget this year. So, a little different than in years past. Josh, if we can go to next screen. So, right here, just wanted to show what we're here for, right? This is part of our Torington family. We have uh some highlights from board meetings. We have some highlights from visiting our friends in classrooms. We have some highlights from when we actually named the cow at the new middle school. Um, we actually have

086greeting students off the bus, a spelling bee, our teacher of the year. So, just some of the highlights and some of the things and some of the reasons to remind everyone who this budget is about and who this budget is for, Josh. So, you know, one thing that this board has heard me say and one thing I would continue to say and one thing that I think is paramount, you know, there is a story behind the numbers. It's not just a number. It's not just a spreadsheet. It's not just the checks and balances where we can do the pluses and the minuses. You know, we have to have our story. Our story behind the numbers is and always will be about our students. Every single dollar that we ask for, every single dollar that is

087needed is for the benefit of our students. So, that's the story behind our numbers. You know, we take it very seriously. We understand that it's an impact on the community. We understand that it's a fiscal constraint. board members, several of our teachers, several of our staff members live in this town as well. So, we understand that the constraints that this places however it is with a thoughtful process that we ask for these things. You know, we have Oh, sorry, Josh. Same same page there. It's important to note that over the last two years, we've operated on a zero. Okay? And a zero is not sustainable as everyone or anyone knows who's trying to operate a business or run a business, you know, and our zero, what does that do? It hard it's hard to maintain

088and work diligently to maintain staffing levels that support our student growth and mental health and well-being. You know, when we had a zero the last two years, what did that equate to? That equated to 30 positions lost. And Miss Schulty will talk about those momentarily. 30 positions Okay, so that's the impact of getting a zero. That's the real piece and that's the real feel behind that. What do we do? How does the process happen? For those of our new board members and for those of our friends tuning in, our building administrators, they work tirelessly hard. They come and present their budget to the entire cabinet. Those folks that you met earlier and they have to sit across from a table and pitch their deeds to us. Peter sitting right here in front of me, Mr.

089Klein back there. You know, it's not an easy meeting, but it's a meeting where they come and say, "I need this to help the students do this." They don't say, "I need this to make my job easier." And then we as the cabinet make the extremely difficult decision to say, "Yes, we include it." Or, "Sorry, we cannot include it." And that's the process. And then it comes to this and we are here this evening. All of our items in our budget align perfectly with both our vision and our mission. Josh So, drum roll please. What are we asking for? $84,46,35. What is that? That's a 5,323,337 increase or a 6.76% increase. Now, before I go into the wise in the house, you might be asking, is that in line with anyone else? I know I

090would ask that when I sat on a board. I would ask what is everyone else asking for? Well, a quick analysis other uh districts in our DUR in our district reference group average of 6.4 44% increase. Now, you might say, well, that's them and what about us? I think it shows that all of our costs are all going up. So, our ask is not that far off. But what makes RS very different? If we were to look at the fact that we got zero over the last several years and if we divide that 6.76 by three, I know Mr. Putton's already done that. So that's over two and a quarter. If we got two and a quarter, that's all we would be asking for now. Two and a quarter. And that's not our reality. So

091that's why we're at 676. So, of that 676, 2.54% of that is just to cover our contractually obligated increases. That's just to cover the contracts. That's it. You know, we can't stress enough that receiving below those percentages and keep making do and keep doing the things that we're doing. And we are doing some great things. Mr. Kiscoco, you're on the sick committee. you get to hear every month and so does the board at your report. All of the wonderful things that we're doing, all of the growth that we're showing, it cannot continue with not having the necessary funds and dollars behind that. And we can't stress that enough, Josh. So, in terms of new initiatives, people want to know what are we doing, right? Where are we at? So, in terms of our new initiatives,

092we're going to continue with our benchmark program. A lot of success. We're going to continue with that in our K6. We're also going to continue with our new math program that the board supported last year. Our early indicators are showing that that math program is working. Our folks from OTL are shaking their head back there because they know it's working. So, we're going to continue with that. You know, we've seen growth and we have to continue that growth. So, those are the two big programs from an ELA and mathematics perspective. And what else? Well, the other new thing we're going to put an athletic director in. And what is that athletic director going to do? Well, they're going to oversee all grades 412 athletics as well as our entire prek to 12 physical education program,

093which we know was an area of weakness that was brought up several times at sik and elsewhere. So, that's what that AD will do. There's also a budget increase to address our increasing prek and special education. And you know, we mentioned this last time when we had our grand opening, and Rachel did a great job highlighting it on the social media page, our 18 to 22 year old program. We have them back home now. Let's go. We want them home. So, the majority, 95%, I believe, of our 18 to 22 year olds are back in house with us. and they're in a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful facility thanks to Dean and his team over there. That grand opening was amazing and I invite anyone to go and see that. So, that's what we're doing. And then

094obviously just from another procedural standpoint after the board, you know, does what they do, uh, hopefully approve the superintendent's budget, maybe with some pluses, maybe with some minuses, obviously it goes forth in front of the city. So, you know, this process is very important and I want to thank the board. You know, the board had sent in some questions. They are already on the end of this presentation. They'll be put online. You have them in front of you this evening for those of you who didn't get a chance to open your email today. But those questions were very thoughtful. So, thank you for taking the time. We took the same amount of time to answer those questions for you. It wasn't just let's answer them. And I hope you realize that in your responses. So,

095there were very thoughtful questions and very thoughtful responses and we hope that with that Q&A that it's a better understanding. And why do we put that in the document? Because anyone in the public is going to have that same question. You all read it. They're going to have the same question. Now, they can get the answer that they need. So, we're going to take you through several pages highle budget look. Going to take you through some staffing looks. We'll take you through rationale about the AD and what that means. We'll also take you through some special education numbers, some food service numbers, and as I said, the team's going to pop up and I'll pop in as well. Josh, next one. Josh. So, where's Donna? Come on down, Donna. Donna and Kim, I think >>

096the rolling desk >> to hold and speak. We got a desk coming. Um, but good evening. Good evening everybody. Um so as Superintendent Wilson said um you have the number that we are asking for and the district reference groups are right there with us. You know it's nothing of of a surprise. Um I'm just going to let you know from pages seven in the packet on the bottom corner here to page 10. We did what we do in every monthly budget meeting. we kind of highlighted the big um differences in the budget for you to kind of bring it to a higher level. Um so as um we have heard the ask of 5.3 plus million um is a 6.76% increase. And now we're going to kind of dive in a little bit um deeper.

097And for the staffing, um, what we're going to do is we're going to have our director of human resources come on over and just sort of give us a little highlight of the differences. Good evening. So, just to talk about our certified staff and our non-certified staff numbers, just to kind of give you an overview, the certified staff, the increase is 3.99%. And you can see the rationale for the increase is that we do have those contractual increases both in our TEA and our TPSA contract. This also includes non union certified staff. So when you average all of that together, that's where you get that increase from. But largely most of that are contractual increases that were approved by the city. Um with the non-certified staff, you can see it's 3.89%. And again, same thing.

