001Pledge allegiance to the flag, United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, don't know if the student uh reps are here or if they're studying for finals. They were planning on joining, but I they may not be. >> Okay. Well, you know, um maybe we can go on to public comment and if they're they come late and they'd like to add after that, that would be great. Is that okay, Megan? >> That's great. >> Okay. All right. Um uh or anytime. I guess we need to approve um a lot of minutes uh to former meetings uh first. uh we can approve these in bulk. So I will just ask if there are any corrections or additions to any
002of the meetings listed December 15th, January 5th, January 6th, January 14th, and January 15th. >> Any correction to those notes from Nicole? >> So I don't know if I just am not familiar with taking attendance on these meetings when people are coming and going. So you it might be correct, but you might need to revise who is absent and present in the January 6th and January 15th meetings because there's >> the way it works is it originally it originally starts with whoever is in attendance at the time that the meeting starts and then as people come and go I kind of make notations in the discussion section and you may see that that you know Jane Doe arrived at 7:15 this one left at 7:30. And as I make those corrections, the attendance record will
003update as to who is present and who is absent. So if a vote if a vote is you'll see a lot of different people coming, you know, changes in the attendance. So if a vote is taken at any particular point when somebody is has gone, the count will go down. So you could see that a motion may be passed with seven yays and zero nays. And then the next time a vote is taken, it could say five yays and zero nays. That's because it accounts for who is present and who is not. >> Okay. >> So, the tracking is there. Um it's it is just a little bit hard to follow sometimes. >> Okay. I just I I was thinking that might have been the case because I know there were meetings and a lot
004of people were coming and going, but yes, >> I did notice that the absent present at the top. >> It changed a lot. Yes, it did. Um, and if you actually opened up board books, you would see who was here at what particular time. And my notes indicate that in the minutes. >> Okay. Thank you. That was it. >> Okay. All right. Um, that uh doesn't sound like a change or an addition or a correction. >> An explanation. >> It's an explanation. Exactly. Um, so if there aren't any um changes or corrections, is there a motion to approve those minutes um as presented and listed? >> Yes. I move that the minutes of the meetings were pre uh Oh, is this is the red language? Oh, possible motion. Move that the minutes of the meetings
005were presented for review. There being no corrections and minutes are approved as presented. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Thanks, Nicole. All in favor? >> I I Okay, any opposed? All right, those are approved. Um, on to public comment. Um, I will read the preamble as we always do. The board welcomes the opportunity to hear from members of the public about matters concerning the Western Public Schools. Public comment is an important chance for the board to receive input and feedback. We listen attentively to all comments. While we value and pay close attention to public comment, it is our practice not to respond substantively or sometimes at all during public comment. There are several reasons. First, engaging in a discussion on a non-aggenda item could violate the board's obligations to comply with the Freedom of
006Information Act. Second, the board or the administration may not be prepared to discuss certain matters raised in the first instance by a public comment. Third, the board develops its agenda carefully to ensure that the board addresses the matters that are pressing or relevant at the time of the meeting. We also encourage members of the public with specific questions or concerns or complaints about our schools to reach out directly to Superintendent 40. You may also ma uh email the board at our email address board of education westonps.org. Additional details regarding public comment are um available on our website. Uh Jody, do we have anyone interested in making a public comment? >> We do not have anybody um in the attendee room for public comment at this time. >> Okay. All right. >> I can let you
007also know that one of my board of ed reps just popped on. So, if you'd like to take this opportunity to go back and have Izzy give you an update. >> Absolutely. >> So, yes. Um, hard for me to see. Izzy. Yes. >> Hi. Thank you. >> Thanks for having me. Um, happy January. >> Uh, so we just finished up our midterms at Weston High School. Um the PTO was did a very lovely um gift bag fundraiser um where students got snacks um like little stress balls um Weston merch. It was very cute. And then during midterms during the midterm break they gave out hot chocolate and it was really nice to see everyone gathering in the lobby. And um we had a lot of really great efforts from the teachers who stayed late for
008flex time during um for extra help sessions um during those midterm review days. Um it was a real effort from the whole school that we got to see and it was great. Um secondly, we're looking forward to our second ever schoolwide talent show which is coming up in February. Um, we have our first round of auditions kind of pre-review um, process which is happening in the next few weeks and we're very excited to see where that goes. That's all I've got for you guys today. >> Well, thank you. That talent show sounds like a lot of fun and congratulations to you and the whole student body for making it through midterms and um I'm glad you pointed out the support of from the teachers of course which is crucial and the PTO who are always
009available to make life a little less stressful. Um, so thank you >> and we still do not have anybody there for public comment, so you can move on to >> Okay, Izzy, we'll let you go then. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All business. All right, these the Western Board of Education policies, regulations, and bylaws, there are a list um under second review. There's a motion um for their approval unless there are corrections or comments. Do board members have any corrections, comments, questions, suggestions? Okay, I have one. Um, I would like to take bylaw 9321 off of this list for approval tonight. It's regarding the time, place, and notification of meetings. I would just like to hold off on that. The language there speaks to one meeting a month, and I would like to uh
010perhaps engage in a board discussion about um how we like that format and whether we might want to consider any other schedule. So again, I'm not uh trying to push a particular idea, but I would like to at least talk about it. So if you don't mind, I'd like to pull that off the list of approval for tonight and then go with the rest of them for approval if the board members are interested. >> Just out of curiosity, does it specify in that um policy and singular meeting or does it just talk about um notification of meetings? >> It says generally there will be one meeting a month. >> Okay. All right. So, let's Yeah, we can discuss that then. So, I'm happy pulling that and we can Would you like us to discuss in
011committee or do you want to discuss? >> Yeah, that would be great to talk about it in committee and um um I can send you an email and you guys can discuss it there. >> Okay, I'd be happy to. >> Yeah. Yeah. Or we can talk at board table, whichever you prefer. Not tonight. Okay, >> that's fine. >> All right. So, um, can there be a motion, um, reflecting that language of accepting or not approving, holding off on bylaw 9321? >> Does anyone have the motion language? Lisa, do you have motion language in front of you? >> No. Let me see. >> My computer wouldn't bring it up. >> Would you like me to read it for you and then somebody could >> I I can do it. >> So, moved. That's great. >> Okay.
