Torrington Board of Education Meeting

001Okay. I'd like to call to order this regular meeting of the Torington Board of Education at 5:31 p.m. If everyone could please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. It's there above the door. Thank you. Uh Ellen, when you are ready, you may call the role. Thank you. Um, next the approval of the agenda. Um, I have two additions I would be seeking and I believe Mr. Burger has one. Um, so I'd be seeking an approval of the agenda with an amendment for a possible executive session regarding a discussion and possible action on a personnel contract and possible executive session regarding a discussion and possible action on a memorandum of understanding with the TEA. Um Glenn you had an amendment as well. >> Okay. So the snow plowing contract as well. So if uh everyone is

002okay with this ordering we would order this um as 8G7 being the snowplow contract and then we can just do both the executive sessions as eight and nine afterwards. Um so I would hear a motion to that effect. Is there a second? Okay. Uh any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor please say I. Opposed. Agenda is set. Um now have school community service and public participation. Is there anyone signed up? Okay. So let me read out the paragraph. Um the board invites members of the community to speak on topics to be addressed in the agenda or on other topics of interest. Individuals wishing to make comments are requested. Fill out the speaker signup sheet including your name and address which must be stated at the beginning of your comment. The board will not allow

003comments regarding specific staff members, parents, students, or personal grievances. Courtesy is expected in this limited public forum. Participating time will be limited to three minutes per person and 10 minutes overall. Um I first up uh I think it's two people together. Um so I have Nathan Pepler and Alennis Ortiz. Good evening. My name is Nathan >> and we are both seniors here at High School. We come before you tonight with concerns regarding the new policies of the new building. These policies include no windows on any requirement of each piece of media to receive approved by these policies. We wish to address the major decline in school that accomp the character including posters for events. on the walls and other media directly related to school such as the large school that were present in the cafeteria

004as members of multiple support. We have had posters in other media removed and spoken to very experience. I'm the executive secretary. >> I'm the senior vice president >> and this means that events that occur every single year. And all together as well as creating an extra having to follow these guidelines. These policies have also affected our abilities. As our first rally of the year, we have facing regarding the gym flooring our Through our work in these positions, many of our peers come to us with questions and concerns regarding anything going on at the school. We both confidently say that we have had multiple students approach us to discuss the lack of decoration, inability to display student worker art, and overall empty white. In their words, the new school has been described as a hospital, an

005office building, and an institution. A school should be a home where students in every classroom and we as a student body feel frustrated and defeated as well as unseen when it comes to this issue. To us, we feel that the building has taken priority over students themselves. This building was built for us to utilize to the best of our abilities in order to uplift and strengthen our education experiences. These policies have our ability to do so. We are not here to criticize the board. Just ask what we are saying as well at our esteemed board. >> Thank you. And customarily it is not the policy of the board to respond directly to So, I only say this because I expect that many people will leave before we get to this point of the agenda, but

006the administration has heard you and uh does intend to speak with us a little bit about addressing this. Um, and it'll probably be an ongoing process. Uh, but just because uh I assume that this room will be mostly empty by the time we get to that part of our agenda, I want you to know that. Um, thank you. I have no one else on the signup sheet. Is there anyone else here in the room? Okay, I do have one um written in item uh that I've been asked to read into the record uh and I will preface it by saying um in case anyone doesn't know that our dear friend and secretary Ellen Hona is leaving the board of education this year after 16 years of service. Um so this is the letter. Hi, my

007name is Carrie Hona and I live at 603 New Harington Road. Tonight we recognize someone whose quiet persistence and tireless commitment have shaped the future of education in my mother-in-law. Her son Chris and I are so sorry that we are out of the country and not able to be there. In true Ellen fashion, her journey to this role began with humility and a bit of humor. Years ago, when I asked her to run as a candidate for the working families party just to get 1% of the vote, she said, "I don't want to do that. I want to run for the bad." And I said, "No one wants to be on the board of ed, but Ellen did because she saw the value in service, in showing up, listening, and making a difference." For 16

008years, Ellen has served on the Torington Board of Education, most of that time as its secretary. She's been there for every big decision, every late night meeting, and every moment that required grace under pressure. During her tenure, Ellen has helped oversee the building of a historic new high school and middle school campus, the merging of our schools into a sister school model, and then into an elementary media model and the difficult and emotionally charged closure of two elementary schools. She's also helped steer our district through a global pandemic that demanded quick thinking and endless flexibility, all while working a full-time job, caring for elderly family members and helping to raise her grandchildren. If you've ever attended a meeting, you know Ellen has been to all the subcommittee meetings, too. The ones that go long, the

009ones that get tense, and the ones where the real work gets done. Through it all, often to my itical. Ellen has always insisted the focus stay on what truly matters, the students and their academics. Her belief in working across differences and keeping the mission clear has been a model for how local government should function. Tonight, we thank Ellen for 16 years of steadfast service. We thank her for her wisdom, her work ethic, and her unwavering dedication to the children and families of Torington. She leaves behind a legacy not just of new buildings and bold decisions, but of integrity, compassion, and commitment to what truly matters. We will have nice things to say about Ellen at the appropriate time, but I wanted to read in uh Car's words to our record. Um so with that, a

010little bit of a rough transition here. We'll get back to work. Um, and we have recognitions. the extent of his own potential. Through hands-on scientific inquiry, he discovered not only a passion for science, but a confidence in his ability to excel in challenging college level work. That success led to him to biology and molecular biology where his teacher described him as one of the hardest working students they have ever taught. Thoughtful, diligent, and consistently ahead of schedule. But what truly sets Jaden apart is his character, he brings positivity to every classroom, supports his peers, and leads by example. His participation in the ECMC scholarship cohort highlights his growing academic excellence and his commitment to continuous improvement. achievements extend well beyond science. Within our school newspaper, the Raider Report, Kaden began as a quiet contributor who

011planned to focus on photography. Over time, he found his voice as a writer and a journalist and today serves as a news editor, one of the highest positions. He approaches journalism with the same drive and integrity he shows the classroom, researching deeply, interviewing thoughtfully, and even contacting state officials to verify his stories. His peers call him the in class and his adviser calls him a true journalist. Having been the subject of a few of his interviews, I'll tell you, he asked the hard-hitting questions and he keeps on persevering till he gets his answers. Uh, from the lab to the newsroom, Jaden's growth represents the best of Dorington High School students who take every opportunity to push through challenge and do everything with a heart and purpose. Graduating with four completed Yukon ECE courses and a

012record of leadership, kindness, and perseverance. Jaden stands as a powerful example of what it means to do well in every sense of those words. We are honored to recognize Jaden Rodriguez this evening for his remarkable journey and his embodiment of the true spirit of high school. And speaking not only as high school but also middle school principal, I will tell you that he is a clear example of what a student You got good evening everyone. Um, as we start the year, we always start off setting a baseline and we do the star test and it's important for us to take the time to recognize amazing achievement and I wanted to make sure I celebrated these students and their families in front of the board of education tonight. When we look at scores, we always look

013at trends and we look at data. But it's important to recognize that individual stands you see before you are in the top 99% of the nation take this test. It's an amazing accomplishment. It's an amazing platform. It's an amazing bar to set those students who take the star test. I wanted to make sure I took the time to celebrate them in front of you all tonight with their families so that they know they are setting the standard for what we expect for students at Torington Middle School and that they continue to learn and are excited to move forward. We're going to call this the rising star awards because this is what we believe you are. This is what we want to continue to see. But thank you very much for all that you do. We

014appreciate you. We acknowledge your hard work. We want you to continue to do so. And we expect Parker Sanderson and Jesse W. We stuck with only four students. We did not select all students that achieved this, but these are our top achieving students in seventh grade and eighth grade on each of the tests that we thank you all very much. All right. Unfortunately, the student that I'm recognizing tonight uh could not make it, but it is my pleasure to take a moment tonight to recognize an outstanding student from Fast Academy, our October student of the month, Payton Stores. Payton has truly begun to find her voice here at Fast Academy. She is learning to advocate for herself, take ownership in her learning, and speak up with confidence, all of which are incredible steps in her

015personal growth. Her progress this year has been nothing short of impressive. She currently holds perfect attendance which marks a huge improvement and her academic performance is equally as strong as she's out earning outstanding grades and has reached blue level which is the highest level and a student can achieve as of this point in the year in our points and behavior system at fast academy. Beyond the numbers, Payton stands out for her kindness, respectfulness, and commitment to doing the right thing even when no one is watching. She sets a quiet but powerful example for others in the building and we couldn't be more proud of the success that Payton has found at Fast Academy so far. So, thank you Um, good evening. Um, it's my honor to introduce our Southwest Superintendent Award winner this month. Haley,

016she's a little shy, so I told her she'd have to talk, but you can. There you go. Um, Haley's a third grader at Southwest. Her teacher, Mrs. Markle on there, recommended her for this award because of all of the great things that she has been doing already. First, she lives by our school motto, which is care for yourself, and care for others. Every day, she shows kindness, responsibility, a genuine desire to help those around her. Whether she's lending a hand to a classmate, helping her teacher in room 305, she does it all with calm, gentle spirit that brightens all of our school community. At the start of the school year, she's a little bit shy, a little bit, too. Um, so she was careful not to draw attention to herself, stayed in the background, but

017over the past just seven weeks, she's really come out of her shell with a great transformation, raises her hand in class more often, shares her ideas, takes risk. She's discovering that every contribution matters, right, wrong, or somewhere in between. Um, she welcomes feedback with grace and maturity beyond her years. She's now, um, watching her grow and confidence has been nothing short of inspiring. She reminds us what learning and courage look like. and perseverance. We're very proud of her and for the person that she is growing into and we are grateful to her family for being such strong uh partners in her education. So, please join me in congratulating Haley, our Southwest school winner for October. Congratulations to everyone recognized. Always blown away by our students success achievements from the elementary level to the high school.