098Most of those are funded by contractual increases, but those are also non-union non-certified personnel. So just when you average the the entire thing and we look at that really again cost of living increase for the non-union, you know, as we talk about that. So we average that all together and it comes to 353,000 for the non-certified staff. in talking about our position eliminations and our new positions. Um, you see the chart, so I'm I'm not going to go over the charts in detail, but I'm going to skip down to the rationale, um, which will then reference the items that are in the chart. So, the first position I'd like to talk about is the new full-time athletic director, um, which will be a certified administrator that would be part of the TPSA contract. Um, it's

099going to support athletics for Torington High School, Torington Middle School, and the intermediate school. And additionally, the athletic director is going to evaluate all of our PE and health staff pre-K to 12. So that's certainly going to help for continuity throughout the district. And then additionally, this person is going to be responsible to help with curriculum and make sure that we have that vertical alignment um throughout the entire district. And then most importantly, I know this has been an area of the board that you've all had concerns about with the Connecticut physical fitness assessment. this person will be able to take a real deep dive into our performance on that academic assessment and figure out what we can do to try to support increasing our results on that assessment. Um the next position is the

100dean at Torington and I'm sorry for the athletic director just to confirm the addition of that position is what is reflective for the elimination of the.5 physical education teacher and the two athletic director stipens. So when you look at the eliminations list, those eliminations are a direct result of adding that position. Um the dean at Torington High School is going to be responsible solely for discipline and will allow the principal and the remaining two assistant principles to focus on instructional leadership. So the elimination of the assistant principal would be so that we can use a dean instead so that they can really more focus on those different roles. The music teacher at Torington Middle School is needed to meet contractual and prep periods for the teachers and to ensure that all students have rigorous programming

101in their schedules. So, making sure that they have choices. Um, remember, uh, Mr. Penny spoke at the presentation at school improvement about ensuring that students have a voice in their selections. So, we want to make sure that we're offering good selections that will allow them to move forward into their different choices when they get into Torington High School. um the additional nurse is needed to support increasing student medical needs. So we have seen an increase in what some of our students need in order um for for different various things according to their IEPs and their 504 plans. So we really need that nurse to make sure that we're meeting all the needs that our students have uh for those documents. And then the two new special ed teachers will will reduce our outplacement costs by

102offering programs to meet students needs in district. Um, both of those new teachers will be for programmatic classes and will help us to be able to keep kids in district because we'll offer the programming that they need. And then the last position is the social studies teacher at Fast Academy. And that was really the ask for that is so that the students are able to effectively meet their graduation requirements as they continue to move through Fast Academy and make sure that again they have similar offerings to what we have at the high school so that they are getting those same kinds of choices for different opportunities to take elective classes. And um what I did want to say about position eliminations is um while this list seems small, I want to point out that two

103years ago this board eliminated 21 FTEES from our budget. So that you know even though we were able to absorb them through retirement's resignations, we actually eliminated 21 FTEEs two years ago in our budget and last year's budget there were nine FTEEs that were eliminated in the budget. So, I think that's just important to note that while, you know, we've we've been able to make do with the 0% with our staffing, we have paid a slight price with our staffing and reduce those positions that that have had an impact in our schools. So, I did just want to point that out. I'm going to turn it back over to Donna. Okay. So, we can flip to the next one. Thank you, Miss Schulty. Okay. So here we see the benefits, employee benefits. Um nationwide we're

104seeing increases. Uh so it's no surprise that we have an increase there. Another reason for an increase is um we also had to look into the uh unemployment and a few other areas that were social security benefits that were underfunded. Uh so we wanted to write the ship and make sure that we're going to be on target for next year. So that's where you're seeing that increase um the 15.12%. Uh going to the bottom we see in communications we know that in communications that line item also includes licenses and so um as you heard previously in the budget meeting uh we have the office of teaching and learning and we have their licenses broken out separately. Um, so we are going to uh fund those and we will uh that's where you're seeing the increase

105in those and some of the other ones that were going to be up um that we needed to cover. On the next page, you're going to see the supplies and in the supplies um the office of teaching and learning, you know, they want to explore uh new textbooks to springboard from all the growth that has happened from inheriting the um adopting the IM. So there is a significant purchase that needs to be made there that they're exploring and they wanted to make sure that they had a line item for that energy in the middle of the page. We all know all the prices are going up for electricity, uh fuel, and um oil. So we had to um do a three-year look back, but then also a projection forward to see where we're going to

106be. And this number is a comfortable number for that. Uh but again it is an increase. And then technology and supplies. Well, Chromebooks are in our classrooms and there there are some that are at the end of the life. So we're going to be replenishing those as well so that students can continue to have onetoone learning with their um devices. And I believe we have one more on the next page um for equipment. This one was a a significant jump. Um a small amount to impact a $84 million budget, but even still, we wanted to highlight it for you because it's a 62% increase. And again, this actually is just for retrofitting some of the classrooms. When we did the reorganization, we needed to do a few furniture purchases or need to do a few

107furniture p purchases to accommodate the student needs. Um, but there's also a scoreboard and some leechers that I'm told are going to be in need, great need, um, that are antiquated here at this facility. Um, so that's where the big jump is coming. And I believe that completes that section of the highlights. And if we flip to the next page, you'll see the grants um, of 14.5 million. Um thankfully we do receive them and have been um recipients of them. Without them our budget would be 98 plus million dollars and that would be a 25% increase. Um so we're very thankful um to have those. And as you can see we have a lot of staff that are staffed in the grants um along with some supplies that aren't illustrated in this grid. And now

108I believe we're on to section two. And if you flip to the next page, thanks Josh. You're going to see something you're all familiar with. You see it at the budget meetings. Um it's a highle rollup of our budget and it's broken down by category. So um you can peruse through that, but it really aligns with everything that you saw in those other buckets in the front page front pages of the presentation. And it all again aligns to the 6.76 um increase. So at this point I believe I'm going to hand it back to Mr. Wilson. >> Thanks Donna. And what I forgot to mention very important for page four page 18 page 60 page four 1860. That's where you see all of the numbers line up that Donna had just talked about the 6.7.

109So when you look at that on that page and you go back to page four and you go back to page 60, that's how we know we're being consistent throughout the entire document. So just wanted to point that out for all Josh. Josh, keep going. Y so what this slide shows this is just a nice graphical representation which basically if you look at any budget uh across the state of Connecticut and across the country any school budget you have 70% salaries and bennies and that's what really this shows which does not leave much for the other um and other obviously for us purchase property purchase professional services other services supplies energy etc but 70% in salaries and bennies and as I said that is not only across the state of Connecticut. That is actually across

110the country. Josh Kim's back up. Got to put the microphone down when after Michael talks. Um, so non-certified rates of pay, we just wanted to give you this for your reference, but what I think is really important to note when it comes to these rates of pay is that Connecticut's minimum wage in 2019 was $11 an hour over over the course of that time and currently it's now 1694. So it is increased almost between four and 8% every year since 2011 and it it's really up about 35%. So, just keep that in mind when we think about the non-certified increases and where we are and how we budgeted because I think that's significant that that has gone up and many of these people are making close to minimum wage and when minimum wage goes up

111we have to bring them up to minimum wage to make sure we're compliant. So, I thought that was important. Um, the next two pages or three pages I believe uh four pages. The next four pages are a list of all of our stipen positions by school and you so you have the ths, you have the TMS, and then you have um the district-wide along with um TIS. So you have the elementary. So just so that you can see the detail and this aligns with all of the budget items that you saw in the detail. >> Thanks Kim Josh. So these next couple of slides, this is actually thanks to the board. The board asked for this last year and ask and ye shall receive as the saying goes. This basically shows what's in the grants

