001e for e e e the word is thank thank you you're welcome I'd like to call this meeting today February 26th at 5:15 p.m call lots of other people thank you for coming discussion and next steps on the propane down okay so everybody rece received a copy of the two bids that we received um our existing vendor hokan and Mitchell um who put in a bid as well on page 19 you'll see the comparison of year 1 two and three and year one just to note is the rest of this fiscal year which is from March 1st to June 30th um but the price as you can see Remains the Same across the board um I I looked at the difference in price it's about an 8,000 savings to go with Mitchell per year um
002and I didn't know if anybody had any questions about the actual bids I have a quick question sure uh just uh one of them said it qualified for the fuel credit and one said no but I was assuming that's just because they weren't handling the fuel credit was that the clarification correct okay thank you and the district pretty much puts in the appli for the fuel credit so it's kind of a mute point oh awesome thank you you're welcome year [Music] one it's yes I actually on the um I had a question on the pump maintenance the way that they're written between the two is there a saving between one and the other or is it the same yes that's a good question um so for uh norber uh Mitchell I believe it was $109
003per hour and then I did a follow-up question um with the recommendation of the superintendent to hokan because theirs wasn't delineated in numbers and it did come down if you look at the bottom of the page on their um contract page their bidder page you'll see that they said I believe it was 180 per hour um they do a 20% discount and I think they quoted it at 220 and then they have 20% Which okay you might not have gotten that copy you might not have gotten that copy but it is um it is 180 per hour for the maintenance day it's 25 yes thank you L page 25 oh and if you look at the bottom I just a little sticky note down there so even though is less the other one is still
004Mitchell is less it's 109 oh 109 I was thinking there's my number reversal coming into play never mind the glasses any other questions Jeff no I'm good that it look good to me so greed will send this to the full board toour at 5:18 p.m so moved hi e e e at 530 on time for once uh if everyone would please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America to the stand indivisible and justice for all when you are ready Ellen call roll Mr berer here M Conway here Mr Cory here Mr here Mr PR here Mr UCO here Mr K here Mr KN here Mr putam here thank you may car representative Miss Ferguson here miss kazooki here miss lby here Mr Goa he's here he is here yeah here miss be
005here Mr Wilson here okay thank you um we have next the approval of the agenda but I'd just like to request a couple of amendments along with that uh so we're looking to amend um item 8 G2 which is the field trip for Old Sturbridge Village uh to just add an additional field trip um so we'll consider them both at the same time I believe everyone has it in front of them um and then uh under the same new information and action we'd like to add an um an item five which would be uh a change to the volunteer retirement incentive program uh deadline date um just coincide with our tentative plan for redistricting right we would set the redistricting plan on the 26th of March so we're looking to have a discussion and vote
006on extending the bip date to April 1st so that folks can decide once redistricting is in place and then lastly uh I'd be looking to move um what would become item seven which is the board's non to discuss collective bargaining strategy uh to after adjournment since it's a non- meeting anyway um so that we don't have to hold folks over uh to keep the live stream going and stuff um while we then come back in and conclude our meeting so those are the adjustments to the agenda that I would be looking for if there is a motion to approve an amended agenda so moved second okay moved by uh Mr Knight seconded by Mr too all those in favor please say I okay we have our agenda at next up is uh School community service
007and public participation uh do we have all right we do have sign up so I'm going to read the uh disclaimer 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 to fill out the speaker signup sheet including their name and address which must be stated at the beginning of your comment the board will not allow comments regarding specific staff members parents students or personal grievances courtesy is expected and is limited public form the participating time will be limited to 3 minutes per person 10 minutes overall to guarantee efficient operation of the entire meeting first up we have Mr Jason lafer good evening Jason lerer special education teacher torington Middle School um I debated whether
008or not I was saying anything tonight and I prepared some remarks and I'm going to shorten it a little bit so um I've been a stge supporter of the Board of Ed and I truly believe that this Board of Ed is supportive of all the faculty and staff um at torington Public Schools however after the redistricting meeting that took place last week there were several comments that seemed wrongly critical and insensitive to the people that this Board of Ed sets policy for um and I will talk more about that uh at the redistricting meeting that's taking place on Monday um I just want to be sure that the the the Board of Ed is making comments that are sensitive to the people that you set policy for that we're not scaring people away and they're
009not being wrongly critical of the job that all of us are doing in the schools um I really do look forward to um having those discussions and questions um I can give specific points at that meeting I know it's not on the agenda tonight but I do want to thank those of you who understand the importance of making a quick decision uh for the redistricting and uh look forward to um a speedy U Move so that the administration can start the long process of um moving things forward thank you thank you next we have Aon s good evening everybody um I just wanted to come tonight my name is Aon S I reside at um five Silver Lane in Harington and I'm a teacher at the high school um I wanted to actually thank the
010board um principal Brian Scott and assistant superintendent Sue Ferguson for in the fall supporting the um reinstatement of our journalism program and supporting our field trip that we took to Columbia University in the fall with the work that we've been able to do with what Brian Scott was able to put in place and that field trip um our journalists have been hard at work we have an up and- running website that has been personalized in its graphic design by our students um specifically our senior Kaya Kelly and we've been able to highlight a lot of the things happening at torington high school there's a great gallery of the building in it and uh that's thsra report.org if anybody wants to check it out but I just wanted to come tonight and say thank you because
011um those opportunities have really opened up a door for our kids I've got eight Juniors who are already planning to move up next year into leadership roles as seniors and then we'll have a new staff coming in them and hopefully be able to continue this Legacy so just thank you very much thank you thank you great update uh and last on the list uh I have Sandy Megan I'm right here I'm coming with my toys oh look at CH has props coming with mys so and my shirt uh so I just wanted to spread some joy and the joy that we've had this week uh as you know torington was chosen as ca's read across Connecticut site and so Monday and Tuesday we had kickoff here at touring Ford we had readers throughout the day