018My favorite part of the meeting but my second favorite part is hearing from student representative. Your microphone has been stolen from you. Uh, but whenever you're ready, we're thrilled to welcome Chef Tom, our new culinary teacher here at THS. He reality recently chef Tom's class learn about the cultural background of the dish practicing kitchen safety building kicked off the seme themselves relationship creativity experience while also giving our high school valable insight in honor of breast cancer awareness months organiz Pink made pinks help provide breast cancer screenings and services for those who are uninsured or underinsured. Club's work is a great example of students using their time and talents to give back. Select members of our DHS orchestra participated in ASA at the heart school of music university. Students rehearsed under the direction of regular and

019worked alongside over 10 other districts. The day included sectional rehearsals, a performance by professional quartet, a campus tour and collaborative concert. It was a powerful and inspiring experience for our student musicians. Lastly, we would like to invite all of you to our upcoming production, The Vomity of November 13th, 14th. I am the assistant director and I'm the assistant stage manager. puts our test with hip hop style music and dance. Our crew is hard at work making sure everything behind the scenes just hope to see you there. Thank you for your attention. And that concludes our high school. Thank you. And as I always say, if either of you have a passion for municipal government, feel free to stay. Um, but otherwise by no means should you feel obligated. Um, okay. So, we have next superintendent

020report. Take it away, Mr. Wilson. >> Good evening. On behalf of all the students and staff here in Torington, I would like to publicly recognize and thank Ellen Hon and Sudice for their many years of service and dedication to Torington public schools while serving as a board member. The job of a board member is never one of the hardest jobs that anyone could do. Their dedication to our students and to our staff has been very much appreciated and is every member of the team. They certainly will be missed. While they've been on the board, we have redistricted twice, built a beautiful new campus as we're sitting here this evening, adopted new strong policies, open fast academy, which is, as you heard this evening, really paying off for our students, and all the countless countless hours

021and the time spent does not go unnoticed. So, thank you. Both of these board members have a lot of accomplishments to be proud of and we will definitely miss them and wish them all of the best in whatever it is they decide to do. Thank you. It was great to see our football team play their first game back on October 10th. The crowd was large, amazing, and cheering not only for our football players, but for our cheerleaders and our band. And I can tell you our cheer team did a wonderful job. I was sitting behind a board member mom of a cheer member. And I can tell you it was a definitely a ruckus crowd for the cheer squad and for the band as well. But the football team did extremely well as Mr. Scott

022and I discussed. One more point and it would have been a different football game, but he's had a talk with the coaches about that. So, but it was a great overall experience to be back here on the home field in Torington was amazing. I'm very proud of how well all of our student athletes have done and performed on and off the field this fall. I've said numerous times the word student comes first, but there's a ton of work and dedication that goes into playing football, volleyball, cheer, band, whatever the case may be, play, as you heard this evening. Um, so very proud of them and very proud of their hard work. Mrs. Ferguson and I have continued to be visible as well as all of the cabinet members and all of the buildings this past

023month and we will continue to visit all the buildings in order to witness all of the great things taking place within our schools. Our students are amazing. You've heard us say that numerous times. We always look forward to seeing our friends in the classroom, on the field, or wherever. And on a happy note, we are looking forward to seeing our friends dress up as their favorite book characters for Halloween. So that'll be a fun time as well. So real positive. Thank you, Sue. Thank you, Ellen. We will miss you. And that's all I have this evening. >> Thank you. Anyone have any questions for the superintendent regarding his report? Hearing none. Uh we next have the human resources report. Take it away, Kim. >> Have the report in your packet. And so, uh first of

024all, you have typically our vacancies. So, you see the vacancies that we have currently. Um I did the liberty of comparing to kind of where we were at this time last year and that's in line with where we were last year. Um all the administrators for those positions are actively interviewing and we actually will have recommendations for several of these positions by the end of the week. So um we're anxiously looking to fill those positions. What the exciting news is though is our substitute fill rates and our absences. So you can see the substitute fill rates uh for the teachers. We ended the month at 90%. Um, I can honestly say in my eight years in Torington, we've never been at 90%. Even at our best, in my first year here, we were in the

025mid 80s. So, so 90% is really a huge, huge improvement. Um, and even 76% with the paras. You know, our average has been 40s and 50s over the last eight years. So, 76% is a huge, huge improvement. Um, so incredible kudos to ESS. I have been uh actively communicating with them and sharing that we are pleased with what they're doing and that they need to keep it up. So, we've had daily communication with them. Um if you skip to the second page before I address the absences, I just wanted to point out that the um where we talk about the percent of the jobs filled by Torington public school staff versus ESS staff. You can see that that increase in the substitute fill rates is attributed to the work ESS is doing because those numbers

026have actually gone down 10% from what they were last year as far as the percentage that was filled by TPS staff. So, so more of the jobs are being filled by ESS staff. So, our retirees are still actively working. We love them. They're doing great work. But ESS has definitely stepped up their game. Um, and we're pleased with the progress so far. So back to the first page, uh you can also see absences uh are actually um significantly improved. So our teachers ended the year at 4 point uh ended the month at 4.4% which is about in line with where we were last month. Um but the paras um actually are almost 2% less than where we were at this time last year. So so that's a significant improvement. So uh we're happy about that.

027and we had about the same number of people that got the perfect attendance award this month that got it last year. So, we also are seeing a steady uh consistency with that. So, we're excited about that. Um turnover rates, it's a little early in the season, but you can see where our turnover rates are, and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Great. Uh anyone have questions? I know what Mr. Putnham wants to talk about. Were Were you about to say something? >> Excellent. You are up. >> Just a quick one, Kim. Is this actually um we have a higher number of people filling these positions or is the improvement to 90% just because we had such a much lower attendance, lack of attendance, I should say, anybody who's out in absentee. >> Well, so

028our teacher absenteeism is actually 2%. 2% higher than it was at this time last year. So it was 4.2% last year and it's 4.4 this year. So which is a minuscule amount difference, right? So, it's really the same as it was last year, but we're at 90% fill rates. So, so the absences are are consistent, but the fills are just higher. >> So, ESS is providing more people then than we than we've ever seen before, which would be a good thing. >> Yes, definitely. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Go ahead. You had said that you're happy with the quality of the product. Are you saying that the what we're being the people being sent are live up to your your standards and your your needs? >> Yeah, I mean the feedback has been good. There

029have certainly been incidents, but I you know I will tell you that when the instant reporting protocol is actually quite easy and when the school administration has reported an incident um the ESS team handles it very promptly and efficiently. So, so in the instances where it's not, it is handled quickly. >> Great. Anyone else? >> Great. Thank you. Um, I will say anytime you hire a large volume of people, especially through an agency, there's just always going to be a handful that don't work out. But it sounds like everybody on the administrative side is happy with how things are going. And I I am also really excited about a 90% um bill rate. See, I thought where Mr. Putnham was going was was going to end up being the answer that everyone was hustling for

030their intend attendance incentive which is fine that's how it's intended to work but it's re it's really exciting that um you know maybe that's true but also ESS is able to jobs right >> but but the numbers to last year are consistent but our fill rates are significantly higher so I think I think there's a little bit of both >> excellent um okay you are off the hook uh are we calling this special ed report special ed report. Dr. Baker, take it away. >> Thank you. Um, and good evening. The numbers that I'm reporting this evening from the special education department are from our October one numbers. We're remaining um, steady at this point in terms of all of the numbers across the board. Um, our overall numbers were up by 12 students due to

031the fact that it's the beginning of the school year and people are moving in. Our in district numbers are only up by four students. Our prevalence rate has remained within the same percentage. Um it's up by 0.1% but it's still within the same rate. The in district prek students we took on six new students. Um in district age 18 to 22 our transition academy has remained exactly the same number of students. Our outplacement for 18 to 22 year olds was an increase by one student. are currently outplaced by PPT overall is down by three students. Our agency place through DCF or court has remained exactly the same. Our magnet parent choice and our VOAG schools were up by four students and our overall 504 plans have only increased by seven students. In all, we've remained

032at a steady um pace and we're pleased with what we're seeing in our department. >> Thank you. >> Fabulous. Um, am I wrong to think that for a beginning of the year bump in sped numbers, this is actually really mild? >> It it is. Yes. >> Okay, that's a good sign. Um, does anyone have any questions related to this? >> Okay. Uh, I actually have something uh I brought this up a few months ago and I think it kind of jointly belongs um to student services and human resources um about the you know frequency or what have you of um employees being injured in incidents that involve students. Um so I just kind of want to raise that again. Um so I know that everyone loves when the board asks them to do more work.