112versus the general budget broken down by a yellow and blue indicator. Uh, very important and also important to note is as you've scrolled through um the high level and as if you scroll through all of the detail pages and as Donna alluded to earlier when she kind of highlighted some of the areas that we've cleaned up uh in terms of licensing, in terms of moving things, that's exactly what you see in this budget. There was a lot of back-end work to make everything clean and concise and the blue and yellow indicators as I said as asked for by the board. That's exactly what these next couple of slides show. Josh. And that the blue and yellow is broken down by each of our buildings. You can continue, Josh. Keep going. Yep. Okay. So now we'll

113talk about some of our demographics and we'll jump into the demographics. Josh, so this slide, as we shared last year, last year was the first year that our Hispanic and Latino population surpassed and is the top uh population in Torington public schools, which we are very, very proud of. Uh we also have the rest of the indicators there are white or African-American or multi-racial Asian and as you've heard from Joanne Creed and there is a lot in there when it comes to uh other uh races that we do service. Um and Joanne had that list of all of the languages. I forget the number now I remember was insane though and I love that slide that she shows. Um so that exactly what our demo looks like. Josh, Sue, come on down. >> Hey everybody.

114And as Mike said, you know, Joanne has presented to the board on multiple occasions and she does a really deep dive and a nice uh comprehensive look. So, what I really just want to point out, I think the story here on this slide is to just look at the 10-year trend and take a look back and see back in the school year 1516 compared with this school year, look at the growth, right? And I think that the consistent growth over time over the 10-year period really speaks to the consistent need. Um, and I think it's interesting, uh, Joanne had shared with me earlier that what we're seeing right now, while we continue to have newcomers, as we always have, um, the the children that are coming to the district right now are largely not coming

115from out of country, but rather coming from other states, New York, New Jersey, and other uh, urban areas in in our own state. Um the next page is Josh if you could go to the next slide please. Uh is a look uh by school and really the story here is that you've all heard us talk about the October one poll. That's a very important date in public education in Connecticut. Uh that's when the state asks us for all of our demographic information every year. So we kind of use the October one date as our baseline and our barometer. We we measure everything against October one. So we're about three plus months later at this point. Three months and a and a couple of weeks and you can see that we have have steadily increased. It's

116been minor increases incremental over time but the the needle keeps moving in that direction. And Kristen Hello. So you can see our free and reduced information. Um you can go back to the 1819 1920 years. And I do just want to reflect a lot of people don't understand what our district currently is. We are a C district which means community eligility provision. Every student in the district gets a free breakfast and free free lunch and sometimes snack in certain schools every day. Um, and you'll see our current numbers reflect the same as they were back then. However, that is back when we used to receive applications. We no longer receive applications. These are students that have been directly certified by the state as receiving some sort of assistance, whether it's SNAP, temporary financial assistance, free

117or reduced Medicare, or as well as homeless students in the district. Um, and if we were to receive applications, we'd be floating around the 75% range. Next. Next one. Josh. Yeah. So what Sue and I wanted to just kind of highlight here, you know, this is that NASDAQ study that we have a a a collaborative or contract or agreement with NASDAQ that they provide our enrollment numbers. And for those of you who were on the building committee, you know, Jeff, I know is shaking his head. These were the numbers that were utilized and utilized by the state to do such. Um, you know, while we don't necessarily disagree nor agree with NASDAQ, it was their predictors. We're noticing a change in some of them and our couple next slides will show some of the change.

118It's pretty close. Uh, but I do think NASDAQ needs to do a updated study and I know they try every single year and this is the most updated study that we have provided for you. >> Josh, can you thank you? So, I just want to share a little anecdote which can illustrate what Michael was just saying. Um, you know that we moved to a central registration. I I think most of you know that if if you're not aware, if you're a new board member, we um we have a a secretary, a registration secretary who welcomes we have a welcome center. She's bilingual and she welcomes every single new family to the district and then reaches out to the specific schools um and makes the introduction that way. So we have better control um and we

119can provide continuity. Why that's important is that we had a summer like we've never had before. We did not anticipate the onslaught of new families to town. Um we registered approximately 150 new children that we didn't anticipate. We always expect um you know the summer to be busy when it comes to movement but not like that. So, we're kind of lovingly refer referring to that as the field of dreams syndrome, right? It's kind of like if you build it, they will come. They're coming. And what Michael was just talking about is that the numbers that we have exceed the what NASDAQ has projected. So, we have more kids. We're very excited about that. It's a very it's happy news. Um, but it doesn't line up with the projections that we've been given. Josh, next one.

120missed one. So, I'm in a hurry to get out off the podium. Um, so this one is just the enrollment over time. You can see that our overall enrollment is it's it's decreased, which it does line up with what NASDAQ has has projected um over time, but we did have this bump. Um, so I just kind of wanted to share that. So the next page is uh again the detail of the enrollment by school and this gives you our projected sections by grade for the three elementary schools in Torington Intermediate School. Uh it's important to note that as Sue said, we get a lot of enrollments over the summer. So this number changes all summer long. We have to constantly look at possible adjustments. So, I know on pages 27 to 30, the numbers of

121the sections don't necessarily match with the salary page, but the total number by school is the same because as we get the new enrollments, we figure out where the grade level shifts are going to happen. And then even if exactly what you see on this page here is exactly what happens, we still won't know which teachers are going to move to which grade till we get more closer to June because contractually they have until April 1st to tell us who's interested in an assignment change and then we have to make those assessments in collaboration with the building administration. So in an interest of keeping the salary projections accurate, the pages um 27 to 30 show like the current configuration by grade level, but the total number per school is the same in each of the

122cases of these four schools. And then on the next page, you can see the total enrollment for the middle school, the high school, and for for alternative school for fast academy. Um, you know, in these cases, they're really more content driven and they have more schedules that we don't necessarily look at the class sizes for each class, but you can see what the projected enrollment is for 2627 by grade level. And I think that's it. So, in line with what was previously discussed regarding students and an influx of students that are coming in, we're um experiencing that same thing in special education. In this document that you're looking on page uh 47, you're seeing that the number of special ed students as of October 1 has remained pretty similar to where it was the year

123before. However, we also um as Miss Ferguson said are seeing a steady increase of students who are enrolling into Torington public schools with IEPs and frankly who are actually coming in needing full programmatic responsibilities, meaning they're going into small programs. On the next page, what you see is this is the magnet schools that we have. This is showing that the number of students who are choosing to go to magnet schools um is actually on the decrease in Torington public schools which is wonderful meaning that students are choosing to remain here in district and you can see that the overall number of regular ed students and special ed students is decreasing steadily um year after year as the trend goes. On the next page, what you'll see is the magnet school cost and um for tuition

124and tuition only for the magnet school. You could see that the projection for the year 2526 is also down um as the enrollment is down then the tuition um for those students is also down steadily. The next page is also magnet schools, but this is showing the cost of our special ed students and special ed services of the students that we service in the magnet schools. Um, what you'll see is this is the cost not of the tuition, but it's the cost of the related services for special ed students in the magnet school. So that means speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, special ed services, counseling and nursing, etc. that is what's considered a a related service. Um that number is down as was the number of the students that are going to the magnet