012So um moved that the policies and/or regulations uh were presented for review. There being no corrections, the documents um were approved as presented with the exception of policy 9321. >> So second >> thank you Lisa. All in favor? >> I Okay, those are approved. Okay. Second new business. Um, all right. This is a request that we reschedu the February 23rd board of education meeting, the regular meeting that comes at the third week of every of the month usually. And I would like to reschedu that to February 2nd. The reason is that um February 2nd had been a date for a special meeting to hear the SLAM report phase two. They will not be ready then. Um but they hope to be ready later in the month. So, I'd like to reserve the 23rd and hopefully
013that will become our special meeting for the SLAM report, but in the meantime, reschedule the February 23rd regular meeting and make it uh February 2nd. So, that's all we're doing tonight is we're rescheduling the February 23rd meeting to February 2nd. That's our regular board of education meeting. >> Is there a motion to do that? Can I just clarify as so currently there will be no meeting on February 23rd. >> I would like you to hold the date. >> We're hopeful that that will be the slam presentation, but I need like we we have a confirmation, but I need to double confirm that before we announce it publicly. >> Okay. Um I make a motion to reschedu the February 23rd meeting to February 2nd. >> Is there a second? I second >> Nicole. Any further discussion?
014All in favor? >> I >> can I just can I just point out that um in the bricks and mortar update that went out to school to the parents last week, it did say that the next EOCC meeting or facilities meeting would be on February 2nd. So in order to avoid confusion, it might be helpful if in an endofeek email or newsletter there's just some kind of correction that that's going to be a regular meeting rather than the facilities meeting. >> Yeah. And hopefully by then that you know by the time we we can make that correction we would also get that double confirmation that we have the date for the slam presentation. Um I would like that to be its own agenda, its own meeting. Um so >> but can I can I ask
015a question on that then? >> Sure. >> Due to the fact that the next uh regular board of education meeting is only going to be happening in it's going to be happening in two weeks. A lot of the committees won't have the opportunity to uh meet prior to our next board of ed meeting. That makes sense. And so for example we won't be able to have the policy discussions >> um prior to the next meeting. So, if there's anything emergent, can we add it to the agenda of the facilities meeting at the end of the month? If there's anything emergent that needs to be approved by the board prior to >> Yeah. Anything that has a dead course. >> Yeah. Anything that has a deadline, we could do that. And I'm not trying to um
016uh change the schedule for any committee meetings. Just proceed as normal. And um you know if there will not be anything to report February 2nd, perfectly understandable. We'll just continue. >> Okay. I just want to make sure that if anything does need to go through that rather than having to wait until the normal scheduled time for the next regular meeting because right now we're looking to go February 2nd for a regular meeting and then not until the third week of March for the regular meeting. Right. So there' be a long span. So if need be the 23rd of February at the special meeting, if we need to have any regular business in there, we can make sure it's in the agenda. Correct. Yes, we can. We can. All right. >> But I just want to
017also remember that the slam report will still be the um the star. Okay. >> It's only only something that can't wait until the >> Yeah, exactly. Something that's got deadline. >> Yes. >> Perfect. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Um All right. Consent agenda. Um, okay. We can vote um on all the items, but I just would like to take a moment and thank the the Western Education Foundation for the donation for um an assembly speaker Harlon Cohen that was described um in the forums. Sounds like great for the high school students to hear early and in slightly different formats depending on your grade level about post-secary planning. And also the Western Education Foundation made another great donation to the middle school for a Windows and Voices author series that consists of speakers and also texts.