033Um but I do think it's it's relevant. Um you know I I see a lot of for example teacher and pair educator contracts in my work and you know there's a lot of concern around the state um about people getting injured in schools related to student behavior either within or without uh special education involvement which is why I say I think it kind of jointly belongs to your departments. Um, so even just a just a cursory review of those numbers, um, it's been raised to me a few times and I think it's important for the board to know who's getting hurt, who works for us, um, and whether there are patterns that we can affect with policy changes, investments, and things like that. Um, because if we can reduce that number as close to zero

034as possible, I think we would all prefer that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, okay. That's all I have about that. It is Office of Teaching and Learning Report. Miss Ferguson. >> Joanne Cedon is going to report on the updates for MLS. Thank you, Joanne. Oh, turn it on. happy to be here. Happy to be able to share on behalf of our wonderful EL students and staff and families and um so my update is brief but um I always have to add a little bit of extra context for the sake of building understanding uh of board members and of course all those folks in TV land. Right. So there's there's better understanding. So um English learners and multilingual learners the terms are basically used interchangeably. Traditionally we've been calling our kids eels's English learners. Um

035MLS was adopted a few years ago as more comprehensive because in many cases our kids are learning in fact more than two languages. Um some have three languages or more. Um, next slide, please. So, this shows the uh growth of our English learners over the past couple of years here in Torington public schools. And um there has been a steady increase as you can see. And as of today, we have about 17% of all students in the district are English learners. Next slide, please. This is uh October data and it just breaks it down by school so you can see where they are. Next slide. This always is the slide these this slide is always probably the most interesting to folks the many different languages that our students represent. So for our English learners, we

036have um 20 different languages and um it's no surprise that Spanish is by far the number one home language, native language. Um but Arabic, Erdo, and Bengali are the next three. And um just for fun, I'm going to just quickly read through those 20 because I think it's quite quite amazing and quite wonderful that our community has such richness of linguistic diversity here. So it's Arabic, Erdo, Bengali, Portuguese, Camair which is Cambodian, Creole Haitian, Albanian, Lao, Mandarin, Fulani, Vietnamese, Creole, English, French, Hungarian, Kichi, which is one of the indigenous languages of Guatemala. Um, Malay, Punjabi, Tagalog, and Zulu. So those are 20 of the home languages of our English learners. And in all Tarington public schools, not just eels, there's 37 different home languages represented. But of course, not every student who has a different

037language at home needs or requires English learner services or they might have had it but then are no longer in our in our catch. Next slide, please. In Torington public schools, we embrace and celebrate multilingualism in our students and families. We know that being multilingual matters both for individual and for society. And in addition to the cognitive benefits, we know that speaking multiple languages expands our world view. It connects us to our own identity and links us to our communities, our cultures, and our families. as you know because the board has been very supportive of the seal of biiteracy efforts that we've been doing for the past four years where we have been connecting with the world language department and we have awarded now the Connecticut seal of biiteracy to 104 graduating seniors in the

038past four years. So that's that's pretty amazing. Um in 11 different languages. So obviously yes the uh Spanish and Italian that are taught in our high school but also Albanian, Bengali, Bosnian, fani, Italian, I said Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Vietnamese which is a tribute to the heritage languages and the fact that so many families are trying to keep their heritage language alive. Next slide please. So in the past few years we have welcomed students from around the globe and this year for obvious reasons we have had a small number of brand new arrivals to our coming directly to us but many of our newly registered EL students have spent a had spent a short time in other districts in Connecticut or in other states. So they might have come directly from Dominican Republic to New

039Jersey or to the city and then are now joining us. Next slide please. Who are our ELS's MLS? There's no single profile, right? There's no single story. Each one is unique. Um we have newcomers. We have long-term eelss who haven't achieved proficiency yet. And at the secondary level especially, we have students that come in with a really strong academic prep preparation or program in their own country and some who have had very limited or interrupted formal education and some of our students are also students with IEPs. Next slide, please. Uh, our EL programs and services are all uh according to the Connecticut State Department of Education guidelines. So we have uh mandated standard standardized procedures for identification. Uh the types of programs we offer. We must give annual parental notification and consent for services. We

040use an annual standardized assessment. There's standardized mastery criteria and we monitor for two years after exit. Next slide please. We're frequently asked about bilingual programming and um there are different models but here in Tarrington we use a transitional bilingual program which means that we're providing academic and language support as needed in Spanish while simultaneously building our students proficiency in English. increasing amounts of English, decreasing amounts of Spanish, and um you know, again, just sort of aformational piece. Uh so we have a Spanish bilingual program, but Danbury has a Portuguese bilingual program. New Britain has Arabic, Norwich and Stamford have Haitian Creole. So um whenever we have 20 students or more of one language group who are English learners, we are mandated to provide a bilingual program in that language. Next slide, please. So our department

041goals are ongoing and board members, if you've really paid attention, you might see that. Yeah, Joanne, you presented these department goals before. um because they are ongoing because we are continuing to work on building the knowledge and capacity of all teachers to be effective teachers of our English learners and we are creating a K12 continuum of language instruction and support services and uh we are always trying to foster our connections between our and among our EL families, our schools and the community and of course to increase opportunities for multilingualism. Next slide, please. Uh the accountability measure that we use, we have no choice. It's the state mandated loss links. Uh it's required both by the feds and the state. It assesses listening, speaking, reading, and writing scores from one to five, one beginner, uh two

042early intermediate, and so forth up to five above proficient. The mastery criteria, when does a student leave our program? and they have to have an overall proficient plus a four or five in both reading and writing. And the state developed a growth model which I'm going to show you in a moment. Next slide, please. Last year we were really excited by the number of our students and the percentage of our students who met Mastery. Um we had 62 students in our district which is quite wonderful. Um this was an increase from past years and as you can see by the the graph on the right it's mostly in those middle middle grades. Um a student who comes to us the research says uh four to seven years is what it takes for a student to

043become academically proficient or to be on the same level as their peers. And so we can see that when you look at where that mastery occurs. Um I do have to point out that the success at the middle grades was really the result of a concerted effort by our four or five schools last year and especially um TMS. Those teachers did a great job. Um next slide please. So this is our growth rate data and it's the growth uh rate is determined by a composite of listening and speaking which gives us an oral score and then the reading and writing composite gives us the literacy score and we did above the state average um in both areas and we also surpassed our previous year's um growth rate both growth rate and average percentage of target

044achieved. So that was really good news. Family engagement efforts. Ne. Oh, sorry. Next slide, please. This is such an important aspect of what we do because we need our families to be connected and feel like they are in fact part of our school communities. So it starts uh even in preK and then continues. Um, our elementary schools do a great job with their family literacy nights and we work really hard and last year Vogle and Toringford both had beautiful events that there was a conscious effort to get our Spanish speaking families especially to come and the the turnout was was fantastic. Um, and so with our families though you saw all those other languages. So we do try to utilize our uh our interpreter and translating service so that we can connect with our Portuguese

045families and our erdo speaking families or Arabic speaking families. Next slide please. success for our eels's well like success for all students right establish and maintain a relationship with students and their families to embrace and celebrate the assets our MLS bring you know I think it's really important just to always remind ourselves that when a student comes brand new to us it's not like that's an empty vessel that child brings so much of their own linguistic and and family and cultural experiences Um, so we want to celebrate the assets to embrace and celebrate bilingualism, to provide comprehensible input, lots of opportunities for oral language and student discourse, to make sure that we're integrating literacy and content, and to work really hard to integrate students into all aspects of school and community life. And now, especially

046now, we need to continue our ongoing efforts in every school at creating a school climate where every student feels welcome, safe, and supported. Next slide, please. Thank you to our EL teachers. Thank you to our EL support staff, tutors, translators in Paris. And as I gave a shout out before to the middle school staff, thank you to all TPS educators because it's actually every classroom teacher, every interventionist, everyone who works with our students who deserves the thanks. And next slide is a thank you to the board. Thank you board of ed for your ongoing support. All of our students are all of our students and we have one vision. We are one team and we care about every student. And thank you. And I want to do say a special thank you to Ellen and

047to Sue for your for your years of service and for your support for our kids. All our kids. >> Thank you. Um does anyone have Gary? >> Just a simple question. They're working now. Where do where do you get the u interpreters or the for the kids other than the Spanish speaking and maybe the Portuguese? How do you find them? I know a friend of mine's wife who speaks Arabic was helping out with Arabic, but how do you find the rest of the inter the teachers, the interpreters? >> Well, we use we use a service. >> Oh, you do? Okay. >> Yeah. Just like the hospitals do. >> Yeah. Okay. >> But we have we have tapped we have identified so in our school we have some people who are bilingual in Albanian and Portuguese.

048And so sometimes we can tap our a Mandarin for parent teacher conferences. We tap a Mandarin speaker. So Zulu, that that would be a tough one, right? That that's where that's where an interpreting service really pays off. Any other questions? >> Oh, Jeff. >> Uh thank you, Joanne. It's no secret, you know, that I love your presentations. You have always bring the most interesting information to the table. Excuse me. My question is when somebody reaches mastery in the ELLL program, they have to get that four or five and that's probably no simple task. Out of curiosity, do we have a feel for what percentage of our non EL elelll students could get that score? >> I have often wondered that and I have thought wouldn't it be interesting to give this test to uh just

049a group of our fourth graders or eighth graders, but I don't because I can't. But >> no, but I'm I'm with you. It is it is you know it's it's not an easy test and especially that literacy piece that really sometimes holds people people for quite a quite a while >> and you could take that even further down the road. I mean if you started to look at test scores at some point in your office of teaching and learning. I know they have to take the test a certain number of years before they account in our growth rates. I learned that in our last school improvement meeting. But as the growth in number of people who are ELLL students goes up and the number of people who are you know kind of making it through

050the program and exiting the program which is a great thing. How does that overall impact our scores? I mean you have a larger population who we are doing translation for and trying to build their English skills. How does that affect our test scores as a district overall? >> So are you asking about the long term? >> Yeah over the long term what have you what have we seen? I mean, you've been doing this for four years and you collect amazing amounts of data. So, I have a feeling you have a inkling on this one. Maybe not one that you've researched fully, but as we have an increasing number of ELLL students, have our and our test scores have gone up, which is, you know, amazing, but are they at all related? I mean, do we