012for our kindergarten classrooms and our first grade classrooms and I went to Vogal today and we did the kickoff at Vogal this morning um kids were so excited the joy and um we had lots of great community helpers come in and do those read aloud so I worked closely with um Public Works the torington fire department the torington police department Hillary was my contact for the fire department Mr Wilson helped me out with the police department um the superintendent and the assistant superintendent came and read read in both buildings um representative Canino was reading tomorrow at fogal the mayor was here and read um and every child in kindergarten first grade went home with one of these bags which has really great cool stuff in it right Marissa um the highlight of that was the
013little llama because it was reading is a llama fun and um Jocelyn dressed up as the llama and red llama llama red pajama um and they went home they got to choose a llama book to put in there to take home so spreading that reading to home um I want to thank the superintendent the assistant superintendent for their support for the event the building admin Kelly and Peter um Georgia and Alden um their administrative assistants who've been very busy greeting people um and as part of the re across Connecticut event both Bogle and touring Ford got one of these carts and it's a play based learning cart that connects literacy and all the different stages of play so this is a and it has books and it has all kinds of fun things so both
014schools got one of these so I wanted to share that Joy with the board because we've had a lot of fun this week so just wanted to say thank you thank you so much Sandy that's great information so it was fun so fun it was fun had a lot of fun excellent uh so that's everyone on the list um just put out a quick call is there anyone here in the room who would care to address the board none is there anyone online who would care to address the board okay all right um then next up we have recognitions take it away Mr Wilson certainly we have several this evening always the highlight of a board meeting so thank you um the first group that we're going to recognize is our amazing and wonderful instructional
015coaches uh they go above and beyond each and every day for our students and we can't thank them enough but the reason they're here tonight is to get a little extra thanks because with the new building the new high school there was a lot going on as we all know and these six ladies with assistant superintendent Ferguson and said please any way we can help so assistant super uh superintendent Ferguson contacted Mr Scott and said can you use some more help and he said sure we'd love it and these six ladies really spent two days in the down and dir unpacking boxes helping stocking shelves putting things where they needed to be just being that extra set of hands and I think almost a therapy of sort for some of the staff there that just
016kind of felt a little overwhelmed so we can't thank them enough for sharing their time and sharing their patience and sharing their enthusiasm and energy um with our high school team it just shows a true team approach so the six people that we'd like to recognize this evening and we know they're going to come up and become Facebook famous so Cindy Marshal Baldi Don kuto Jen Martin Mary Morton and Michelle dog come on [Applause] down pretty let me I take it back [Applause] for Dr Buchanon you're off I'm gonna read this because I don't want to miss anything okay so Southwest school would like to recognize our newest staff member our security officer Christopher ski he's such a welcomed addition to our Southwest family in the two months that he's been with us officer Chris
017has made wonderful connections with both staff and students he takes great pride in doing his job and doing it well he consistently walks the Halls cafeteria playground and the perimeter of our campus he checks all the outside doors on a regular basis and he tallies on the average almost 15,000 steps a day in we a small school so dust does not settle on office of Chris and it was shared with me by a staff member that they've always felt safe at Southwest school yet never realized how vulnerable they were and having our security off officer on board brings us great peace we just love officer Chris so I'm embarrassing him tonight he's not Happ and I told chrisy could sneak out now because he's got thank you [Applause] two students we're going to be recognizing
018tonight first come hopefully Josh is be pull up a picture for me there we go um so Cheyenne um who a great T Middle School we've been together for quite a while now uh cheyen has won in the 10th grade group for the wand Foundation National Art classroom in mural challenge this competition is one of the nation's top environmental art contests um for students and this is for piece of work that she created and I just wanted to say that Cheyenne as well as our other student I'm going to call up in a minute really do represent um the absolute best of what we do at torington High School and I'm barer just a tiny bit un Cheyenne has an unweighted GPA of 98 which uh I didn't even know you could do I GPA
019was not a 98 uh but she is an outstanding young lady already in some Yukon EC courses and just an amazing young lady so shy next if I could have Mikey come [Applause] up not ago right yeah okay so you guys probably recognize Mikey uh Mikey of course last time he was here we talked a little bit about his being a quarterback of our football team but since then uh Mikey won the nagat valley leagues for long jump and high jump he also won uh class l in both events he is uh his best jump this season in high jump was 6'2 in sorry sorry uh and his best long jump was 24 feet 4.5 yes okay see I got that uh the indoor the long jump is our school's indoor long jump record um
020since I sent this in uh to the board for the recognition I do have one additional element um this past weekend this past weekend Mikey also took first place in the men's long jump for the state so congratulations be going on to the New Balance Indoor national championships shortly um so we're really excited and again much like Cheyenne Mikey really does represent the absolute best of what we do at ton high school and he also has a very high unweighted 92 outstanding now look really short I going to say in the middle zoom and that concludes our recognition congratulations congratulations everybody and please don't feel obligated to stay with us for the rest of the evening although you are more than welcome to do so uh next up we'll hear from our student representative St
021way hi my name is Abby young my name is nalie Knox and we will be your student presenters we are proud to report that our ethics full team recently competed at the Yukon stores campus where they had been able to Showcase their impressive skills and critical thinking Although our teams did not secure top priz their performance was strong and they demonstrated oh sorry and they continued improvement from previous years notably our classmates were able to secure victories over new Kanan High School Xavier High School and Hopkins High School highlighting significant achievements in fact our teams were likely just one win away from making it to the finals as previously mentioned in athletics one of our seniors Michael M Michael AWA made history at the prestigious milrose Games held at the Nike track at the armory
022in Washington Heights New York A's remarkable jump of 24 ft has earned him a ranking of third in the nation for long jump leading up to the event AWA had already been making ways in track and Fields setting a personal record of 23 ft at the nbls also previously mentioned in art news we would like to congratulate cheyen Chen a talented 10th grader at DHS for winning the National Art Contest hosted by the Wildland Foundation this highly regarded contest highlights the intersection of Art and environmental awareness which encourages students to create works that emphasize the importance of protecting our planet's natural resources cheyen success is a testament to her creativity and commitment to both art and environmental stewardship and we are incredibly proud of her achievement we would also like to share current updates on