018So, thank you to the Western Education Foundation. And then of course we wouldn't have an evening that didn't go by with a with PTO donations. And this month uh it's from Hess PTO donations for a binding machine and also for classroom storage and charging station. And those of us who have looked at the budget realize we don't have we have a very tight budget on materials and supplies. And so donations such as these are great enhancements. So, thank you. All right. Is there a um motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Uh I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I second. >> Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> All right. Thank you. Um okay on to Western Board of Education policies, regulations and bylaws. The um list here are for
019first review um and some of them are for review only and um I will leave that to Sharon and um uh policy committee members and uh superintendent 40 to take us through that. Anything you want to highlight or explain or ask us about? >> I don't think that did everybody have an opportunity to read through them? I guess that's the first thing. And um they came out of committee. I can't recall uh Erica anything in particular that um was uh a real sticking point, but if anybody has any questions um we're here and happy to answer. >> Sharon, I think we did have a couple of questions on the student discipline policy and Tracy had an opportunity to follow up on those questions. Um one was related to language around beepers. >> That's right. Sorry,
020I did. We may have to define what a beeper is since they won't know what a beeper is. But go ahead. >> Yes. Um, and the second one is escaping me, but Tracy's going to remind me because it just fleeted my brain. >> Sure. So, why don't I um Hi everybody. Why don't I start with the beepers pagers clause of this policy? Um, we agree that that is outdated. I think it's paragraph 30. um or item 30 that will be removed from the policy. We don't need any reference to those technology devices because they really don't exist anymore. And the other one was toward the beginning of the policy. It was on page five of the actual policy paragraphs 2 A 1 and two. Um, and there was mention of quote publicized policy of the
021board. And there was some question about why that language was needed since we make our policies available on the district website. Um, and the answer that I got back about that is that that's the language in the Connecticut law related to this. So, it is recommended that we keep the policy language consistent and include that verbiage. Um, and what the other part of this that was explained to me is there could potentially be an occasion where some sort of legal or statutory requirement is updated and you know that we have to go through multiple reads of a policy. So it is possible that the policy won't yet be publicized but could potentially um need to be referenced for the purpose of student discipline. So we are being advised to keep that language. I know there
022was some concern about it not feeling incredibly transparent. Um, but those were the reasons that were given. >> Okay. That's that's why we had asked specifically about getting the feedback. So, thank you for doing that, Tracy. >> Sure. >> Is there anything else? Just those two things, right? The beepers and the and the public. >> Yeah, those those were the questions about the policy. We had had a as we shared with the committee a very extensive um conversation and time to review for the building administrators and then we spent a fair amount of time on this in the committee. So >> that I think we were set. >> Okay. >> Are there any questions from any of the board members about any of these policies >> or regulations? Can I just ask just based on
023the way the discipline policy looks, is this is this just based off of Shipman's model policy? Okay. Yes. >> Um I had a just a a suggestion um on policy 1220 citizens advisory committees. Um it talks about um the board establishing them, the board going over um annually the goals etc. I would also suggest maybe adding a line about timeline because I can imagine there are some advisory committees that that need that could like stop. >> You know what I mean? Like they could be ad hoc for a year >> versus like a constant standing thing. So, I'm >> What page are you on right now? So, I can make sure that I'm >> um I don't remember the page, but I um it's not that long. Apologies. I >> think it's page 87. >>
024Okay, let me get down there. Sorry. >> Because we I thought that there was language in there that talked about >> Yeah, I didn't see one about, you know, the sort of the dismantling of them or the, you know, reviewing whether you need them every year depending on what the committee was about. So, citizens advisory committee. >> Sharon, I'm I'm thinking of what you're thinking where it said they could be dissolved, but that might have been in a policy we >> prior >> we recently uh reviewed. I don't think it was this one. I'm not sure. >> All right. But >> it's just it's just a suggestion. Just take a look and if the language is there, then don't worry about me. But if it's not there, think about it. >> There was a couple
025of these policies and regulations were duplicated. It seemed a regulation that was almost a duplicate of a policy but with a little bit of verbiage change was in the regulation. >> Yeah, that's what I'm trying. >> I didn't look at that as closely. I just looked at the policy. >> Yeah, this was quite a lengthy discussion. Let me see. Um, all right. I'm I'm not finding it right now, but you know what? We can always if you'd like if we're unable to find what Eric and I seem to be remembering but can't quite locate. >> Okay. >> Perhaps. >> Yeah. And I obviously could have missed it. So, it's just a it's just a question. >> The regulation is on page 145 if that's what you're looking for. >> Thank you. >> I just got
026to it. Okay. Organiz it says so organiz organization and disillusion. The board shall seek the advice of the superintendent before establishing or dissolving any advisory committee. Specific topics for study or well- definfined areas of activity shall be assigned writing committee. So upon completing its assignment, each committee either shall be given new problems or shall be dissolved promptly but shall not be allowed to continue for prolonged periods without a definite assignment. >> Okay. >> The committee. So does that cover are you comfortable with that? >> Yeah, as long as you know I should have read the regulation. I didn't. So my >> That's okay. Well, again, it's on page 145. So >> I stopped at 144. >> Oh, darn it all. >> I'm just kidding. >> I'm like the fact that I actually remembered that I'm