051have a feel for is the additional programming really making this big large jump for us in your program? I don't believe that our students could be successful without the supports and the instruction that we give in this program. >> Um I don't have an answer at my fingertips. I will get the answer for your next meeting. >> No question. It was just >> um >> you know to to get that to be that level of proficiency. Those kids are really at that point operating on on the even playing field as their peers. And so those numbers are then uh funneling into >> no small feat for anybody in the crowd. I I only know an an extra language Spanish from when I was in high school in this well the building that used to be

052over there. But >> I cannot imagine going through that process and becoming proficient enough um in just the short number of years that somebody joins us for. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Good question, Mr. Pner. >> I I have a quick one. Well, hopefully quick, but do you have a sense? Um, so I'm looking at this and I see uh Arab uh Arabic speaking English language learning students are about 2%. So I'm just ballparking that's probably 13 14 of them. Um so that as I recall was not the number two language for us a couple years ago. So as we creep closer to 20 of these students at which point we have to create a program for them. I'm wondering like what's the both the financial investment required but also

053can like are there people out there in this region who teach mathematics in Arabic that we can find or will this cause some kind of significant problem? >> Uh that's when I tap Kim and I say Kim we need an Arabic speaking bilingual math teacher. Um no it I mean it it really is a challenge. I mean, we're even it's I don't think it's a secret to or any surprise that we have difficulty filling the Spanish bilingual certified positions that we need. So, yes, that would be a challenge. Um, I mean, right now we we managed to find an Arabic speaking tutor who works um with many of our kids a couple of days a week. And um the other thing is that the state doesn't exactly say like you're supposed to have a certified

054teacher. Um but sometimes a certified teacher can work under the supervision of perhaps a T- cell certified teacher could have Arabic speaking tutors underneath them. >> Okay. So there are there are ways to at least start teaching these students. Yes. You know Arabic program we're teaching them now but Okay. Um great. Last call. Okay, I think you're off the hook. Thank you. Did you have more for your office or was that the some fabulous um we >> Yes, thank you. Um we have liaison reports. The board has received them. I don't know that we did we get one from everybody. Does anybody have anything? If you're an administrator, uh now is the time if you want to add anything to about your school. >> Okay. Um, we have the monthly financials next. Uh, let me

055dig to them. The budget committee, I assume, has discussed these. Um, but Donna, did you want to add anything till the end of Oh, thank you. Sorry. Good evening. Everybody received the budget packet uh for the end of September and we're tracking very well. We're a quarter of the way through the fiscal year and about 22% through the budget with encumbrances. We did go over specific line items at our budget committee meeting. And um just two that are highlighted um if you weren't there was the benefits. Um just want to reassure everybody that there will be money coming in uh from employee contributions and grants. So that line item will be um pretty much level. And also we did adopt the budget based on the previous configuration of the schools. So in the line 100s

056there was a little movement um with staff and funding and that's uh what we went over in detail at our budget committee meeting. But other than that everything is looking good. >> Okay. Um, I actually I see an estimate an estimated balance slightly in the negative for workers compensation. I can we actually game out the years worth of workers comp? >> Yes, we can dig into those numbers deeper. >> No, I mean, I'm not asking you to do that. I'm just, you know, should we be assuming that we're going to come in a little negative there or is that just sort of a a number that this we're guesstimating based on past trends? >> This second, the latter. >> Okay, cool. That's fine. Then it doesn't worry me at all. Uh, anyone have any other

057questions? Great. Uh, I would hear a motion then to approve the monthly financials if there's one. Is there a second? Uh, any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. Uh any opposed? Those are approved. Um committee reports. Mr. Krisco, tell us about school improvement. >> School improvement. Uh our meeting in October featured a discussion, a further discussion of the fast academyy's work credit program. That comes up later in the agenda. So we'll be discussing that. We had a chance to ask questions about the state test results that we had been given earlier and there is again more material in your packet uh for that thanks to Mrs. Ferguson. Uh our self-evaluation process we discussed and and in fact we got something in the board emails this past week. I would like the

058information that's solicited there, not so much the goals. We can wait on those, but the information about any input anyone has about the uh items that we should evaluate ourselves on. I'd like that by Halloween before Halloween. I will spend Halloween day working on that, which I think will be appropriate as I wait for my neighborhood full of children to show up looking for uh for candy. Uh we have uh a meeting coming up in two weeks. We get a week in between this month, the way the calendar works. And we have the early elementary school reports as a part of that meeting. Uh we'll be talking about the election day professional development, how that went. And we will be uh taking a real dive into the self-evaluation process. It's not that it's going to

059be anything hugely different, but we will put some real meat on those bones and and it'll come forward to the board for the November meeting. And we will have a preliminary discussion on the business of unearned first marking period grades, the policy of uh nobody being able to get less than a 50 even for doing absolutely nothing. Questions? It would be my great pleasure to vote to eliminate that policy uh when the time comes. My only question is are you in fact giving out Halloween candy or are you going to be hiding from the children? >> Oh, no. No. I enjoy Halloween. I have an I live in a real neighborhood. Uh sometimes we get a lot of kids. Other times we don't. Uh adults sometimes show up. They don't they're not looking for candy,

060but they always get something. >> Well, I'll be at your house, John. Don't worry. Um >> right around the corner from here, right? >> Uh does anyone have any questions related to the committee report? >> Okay. Um then who's next in the order? Facilities and technology. Mr. Burgerer. >> Good evening. We had a pretty productive facilities and technology meeting last week or two weeks ago, excuse me. >> Um our first agenda item, we got a presentation from a company, I don't remember the name of the company exactly about solar on the high school. Um that was fairly interesting but I think the superintendent and dean have asked them to come back to sharpen their pencil for some better numbers. So we had a solar presentation on that. We also talked about our committee meeting locations

061which you know if the boy scouts are still awake back there you know if you would like to ever join another committee meeting not such a big broad meeting um the budget and facilities is going to stay at a single location instead of bouncing around to different schools uh such as sick and policy. We got an update all on all the projects that Dean is working on with the limited funds he has available this year and he's doing a fabulous job with that. Um, we talked about the TMS roof bid results. I would much Donna I would much rather have you guys give us a slight update on that. I know there are some emails flying around earlier this week unless you would like me to summarize that. >> Um, I think I take a

062stab at it. All right. >> Uh, we did get some bids. They were a little high. Uh we're working with the state to see if we might be able to up our grant. Um and we're looking at, you know, some of the parameters of the uh biders. So hopefully we'll have more news uh at our next meeting. >> Okay. Anybody has any questions on that, wait till the end. And we also had a I'm not going to go into depth on this. We have an action item about this tonight, but Dean is going to we've approved to extend the HVAC service contract with our current vendor and there is an action item about that tonight when and if anybody has any questions, I'd just ask you to hold them till that time. >> Um technology

063side, Rachel and her team's doing a great job. We finalized the um device protection plan that is closed. We have everything good there. And other than that, that's all we have. Any questions? You keep doing these long pauses. Glenn, I kept thinking you were done halfway through. >> No, my brain my brain's a little slow at I gota think. >> Um before we do >> questions, uh Mr. Poolola, did you have anything you wanted to add? >> Yes. Um, regarding um regarding the um this complex and the um signs and and flyers and posters that have uh been um kind of regulated a little bit until we have a system down. Um, as you guys can see, if you haven't seen, this past summer, we put a bunch of additional whiteboards up that are magnetic

064that are allowing the students to hang different things um up and down the hallways. We're still in the process of putting them in. We got about six more to put in. Um, they're quite um they're actually right here. Uh, those two right there, the ones you can't there's nothing on them. >> Yeah, they're up and down the halls, but it's it's those there that we've installed probably in the neighborhood of 12 to 18 of them. I think we got 20 total. The other thing we're working on is um something for classrooms and in the hallways where they would be something that would probably be magnetic or like a tack board um to put up and then they will be able to use that to hang stuff up and down the hallways. And it it has

065taken a lot of time um just to come up with a system that fits the decor here. So it's not as simple as just putting some tackboard up. Didn't really want to just go that route. We're looking for a little bit more again to meet the decor. So, I got a a couple companies working on possible uh metal strips that will go along that would match our our archways and our trim with this gray that would go along that would be magnetic and the students and whoever can hang um you know, the approved um signage up uh work with with Mr. got a little bit on here and he's come up with a plan to uh vet what what you know, student council, whoever else wants to hang just to make sure it's approved and

066we don't have, you know, just a bunch of stuff hanging up and down the hallways. A little bit of a system there. So, uh I apologize it's taken so long. We are we have moved forward with some of them, you know, but um and we are continuing to move forward. We just haven't gotten there yet completely. >> Great. Um, I will say uh in regard to the decor, if you will, I think the students are somewhat right uh that the decor is a little bit institutional. Um, so I I think that's all really good stuff and I'm not opposed to it all. I would also like some consideration at some point and I know this will be a little bit difficult to pull off. Well, but you know, one of the things that was also

067mentioned both times students came to speak with us about this was um like art uh you know whether it's murals or you know things displayed by the student and some of which is temporary which can certainly go on the boards but maybe there's a process where you have an outgoing senior class that would like to paint a wall somewhere or something like that. You know, I know there's expenses that come with those things. There's risks. Just something I want I I would like everybody to think about maybe. Um, you know, I think a school can afford to be a little bit whimsical, right? Not everything has to be symmetrical and sterile. Um, and I'm sure there's a way that we can work it out with a minimal uh expense is my only thought on that.