023the music and theater departments as of late we've had to push back our choir concert out a few weeks due to the undergoing finishing touches inside the auditorium it will now be held on March 27th with both the concert and chamber ensembles as for theater students we have been holding rehearsals in the band room which we hope to soon move over to the new stage our production of working will be held May 8th 9th and 10th continuing with music torington High School's music technology Suite has been featured on sound tre's inaugural National newsletter highlighting the school's commitment to Cutting Edge music education sound tree the educational division of corg recognizes the high school state high school stateof art facilities including a professional podcast Studio a modern band room with electronic drum kits and DJ equipment
024and a music technology and piano lab for digital production and composition this recognition underscores the growing importance of music technology and education and showcases torington High School's dedication to offering students Hands-On industry relevant learning experiences additionally this P month past month our drama students hosted their annual Valentine's Cabaret in the brand new THS cafeteria it was a fantastic event bringing together students faculty and families to enjoy an evening filled with talent and creativity the energy and excitement were palpable as students performed and shared love for arts and the beauty newly sorry beautiful newly renovated space finally we were able to hold our first dance in the new building following the themes of Valentine with the Valentine's Day dance the event was a success with High Spirits and most guests staying until the very end the
025new sound system in the cafeteria was a standout feature significantly enhancing the music and creating a lively atmosphere for all the attendees and thank you for your attention and that concludes our torington high school board report thank you [Applause] any do any members of the board have remarks or questions for our to represent her job thank you thank you L uh you are as always more than welcome to join us for the rest of our meeting but don't feel obligated to do so um so we will hear next from superintend certainly um couple of different things this evening uh first I would like to formally introduce it is my pleasure to do so our two new directors that are part of the new OTL uh office it's been a long time coming Mrs Ferguson has
026been patiently waiting so Mrs Gad as our director Humanities and Miss Linda Trent you can stand up [Applause] so these two ladies have spent the past month not only working alongside assistant superintendent person but also being out and about and visible and visiting our buildings in order to connect with the administration and the staff and students as well so thank you ladies welcome be happy uh we have our full day professional development on February February 18th it was a great day uh we all came together at our brand new THS in order to learn about new and exciting ideas on instruction walking around and seeing the excitement and all of the new learning taking place kind of reinvigorated all of us in central office and we can't wait to see these ideas in action as
027we continually visit our classrooms um as you have seen because it has been broadcast probably a million times over on every website or web page we have uh we will have our all things redistricting on Monday March 3rd at Bal webar and we'll also hold a Q&A session as shared at the last board meeting the entire panel from central office will be there to answer questions so we're very happy and excited about that uh big congratulations goes out to our boys and girls basketball team for making the state tournament which is no easy task hopefully the board has seen the 100th day photos online Sue and I visited all the schools on the 100th day of school and we had shirts made thanks to special helpers at central office um that really was the 100
028ways to say I love you and Marissa and Rachel I will give them a public acknowledgement even though they'll probably give me a death stare but they really helped us with with the shirts and we had uh different heart Bubbles and as you all know we love being with our students and we do love our students so it was kind of the perfect way to really share that day with them um as Sandy said uh we read for read across uh Connecticut at both tford and Vogal and it was such a great time obviously anytime we can be with our students especially our little kindergarten friends uh they really keep us on our toes with some of the questions that they asked uh assistant superintendent Ferguson and I but it couldn't be cuter we had
029such a blast um and thank you for inviting us in and we did also I will admit we sugared the students up but we said at the end of the day so we we did not want to Sugar them up for the whole thing so we were very happy um also as you may have seen we I coached uh the forb students Against The Faculty Mr Klein very disappointing yet again that you can't put a team on the court uh but that's fine but Mr Bola you know when you go 2 and 0 Mr Bola that's a pretty good record as a coach is what' you say I'll give you that thank you sir so continue the undefeated streak uh as I shared with this board if I'm coming out of retirement I was not
030going to let the board down so kudos to the students kudos to Mr Klein kudos to The Faculty it was a true Community event uh positivity that we heard uh central office was there as well and the community said it was such a great night and they wish we could have more things like this so it really was a blast and we had such a great time doing that and you know as I normally say and you know I'd be remiss if I didn't a big thank you to all of our students staff teachers administrators uh all of their hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed by anyone at central office and I know I speak for the board it does not go unnoticed by them so uh keep up the good work I
031know we have our long month of March coming up you know everyone hears that in education it is a long month but we're going to make it through we got this and I'd be remiss Mr lafier did invite me this year uh I will be putting the shoes back on and actually taking the court in The Faculty student basketball game next week so we'll see how that goes I'm not going to make any prediction just yet you miss practice Yeah so they might bench me that's all right I get it I get it I had an excuse though when is that what's the date March 6th I believe was going to come and me March 6 March 6 at the middle school I will do my best board I cannot I'm not making a ition
032on that but I will do my best it's right after school so 35ish okay I'll videotape please do I'll still be working and that's all we have this evening thank you thank you uh I will continue to Advocate legislatively to legalize betting at these events I just want to get that part of the update um but no thank you Mr Wilson for for your update and I I just want to give a quick shout out in relation to read Across America um to all those who taking time to go and read to our students um my my work is pretty uh aggressive about my schedule so unfortunately I cannot but um I I think it's really important and thankful for everybody who was able to take some time to go to our students and with