027shocked. Especially my um day after IU game uh day. But yeah. All right. I think so. I think we are covered there. >> All right. Then we're fine. All right. Thanks for pointing that out. >> And thanks Jody for helping me locate that. >> Okay. So, all of that said, um, now can there be a motion to approve the consent agenda? No, no, I'm sorry. The, um, Oh, these are just first review. >> Those are all just first reads for you. The only thing is >> I forgot first review. >> Yes, >> sorry. >> You have several that for are for review, but no action needed. So, we will only be changing the date on those to acknowledge the fact that they were brought before the board for review. Um, >> okay. needed. >> There
028there was one additional question on the um defibrillators um in subcommittee and we did collect some additional information specific to that. Um the high school has five. Um the middle school has three. Uh WIS has three. Herbut has five. the board of ed annex has one on the on the main hallway in the left side. Um so I just wanted to bring bring that information forward. There was a question about how many we had in district. Some of those are located outside and when the temperatures um drop they are brought inside and um will be replaced when the temperature uh gets a little warmer in the spring. >> Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. >> Okay. Any other comments um on the review portion? >> All right. Um so we will see this next agenda
029to uh approve at least the first bit not the second. Okay. That leads us to um operating and capital budget discussion. Um, Superintendent 40, did you want to read that? >> Sure. Thank you very much. Um, at our last meeting, we had made it through question 40, um, which was the the last section regarding enrollment, classroom sections, and teameming. And so tonight, we enter a new section of the questions that were submitted by the board of education, starting um, with question 41. And I am going to turn it over to Julie because this section is focused on staffing. Um, so we are going to be answering all the board of education's questions relative to staffing. Julie, >> good evening everyone. Um, I am going to lead us through this uh the responses to these questions,
030but I am going to um call on some others to help support with those responses. And we do, as we did in the last meeting, have some supporting um charts and other visuals which Dr. Hankle is pulling up right now. So the first question um related to staffing is actually a pairing of questions um that we put together. Deb, I believe you directed the questions and they're related to considerations um for the makeup of our staff. The question is, what considerations are made when determining if a staff member will be 10 or 12 months full or part-time, hired as a staff member, or hired as an outside contractor? And a second question uh asking are efficiencies gained by hiring versus contracting out electrical, carpentry, plumbing and general mechanical services. So I'm going to address the
031first question broadly and then um speak more specifically to that second question. Um so if we can advance to the first visual. All teachers, para educators, nurses and security specialists have a defined work year of 10 months. And depending on their bargaining unit, that might be 182 or 187 days in the work year. That um defined work year, that 10-month year encompasses the entirety of the school year. When new positions outside of those groups are created, the primary job responsibilities and the timelines that are associated with those responsibilities are considered in determining the defined work year. And we do have three um sort of groupings of work years for our staff. 10 months, 11 months, and 12 months. Um, the nature of certain district business is year round, which would prompt consideration for a 12-month
032work year, while other roles may not require responsibilities during the summer weeks. The visual that you see is a breakdown of our current staff to illustrate um sort of where the bulk of the work exists. So you can see the 10-month group which represents 82% of our current staff as I said uh previously includes teachers, para educators, nurses and security staff. The 12-month group which is the next largest group includes administrators, custodians, maintenance and grounds personnel and certain clerical roles. Um and that is 15% of our total staff. And finally the 11-month group which is a very small portion of our staff includes our registars and the remaining administrative assistants totaling 3% of the overall staff. So you can see the bulk of our um staff is really focused on that 10-month work year to
033encompass the insession days of the school year. decision-making regarding full-time versus part-time status is based on assessed needs and also operational efficiency. So when speaking about certified staff where fractional full-time equivalencies or FTEES exist in this projected certified staffing, we look to create efficiencies where we can by combining assignments obviously provided that staff hold the appropriate qualifications and actually um can be shared amongst assignments um practically speaking. As a result, some of our full-time certified staff members work in multiple buildings or hold multiple assignments within a single school. When fractional uh FTEES can't be combined in a way that's educationally sound or operationally feasible, part-time positions may result. Non-certified positions are typically designed to focus on specific student support or operational tasks. And decisions about whether those roles will be full or part-time are based
034on the scope, frequency, and timing of those tasks. So, when our needs are limited to certain hours of the day or really um discrete tasks, part-time positions may be appropriate. Um, but I will note that across the board we generally exercise great caution in creating part-time positions because in our experience they can be challenging to fill and also they tend to have higher rates of attrition particularly when they are less than half-time um positions. Regarding hiring versus contracting, our preference is always to hire our own staff because maintaining our own staff supports continuity and quality of service. It promotes accountability to our district leadership, to board policy, and to state and federal requirements. And it fosters ownership of our district goals and vision. Um, in addition, a consistent staffing contributes to a positive school climate