068But I really do appreciate your efforts and I think once they are all up and there's stuff on them, I think the students will see them and they will also appreciate that. Um, I have no other questions. Uh, Gary, >> regarding the roofs or the the bids, did you was it an open bid so far? And was it announced in terms of the >> uh it was an open bid. >> Okay. >> But no, it has not. But >> Okay, that's what I want to know. >> Okay. Anyone else? that you hitting the button down there to talk, Ellen, or were you turning the microphone off? Oh, okay. Uh, great. Thank you. Um, and thank you, Dean. We next have the budget committee. Tell us about that, Ellen. >> As Donna already reported, um, we're

069on track and the the audit is in progress. Should be finished December. That's all I have. >> Great. Any questions related to budget? budget committee to No, I know you're all thrilled to get to work on the next budget um starting in December. I know I'm excited, too. Can't you tell? Um all right, we next then have the building committee. Um who's best for that? Gary, have you been going to those? >> I got I didn't go to the last time. I got a list from Mario, but >> Okay, >> there was some reaching the end. There's going to be issues at the end. Everybody is this is this working or no? I could couldn't get any closer. Uh couldn't get any closer. Um there are issues that will always come up at the end

070of the job and they're going to be money issues. Um I don't know that it's been discussed, but at the meetings there are issues with subcontractors, there are issue with some of the professionals and they are working on that. It will be a process that will go on for probably quite a while, but we're we're still at budget and under budget so far. Um, as to the progress, opening the gym corridor and the gym um in the second floor on Friday, all except the weight room that's coming on election day. First floor will be next week. Next within two weeks outside, I'm not going to get into too much detail. outside the area near the loading dock. They want to complete the circular path around the school. Two weeks from now, I guess people must

071be asking about the lower area of the sidewalk surrounding the gym and the auto shop. They'll be done by mid next week. More sidewalks to follow surrounding the athletic fields. Um the varsity fields about 75% concrete curd. They're expecting the installation of the turf to start on or about November 10th. The work will start on the softball diamond immediately thereafter. Weather permitting, the process will begin all over again, but they will stop for the winter and hopefully mid-March the turf will be placed for the upcoming softball softball season. But again, the process will go on for probably another year closing it out and doing punch list and resolving outstanding issues. But completion is within sight. >> Thank you. Uh do you either you Mr. Wilson or you Mr. Pgola want to add anything related to

072that or do you feel like that was comprehensive? Great. Any questions related to the building committee's work? Great. None. Um then we next have our minutes. Um as long as there is no objection, I would hear a motion to approve both the regular meeting minutes uh from September the 24th and the special meeting minutes from October the 9th. Is there a second? >> Second. Uh any discussion, corrections, deletions? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. Any opposed? Those minutes are approved. I would next your motion again, barring any objection, a single motion to approve or sorry, to receive the subcommittee meeting minutes for facilities and technology and budget on September the 10th. Uh school improvement on September the 3rd, and the building committee on September the 18th. >> So moved. Is there a

073second? >> Second. >> Uh any discussion, edits, additions? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Those are received. Uh I will hear a motion to receive the consent agenda of appointments, retirements, and resignations. Uh any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? That is done. Um all right, we're in the the action part now. So, we first have the forensic audit RFP. You think that, but we added two executive sessions the end of this thing. Um, we'll first hear about the forensic audit RFP. If Mr. Wilson, you would like to Oh, Miss Lavyby, excuse me. >> Uh, yes. So, at the last meeting, we had all received um the packets of the three biders that uh checked all the boxes. One stood out um

074specifically CRI advisors. Um so they kind of checked the box of the price, the experience and the reputation. So we um visited revisited to make sure there was no conflicts of interest and everything looks good. So we the superintendent and myself are recommending uh that we award the contract to CRI advisors. >> Are there any discussions? Sorry, questions from members of the board related to that recommendation. Okay, hearing none. I'm sorry. Um, Donna, the for the CRI advisors, um, it looks as though their home base is in Florida. Do they I thought it appeared to me they had offices all over the country. Do they not or are they just centralized in Florida? >> That That's a good question. They are based in Florida, but I asked if they would be coming to us and

075they said absolutely they will be coming to us. Oh, >> okay. >> And that's included in their quote. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> You read my mind. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Any other questions from board members? Okay, hearing none. Um, let's start from the top then. I would hear a motion, if there is one, um, to accept the administration's recommendation, um, and to authorize the superintendent to engage with CRI advisors for forensic audit services. >> I think our attorneys are engaging their services. >> Oh, that's right. Um, that's right. So, excuse me. to authorize Shipment and Goodwin attorneys for the board of education to engage their services on our behalf. >> So is um any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. So that's done. So um

076Mr. Wilson, if you could just inform Shipman and Goodwin um that they are being enlisted to do that and that they have the go-ahad, we would appreciate it. >> My pleasure. Um, okay. We next have the 26 27 school year calendar. Who has that? >> That would be me. Um, I think it's a highlight, right? I mean, we're looking looking forward to obviously next year. Um, this calendar had been shared with all uh the union representatives and their input was taken into consideration. Um, and edits were made to the calendar that is presented in front of you this evening. We think that this calendar is u a good calendar for both students and staff. And if mother nature is kind to us next year, uh the last day of school, which everyone is excited to

077know, would be June 11th. And if not, obviously days after that, depending on mother nature, but the calendar in front of you represents all of the professional development, all of the necessary days, and obviously appropriate vacations when needed. and we feel confident with the calendar presented in front of the board this evening. >> Questions? Um, so is February, you know, usually they get a little break in February, but it tends to come at the end of the week. Um, was there a thought behind making it the beginning of the week or did it just not seem to matter because it's still a 4-day break? >> It just because it was when the President's Day fell, we just piggybacked it a little bit. >> Oh, I see. Yeah. Okay, great. Okay. Uh, as long as there's

078no other questions, I will hear a motion to approve this calendar as it's presented. Uh, any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay, that calendar is adopted. Um, also, if I had read a little further down, I would have seen the the president's day is why you bookended it that way. So, that one's my fault. Um, we have the West State Mechanical Contract Extension, Mr. Pragola, tell us about that. >> So, West State Mechanical right now does our HVAC service and I would like to extend their um their contract for a year uh possibly two. They have um you know been very good to us um uh very responsible and uh at the time of the new building right now you know uh to put a to

079put a a bid out there for a new contract to include this is a little premature just because we don't have the building fully under our control yet. Um and to understand the complexity of this building uh I just it would be a good idea to extend what they're doing for our other schools. Um just you know this this complex is still uh under warranty. So we really don't do much service to this building right now when it comes to mechanicals because it's still under warranty. And that's and that's something we're going to have to uh dig into a little bit more exactly when the end date ends at because this you know the project has been done in phases and the turnover rate was done along with that. So certain parts you know again

080are going to be turned over at a certain time when we're not responsible for them. So, uh, the idea was to continue, uh, the way we're going with West State under their under the same contract. They they did make some very good, um, you know, cuts in it obviously because because, um, you know, they're not doing the high school anymore. So, they gave us a credit for that. U, they did, uh, keep their labor rates at the same as has been for the last three years, four years, which was a which is a home run. So, um, that's kind of the overview of it. >> Great. Um, and we are generally satisfied with them. I know, you know, I recall that uh at the beginning of their contract, we certainly were, but it's been a

081couple years. We're satisfied with their work. >> Yes, they respond very well. >> Excellent. Any questions for Mr. PGA really to that matter? Um, >> they are a great company. I mean, in Torington, there aren't many companies that have the depth of knowledge of complicated systems. They're good. I'm not related in any way. I don't know them, but they are good. I' I've never heard anything but good things, but I felt I felt it was important to put it on the record when you give somebody a contract extension that you're happy with them. >> Um I will hear a motion question. >> I'm sorry. >> Just uh Dean mentioned that it's to extend it for one year, possibly for two. Um we passed it on saying a two-year extension if the labor rates were extended,

082the current labor rates were extended for two years. So we can't we're we're voting to extend this contract. It can't be well maybe made will be too later. It's need needs to be decided whether it's one or two years. Um and during our meeting it was discussed where if they give us the same labor rates for two years we'll accept the two-year extension. So, it was for they offered for one year. Um, I went back and told them that uh to let me know if they could do it for two years and um I haven't met with them again on that. So, I they can lock in for one year. >> Mhm. Okay. >> Um but I they didn't give me he just didn't get a chance to go back and talk to Fran who

083is the owner. Um and I haven't heard from him whether he would accept the same labor rate for the second year or not. >> So I think then the move that uh at this meeting would probably be to extend for one year. And uh we can vote on an extension at any time, right? So if they're able to come back next month even and say, "Yeah, the second year we can hold the labor rates." The board can, you know, can vote again to add that extra year. I don't believe there's any time frame in which we're restricted from voting on an additional extension. It would be a little unorthodox, but it's not, to my understanding, prohibited um for us to extend it twice back to back. Um so I think >> could we vote one

084year, but if they hold their rate that we would vote tonight to extend it to two to give them an incentive to act? I don't doesn't matter to me, but it might save another meeting. I don't know if we can do that. >> Yeah, I I think we could. >> Or you could give Ed or I the authority to >> Yeah. And I I think the direction we're setting is clear and on the record. So >> be gone, Susan. Okay. >> So, what I would be seeking then is um a motion to extend the West State mechanical contract for uh one year and to authorize the board chairs in the administration to enter into an additional extension per the contract provided the labor rates remain flat. >> So moved. >> Uh any discussion hearing? None.