033that do any members of the board have anything for the superintendent just one thing just don't be wearing those 80s short shorts that I will not be wearing those but appreciate fashion tiets not as old as you Gary okay all right uh so next up we have the human resources report take thank you so uh you have in your packet uh my report uh you will see that I'm happy to report that we continue to have no certified agencies so um I'm very excited that we are retaining our staff and as they are happy and your R so that's exciting um our classified staff we're continuing about at the same Trend um you know so par Educators we we hire two we lose one so so we've got a little turnover there so so there's
034been a little bit of turnover on the non-certified side but we're continuing to interview and hire um our absences you can see uh went up a little bit in January there's been a lot of flu andness and things going around so um we're continuing to Trend a little up on that and as a result our substitute bill rates were a little less than where they've been um simply because the substitutes are sick as well so you know even though our staff are sick our substitute pool is a little bit less than what we've been seeing so um and that is consistent with many other districts in the state um you have the uh rates based on uh how many are being filled by toring versus uh you can see on the mon our staff turnover
035there is one error I just want to point out I apologize it transferred into the wrong line um the nurse should only be one and it say the secretary is where the the new um so it should be one nurse and one secretary for operation so the percentage is a little off so correct on next month's report so I apologize for that um and I'm happy to entertain any questions anyone have any questions to Human Resources I I share your excitement that uh we do not have any certified venes and I know you all are working very hard on the classified and I know we're not the only District that is experiencing the same uh cycle but thank you for your framework thank you um special education okay so my normal report is here for
036you guys um nothing really any different we we're really status quo uh we do continue to show that increase in prek we have topped 100 um so that's a lot of new little three-year-olds coming in um but we are continuing to develop really good programming for them um our out placements everything else is status quo we really haven't gone up or down our prevalence is still always within the 15 to 16% so that's where we want it to be that's great uh 504 plans there are 26 more from last month and I did not I did not change the date from that sorry um there are currently uh 28 open special education referrals so they're in the process of being evaluated at this point and may end up qualifying or not um however so far
037this year we have exited 23 students uh from special ed so that's not moved um that is they no longer require special education so that's a celebration um as far as Kim said you know yes we do have our uh certified teachers all set but we are having um a lot of fluctuation with the Paras um we will get applicants we bring them in and then we lost a couple more so we are interviewing again on Friday we have some candidates were hopeful and the other thing is I am desperate desperate desperate for a speech pathologist for two um we have had a vacancy two vacancies since the start of the year when we had um two people retire so the slps have been amazing in District everybody has stepped up and has helped each
038other out but it's very difficult this is a very high need area and we can't even can get a contracted one in so I'm kind of out of ideas right now um if anybody knows of anybody um I'm even thinking about bringing in a Speech Pathology assistant that would not be able to do any testing or anything like that but at least could run therapy groups so if anyone knows of anyone please um send them our way to apply and we'll continue to work it out okay and that's it great good question Laura is it just a shortage in that area it is okay there's not anything we can do and it's nothing new that's always been a shortage area but right now it's just yeah you cannot find people and I don't like to
039PE meal type of things I kind of feel like you know okay if we have a retired SLP that can give us one day a week let's bring her in and have her do one day a week to at least help evaluation all that so that's who we are so other than that our certified are great it's just the and the Speech Pathology is a Statewide and chronic problem Nationwide for that matter yeah too not just us it's not just that we aren't doing something yeah no and whenever I talk to kids that are going off to college I'm like you thinking about Speech Pathology we do need that so that's it and the 26 in the um referrals if 504 referrals right no those aren't referrals oh they're new they're confirmed new 504 those
040are new 504 plans that were developed is that normal off yeah okay monthly I me yeah okay yeah they're for different reasons and sometimes kids come off of them too like if it was a temporary medical thing um or kids can qualify for a 504 for a lot of various reasons so the numbers are typically high that that's not abnormal all right thanks that's it thank you I I think it's really exciting that 23 students have been exited that's fantastic and while we're on the topic of special it too um you know I I did uh speak briefly on behalf of toron public schools um when the legislature's joint committee on education had their hearing it was supposed to be at Northwestern and then went virtual without any notice and it was super fun to
041show up at the college and had be closed but anyway um uh so I got in and and you know I spoke briefly um on behalf of the district uh related to you know funding for programs I think I think you especially have done a lot of outof the Box thinking with programming for us and um you know I'm advocating to them for for money that's not just excess cost that we can actually use for programs and I also Mr leaner also spoke at that hearing um and we are grateful to him as well for minich yes and Mr minich um so quite a few of our employees and parents spoke us well and we are just as thankful but here's hoping that we'll be able to to get some some more money some more
042grants some more programming something to make your lives a little bit easier um okay where am I on my agenda we have uh next up the liaison reports uh I saw a few come across the wire um but as always if any of our school liaison or building administrators want to add anything uh to anything you've already sent Bel uh now would be a ton okay uh moving right along then um we have our committee report uh so first up is the school Improvement committee monthly financials oh did I I missed the monthly financials you're right apologize monthly financials yes okay so everybody received the monthly financials in the packet and they were presented to our budget committee we're in very good fiscal standing um I didn't know if anyone had any questions um this
043was brought up to me and I I think I know the answer but um you know I I this is brought up to me by a constituent actually um that there's been some discussion on the city Side um you know that they're so terribly concerned that we've quote unquote expended uh the vast majority of our budget so I would just ask you to clarify it's just that you encumber things in advance because you know you're going to pay for them late yes absolutely we don't encumber salaries we encumber every else so we're in we're right where we should be thank you anyone have anything related to the monthly financials okay see I skipped it because I knew it' be easy thank you appreciate that um all right now we have school Improvement Mr way School