035because students and staff members build trust with adults who are part of the school community and who have the ability to respond um as needs arise. Finally, our own in-house staffing offers more predictable and transparent budgeting than contracted services can. Um, because the cost of contracted services can o often over include overhead and profit margins that we may not be able to anticipate. Work roles that are currently filled by outside contractors in the district include our bus drivers, our cafeteria kitchen staff, the night cleaning staff, and very limited positions in the pupil services department. Um, we also contract with maintenance workers on a limited basis when there is a project that requires really highly specialized training that is beyond the expertise of our existing staff. And you note in your question that our existing staff
036includes a licensed plumber, an electrician, a carpenter, and a general mechanic. And I'll conclude by saying that we find anecdotally at least that maintaining an in-house maintenance staff um really allows us allows for um faster and more consistent followup and response when issues arise. The next question uh is about the number of administrators and I am going to pass it over to Erica for her response. Thank you Julie. Um Debbie, you had a question regarding staffing and uh you said questions often arise around the number of administrators. The pie chart and I think you're referring to my budget presentation was helpful in the budget presentation showing that Weston's portion is not out of line with state average. Could the percentage numbers be added to the slide? Is it possible to get a similar comparison with
037our Durk towns? If administrative staff was reduced, could you describe the impact to service and functions? So, I'm going to start with the last part of the question regarding the reduction of administrative staff and how that would impact service and and function. So, when you reduce administrative staff, it basically just results in the redistribution of work to the remaining administrators. So responsibilities that are related to state and federal compliance and reporting or instructional oversight, day-to-day operations and coordination across and amongst departments are shifted to the remaining administrators which then as a result increases their workload and stretches their capacity um throughout the day. If you were thinking at the district level, um the redistri if we reduced administrative um personnel at the district level, the redistribution of the job responsibilities and roles um would weaken
038oversight of things like curriculum and instruction um student services, human resources, and other mandated functions which would make it really difficult to ensure consistency, compliance, and effective planning. um breaking down really good systems and structures that are in place at the district level. Um, if we're thinking about the reduction of administrators at the building level, um, principles and assistant principles and and assistant directors would be pulled further into operational, managerial and compliance related tasks, limiting the time and focus that they can dictate to instructional leadership, staff supervision and evaluation, building their school culture and climate, and um, their direct focus on building effective students. supports. So over time, leadership becomes more reactive and less proactive and strategic. Um the coordination and coherence between schools in the district gets really fragmented. There's some risk for some
039compliance issues um and state reporting and the district's overall ability to sustain and deepen initiatives that are aligned with our district improvement efforts um result in compromising student outcomes and performance. Um so that's just a little bit about the impact to service and function um if if uh administrators are would be reduced and again it it the work doesn't go away so it would be redistri distributed amongst the remaining administrators um and so now Tina if you don't mind pulling up the pie chart Deb to your question regarding the pie chart percentage antages with the DUR comparison. What I'm going to show you is a little portion of a chart that I think Julie will go more in depth, but the top chart in this slide. Um, these are your pie chart percentages with the
040DUR comparison. So, you can see the two FTE categories listed, district administrators and school administrators, and Weston is in the first column. and we've built in New Kanan, Derianne, Wilton, Westport, Easton, and we put the state comparison there. This is that pie chart broken down with percentages for district administrators and school administrators. This is actually public data that's located on the Edsite website um that we sort of aggregated here in a visually friendly manner. Um and so this chart compares the breakdown of the staffing with our DUR peers and um the state expressed as percentages of a total FTE. And you can see across district administrators and school administrators, Weston's profile is pretty comparable with other districts and the state and it's pretty balanced and proportionate um in staffing relative to district and school administrators
041but not excessive. Um the chart underneath uh is by assignment category and instead of reflecting it in percentages we actually gave you here the actual number that was publicly reported. So you can see all of the districts at the top Weston Newan Darianne Wilton Westport and Easton underneath each district in parentheses that is the total district enrollment. um as reported for each one of those districts. There's a line for district administrators and in each column under each district you can see the total number count. This is not a percentage, it's a number. So Weston at this district level reports five district administrators publicly to the state. Uh New Kanan reports six, Darianne reports 8.2, Wilton 10, Westport 11, and Easton 2.3. Underneath you can see school administrators, coordinators, and department chairs. Those are administrators at
042the school level. And you can see the number reported out for each one of the districts. What I also thought was important to show just because we had the enrollment at the top was the actual number of schools in each one of these districts. So you can see that um third line from the bottom the total number of certified staff reported um publicly and also each one of the district's accountability index um and you heard a little bit uh when Tina presented regarding our accountability index. And so the public data for district is categorized in these types of assignment categories. And the table really reflects a comparison of the number in each in each one of those categories, district and school-based across various peer districts. And if you're just looking at it simply, you can