085All those in favor please say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Okay, that's done. That carries. Um, we have tours of TMS ths. >> Oh, did I? Oop, I did. Fast Academy credit for work experience. Uh, there is a document in front of us. Yes. >> Um, who's taking that one up? >> Sue and I could take this. Uh, this came up at the school improvement committee and it's been talked about a couple of times. Um the kind of cliff notes on it uh is that the students would receive credit if the board would allow for work uh done outside because that is ultimately as we shared with the program with the shortened day to get them job experiences and things of that nature and it would help them metriculate quicker. Um obviously there's a

086lot that goes into it and Dr. Torres did a great job really researching and finding all of different documents and different examples what schools um alternative schools do use. It's not just that we're giving away credits for hours. There's a lot more that goes to it and those forms kind of outline what that is. So, we're asking the board to approve that so that we could put that into place for our students at Fast Academy. >> Great. Um I do have a a question. So structurally I understand that the you know the supervisor evaluates the student etc. Um are is there also some kind of uh if not requirement then policy by which an administrator or counselor from fast academy would also speak to the employer ideally face to face but even by telephone on

087top of the written evaluation. >> Yes and Dr. Torres is here if she wanted to add anything, Amanda, if you'd like, but yes, and I I don't want to speak for her, but I know she's spoken with people across the state, as Michael just said, in various alternative programs to kind of get the protocols that are followed for this type of thing. And yes, there would be that ongoing communication between the employer and the fast academy supervisors. >> Excellent. I just wanted to make sure cuz um sometimes these programs just end up sort of letting the the employer write whatever they want and everybody just rubber stamps the grade and I didn't think that would happen here but I thought it was important to put out there. Any other questions >> if you've established the

088right relationship with the employer they will let you know if there's a problem. >> Great. Um any other questions hearing? None. Uh I will actually what is what are we seeking? Are we seeking approval of the program, approval of the document, >> obtain the credit? >> The credit. >> Okay. So, how are we authorizing? I mean, would we vote on this almost as a curriculum class? What is the vote itself? >> The vote would be that the board would be in agreement and allow credit for the work experience. So, would allow through the superintendent uh obviously I would work closely with Dr. Torres to award those credits so that the students would you would see that on the students transcript. >> Okay. So, we're approving the the uh the establishment of this program. >> That's

089correct. >> So, that the students can Okay, >> start. >> Great. Um, so I will hear a motion um to approve the establishment of the uh fast academy work experience program. >> Uh second. >> Great. Uh any discussion? Uh Kristen, we're voting on the fast academy thing. Great. Um >> fabulous. Uh then you're just in time for all those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? Okay, that is approved. Uh, where did my agenda? Okay, now we have tours of TMS. So, I I know this topic was put on. I know the building committee had some plans to do some tours and I know that there was some discussion about that because obviously we are in the buildings and we are here and our students are here and uh I think the tour

090should come from us and I do think that it is an appropriate that we do offer a tour. I know the public is very interested in seeing this beautiful building, middle school, high school, central office included. Um, so I think that the reason that it is on the agenda, and I don't want to speak for anyone, uh, is because I think that should just be, um, I don't want to say governed, but it should be established and set up through central office, uh, as opposed to a subcommittee of the board of education. >> I agree and I think that's why we added it. So um, >> it was brought to Sorry, >> it was brought to my attention that the there looking to have tours. Um there were a couple dates put out there, but

091I to your point, Michael, I think it's um we definitely have to accommodate the the the taxpayers that are, you know, helped pay for this building. And I think it's best for us to look at the the best the most appropriate time to do it. Um who how to facilitate it. You know, we've already talked about not being able people just coming in the building and wandering around. You know, we can't have that. Um, but that was just to get it on your radar. Um, to hopefully do it sooner than later once we once you're done with the middle school. It's probably your your best bet. But >> definitely facilitated through you guys through central office. >> Certainly. And and Dean and I have actually talked about this. You know, there are a lot of

092still unfinished uh areas. So, our thought was let's wait till it's finished. Let's wait till it's done so that the tour that can be given would be a great tour. And you're right, we cannot just have people wander the building. It has to be uh given in tour groups if you will. Um obviously that's also for safety and security of everyone involved and obviously for safety and security of the building. We don't want anyone roaming the building um and looking for things they shouldn't. Uh so it safety and security will be paramount during those tours. >> Yeah. And and I think it's important to note that having everything done is is beneficial as well because we why would you want to come and see a building if we're not 100% yet. >> Exactly. For example,

093if the tour was tonight, we wouldn't be able to see our brand new beautiful gym, >> right? >> So, >> great. Um, I have question. >> Yeah. So, is it your recommendation that the tours wait for even the outside portions to be complete and this thing more towards the end of the school year in the summer? I >> I don't think that's necessary. I think we could probably do it um you know somewhere in the end of November, Decemberish time frame. Uh I think there'll be enough uh the inside will be done at least on the outside seeing all of the fields. Uh there is a great vantage point. and I don't want to give it away, but uh in the middle school stairwell, Mr. Penny knows the vantage point of uh Mr. Lafrener as

094well. That is actually my favorite spot to go and look at the new fields and uh so yes, you can see a lot and when you know if the people are here for the tour, we can obviously walk out there, but we could also show them the bird's eye view as well. >> Great. Anyone else? >> I was going to ask. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> No, no, you're first then Ellen. We can't I was thinking could we do them on on the Thanksgiving or Christmas break, but that means you have to bring other people in. So, >> oh, we would on a holiday if we were to use our staff. You're talking about double holidays. >> Yeah. >> Anyone out there want to make double time? >> No. Sorry. >> Sorry. I'm kidding, >>

095Ellen. >> Um, will this also be in coordination with the building committee? >> Yes. Actually, this came up because Mario and Ed called me. That's where it came up. >> Correct. Because we were discussing it in the building committee. We did. And we wanted to make sure that because the building isn't >> the schools yet, it still belongs to the building committee. >> The high school is ours. All right. >> Yeah. And that's the tricky part, but that's why we want to do this, >> right? So, in coordination so that >> it's partners. Yeah. So I >> and they offered to they also they also offered to help um you know with not necessarily security but to help volunteer their time um to you know >> facilitate and position people and things like that. So

096yeah that's important. Yep. >> Great. Thank you. >> Great. I'm almost inclined to do this. I know this is specifically TMS. I would almost be inclined to just take a vote um so that we never have to do this again to allow the central office administrator or actually no just the superintendent to allow the superintendent at his discretion um to provide for tours of board of education facilities uh in a manner consistent with the board's policies. Boom. Done. That way anybody you want to see Forbes school or fast academy now come on by. >> Um does that make sense to people? Um I think that way we can just put this issue to bed. >> Yeah. Anytime anyone wants to come into our buildings, uh whether it's tour or or something else, they just have

097to call the central office. Um so unless there's additional questions, I would hear a motion to that effect. Again, this would be um to allow the superintendent uh to provide for visits to and tours of board of education facilities in line with the publicized policies of the board. Uh is there a second? One of you uh any discussion hearing? None. >> Sure. Yeah. Uh that's fine. Um it would end up that way anyway. Um so as long as the mover and secondary are fine with that. Great. So it will reflect that change. Any additional discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor please say I. Any opposed? >> Uh extensions that carries. Um, so I know I think I ordered this wrong because I forgot there's already an executive session. So it would be preferable

098to do all three executive sessions back to back. So if we could just briefly u skip over the one that was in the printed agenda about Title 9 just so that we can do the last open discussion item related to the snow removal contract. Um, just that way we only have to do executive session once. Anybody who has trouble getting around doesn't have to walk back and forth. um just easier for everybody. >> Just looking for information. It looks like the snow removal contract had gone out to bid in the past week and we still have an open contract now. If you guys can just elaborate on us with us as to what's going on. >> Yes. So went out to bid and we are having we had a pre- bidding meeting today and we're

099going to have another one tomorrow both a zoom meeting and live. They can come to the office just to go over some details. Um, you know, most guys use Google Maps um to plot out what the properties look like. Um, but unfortunately our Google Maps isn't up to speed here. So, I do have some drone shots of the building and we've outlined them uh so that they can see that in person. Um, >> yeah, that went out in addendums in addendums today. I see that. But what's going on with the current contract? >> Current contract um he is out. I'll let Donnie elaborate more. >> I don't think it's I don't think it's up to letter. No, hold on. So, >> yeah, you just said he's out like it's been terminated by the current vendor.