044Improvement uh I would recommend watching the recording of the school Improvement committee meeting if you want to learn all about the high school uh Nas uh report midterm report very well done by a large was everybody there Brian everybody was there the whole administrative staff was there thorough report very well done watch it please so you'll know what's going on for neas and we have issued the uh District distinguished alumnus application we started that process and I've seen that not only on Facebook but in the newspapers Facebook the newspaper we sent it out through our internal our district you know um internal means alt TPS and mayor grei and an I will do a reissue at the beginning of next week um just as a reminder what we tend to see John is things come
045in at the very last minute like everything else right people weigh and then they get the reminder and they're like oh my goodness I have to get that in so that's been historically the pattern not just students at the high school people people yeah but that process is is underway and this is yet another REM who was thinking of nominating someone this is to do it um we meet next Wednesday we start with a tour of uh forb school at 5:00 just the broad outlines of what might happen where in the event that we accepted redistricting and anyone who's interested can interested can show up at 5 5:30 our meeting which will have a report on the world languages program from the director of the world languages dep of the high school and the report
046on the 4 five School uh as comes up this year at this time so that's it any questions for JN thank you okay thank you uh policy committee um you guys been meeting lately we one meeting I was hoping would give me the minutes so I could remember somebody primarily it was dress code teachers and students long conversation I thought it went well some you know administrators and teachers there participated I think the end result was a superintendent and the administrators I think we going to get together we had the shipment policy there was one real objection by a member of our board very very good comment sorry good idea um otherwise I think it's going to be hopefully the meeting happen soon we have this the March meeting we're going to try to finalize
047it and Implement both for students and te um I think students first students first um and then move on to the staff sta yeah um other than that there was a harassment policy which was really was a shipment policy the attendance policy the attendance policy which is on the agenda for tonight for a minor edit because of the new connetic pay other than that end it get back together in March and finalize years great that do you think you do you think I done I'm proud of my Ren don't worry about it do you think the the policy committee is going to um have you guys are going to land on a recommendation together to submit to the full board do you think I think we the students we were enlisting some St yeah swirling
048yeah we've drafted something that for the board to review at the principal yeah great the other two assistant principal right excellent anyone have anything related to policy okay thank you uh so next we'll hear from the facilities and Technology committee uh not too too much to report with the limited Capital funds that we received this year but I do want to note that Rachel and her team and Dean and his team in addition to the team of central office and Mr Scott at his building um the last 90 days have really a lot of their time has been spent with the move and you know big kudos to them um you know if I could I would say a round of applause for everybody you guys really did a great job um we have Mario
049here we got to thank them for everything that they pulled off for that building so they should be recognized as well while we're here um and the only other item I think we talked about was the generator move um that's going to Southwest is that it okay that's it's been relocated but not hooked up yet for I think that's where that stood correct and other than that I don't really don't think there was much else to report from a facilities or technology perspective that need it's tough you don't have any money thank you does anyone have anything related to facilities and technology that they like that okay thank you um we have the budget committee next moving right along Budd Budget on next year the districting um clarifying just different light items that we forget
050what's in this item time is so gracious to answer the question over and over and over again um so we just you along think uh does anyone have anything but I actually so I know you you did the presentation which is excellent um that's online right I guess I haven't looked but I assume it is okay great so I I just want to make that uh sort of announcement that the superintendent's proposed budget is available online for anyone to review um and we'll post any updated versions as we go through the process as well anyone else have anything okay uh we have with us uh the two chairs of our building committee um thank you who have uh been forced to sit through 45 minutes of our meeting uh which we thank you for um
051but uh take it away give us the the latest okay latest and I have a couple things so uh the coaches who you gave a reference to they were great uh when I was in the schools around there they did the nurses office and the foods lab so uh usually I'm in the the building 8 to 12 hours when the moves were there also I don't know if uh uh we mentioned this again uh we received $13 million already from the state of Connecticut I put in the forms we just received the okay for the next payment which will be about $4.8 million so uh as we go along we put in every two months and we get reimbursed from the state of Connecticut so we have $103 million they they keep unfortunately about 9.9
052million is retainage and at the end of the when we have to fill out the order report then they will uh give us the money we have to uh have a a bank anticipation note to hold that money and then give it to us at 6 months after the order so those are couple of things again you receive uh the uh every month you receive the agendas with the backup and uh so you have all that you see in that agenda you get the copies of every uh change order you also receive the list of all the payments that have been made to all the vendors which is about $139 million already uh you also receive in that you get a list of all of the uh construction vendors with their amounts you see their
053contract and you see any change orders uh so you have received also so you get every month the invoices that the building committee pay each month to the vendors so it's a compilation of a lot of things that you get when I send it out either on Friday or Monday before the board meeting construction wise uh Middle School's about 86% done or so dropping ceiling tiles and putting in lights and getting ready to do some flooring um demolition could start as early as tomorrow on the uh on the portion of the building that used to have the canopy in front of it they're going to go right through that and they're going to take down the library Wing taking on those two things first we'll enable them to circle the buildings and Claw at it
054from several sides so you've seen you record all that for us what's that record all that for us I wish I could I won't be around but I would like to see it yeah they also in the gym they put up the uh abatement so they get rid of all the the gyms contained right now contained right now yep so the gym is just four walls right this second but they'll start clawing at that pretty soon for the two walls that are coming down there's a zoning meeting tonight um for the latest and we hope final design for the fields uh it's really the drainage we already know what the fields are like it's it's really the minutia of the fields and um we're hoping to come out of that meeting with at least enough