125school. On the next page, we begin a breakdown regarding our VOAG schools that students attend um from Torington public schools. You'll see also that that number is decreasing um and students again are choosing to remain in Torington public schools and not going out to the VOAG schools. But you could see the numbers here of regular ed students who have chosen that option in addition to the special special education students who have chosen that option. The next page breaks down the tuition cost for regular education and special education students who are attending the VOAG schools. Again, that um cost has gone down since last year and has steadily decreased um as the number of the students in those VOAG sites has decreased. The last depiction that you see on page 53 of the VOAG is the

126special education students related services cost. Again, this is not the tuition cost, but this is the cost of students who are incurring related services who are special education. um that is special ed instruction, speech and language, occupational physical therapy, counseling and nursing. That cost has um increased and again it's not due to the fact that the student number of special ed students going into VOAG has increased and much in line with the related services that also has increased in cost. The next couple pages explores the um charter schools options for Torington public schools. And again, you could see here um an steady decrease in the charter students who are choosing to partake in charter schools. Um again, as they're remaining in Torington public schools. On page 55, it breaks down the charter school costs here

127of special education students that are there in that site. And again, you'll see that that number um of the related service cost has actually slightly increased with the number of students of special ed students who were there. The next breakdown you're going to see is around tuition costs for the private and the public um IEP students out of district. So on page 56, you can see that the number is steadily decreasing and that we are able to continue to keep students within the public school system based on programming that is done. Um it's an excellent job that's done at each of our schools. That number has decreased down to 72 students from the previous year of 78 students. On page 57, it breaks down the private separate cost of the private special ed placements. In

128the private special ed placements, you could see that we were over budget in the tuition and the related services line item for the private schools. However, in the following page where you could see the public outplace students, students that are there in terms of their tuition cost and the related services cost is down from last year considerably. On page 59, what they've done here is actually combine for you so that you can see the public and private tuition for students who are outplaced in our district has gone down overall in a substantial amount. And again, that is due to the fact that we're keeping more and more students in Torington public schools and being able to program for them in their school sites. So, you know, as I shared earlier, 60 being that last page

129where it all comes together. So, we thought it'd be appropriate to kind of do a final thoughts page. You know, we wanted to thank everyone on the board and everyone on the call for obviously giving us the time tonight to present our budget, to review our budget with you, to answer the thoughtful questions once again that you have asked. Um, we hope that it helps explain what the process is. We hope that it helps explain the rationale why things have went up. We hope that it gives some clarity around certain items. We hope that it shows you a better picture of what Torington is and what Torington looks like. And I think those last slides really hit it home from Dr. Baker. Our students are staying in Torington. That's where we want them. We don't

130want them to leave. We want them in-house. So I think that's the highlight right there. And that's why those slides are really important, you know. And what else? Right. Well, it's a 6.76%. We talked about that. Why is it necessary? It's necessary to increase all of the great things that we're doing each and every day with our students. Once again, focused around our students. And for those of you who know, I do love quotes. And we were able to find this wonderful quote, Jacqu Fresco. When education and resources are available to all without a price tag, there will be no limit to the human potential. We know the potential of our students is indeed limitless. We believe in them. We know they can do it. This budget allows all of our staff to continue to

131do their hard work and to provide the very very best that they can for Torington's most precious resource, our students. So on the next several slides are the Q&A pages that once again, thank you again to all of you for providing those questions and the answers there. But if anyone has any followup or additional questions that they would like to ask this evening, the team is here. If you want to point it to a specific team member, that's fine. We can do that as well. If we cannot get the answer because it's a deeper dive, we would just kind of tack it on to the Q&A doc and come back to all and post it on that. But if there's questions as follow-ups or follow-ups to your answers for a specific member, we can definitely

132try to answer some. >> Thank you, Mr. Wilson, and the entire team for the presentation tonight. appreciate all the time and I'm sure many hours go into this uh across all the teams throughout the district. So, thank you all for the time and thoughtfulness uh for the benefit of our kids and families. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Po. >> So, I guess at this point we have on our agenda additional questions for the 26 27 budget. Um I guess I'll kind of pull the room here and see how many questions people may have. I did see the Q&A follow-up was sent to us today. Did have a chance to review that. you know, every question and answered sometimes generates another question. Um, so really amongst the committee members, do you all have a bunch

133more questions? Do you have no questions? Do we want to, you know, reconvene? I mean, I do believe it's this committee has to decide our role in this is asking the questions, pulling all the information together and recommending a budget to the full board to approve, being mindful of the student needs, the family needs, the staffing needs, the taxpayers. I mean, it's a it's a large responsibility on the shoulders of this committee and everybody else who decides to join us. We appreciate all of that time, but you know, what is the tolerance of the committee? What what do you guys want to do? Do you want to have some questions tonight? Do we want to schedule another time to ask additional questions? It's a we do have some time before this goes to the city,

134but I have like 12 additional questions myself. So, I don't know what the rest of the >> What's that, Mr. Cory? Oh, I I I have some, but I of course would defer to the committee members first. >> Yeah. So, maybe we can take uh a little bit of time here and ask some of the questions and if we have a litany of them, we can certainly reconvene another night. >> Certainly. Yeah. I wasn't trying to end it this evening by any means. I would be more than happy to even take your questions, include them in the Q&A, reconvene, and see if there was more qu more questions after that, but whatever the the pleasure of the board is this evening. >> Yeah, I I appreciate that. The Q the Q&A is great. Um I

135I myself and we can tolerance of the committee. I do enjoy the back and forth a little bit. So we we get to the bottom of the actual question. The response is great, but >> I now have probably three or four more follow-ups on the responses. So >> Sure. >> What is everybody else on the committee? Do you prefer to >> ask some questions tonight or >> I have two questions. We can go with them tonight or add them to the document. Okay, then uh let's start with Miss Lquick. She's on the committee. >> Is it for a specific person? I would just ask if the board member has someone specific in mind. If not, we can I'm sure I can get the right person, but >> I can ask you. >> Sure. >> Um

136first, uh follow up to one of the questions submitted number seven, dues and fees. You going to be able to get this now, but you answered who the dues and fees cover with all the associations and NEAS and stuff like that. It's 120,000. Would would we be able to get a breakdown of these costs? >> How much each of the individual dues and fees are? Certainly. Yeah, that's easy. No problem. >> Okay. And >> Donna, if we can make a note of that. Sure. >> Thank you. And then um question number three, it uh 56101, you explained the breakdown, but I'm not sure why it was a nearly half a million dollar increase for next year. >> Oh, okay. >> So, if you can grab a microphone, I'm sorry. The the main reason is because

137we are hoping to explore a potential textbook adoption in math at the high school level. So we put a $300,000 placeholder in that account. And then the remaining amount it's like 150 160 something which covers replacement consumables for whatever was outlined in that answer. the benchmark it's it's mainly literacy resources um is the remainder of that but the biggie is the 300,000 for the and and that's something that's just at this point it's it's a wish like we're not really there yet but we didn't we wanted to be mindful of that and not get caught off guard if it's really something that we're able to do. >> Okay, thank you. And I lied. I actually have one more um for under um number nine with the um no interventionists at the high school, but you