100>> We we received we received a letter from a lawyer saying that they wanted out of the contract because the scope was outside of the original contracted RFP. So, they are trying to get out of the contract. >> Is that all they're trying to do is get out of the contract? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, How much is the scope changing? Can they get out of it based upon their cuz they're technically on the hook for another year at their current price. >> So I I can answer that. You're not wrong, Glenn. It it came down to while they want out of the contract, there is contract language that does allow them uh to leave us. Um we could dispute that contract language. However, the with the facts that they wanted out and the facts

101of a cost analysis from an attorney perspective, we made the executive decision to bring it to the board to go out to bid and to get another company as opposed to try to hold this particular company who does not want to partner with us anymore. Um, and you know, is afraid of the scope of the work whether they can do it or not, especially with the size of this new building. So that is the reason that uh Dean and Donna drafted the RFP and went out to the RFP process. Um but they they do have language that they can uh escape their their liability for the last year. Um yes, we could probably go to our attorneys and fight that, but at that point we were between a rock and a hard place and we

102thought it would be beneficial to not spend the money on legal and to try to go out to bid and get someone who really wants to work with team Torington. >> And when was that letter received that they wanted out? That's a October 10th. >> Okay. >> Is a 30 is it a 30-day uh exit, right? Like you when you notify the other party in writing, it's is it 30 days? >> I believe so. Yeah. >> Our our side of that contract says we can give 30 days notice. Their side's a little bit less clear. >> It was 30 days. That contract, I believe, was not up until November 1st of 2026. And what's what's the name of the current vendor? >> Gibson. Hey, now Gibson. Uh, Snow Removal. Gibson Landscaping, believe it. >> New

103company. They did a great job when they they were first starting off last year. >> Great. Anyone have any other questions? So, just >> so did we send a letter that yes, their contract is terminated? >> No, we have not. Um, I'll let >> cuz I believe their first payment is due November 1. I believe >> um >> so if their letter was October 10th, 30 days is November 10th, are they going to expect one payment November 1? >> We we did try to push back um but their attorney said that there was a material amount that um would and they quoted state legislation um that that removes them from the obligation. So that was the last communication was their attorney saying we have enough to um to go out of the contract. So >>

104Right. But what Glenn's asking is are we going to write them a check on the first? >> Yeah. >> They don't want any money. Right. >> No, we're not we're not making we're parting ways. >> Okay. So >> I just want a clarification. Things that go out the bed, don't they normally come through the board first? >> I can't Can you say it again? Normally when we have a bid process, RFP, RFQ, normally that information flows through the committee, goes flows through the board prior. Um, was there extenduating circumstances why that was not done? based on the fact that you know obviously no one knows you know there have been storms on Halloween before uh and the fact that October 10th was pretty quick and obviously Dean is concerned as he should be as the

105director of facilities. We wanted to obviously make the board aware that we have an RFP. There was no one chosen. No one has been chosen. The board will make that decision. Um, but however, we wanted to get that process started as quickly as possible due to that extenduating circumstance that we were without a contractor in the case of snow removal. I I have to let me take over for a second, Glenn, because um was the board notified that this went out cuz I don't recall seeing anything. >> Um, no. >> Okay. And when did it go out to bid? >> Last uh October 10th. So we got it out quickly uh by I think it was out last Thursday. So we got ahead about a week week's time after we got the letter. We went

106back and forth a little bit with with you know Gibson. We got their letter that came back and we had it out to bid before the response. >> Okay. And is the scope of the bid spec significantly different? Because it sounds like I'm just putting things together here. >> Yep. >> Right. their reason for wanting to exit the contract is that they believe the scope of work has changed. And it sounds like we can see that it may have. Um, and so is the bid spec substantially different than the one under which the current contract was bid? >> Yes. >> Okay. I um I have thoughts about this uh but I'm going to Yes. Uh, in case the information is useful, the legal notice was in Saturday's Waterberry paper, just, you know, for your information,

107>> of course. Uh, and the legal notice is legally sufficient. Um, I'm not saying anyone's Yeah, >> right. Um, I just think that it's important that the board be apprised of this sort of thing, even just via email. Um, because the, you know, this this sort of thing is materially at the board's discretion. Um, the board may have been interested in um, contesting Gibson's exit from this contract. I doubt it, but it could have been. Uh the board also could have been interested in playing a role in crafting the bid specification and voting to approve it as it customarily does and as it is I believe required to do. Um so I uh this is distressing. I'm I'm trying to be as mildmannered as I can but I am very upset that this has happened

108and I will leave it at that for now. Does anyone else have anything Gary? >> Yeah, I I do this all the time. I don't know what we'd be distressed about. I don't think anybody's board is qualified to put a bids back together in the amount of time they had after negotiating. We can do and I'm not dismissing that. Well, we're going to we're going to look at it tonight. That's the only thing we need to need need to see. I mean, the bid spec is is insignificant. >> Oh, I thought you just said we're >> Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. But we are going to see the bids, >> right? So, >> yes, under under a bid spec that the board didn't vote to approve. But again, what would you approve? >> We always see

109them when we always vote to send them out to bid. >> But unless if it snowed this week, then you'd blame everybody else for not having >> Gibson is still under contract until the nine. He's under contract, >> right? But he's not going to he's not going to show up. He's a six-man outfit. >> Well, then we go after him soon. That's >> you'll be taking his truck. See, I understand what you're saying, but I deal with this all the time. He has no assets. So, what are you going to do? Spend it? That's the point I think he's trying to is that the board needs to be involved in these types of decisions. >> This is our actual prerogative. We talk a lot about what the board's prerogative is in terms of management of

110this school district. This is our prerogative. Contracts, budgets, expending money for vendors, approving bid specifications. That is our actual bonafide prerogative and I will not give it up. But well, you then fine then they can start giving us 5 days to review. Then we have other meetings. But if it snows, what do we do? I mean, certain things matter and and if you know the and I know who this is. They have no they have six trucks. You can sue all you want. They're not going to you're not going to get them, Gary. That's I'm saying you can't force them to show up. >> The point of the matter is the board should have been apprised and not read about it in the newspaper or gotten a random email from someone making the bid. That's

111the problem. >> Okay. I I understand that. But I'm saying to be distressed given these circumstances. I'm just saying I wouldn't be so distressed because it may have saved us a lawsuit if it did snow and none of the parking lots were were plowed. I mean, there are certain things that happen in construction. And again, them Dean being from construction, he probably thinks that way. And maybe it should have been done, but I'm saying I wouldn't be so distressed given the circumstances because we couldn't do anything other than if we wanted to review the bids back, two, three weeks to review it. who who's gonna you know maybe Glenn could I could but I'm not going to go through a bid spec because I'm not a lawyer and a bidsp spec usually matches some legal

112requirements for the bid. So we may have gone a month without having the opportunity to hire somebody. That's all I'm saying. >> Take us that long to do. We've done we we do it consistently with every other every other decision and contract we make we put out to bid and we do it expeditiously to the extent we can. I don't think we anybody would have directed would have dragged us out for months knowing that snow season is among us. >> The point isn't I think that you're missing the point process or procedure policy. That's all. >> I'm not disagreeing. I said simply in these in this case I wouldn't be so distressed because it was the the opportunity to get a bid in before it gets real cold may have been the most important decision

113to be made. But outside of that, yes, process has to be followed, but it's never followed 105% of the time. That's all I'm saying. All I'm saying, I wouldn't be so distressed. I could be distressed. I'm just trying to point out the what what actually could have happened, the risk we would have been taking. And maybe in my case, you can say, "No, I've been through it. I've not I've not gotten bids in and cleared parking lots and I've been sued, you know, in a matter of one night." So, I always look at the worst possible outcome when the monies could be not, you know, significant amount. >> It's just my opinion. It's just my opinion. >> All right. Uh, Mr. Putnham, first, >> everybody's getting pretty uh >> pretty riled up over the snow

114plowing contract. I guess I would just say that maybe this would have >> We talk about optics in the district a lot. The optics of this may have been better if in our board packet tonight and on the agenda, it happened to have said, "Hey, we have a a snow plowing contract to look at and the attached bidspec was in it." That probably would have gone a long way to, you know, preventing some of these issues. Not that we shouldn't have the process, but I think some of the heated exchange over this might have been diminished if it was brought to us rather than us coming to you saying, "Hey, why do we still not know about this even though we've seen it in the paper?" >> Understood. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I I look

115as as the people who set the agenda, um I would tell you that it absolutely would have been there if I had found out about this any sooner than by telephone call from Mr. Burgerer a little earlier today. Um Mr. Kiska, >> we are a public entity and what a private entity can do in the process of running its business is very different from the imposition of policy and law on us and we need to be aware of that. So you are entirely correct in being distressed at the process not being followed. I I agree. I should say I agree. I think um so I think what has to happen more than anything is there needs to be and I would task the superintendent with this a review of the board's policies and procedures to

116ensure that there actually is the allowance first off cuz your your basis is that this is effectively an emergency. So there needs to be a review of the policy to ensure that the superintendent can take these kinds of actions in an emergency and if so what is the procedure for notifying the board um because >> well that we can answer we already know we can >> right but right how much money what qualifies as an emergency um and then again what's the timeline for notifying the board because I I that part offends me more than it does concern me >> and I apologize that's not the intent here. So when Dean and Donna had came to me with this news, we did enact the emergency clause. At no point were we going to enter into

117a contract without the board reviewing it. The monetary aspect is 100% the board's responsibility. To Mr. Kisco's point, that is exactly why we're public and not private. If, and to Gary's point, if at that time when the bids are open and reviewed, if someone does not like either the price or what the specs were, we can 100% go out to bid again. However, we would never enter into a contract e even though, yes, under emergency circumstances, there is a dollar amount that the superintendent has the right to do. Excuse me. I would not enter into a contract without the board. This was just to expedite the process so that we can get companies to bid for the snow plowing. board will have 100% review of those uh bids and which company to go with obviously

118based on references price and obviously Dean's recommendation because he will be reviewing it with the board. So I understand and I apologize if anyone is taking it that way that was not the intent. The intent was just to enact the emergency because on October 10th when our current company said they don't want to do it and obviously legal to go back and forth. It was the executive decision to go out to bid for a company that wants to work with the team. But at no point were we going to enter into a contract with another company without the board. That was never going to happen nor will happen. >> So what was the basis for the emergency? the fact that in previous years, I believe it was Dean's actually second year on the job. We

119actually had an ice storm in the middle of October where we needed salt, sand, and salt. And Dean came to me and he could speak for himself. I don't have to speak for him. He said, "You know, boss," he said, "It's getting colder." He goes, "We had snow storms in October. My first year we had a big ice storm. What are we going to do?" And that was the decision to go out just to get reputable companies to come in and bid. And as I said, no money was going to exchange hands without the board. Not at all. >> Okay. >> You're welcome. >> And yeah, will you please send everybody on this board the the bids uh specification RFP that went out? >> 100%. Dean will do that tomorrow. Great. >> Does anyone else