055of a approval to at least start pulling off top soil and stuff we don't think we're going to get full approval tonight but so a lot there's a lot going on omg's really got um really got their work cut out for them to get all that work done um even by the first or second week in September even if it's late a little but um so that's where we're at and other than that we're here for any questions you might have and also with the fields uh because the building will still be up until May uh hopefully we have the left if look in the back of the left side of the ball field will be done and one uh uh multipose multipurpose will be done uh but then they still have to take care
056of the uh the building down during August is a real heavy time for uh construction of fields that's why hours will not be done till September do any members of the board have questions for our building committee co-chairs I think the public should know that um although we've had our differences no three of us uh Mario and edor they're always in the trailer um they don't get paid you know we don't agree on everything and they know the board members committee members don't always agree but I don't know thank God they're doing it because number one the paperwork is almost impossible understand it's it's multiple hours weekly fore and and it's just the manua of the project it's almost a $200 million project and um we're about 90% done with the building and other than
057the demo I think we have a contingency left to $600 some thousand and we think we can make it um the building coming down is the outstanding issue we don't know what's under the ground there could be Rock there could be unable soils and we'll see that when we get there which is every project so they'll start as early as tomorrow but this it'll take it could take 8 10 weeks or so to really get three months probably is it to level it yeah pretty much to get the building down and removed and then probably some additional time to prepare the the fill and everything prepare the ground for what is going to be Fields because the elevations are all off right now so have to dig all the concrete out of the ground Y
058and repl it good s that's anyone all right um thank you thank you gentlemen and Gary is right that uh you know we we owe you a lot for the tremendous amount of work that you've put into this project thank you um thank thank you and thank you as well for coming thank you guys thank you thank you guys for coming yeah thank you I hope my wife will make dinner now when you never tell her please and thank you uh um okay so we'll go through our meeting minutes agenda items here quickly um so we'll hear I'll your motion to approve the Board of Education regular meeting minutes from January 29 2025 if there is such a motion is there second second okay uh all those in favor please say I okay those are
059good um I'll hear a motion on the special meeting minutes um just this one bundle so it's special meetings on uh two special meetings on January the 28th two on January the 30th and two on February 3rd uh he motion to receive and approv okay all those in favor please say I I I okay um subcommittee meeting minutes um without objection I would hear them uh just as one motion for facilities uh on November 13th uh Budget on January 15th uh School Improvement on I think actually none of these are from November it's probably a typo I think these are both uh from yeah my guess is are those November yeah oh they are really old meeting okay okay um all right and then uh School improvement from 116 and building committee from 1116 there
060motion so mov is there second second okay all those in favor please say I iOS okay that's done um I'll hear motion to receive the consent agenda of appointments retirements and resignations sove okay uh all those in favor please say I any opposed that's done uh so now we're on to new information and action first up is the propane RFP the budget committee meeting just did um what's the recommendation yes so we had two bids and the recommendation of the budget committee was to put forward norber Mitchell uh company vender they they were the low bidder with a approximately $8,000 Savings in uh to our current vendor anyone have any discussion question I'm sorry and I was here I was I didn't participate in the meeting and I apologize for that but uh the terms
061of the contract or we're getting apples for apples correct okay right thank you anyone else just a simple question I haven't been to this where is the propane for kitchen use where do we oh it's for the buses I just had one question reviewing those bids we're responsible for maintenance on the pumps or whatever it was the equipment that's at the field as well cuz they had like estimated repairs yes um that's how it's traditionally did it's if something happens we have to we charged for them to fix it to fix their pumping quick the tanks are ours we well they're all stars they own the tanks and most likely the p as well part of that contract has always been to fix the pumps okay where does that like where does that limit of
062liability end with that like if the tank needs servicing or replacement does that fall upon border ofed if we're required to maintain it like where where is that line of delineation of where where does our responsibility stop the ownership is it at Allstar so I'd assume it would be their responsibility but I think you know get just curious I answer that's a good question they're not our tanks like I didn't know we have to fix their it's not our tanks not our pumps but we have to maintain them I thought that yeah I think I I mean I understand the question completely it's it's really just to keep up with maintenance so that everything were to you know it it almost it's more of a preventative piece but if the pump were to go south
063that is what we rely on to fuel our buses to transport our students to and from hence why that has to be included as a maintenance contract to repair and get the bus is fueled and ready to go so that they would not have to use an alternate site but if it were to totally go south for example even though we've kept up with our maintenance and I believe what what m lbby is saying is correct Allstar would have to contact uh Mitchell and then say hey we've kept up with our maintenance this pump is no longer in use or this tank is no longer in use and we would have to work that out but from a maintenance perspective that's why it's been in the contract really for preventative purposes to make sure that
064we have an easy transition and that no problems happen moving forward with when there's no guarant right just like with an AC you can change the filter every month but an AC can still break right but if you're preventative the chances of it doing that are less lik okay thank you I just had one question and I don't I don't recall the last time we did this maybe I was here maybe I wasn't a few years ago but um when I looked at the bids um the menual bid um they put in something about um they would obligate us to the estimated amount of 200,000 gallons um and I didn't see that in Poon spit um because it's an estimated volume um so was that any kind of concern because that that rubbed me the
065wrong way that you know we tell you this is our estimate amount and you want to obligate us to it so do we anticipate that causing any issues I think we traditionally use the 200,000 gallons so I don't think that's an issue um but I can you know obviously double check and I think you're referring to their sample contract they contract that could be adapted yeah I I mean I I wouldn't I don't want to go to the Matt over it I mean I understand that they would be making significant pre purchases as they indicate so I don't I don't want to cost them any money by by doing anything like that or cost us any money but it was just something that I saw in one bid and not the other so I want