138added that there was a new position called an academic engagement specialist. Um are you able to say if this has been an effective program for the high school? >> I would say so far, yes, we're getting really good feedback. Um the position is something that the high school principal has been kind of toying with the idea of this for quite some time. Um and the person in that role currently works really closely with the school counselors. Um directly with students, directly with the counselors, directly with social workers and special education. Uh kind of acts as a liaison to fast academy. uh helps to support children in transition. Um so yes, I would say yes unequivocally. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Cronin, Mr. Cla, do you have any questions? Yeah, just one um don't mean to

139boil this down just to a question about bleachers, but I know in this in the previous meeting um we had approved that proposal for the maintenance and inspections of the bleachers and I know that there seems to be for scoreboards and bleachers. Not sure how that money is allocated for that item specifically, but I guess my question is are we just ensuring that we're getting what we need out of these inspections if I understand these things kind of have a lifetime eventually. You can only maintain it so much. But just kind of a thought I had about that. >> Sure. I can start with the scoreboard piece. Um the scoreboard is for the scoreboard outside currently. And that scoreboard, if those of us who were here on the Thanksgiving Day game, was pretty embarrassing that

140the scoreboard um decided not to work that day. And all of the repairs that have been done on it, it's just at its end of life. Um they cannot come out and repair it anymore. I believe and and this is just from what the um our team of uh maintenance folks that said, water got in there. The board keeps getting fried. There's no way to watertight it. company can't guarantee it. So that's why that's for the scoreboard. And for the bleachers, I know Mr. Pgola talked about that company coming out. Um but I believe um Donna, do you have more information on the bleachers or Dean? >> Mr. Pgola has more information on that. >> I believe those bleachers in there are for the new complex. So they're they're going to be portable bleachers that

141can be used for the softball and then uh um moved over to soccer and things of that nature that we don't have right now. So they're not u related to the maintenance and >> and Mr. Klesia that was asked for just to at the building committee at length. It just didn't make the cut from the building committee. So it does come back to the board of I know Mr. Putnham was advocating very strongly that evening as was I but unfortunately it did not make the cut. >> Like to tag on a follow-up question on those questions. Those are typically those are kind of capital type things. I mean that's a replacement scoreboard, a new set of bleachers. Typically we would see that type of an expense on the capital requests and also as far as

142the bleachers go. Have we talked to the building committee? There is that uh Eversource rebate money that they have now sliced 17 ways to Sunday on how we're going to spend it. But I want to make sure that one if we're going to we're going to do it. I believe it belongs in capital, but we could defer on that. Just typically in Torington, we go for those things out of capital rather than out of operating. It's just a it's a been a transparency to the city type thing. They've asked us questions about it before. So my personal preference would be to see those things. We could certainly move those >> capital requests, but I would be interested in the bleachers. Sure. These are the bleachers for the the new turf fields, of course. >> That's

143correct. And they're going to be rolling so that they don't ruin the turf. Um I know Mr. Longabuko and Mr. Arum were thinking about it and looking into it with the Eversource rebate, but you know, we know that we need them if we're going to invite fans to come and watch. Uh but I don't disagree. If you'd like to move it into capital, we certainly can. If that's the board's pleasure, we can move the scoreboard and the rolling bleachers uh into the capital. I do know um there is talk too that we may may um be receiving a donation for the rolling bleachers from the CLA from the class of 50 years ago. Um but I have yet to see that come through. But I know that that was a talk when uh they came

144back for their 50-year reunion. So there are other ways to possibly get them. I know Mr. Long Auba and Mr. Aaron were talking about it as part of the rebate. Um, but we can certainly move that into capital if that's the board's pleasure. >> And we can certainly ask the building committee at their next scheduled meeting tomorrow. >> I think that'd be appropriate. >> Anybody else on the committee or representatives of the committee have any questions? Any follow-ups before I turn it over to other board members who may be here? Anybody else? >> All right, Mr. Corey, you're up. >> Thank you. He's He's been waiting. Well, uh, you know, um, okay, from the top, uh, just while we're on the point of the capital, I I agree with Mr. Putnham actually. Um, there are

145quite a few things that we've discussed or read about that really ought to be in the capital budget. Um, you know, the one thing that we didn't mention but should be there is, um, like electronics, right? Like Chromebooks, laptops. We've traditionally done those as a tech capital. My understanding is actually that they're presently in this budget proposal as well as the capital budget proposal. Uh which I am not a fan of. I don't think we should double request things. Um so uh just my preference uh for the uh input to the committee I suppose where the budget lives at this stage would be to remove those from this budget and to reduce their request amount by that amount. Um, I just think that we have to keep ourselves honest or somebody else will do it

146much more aggressively. Um, so all right. Uh, now let me start from the top of all the things I wrote down. Um, first one, I just made a little note. Um, I could probably dig it up, but do you happen to know we budgeted for snow removal? Because I that's been a a matter of some controversy this year, and I just want to make sure we're looking ahead to >> I'm sure. I think it it was in Donna's packet this evening, I believe. >> Oh, was it? >> I believe it's 122 >> for next year. >> I think so. >> Okay. Yes. We're probably going to have to raise that. Um, again, I'm guessing with that, but um based on what we discussed with the the sort of unfeasibility of a hundred something thousand bid

147this year. Um, I think we we need to again sort of get real with that uh and and bump that number up. It's not satisfying to raise the amount in the request, but um I don't want to get caught in a situation where all of our bids come back at $350, $400,000 and we're scrambling to find that money. Um so um the next one is the non-union salary increases we're budgeting for and I know um what was at the time the contract was negotiated the sort of amalgamated local 1579 uh is getting four I think across the board for their members but for example the uh tea is getting a zero general wage increase and I'm not sure what the TPSA is getting. I'm not sure if you guys know or if Mr. Michaelelsson as

148their representative know what the general wage increase is if anything >> 375 >> 3.25 25. Um, so I guess um it may be worth considering when we have a sort of broad array of different contractual increases um for union employees to consider what this amount ought to be and and whether it should be a 4% across the board or as the board has discussed uh at length in previous difficult years um whether we should sort of parcel out some funds relatively speaking. Meaning, for example, say we've done years where we did 2% for some of our highest paid employees, uh, or less and, uh, you know, 3 or 4% for some of those lower paid employees because the dollar amount is much more significant for them. Um, so I just kind of wanted to bring

149that up. Um, I have a question now that, uh, the full-time athletic director, um, I know the TPSA contract has like a tier list mostly for the purposes of bumping rides. Um, so would this be factored in or will we have to do an amendment to that contract? >> Kim, uh, yes, if the board was interested in this position, it would require anou with the union. So, and and we have already been just kind of talking about it so that we have this placeholder, you know, kind of with a kind of an a number that we kind of thought would land, but it would certainly require a fullou with the board and with the union to be able to finalize it. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, we also are discussing, um, I'm still sort of