043see Newkan has about double the amount of students roughly. um one more district administrator and about double the amount of school administrators. So, I'm going to keep moving on to also just another way to view it. And this is um like a comparative of administration staffing ratios by district. And it's enrollment and adjusted. And so the blue line is the number of students per district administrator for each one of those districts. And the orange line is reflective of the students per school administration administrator. And you can see Weston, if you're looking at the blue line, is relatively in the middle of the pack alongside our DUR peers, um if not on the lower side. And for students per school administrator, um if you're looking at the line, uh Weston is just right there trending at
044the bottom along with our other uh districts. So when enrollments factor in into these staffing les um levels for administrators, um I think you can see that it's fully aligned and more conservative in some cases than some of our peer districts. And I think the data shows us appropriate scale, not excess, and reflects sort of the fixed leadership and support structures we require here in Weston to operate our high performing schools. And so I'll stop there if there's any questions or we can keep moving on. Board members have any questions? Right. Um well, I think this is very helpful and uh comprehensive. So, thanks for compiling it. >> No problem. And um now that you have a little bit of exposure to these graphs, Julia will is going to pull up some additional FTE um
045categories as we move forward. So, um I'm going to turn it back over to Julie. >> Yes. So, there was a follow-up question that was very similar and asked could we look at um the pie chart on staffing proportions um particular to the numbers for guidance counselors, psychologists, social workers, and um student other certified student support staff. So, very similar to uh the charts that Erica just took us through, you're going to see um essentially those exact formats but with that broader group of assignment categories. So, Dr. Hingle, if you could go to the next slide. So, this will look familiar. I am going to take just a moment to walk you through it again uh just to reorient us. Um this is public data um for the districts that are represented and the data
046is categorized in assignment categories um as Erica noted and the table reflects a comparison of the number of certified staff FTEES. This is the FTE chart um in each assignment category across our peer districts. And I will note this is data from the 2425 school year. Um, two important considerations in using this particular chart as a point of comparison. As Erica explained, the numbers that you see reflected under the name of each district is the total enrollment for that district. So, it can be difficult to compare given the the variance in the size of the districts, which is also notable when you look at on the bottom of the chart the number of schools in those districts. So this particular chart while it very clearly reflects the number of FTEES in our um peer districts
047in each of these assignment categories, it's a tougher point of comparison because of the variance in the size of those districts. So, um I I will just call attention to again before we again before we move on to that accountability index um that you see across the bottom. And I do want to highlight um Dr. Hankle's recent update uh regarding Connecticut's Next Generation Accountability Index and remind you that it measures school and district performance using 12 indicators across academic achievement, growth, chronic absenteeism, post-secary readiness, graduation rates, physical fitness, and arts access. So that that index really provides a holistic view of how our students are performing and preparing um for their life beyond K12 public schooling. And I will just tie that to our staffing because the staffing levels directly contribute to our students readiness
048and success. So moving on to the next slide for uh perhaps a more ready point of comparison. um we took the approach of of uh using that data and adjusting it for enrollment. So similar to the chart that Erica showed you, the data here is presented as studentto staff ratios. when enrollment is factored in. You can see very clearly um in this studentto staff ratio presentation that Western staffing levels particularly for school and district administrators and student support services are fully aligned with or it in certain instances more conservative than our peer districts. And this data really shows appropriate scale um not excess and reflects the fixed leadership and support structures that are required to operate uh in a high-erforming school district. As a different method of comparison, if we could go to the next
049slide. Um this again will look familiar. This chart compares the breakdown of the certified staffing with our DUI A peers and the state um with each district expressing their percentage um expressing their data for each assignment category as a percentage of their total FTE. So you can see again Erica um spoke about the percentages related to district and school administrators but you can see across the board um Weston's certified staffing profile is comparable with peer districts and with state norms and it's our assessment that the district is healthy in its supports and staffing uh but not excessive. Moving on to a slightly different topic. Um there was a question that was asked related specifically to uh our health and PE staffing. Um and I will um sort of set up the answer here, but Dr.
050Hankle, I know that you work really closely with our curriculum instruction and instruction leader in PE and health and so if you have anything to add, please feel free. The question is, what do the different health and PE teachers do in middle school and high school? Um, for example, why are there three total teachers in Weston Middle School rather than two or 1.7 as there are for Hess and Wis? So, health and PE staffing at the different levels reflects a variety of priorities including um age appropriate curricula, content area standards, and state mandates as well as safety and supervision. The state of Connecticut requires that districts provide comprehensive health and safety education across K12, including instruction in human growth and development, nutrition, disease prevention, physical, mental, and emotional health, substance abuse prevention, and safety education.