066bring up okay um one about that so probably buy a fourward contract but if we if we agree to $200,000 dollar or gallons if they're buying a for a contract contract for that many gallons would is it possible that it would carry over I mean I would think that if if we don't use 10,000 it might carry over to next year or um or something like that but it'll be in the tank so yes you us I don't knows yeah as long as it's not going to cause any challenges okay um and I'm content to accept the budget committee's uh recommendation but um so I would hear a motion uh on accepting um a bid uh preferably the budget committee's recommendation for the Mitchell bit but I suppose I'll hear neoti I'm sorry just one
067clarification I do see on page 37 um that they are not they would not hold this liel if we went under um okay taking the delivery okay so it must have just been something that was left in okay excellent um is there a motion to accept the budget committee's recommendation for the yes is there a second second um you're a little late there Jeff I'll give that one to Mr Cronin uh any discussion on the question before us hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed okay so we'll go ahead and get that rolling um where am I'm looking at two different agendas never a good idea um okay so next we have uh not one but two field trips um usually that's your wheelhouse suit but right there's I think
068there's only one that was in the packet right was the last thing add-on so the one that's in the packet is the one that was submitted by our construction technology teacher he has taken the construction Tech students and the Applied Standard students on this trip a couple of different times um for a few years running now they go to Sturbridge the point of it is to take a look at the live models that are on the campus of the stbridge Village um at the various construction design the post and beam in particular um I think he's drawing the correlation this year to our new building our new structure that the kids have actually been able to watch you know be erected um so that's that field do you want to talk about them one at
069a time or do you want to talk about the other one too um I yeah why don't you go ahead and just tell us tell us about both of them and if folks have questions okay the other one and um we apologize for the late ad on that one um the one that you just received is we we've talked about this a couple of years now it's the one that where the kids go to Boston they take the aptitude test exactly and they take the test and the reason it came in late correct me if I'm wrong it comes in late every year due to the book Brooker Memorial board right yeah well that and also the numbers of kids that elect to sign up and um I think that's what happened this time right
070yeah we wait until there's a certain number of students that have requested and signed up before we submit because they won't pay for the transportation until we have a certain number of students so it gets to be kind of last minute because we're waiting until we get the right number of kids and then we get approval from them and then we reach out to Su so it get a little rush near the end so what we did one year which I think worked out great is we brought the the whole concept forward as a field trip to you folks you approved it and then we kind of finalized the dates and just update with you as we when we got the dates and you know if if that's something that you're agreeable to we can
071continue to do it that way yeah I think we the reason reason we agreed to it was because we don't want to lose the opportunity from this program so we did give you kind of open-ended authority to to get date secured and plan it yeah but it is I mean it's it's really in violation of policy right State trip that we're bringing and asking if we can do it in two weeks instead of month right right and I I know this has come up last year too um I mean we are at the mercy of others for this and it's such a great opportunity District it us so I don't know MERS have concerns I know the time frame about it yeah I get that it go but I mean it's a field Trier it's
072the kids so my concern is coverage I remember we had some very unhappy guidance well I was I offered to chaperon and I meant that and I will do it if you need it we are all set for sh okay all right great yeah volunteers correct yes okay just so we're clear volunteers um okay so with that um unless anyone has any additional discussion or questions I would hear a motion to approve both field trips um at one so second uh any further discussion on the question before us hearing none all those in favor please say I I I okay uh that was an I from Jeff not post uh so that'll carry um we have next the policy 4084 staff attendance you said there were some minor adjustments to comply with the law for
073this yes so you'll recall we added this policy last year um Connecticut has uh added a new paid SI leave law that just went into effect January 1st 2025 and so we just added some language into the policy that just clearly states that the uh criteria and the numbers that are outlined as acceptable attendance in this policy are exclusive of the connected pay Le so that our employees get the benefit that's available to them through connected paid sick leave and you know the numbers that are outlined here will kick in after we take into consideration any leave that they use under it looks like the the main uh the main point would be that uh the first 40 hours of acrw uh of used sick leave in a year are protected in that they cannot
074be used uh in any attendance related discipline for the employees seems like a good thing to me um but most importantly it's to comply the law and we don't have a lot of leeway here uh any additional discussion okay uh so I'll hear a motion to approve that policy which again would be uh 4 4084 is there a second second okay any further discussion on the question for us hearing none all those in favor please say I I any oppos okay so that policy is adopted um we have a couple of new course proposals for astrop physics and who wants to tell us this Ferguson watchs to talk I was looking your way I don't know Maggie's still here Maggie was actually the person who request a shout out hi I'm Maggie Mill I live
075at 675 her and G here in torington I'm also a torington high school teacher let's see taxpayer parent oh great so um I'm proposing two new courses Astrophysics as a 0.5 a halfe uh electri course and Earth 1051 which is a Yukon ECE geophysics course for all intents and purposes um the astrophysics is the course that over the past 22 years that is the one that kids have asked for the most um I'd like to offer it at a level that I think would be meaningful to most kids uh there's definitely a lot of math involved with astrophysics but having been a math teacher for about this much time I can probably get our kids there even if they're not in some of our advanced math classes uh the Earth 1051 I am so excited
076um earth science has made a big kind of comeback in the public um forum because we need to take care of our Earth and working with uh my professor Dr Thorson at Yukon has been an incredible experience even before I've taught the class so I'm going for training in March um just to make sure that we're complying with all of the uh requirements that Yukon has for us and as of right now I have at least one full section of earth science and two full sections of astrophysics on the books so once the board hopefully approves we can public the information to our students and ask if there are any other kids who would like to sign up since it wasn't an official thing so they couldn't really do it in power school when they