150in this, uh, it's page eight of the budget, this sort of overview section. Uh, an addition of two special education teachers in programmatic classrooms. Um, the justification would be to to meet students needs in district. So, are we anticipating a reduction in spending on outplacements because we're bringing these students in or is this because more of our sped students need uh interventions at the programmatic level? >> Thank you. Because that is a very thoughtful question. We're actually incurring um more and more students coming into the district with more disability requiring more self-contained environment. Currently, those two positions specifically are offset through a grant, our seed grant, but it is for students coming into district already with IEPs. We are fortunate that students still don't have to be outplaced, but the majority of the students are

151coming in at the younger levels. They're coming in with um significant IEPs requiring self-contained classrooms. >> Thank you. Um so, wait, so these are these new positions or are these moving into general budget from the seed grant? They're two new positions using the seed grant to have those positions be in play. >> Okay. So, these aren't in the operating budget proposal. They've just been enumerated here so we know who we're adding >> as a grant. Exactly. >> Okay. Um I next Thank you, Dr. Per. I next want to talk about I'm on page nine. We're looking at the in increase in communications, right? It's 106% increase um described mostly due to licensing and reflects expirations. Um my understanding is that uh in accordance with uh accounting principles and the law, the board made a substantial

152pre-purchase of licensing um which again is permissible because of the discount received last fiscal year. So now after having done that, we're looking down the barrel of a 100% increase for what is justified as licensing. Um so I just I want to talk about that a little bit more. What's happening there? I'm just going to stop my question there. >> It's okay. Um so one of the bigger ticketed items when it comes to licensing, uh it really stems from this building with the networking equipment that was installed. Um so now we have a substantial amount of networking licenses that um are at an end of life. Uh so it's usually either a one, three or fiveyear license. Uh we're coming up on all of that ending. Um I am exploring options with the company um

153in order to um they have like a enterprise program where we can pay like a fixed rate in order to receive a discount. Um, so I am exploring, you know, some options to save on there. Um, but just kind of the nature of adding so much equipment to a large building and, um, license starts when it's, um, installed, um, into our administration council. So, um, you know, we were hanging up access points when nobody was in the building, unfortunately. Um, so now we're just kind of that's catching up to us. >> Okay. And that's not inclusive of the licenses that we pre purchased already. >> No, no, that's different. Yeah. >> Mr. Cory, if I could add something that Miss Vance, could you give us an idea how many access points are in this building

154and the one next to it? >> Just ballpark. >> I want to take a while. >> I want to say 130 off the top of my head. And that's not including um all of the access switches and and everything else that we have that is um also Moroi. >> So Mr. Cory, just for a point of reference, outside of the education world, those Moroi access points come with about a $100 per year recurring fee for every single one of them. So, as you can see, the Moroi stuff is great equipment, but it does come with a sizable renewal fee, which in a building of this size is is significant. So, just to give you a point of reference on where some of that cost is coming from, >> right? I mean, $100 a year, >>

155times 140 of them, >> right? I'm just I'm looking like I said I'm looking down the barrel of 106.56% increase. So $100 a year per access point for 100 something access points does not $464,000 make >> we have also upgraded um almost all of our other schools. I believe Fast Academy is the only one left um to Moroi as well. So that would make our entire district um Moroi. >> Okay. Um but there's potential for um you know an enterprise licensing agreement. >> Correct. Yes, I am exploring that option. >> Okay. Um I'll drop that one for now. Um thank you. So we talked a little bit about this supplies this 1.1 million. Um so 300,000 of the 488 is a sort of anticipatory number for textbooks. Is that right? We're talking about the same

156thing. Okay. All right. Yep. I don't worry. I don't have to drag you up here to explain it a second time. I just wanted to confirm that that is the the number we're talking about that it's of the 488 about 188 is for things we already have that we need to refresh and then 300 is an anticipatory number. >> Correct. >> Okay. Uh thank you. Um you talked about capital talk about the scoreboards and bleachers. I'm almost done. Um well I can save those for later. Those are account detail level questions. Um, so the last thing I wanted to talk about is way at the back now, uh, when we're looking at the tuition for special education. Um, so I mean, I'm not surprised that the private placements increase at a faster rate and are

157substantially more expensive. Any private entity which does business with the government is ripping it off. But um I guess as we look at it in totality, quite a few of these I'm feeling a little optimistic, right? We we have, you know, 400,000 200,000 surpluses. Um >> so I'm just ballparking that we're we're looking maybe a little under a million this year in tuition. So what what are we anticipating uh for I see some reductions right? So I'm looking at public outplacement a reduction of 300. So do we feel confident that we can make these reductions save some money and still meet our needs? >> Yes, we're confident in the students that we already have currently. The differential always comes into play and this is a conversation I have consistently with Mr. Wilson around many students

158are moving into district who are already coming into district with extremely high costs and who are currently already outplaced to the tune of possibly around six kids right now. And you know that that can go right up to about a half a million to 700,000. Um so we are consistently doing a great job of using our least restrictive environments in schools and keeping kids and as kids graduate out that's wonderful for us. It's when students come into district already with that incurred cost and that IEP intact. Um, but I am optimistic about us using more of the public side of this. The risks are wonderful to us. Um, they're also closer to in district transportation in counting and those costs. So, I am cautiously optimistic. Um, but I always preface that with there is, you

159know, always the opportunity for a child with needs to move in that we would be legally obligated to support. >> Right. Okay. No, I I feel, you know, I'm feeling okay about that stuff. Although I would say the VOG special ed services could probably do with an increase. Um, that's one that's, you know, skyrocketed. um >> that in particular when students have come into the VOAD program, they have um come in with more related services than in the past. And again, we were legally obligated to cover all of the nursing um all of the counseling, all of the related services around special education. And when students come in with that IEP, that is something that is an incurred cost that legally we have to >> right. I guess as I just go down the line,

160say if I start on page 49 of the budget or 65 of the packet, um, you know, so magnet school tuition, right? We're we're we're proposing to stay steady at 250. Yes. >> Um, but we we pretty consistently run this really under budget and I the budget has dropped over the years. Um but for example 2425 we were 50,000 under budget so we reduced it by 25 and now we're 75 under budget and we're proposing to keep it steady. Um so is there room for a reduction in the budget there or are we nervous that the magnet school tuition is going to go up a lot? >> No. Well, no, but that is a consistent conversation with Mr. Wilson and I that we are anticipating that those numbers will continue to remain low. people are

161wanting to be in Torington now, which is to our benefit, >> right? So, I just don't want to lock up money, especially in a proposal where we may uh be making significant cuts in a couple of months. So, I would I would say it may be worth considering it a drop to 200 or 225. You know, I want to be safe with the these reductions, but I think we have to get real that that this request, while not unreasonable, per se, is not happening, right? That the we're just not going to get 5.3 million. That the taxpayers of the city of Torington don't have it. I wish they did. I like education budget increases. I vote for the budget every year, no matter what the increase is, but I I just think we have to

162get real in looking at this that we have to anticipate that we have to make some of these reductions. Um, so I'm looking now at page 50 of the budget. It's the magnet school cost sped services. Same deal, right? We went from 630 to 450 and the drop in the actual cost dropped by about a h 100,000. So we're getting closer um much. >> So you know again if we're under 300 this year and we're proposing 450, right, keeping it flat, I would say there may be room to drop to four 350, right? >> Absolutely. And and when we start doing this stuff, we we get to real real numbers. Although the BOAG tuition um regular ed and special ed combined is, you know, makes me a little more nervous. You know, I maybe wouldn't

163propose a reduction there. >> Um we probably need an increase in the VOAG special ed services because we're budgeting 250 and >> Yep. But that can be moved from Absolutely. when you're saying with the magnet going down, we can consistently anticipate that, >> right? Um, you know, we're I feel good about the charter school sped in 504. >> Yes. >> Um, >> Mr. Corey, would it maybe be appropriate if we asked the central office team to maybe look at th those as a whole, all of those expenses across the 10 plus million dollars in special ed spending and see if maybe there's some room to help out with the budget as best we can. Obviously, we are we have to be responsible for the fact that people can come into town at any moment's notice.