120have anything? >> Yeah. Just one thing. What was what was different in the scope of work where they wanted to back out? So their original contract included the old high school the way it was in the process of the last two years. Now I just just want to remind you too that their bid was considerably cheaper than the next guy. >> Yeah. Considerably less money than the next guy. So, what changed so far was there's been probably three scopes of change. The the um temporary lot uh during construction was a change. Um and then when the when the high school became available to us last January, there was another change uh in the contract right there. And they came to us with a number. They gave us a number on on what it was to

121change. So, we we went through that. We we left it open. We said, "Hey, listen. Come come come come August summertime, there's even going to be more changes going on here in the scope, so we need to communicate." And I really didn't hear from them until October 10th. Um, you know, I probably should have called them during the middle of summer to say, "Hey, listen, by the way, um, you know, we have to go over this new layout because it's a brand new building, brand new complex." So, their original bid was nothing to do with the new school, even though ground was broken at that point cuz it was what, three years ago. So there was there was some construction here, but there was nothing to I guess identify as well as we could today

122with a new scope of work of what it looks like and what the job is. >> So was the original contract amended? >> There was the original contract was amended >> and we have copies of that amendment where >> in the office. It's It's not on It's not under the contract section that has the original bid. There's amendments that aren't posted with that bid. Uh >> I believe so. Yes. >> Okay. And was anybody in this committee aware of amendments to the snow contract? >> No. Okay. >> Well, I I it would have been and I don't know what the policy would be, but either you get the amendment as fast as you can given the fact that some of those things were added within a matter of days. If the contract value changes, we

123should be informed as well. Just like if we go out to bid now and we know it's maybe significantly higher. That was not budgeted for this year. >> I'm not I'm not dismissing that. I think you probably you know there are implications that we need to have for agreement. >> I thought you meant trying to get the bid out for the amendment because >> No, no, no. That's what I thought you meant prior. The original contract was amended without our knowledge. >> I thought you meant trying to get it out for a bid. That's all. >> Okay. more to come I think on this one. Um unless anyone else has anything to add because I am now additionally interested in the fact that the contract was amended uh with neither the board's vote nor its

124review. >> We tal I want just one real quick. I we did talk about last year when the new when we were moving into the when we were moving into the building All right. When we were moving into the building, we did have conversations when the high school was coming over in January because they had to take on that extra. I know we talked about it and I don't recall if it was in a subcommittee meeting or a board meeting, but it was discussed. I again don't recall the details. Marissa might be able to pull up the meeting. I sorry, no pressure. You could even send it to us um if you find or when you find it. But I know we had conversations about it. I don't remember the exact details and it might

125have been a subcommittee meeting of facilities >> said that really soon >> yeah she probably will but I there was some discussion to the extent it went after that I don't recall but I know they did bring it to our attention that Gibson was looking for >> yeah for more money because of the change in the contract conditions >> and was that was last year >> was the board ever informed either in a uh recorded or minuteed meeting or in writing uh of the effective dollar amount change to that contract or was it just added to the budget? >> I don't recall that meeting. I know it was discussed at the facility subcommittee meeting. Um I don't recall. >> I don't remember being discussed. >> Mr. Knight, Mr. Ko will set you up with the

126microphone and tell you when you're ready. >> Okay. Um, it may it it may have come up in some subcommittee, but I don't recall it. It it uh this this this issue of of the contract or an amended contract ever ever coming to the full board. >> That's my recollection as well for what it may be worth. Mr. Knight, Mr. Putnham, >> I do recall that some of the contracts Dean did bring to us, uh there was a change in the landscaping contract. We spoke about those. Look, I don't think any of this is nobody thinks this is malicious. This is just something we need to we just well I don't necessarily think it was malicious. I think we need to clean it up though. Obviously everybody needs to get on the same page so

127that we're you know following the procedures and keeping us you know all on track. So I look forward to seeing the RFI RFQ. >> One more thing agree >> I mean it's it's you somebody talked about getting out out of control or heated. It's not a matter of heated. It's talking about it practically and then and when you say things like stressed and all those things and it makes it sound like you know it was malicious and and and it's not malicious. It's common sense and whether it's public or private. You do things sometimes that make enough sense to avoid having something war happening. And if it means an attachment shown, show the attachment. Ask for it and simply say, "Let's try to do better at this." Not not what seemed like attacks, which is

128to me is in is just silly, but not I understand what you're saying. Let's move on. >> Thank you, Mr. Egalo. I just want it to be clear to everyone that I choose my words quite intentionally. Uh, and >> uh, distressed is the gentlest way that I could describe this. And with >> um so >> um right so are we generally for now concluded with this matter? Okay. So the board will receive these documents to review. The board should uh will consider this matter further at a later date. Um now we have executive sessions after all that. Um, so we have next a possible executive session on discussion concerning an attorney client privileged communication regarding CIA regulations and title 9 compliance. Uh, is there a motion to enter executive session inviting in the superintendent? >>

129Second. >> Well, we'll do them back to back. >> Uh, there was a motion in a second. Uh, we'll invite uh, Miss Schulty as well. Uh, that's what I was looking for. Uh, any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. I opposed. We are in executive session at 7:22. The board will step out for everyone's sake. down. Um, we are back in open session at 7:37 p.m. We have next possible executive session regarding a discussion and possible action on a personnel contract. Is there a motion to enter executive session inviting in the superintendent and the just the superintendent? >> Uh, all those in favor? I any opposed? We are in executive session again at 7:37. there. All right, we are in open session at 8:11 p.m. Um, so we have three items

130which may necessitate action. Um, actually one of them doesn't. So, um, in order the item number six regarding attorney, client privilege, CIA, Title 9, etc., uh uh necessitates no action nor does the agenda call for it. Um we next have an executive session that was regarding a discussion and possible action on a personnel contract. Um so I would hear a motion if there is one to amend uh the discussed personnel contract in accordance with the board's discussion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor please say I. Uh, any opposed? How many? One, two. Anyone else? Raise your hands. I just want to make sure we get the count right. Okay. Uh, any abstensions? Okay, so that carries. Um, we next have a possible action on anou

131with the tea. Um, in line with our discussion, is there a motion to table that matter for future consideration? Okay. Uh motions to table as far as I know may not require a vote but let's take one just to be sure. Any discussion hearing none? All those in favor please say I. >> I. Any opposed? Okay. That item is tabled uh indefinitely for possible future discussion. Um we next have items for the upcoming agenda. Um I assume we'll have snow removal contract. Um we'll have the normal budget fair and committee reports. Um hopefully by then we'll also be able to say that the all of the internal workings of this facility have been turned over to us hopefully. Fingers crossed. Um who knows what else we'll have. Anyone else have anything? Lots of stuff I'm

132sure. Um comments for the good of the order. Mr. Cronin, Mr. Knight, >> Mr. Kiscoco, >> Mr. Eucalo, >> Mr. Miss Conway, >> great meeting. >> Um, so I just want to thank you very retirement so >> Mr. sentiment for both of the folks who are leaving for us lunch we appreciate having you guys here all you brought to us >> so I appreciate the little >> thank you Of course. >> Glenn, >> thank you for being here. Ellen, I love playing foot. >> All right. >> Good meeting, >> too. >> Great meeting. And Ellen, uh, thank you. To echo what Kristen said, I learned so much from you. um early days in the board and just the little notes across the table or the sh or you know little things here and there. You

133were very very helpful and um you've just been a pleasure to work with. So congratulations to both of us. >> Miss Vi, >> who's next? >> Great meeting and I'm gonna miss you Ellen. Thank you for being a kind guide to me in my first year uh doing the budget committee and and thank you also Sue. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Baker. >> Thank you and thank you both for serving. >> Okay. >> Um same thing, great meeting and thank you, Ellen. Uh as I said to you before, you know, you've been on the board since I've been here, so I really do appreciate all of your support over the many years. Um, and Sue, it has been a pleasure working with you in many capacities. So, thank you so much for everything and for

134your leadership. And I'll miss you both. Thank you. Thank you everyone. >> Sue, >> thank you very much, Sue and Ellen, for all of your years of service. >> Mr. Wilson, >> thank you again, Ellen and Sue. Um, it's been a pleasure. I know there's more good things for all both of you to come and I know you'll always keep in touch. Sue, you will miss the million phone calls, I think. But um I know it uh I thank you for your dedication both of you. Thank you. >> Uh as as far as I know, this is not Ellen's last meeting. She's not allowed to skip the last one. It'll be funny. Uh so I will save it especially because Carrie uh said most of what I would say far better than I would say

135it. Uh but I have heard a rumor that it is in fact Sue's last meeting and that she intends to abandon us in November. I would like to be >> um so yeah so I I I also know you don't like the spotlight so I will simply say that it has been my distinct privilege to serve as co-chair of this board alongside you uh and that you are a pillar of this community not only for your involvement here but in so many other institutions of this city uh really uh you are an institution in this city and I will stop there but Kristen wanted to add some words on your behalf Did you want to say anything? >> No, I'll send you. >> Okay. Uh Sue has selected not to add anything further. Um >>

136thank you very much. >> So we just uh have future meetings. They're all posted. There's uh five of them. It's on the agenda. Find it online. I'll hear a motion to adjurnn. >> Is there a second? All All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Any post? We are adjourned.