077were um requesting their courses if anyone has questions please feel free if you want to know anything about Earth you let me know any questions G what is astrophysics exactly well I got as far as if you ask I was going to say if you ask anybody they'll say oh you're taking an astrology course well since about the 1860s um with the invention of better telescopes we don't just look at things in outer space and categorize them or classify them by how they behave we're looking at how they move now and how they evolve over time so in real life since the 1860s we've been doing astrophysics the final frontier I didn't hear you s you can audit the for anytime you'd like I'll audit maybe I'll substitute teacher the high level math stuff for
078you okay Kepler's laws of motion things like that myself and Tommy yeah there you go thank you you're welcome my pleasure thank you I'm really glad you were here you would have done fine any discussion last minute questions for that okay uh so I I would be thrilled to hear tion to approve these students so second okay so that was uh John and B uh any discussion or debate on the issue before us hearing none all those in favor please say I I be opposed uh okay new courses are approved thank you um my students thank you too article about in the rep she's pluging that okay uh so we did add an item five here which would be an adjustment of the voluntary retirement incentive program uh Day date which would be end close
079of business April 1st is what you're looking for yes okay the last day of April 1 okay great so we'll do April 1 um so my understanding and you all will correct me if I'm wrong is that this is again related to the redistricting right the board set a tentative calendar where we would approve a redistricting plan by at our monthly meeting on the 26th of March um so this gives anybody who's on the fence about the D program uh a few days after we would adopt our plan to decide if they'd like to early retire under this program because right now the the last date is um any questions on that okay is that enough time for them it's 3 days you make a decision on one day to be honest no it's not
080enough time it's not they're going to be around the clock trying to get this yeah but there's work worked out you know so so there's things that we have to do that's why you know if people are going to retire there's things that have to be filed so it's catch toy too so might not be enough time for them but if we extend it too far then we're going to run out of time for us process everything we need process so it's helpful to push it out to April 1 but it still going be yeah anyone else uh so I would hear a motion to extend the voluntary retirement incentive program uh notice date to April 1st there is such a motion okay uh any further discussion or debate hearing none all those in favor
081please say I I any opposed okay so that's that day is extended um we have next a possible executive session discuss uh discussion concerning an attorney client privileged communication related to student expulsion proceedings uh who are we looking to bring in jce superintendent uh is she here she's not here is she here oh inviting super inviting super and attorney Jessica Ritter is there such a motion there second uh all those in favor please say we are in executive session at 6:3 e e e okay we are back in Open session at 708 you said yes um so we have uh items for the upcoming agenda um we will finalize the redistricting plan no later than the March meeting um we will probably have some budget stuff on there I I assume we might do a
082little more workshopping that um for the next monthly meeting uh or is that is that our is that our we got to be done yeah that's all right so we'll we'll be looking to pass a board of education budget at that meeting um all the usual be anyone else have anything that they want to cack on okay uh so we'll I'm sure we'll add stuff throughout the month anyway so that's that um we next have comments for the good of the order we'll start with you Mr knight uh I'm good uh John um AV is going to be torn up between route four and pasas street so if you have to go to the board of ed building go the back foood thanks John we appreciate the joh they say two weeks but you know
083anything can happen on like you're going to where chesties used to be gas don't know that company whatever is there now it's all down take that left and then before when you get to the stop sign you can turn right and you and don't go down col keep going and then take the right onto midet yeah just don't come see me at for it's okay um okay CHR uh nothing great meeting thank you here I just want to think oh Jason's still here but at the policy committee meeting we had I think six administrators show up maybe more and it's nice to see that they come to the meetings and spend our time at meetings and and uh you know we can actually communicate get along better and we can continue Jason no he's going
084he made the smart choicee good meeting good meeting thank you great meeting what that okay I just want to say congratulations [Applause] great meeting thank you great meeting thank you I just want to say a couple things um first of course congratulations on your uh you have just done tremendous good for our students and families in the school district uh and for what it's worth you saved us a lot of money too but I think the most important thing is the the amount of students that you have directly or indirectly uh improved their lives and education here in torington and our community owes you for that uh far more than your salary benefits um so thank you um and the second thing I want to say is I just I just want to remark briefly
085that I just I I I have to say that it is an absolute outrage for the city council uh to frankly without cause uh reject and force to arbitration the Tor Public Schools administrators Association contract I think it's an insult uh to people who come to work every day and look out for our students um in the same way that teachers do but in different ways as well these folks are responsible for their safety for dealing with maintenance issues and transportation and parents um and and evaluating teachers when they're not dealing with all those things and I just I think it's an incredible insult to people who come to work here in torington every day uh many of whom for decades of their careers um and I I do not feel uh the way the
086city council does about them and I know none of you do uh either so it's it's an outrage I'm I'm really upset about it um and I'm not looking forward to the fact that we now have to extend the process but I hope that it will be as painless as possible um and with that uh we just have our future meetings really quickly so we have redistricting um and that's sort of a public hearing informal discussion uh that's March 3rd at V Wetmore at 5 PM um we have school Improvement and policy on March 5th at Forbes uh cili technology and budget on March 12th at midan Avenue uh budget public hearing and Q&A on March 19th at bogal building committee March 20th here at tford and on March 26th um we were uh remiss
087to put midon Avenue I'm being told that that needs to be here uh at toring for so that's the monthly Board of Education meeting Wednesday March 26th at 5:30 p.m. will be here here um and with that I will conf but I think it ends at 4 conferences end at 4 yeah all be set up the book there right okay we did it last year with the book there so how about how about this uh anybody set up around anybody who's interested in coming to that meeting should keep an eye on the calendar in case it changes uh because we have to make some kind of determination about possibly moving it and we're not entirely sure where did um and we got call yeah with that I'll hear a motion to exper there second second
088uh all those in favor we are adjourned at 74 7:14