164We have no control over it. Dr. Baker does a great job of explaining that you you have to provide all those services the minute they roll into town until they have another IEP that you're responsible for those that exact level of services. So maybe your request is that they look at it again and see what we can do to maybe fine-tune fine-tune that particular group of line items. >> Yeah, I think this is the lowest hanging fruit that there's going to be because we have trend data. We have experts who can look at our students and see what we may need to budget. And I think we could probably find some significant savings there. >> Yeah, I I would concur with you on that one. >> I concur also. >> And that's that's the last

165of what I wrote down and I've been talking for a long time so I'll stop. Anybody else have a question before Ed the rest of the group has knocked off most of mine so I'll be pretty short tonight. Unheard of, right? Anybody else have a question? Okay, I have uh just a couple more. We've already talked about the capital stuff to include the laptops, um special ed programs. Dr. Baker, are there any We have over the years developed some excellent programs that other districts have acknowledged even we've been acknowledged at the state for um like our autism program and things the foots voices I believe. Right. >> So, do we have any additional programs that we could begin to offer that we have enough students that are being outplaced? And I realize that, you know,

166we've done this a couple times before at a smaller scale, but you have to get a program up and running. It's hard to get people back until you actually have a a successful program that is running. But do we have any plans to do any of that? I know the two people that Mr. Corey asked about were for programs we already have, but what can we offer to offset some of these outplacement costs? >> I that's a very thoughtful question and is something we've been continuing to wrap our heads around currently. Right now, we are looking at adding programming into the schools to increase the least restrictive environment in those two lower level buildings because we are incurring many students coming in with IEPs from other urban districts in state. Um so we are looking

167at that. Um we're very fortunate that Ed advance has been supportive with a certain population that they support us also. But right now um there is different needs presenting themselves but we have looked at some of the outplacement components to see where those majority students fall in terms of a primary disability. So it is something that we are looking at and I will tell you the transition academy that is an outstanding program for our 18 to 22 year olds where now all kids can finish their education here in Torington and it's it's topnotch. >> Great. I think we we kept the the staff that was teaching that we've just relocated them. Right. That program moved pretty much intact into a new facility which was >> which has now enticed more parents to want to come

168and look at the program because it's more localized. It's centralized on a bus line. there's so many more added components like you said Mr. Pragola built a beautiful beautiful place upstairs for us. So, but again, yes, we are looking at those types of programs for our kids um around a certain primary disability for support. >> I would I would just think that with the alliance dollars that we're fortunate to have and the seed money that we just got, it's an opportunity to we're investing in our in our community and our students, but maybe to have a return on that investment beyond just the education of the kids. if we can bring $150,000 kids back and give them a better education here. It's not just about the cost, right? It's about giving them a better education.

169>> And and Mr. Putnham, the um seed grant is offsetting teachers within those schools that is going to offer our kids a much better program right in their hometown. >> Great. Thank you. Um next one up, let's see, we talked about the the PE one. I did just I did ask the question in the in the Q&A and I sort of follow the answer but it looks like there was still would be a half FTE less of a PE teacher just >> yeah so currently the athletic director's role similar to like our department chairs provides that he doesn't he only teaches halfime the other halfime he's conducting duties that are related to his athletic director role so in cutting that.5 FTE we'll lose no instructional time whatsoever. H >> how how do we not lose

170instructional time if the half of the FTE is teaching classes? >> Because we're keeping the half that he's teaching. We're only cutting the half that he's doing the athletic director duties because we're hiring a full-time athletic director and the TPSA to do those athletic director. >> Maybe that's the part I'm missing. It said.5 PE teacher elimination. I didn't realize this. So half of that is the role and there's a stipen that goes on top of the half FT. >> Correct. Yes, >> that was my my disparity. >> No. So, yes. So, we'll lose no instructional time whatsoever. >> Yeah, I would think that's the one thing that with everybody >> Sure. >> we would want to add. I mean, as far as FTEEs, that's one area that we're going to need. I would be shocked

171if the athletic director comes in and says that we don't need more. >> Yeah. So, no, it will it will not reduce what's being offered for PE and health for the students at the high school whatsoever. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Um, Mr. Wilson, our team on the health insurance, I know we don't have a final number yet, but it is one of the largest cost drivers of our increase. Uh, it showed is about 2.2 million. Um, do we have any sense as to when we're going to get a better number on that or where we're at? >> So, I called Brown and Brown again today. Um, they are actively still working uh with our current provider. Um, and there is no update unfortunately. That's why even in the document

172it was potential. And yes, the 2.2 million is the placeholder. Um it is variable at this point. Um Brown and Brown is hopeful that they will get us a number within the month, so 30 days basically, but I would like it sooner than later because that is going to be a big driving factor. So I am on the phone with Brown and Brown very very often. So I will update that number and update the board as soon as that number comes in. Um but that was kind of where we were in the very beginning um stages, but Brown and Brown is still actively trying to work that number and hopefully I'd like to stay optimistic. Hopefully, it's lower. Uh I just don't see that with the trends that are going as Donna had shared. Um

173national trends across the state and across the country, especially with certain providers actually going enormously high. Um and I'm not knocking any particular provider when I share that. I think um Brown and Brown does a great job representing us and working for us. So, I understand your question, Mr. Putnham, and as soon as we have it, I would like it sooner than later. >> Okay. And then a followup to that, um it showed about a $2.2 $2 million increase and we do net budget our benefits. Um, but I noticed that the benefit employee contribution line item didn't change. So, could we update the presentation at our next level or to reflect the employee contributions changing? >> 100%. >> Great. And next, over at Fast Academy, I saw the report of the number of kids. Those

174are alternative program kids, right? >> That's correct. >> So, how many people do we have now? We have a big tutor expense and I believe tutors are for expelled. mostly are expelled population, right? >> Correct. >> How many of the expelled population are now housed at FAST? Do we have any idea? >> Uh we have 12 expelled students over there currently. >> So we have 12 expelled. We have about 38 um of the alternate education which I'm hearing great things has worked out very well for that population helping to disrupt remove disruptions from the classroom. So fantastic. And then the 18 to 22 program about how many do we have there? >> I was going to say 12. Yeah, 12. Well, I was just going to say we just got one more 12. I knew

175I was right. >> Great. I appreciate that. Uh the next one, the special I read some legislation that talked about how the state does cap the tuition and Mr. Corey may know more about this than me. Uh there's talk about releasing the caps on some of the special ed or even just VOG school choice tuitions. Right now, they are capped at what the public ones can charge and I believe that agreement expires this year. Um do we have any update on what that's looking like, Mr. Corey? Yeah. So, what it really is is the state capped what they were allowed to increase in the what they charge us um and then started paying them. Um so, the governor's budget proposes, I think it's about a $12 million cost that the state's currently incurring to pay