051And while there's no specific mandate as to a required number of instructional minutes for K8, Weston's curriculum reflects a commitment to providing a comprehensive health education that is aligned to na national health education standards and delivered in age appropriate ways. And because of that, there is increased instructional time devoted to health instruction at Weston Middle School in comparison with the elementary schools and particular to the high school. Uh the Weston High School program of studies reflects a requirement that all graduates complete one credit in health and safety education before leaving Weston High School. The state also requires that districts provide planned sequential instruction in PE K through 12. And again, there's no specific uh mandate as to required instructional minutes for kindergarten through 8th grade, but districts are encouraged to plan for daily exercise for
052students, which um is noted can be achieved both through PE classes and through recess. The balance of this physical exercise shifts more toward PE in the middle grades which requires additional staff um for appro appropriate and safe uh levels of instruction and supervision. In addition, um physical fitness is evaluated through the Connecticut physical fitness assessment in grades 4, 6, 8, and 10. um which is another component of our uh planning for sta the staffing profile. Finally, Western High School requires that all students complete one credit in physical education and wellness prior to graduation. So you can see from hopefully from this explanation that as students grow and work to achieve um our portrait of the graduate comp competencies of caring for themselves and caring for others, their instructional needs in PE and health increase which
053you see um reflected in our staffing model. I don't know if there's anything anyone would like to add or any questions related to PE and health. We have our principles on this evening, too. So, we encourage them to to contribute to the conversation if um you'd like to add or uh you're you're very much welcome to. Okay, I'm going to move on. Um, the next question is specific to Weston High School. So, thank you, Erica, for that. I am going to set it up broadly, but I am going to turn it over uh to Megan, our high school principal, um, because she's truly the architect of the staffing at the high school. Um, but the question is this, what is the approach to building classroom FTE requests at Weston High School? How tight or flexible
054is the approach to projections? For example, many projected class sizes are under 20 and some of those are not singletons. In some cases, it appears that if the number of proposed sections were reduced, the resulting class size is still within guidelines. Was this done for programmatic reasons? So, broad strokes. Um, staffing at Weston High School is programdriven and aligned to graduation requirements and student needs. And because student course requests are not finalized until the spring, in fact, I believe they're just beginning the process of um requesting courses for next school year in the coming days. Uh the projections that you see in the budget book are developed really truly based on historical enrollment trends, current course data, and professional judgment with the understanding that adjustments may need to be made once the actual course requests
055are confirmed later on in the spring. Um at this point, I do want to give Megan a chance to to talk and to explain further. So Megan, >> thanks Julie. Um, so as Julie shared, we are just in the very early stages of building our schedules for next year. We're about to teachers are completing their recommendations. Students will meet with their counselors. They will select the courses that they are requesting. Um, that all wraps up around March 27th. That's the last date that students um and counselors can make changes. Um then based on the student course requests, we make some determinations around sections and numbers. Um so when we make these projections, as Julie spoke to, it's based on not only the current courses that our students are in to try to make predictions about
056what those students will take next year, but we also take historical data to say over time, this is kind of what we've seen regardless of what students may have taken the previous year. This is what we've kind of seen year after year. There are some mo and I can give some examples but there are some moments where for example we might see an honors humanities class we typically run three sections. This year we run ran two. We wonder if next year we might run three. So you might see where in English nine we projected for five. But it gives us some flexibility. So where we would say okay maybe we are running three of of honors humanities next year. we may have an opportunity to reduce um the size of an English the number of
057teachers teaching English nine or there might be some flexibility too across like an English 9 standard class and the English nine honors. So it really depends. Um there are also classes which I know there were question was about singletons or disregarding singletons but I want to speak to that a little bit too because there are certain courses which we offer that are specifically directed at the needs of students. So then we look at that programmatically uh where we know that we want our students all students to take algebra 1 and have an algebra 1 experience. So, um, as folks heard us speak to over the last couple of years, we've had some shifts, um, in some of the math courses that we've offered. So, you might see lower numbers, um, as students are entering into
058their math progressions for some very specific courses like algebra 1, linear equations, and next year we're going to going to be offering integrated geometry and quadratics. So those are specific pro programmatic um and course introductions that we've made to address specific needs of um our student population. So um we are we look at it programmatically. I always say people ask me about budgets at the high school. I always say programs programs programs um and the overall needs of students. So, we're also reflecting on our student data. Um, and that was one of the reasons why we made some changes to our math sequencing as well. So, I it's very informed and it continues to be informed uh throughout the spring as well. So, I don't know if there are other questions that I can answer.
059I'll also add that sometimes you might see multiple sections and you might look at the sections and say, you know, if there are 15 or 16 um students in a class, may maybe that's kind of our best guess and projections based on our current enrollment and and where kids are going um moving forward. We can only run the recommended class sizes is 24. So, if you split some of those classes, right, you'd have 31 kids wanting to take that course, which is why we split them to and have some lower class numbers um in those sections, if that makes sense. >> Thank you, Megan. Yeah, I mean I I can see that. Um it's really hard and and um it's hard when you're small to offer program uh to do sequencing correctly uh to try
060to diversify your offerings. Um and so I also see the the struggle in the um uh to be efficient as well. So, I know it's a balancing act and um I just wanted to poke at how complicated it is. Um and so, um yeah, it's hard. So, my hats off to >> Yeah. >> to managing all that. Um you know, and and as board members, we're also trying to look at the resources and just make sure um that we're doing what we can in terms of efficiency without hurting kids. >> And so, again, that's another balancing act. So >> yes, just as a point of information, we have had to make um decisions like this past year in particular, we made decisions to say, okay, um maybe 9th graders don't have access to creative writing,