176directly um those schools. So, the governor's budget proposes to reduce that to zero from the state and allow them to again charge the full, if you will, cost to us. So, um, you know, it's very early in the legislative session. I think there is some resistance to this. Um, and it's a relatively marginal cost for the state to bear. So, I I obviously don't have any inside track on guarantees, but I suspect this is a cut that's relatively simple for the state to uh add back into the budget. So, we'll have see. >> Okay. Maybe we can keep an eye on that or maybe somebody can get a rough estimate as to what that impact would be on us. I mean, we are talking about the tuitions and making a cut to that. We also

177don't want to cut too far if that's coming down the pike. Um, beyond that, I have I think that is about it for tonight. Anybody else have any questions they've thought of in the meantime? All right, hearing none. I appreciate you guys time on the presentation and all the information. We look forward to uh some answers on the questions. All right. What is up next? Uh future budget meetings. I guess the question to the committee is we don't meet again for another month. Do we want to have a a brief meeting in between to get some of this information back? And as Mr. Corey said, this is going to be a very very difficult budget year. everything that's been asked for. Obviously, in an ideal world, we would like to have, but that's not the

178reality that we're going to see in Torington this year. With the stepped in increase in property taxes, the taxpayers are going to shoulder another increase in their property taxes that isn't likely to be wellreceived. Um, so I know all city departments are being asked to provide budget requests that are um doable, we'll say. And we would argue very successfully that we need this money. But I do think the committee needs to consider what we think an appropriate number well not appropriate but what we want to go to the city asking for whether that's the entire amount that superintendent and his team comes back at or if we feel a different amount needs to go in years past. We've kind of had the discussion where do we want to come in at and we bring that

179to the full board and then from the full board that goes to the city. So I open the floor to anybody's opinion on what they think. Do we want to meet one more time and get some of these answers, see the changes? Mr. Wilson may may have an update on health insurance. How does the committee like to handle that? I think one thing the committee has done in the past, we have hear basically hearings uh coffee with the superintendent or whatever we're calling it this year, but members of the committee are there anyway and hear it and then you could have a brief committee meeting after that session to discuss the results of that and any other questions that might have come up. Just a suggestion. Anybody else have a have an opinion on this?

180What you'd like to see? Donna, do you have the schedule in front of you? I don't have the the next scheduled meeting. The coffee one that Mr. Kiscoco is speaking of, I believe, is actually after our March meeting. >> Yeah, I was just pulling it up. You're correct. I believe it is. Let me just grab it. March 16th, I'm told. is the coffee and our meeting is the is that the 11th >> correct? >> What's everybody whatever you like to do? >> I think we're going to get back from the comments that we got tonight. A lot of departments have a couple changes to make. We're going to pull out the capital. We're going to fix we're going to make make some changes possibly to the overall uh special ed budget. We're looking at changing

181some of the health insurance numbers. There's just a bunch of pieces. >> So, I don't know if it's appropriate to put a timeline on those changes and then schedule a meeting after that. I don't know if that's an appropriate procedure to provide a timeline into as to those changes and then say, for example, that's two weeks from now. Then that following week, we can reconvene, which would put us one week prior to our meeting. >> Yeah, I think you know going with that schedule, we have the two scheduled dates already. Um, I believe to Mr. Kisco's point, we could definitely either utilize one prior to the other and just flip-flop them if the if that was the subcommittee's pleasure. I think that might be appropriate. Um, for example, maybe if we were to have the

182coffee first and then have our meeting and gain u any more insight or any more questions and then keep our keep that regularly scheduled meeting, just flip-flop the day. I think that would be appropriate to let us do the changes that were made, hear from the community, and then also come back and meet with the group and share everything. >> Sure, we could do that. We just we need to get those revised numbers out to the community so they could see them first. That would be >> Oh, absolutely. Yeah. By by what was it? March 11th. >> March March 16th was >> March 11th was the >> regular schedule. >> So, if we did the coffee March 11th, we would have that ready by March 11th. That's fine. And then we would have the 16th

183would be the meeting with this subcommittee. Unless you wanted to piggyback that both nights and do two into one as Mr. Kisco said, then I would keep your meeting that day, that regularly scheduled day and we would meet after that after meeting with the community. That works too. >> And the budget's not due to the city until is it April one? >> Yes. Donna has it April >> 14th. 14. Yeah. >> So we have one more meeting in April prior to >> So let's do this. Let's leave >> one more full board meeting. >> Yeah, the the full board of education has to adopt the budget and transmit it to the city. So, uh Mr. Kisco's suggestion is probably the best if you were to keep your monthly meeting on the 11th and then at

184the time of the uh you know public hearing or what again whatever we're calling it now have a budget meeting after that where the committee considers that input a um reviews the budget a final time and then um votes to adopt a budget and that way the board of education can review it at its meeting at the end of March and we can meet the deadline. So, so we'll leave facilities as is on the 11th and then we'll do a bud a coffee and budget with a little bit of a follow-up meeting afterwards and then have an additional meeting as necessary on the 16th. Is that what everybody's proposing here? >> No, I think you have it off that the the hearing is already on the 16th. So, what I would say is you could

185keep your March 11th meeting, right, where we >> discuss all the change. Yeah. And then you do a final committee meeting at which you would expect to adopt a final budget for recommendation to the board after you've heard from the community. >> Right. And that way the board at its regular meeting in March can consider and at its pleasure adopt a final budget or punt it to a special meeting before the 14th of April, whichever the board. >> Let's do that. We'll leave the 11th as is. If the administration can get us back some of the answers in advance for review, that would be possible. so we have an idea what that final number looks like and then we'll leave everything else as is and if we need to add another meeting we'll add another

186meeting all right topics for future meetings we have budget transfers I believe next month we're going to have some budget transfers to be made anything else besides uh budget 2627 questions anything else anybody would like to see on the agenda all right comments for the good of the order we'll start down with Marissa I can't see the whole corner. So, >> thank you everybody. Wonderful meeting. >> Thank you. Great meeting. >> Great meeting. Thank you. I love the transparency in this budget. There's so much in there to see and um makes it really easy to uh ask questions and look at it and see where we're going. Thank you for taking the time to answer the question. >> Good meeting. Thanks. >> So far so good. Excellent meeting. Uh we're talking about the fast committee.

187A lot of about the fast academy. A lot of talk about that. Sik will be at the fast uh fast academy next meeting the what is that first of whatever whatever it is in March and we will be there. So if you want to see the place and hear more about it, come to the sick meeting. >> Plug Mr. Kiscoco for your next meeting. And I thank everybody for all the time. We understand that this takes hours and hours. And Miss Megan, up up top, do you have a uh comment for the good of the year? I looked up and saw you smiling. >> Great meeting, great presentation. Thank you >> and happy birthday once again. Thank your family for letting you hang out with us tonight. >> Thank you. >> We appreciate all you

188guys have done. I know this is a lot of work. There's a lot more to be done. We look forward to collaborating with you guys on it and we'll see you again in a month. Motion to adjurnn. All those in favor and this meeting is adjourned at 8:18 p.m. Thank you everybody.