061we didn't have the number of sections based on our staffing to offer. So understanding that ninth graders would still have three more years to have access to some of those electives that came into play in our art department as well where we just had we didn't have the staff to offer the electives that students wanted to take. So we really had to evaluate um you know and offer those kind of to juniors and seniors first as they're you know time is running out to take those electives. And then from time to time we also evaluate our overall enrollment and interest in courses. And I think I spoke to this earlier but maybe not at these meetings um where we sometimes determine there are courses that we may be offering every other year rather um than
062every year. You'll see that like our AP music theory, our AP chemistry, um some of our courses in our PLTW sequence. um we've determined that we can offer those every other year and still make sure we give students enough notice so that they're aware and so that they can plan their sequence. Um and it allows us to keep those um in um course numbers higher while still providing um that rigorous curriculum and giving students access to the courses um that they want and need um to put their best foot forward in their um post-secary uh goals. Right. And I and I think that's that's one example of efficiency, you know, in terms of alternating courses. Um it looks also occasionally like you combine courses. I mean, not totally different courses, but um there are places
063where it seems possible. Can you speak a little bit to that? And then I'll be quiet. >> Sure. In some cases, rather than offering um an advanced or an honors course separately and then creating two singleton classes, those singleton classes, that's when we really only have one section of the class to offer. That can add a constraint to student schedules. So oftentimes in world language, in art, um trying to think, uh some in music, uh we will have students who are enrolled in a class during a single period, but within that class, we have students taking both the standard level and the honors level. Got it. Um, and then my last question is, um, when it's when you're in like a math department or a science department, um, I I'm just surmising that teachers need
064to be fairly flexible in terms of their teaching assignments. Um, you know, like I I know science sometimes has very specific uh what do you call it? Um, >> certifications. >> Teachers have certain certification or endorsement areas. Yeah. >> Right. Right. So, how hard is it, you know, like um when you have science and you have a few more biology sections and physics sessions, but this physics teacher can't necessarily teach biology. Am I correct? It is a balancing act. Um that is for sure. So, in science in particular, uh we have teach some have cross endorsements, some have more singular endorsements um in a certain area of science. So, we also have to keep that in mind. you know, who are the teachers that can teach an additional PLTW class, a project lead the way
065class, our engineering program, and who are the teachers that can teach physics, who can teach biology, who can teach chemistry, um, etc. So, um, and we also have teachers, if we offer our AP courses, we have teachers who have done, um, the AP workshops, um, have been trained and, um, educated in offering those AP classes. So they will go to that um very significant training and we want those are the teachers who we know are certified by college board to teach those classes and so we also have to ensure that those are the teachers then that we have in those AP classrooms. So there are a lot of moving parts at the high school level. Um and we did see also last year an increase of the number of 9th and tth graders who were
066taking one or more free periods as well. And so again, we have student interest. I think it's important to note too, as opposed to the other grades in high school, you'll also have students who have an a really significant interest in STEM. So, they may be doubled up on their science. They might be taking a science more traditional, what we would think of as a more traditional science class, and then they also want to take a coding class or something in the technology and engineering field. We have students who have a really deep passion in the humanities. So, they're going to take their traditional English required class and then they might also want to take a film studies or creative writing. So, you're it's not just about the number of students at the high school.
067It really comes down to what students interests are um and and making sure that we can have really a robust offering um to support um student interest. >> Thank you. And I'm just going to tag on to this discussion because there was a question that was very specific to Weston High School technology um FTEE asking if it were possible for Weston High School teched teachers to be decreased from 1.2 FTE by decreasing the number of classes to to four from five and just increasing class size. Um so while it is accurate that FTE is driven um by the number of sections that are projected um as Megan explained in order to preserve the course sequence um there were decisions that were made for this year and that are also anticipated for next year. Thank you
068Dr. Hankle. Um I did pull out the page from the budget book. It is the Western High School staffing for technology is on page three of your budget book if you'd like to look at it yourself. Um in order to preserve that sequence of four um project lead the way four distinct courses that are being offered at two levels. You see the standard level on the left side of that blue chart and also um those courses are offered at the honors level. Um so the staffing that you see reflected in our current staffing and also projected for next year reflects a commitment to continuing that sequence of courses but also reflects what Megan was discussing where um you can see on the left side of the chart for example for civil engineering and architecture there
069are 31 students that are enrolled um in the standard or honors level of that course and 31 is beyond our class size guidelines and also truly beyond what would be recommended for project lead the way which is um an engineering course sequence and requires really handson um type work. So that splitting that into two what are small sections is really important in order to adhere to our class size guidelines to appropriately deliver the curriculum and content with the resources that we have and also to honor the course sequence. So um it is projected at this point to continue still with the six sections that you see that are running this year. Although you note the shifts in where those numbers are anticipating what the um next level in the sequence will be for the students
070that are taking this series of courses. Um, and noting again that when the actual course requests come in, Megan and her team will review those really carefully to assess whether the projections are accurate. And this is truly the best assessment of the staffing needs. So that is the end of the staffing questions. Are there any other questions from the board related to the questions we've addressed this evening? >> Not from me. Um, Lisa Sharon. Okay, Nicole. Okay. All right. Um, did that finish the staffing section? Okay. And that's what you had planned for tonight. Am I right or >> that's correct? Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Okay. Well, thank you very much again. Um um you know, again, as board members, we're we're trying to look at resource levels and resource efficiency. And
071so that's why so many questions and you know just um needing to make sure we fully understand your needs and your constraints and the parameters you work within. So thank you. Okay. So um move along. Uh there are there'll be a a budget forum on Thursday night and then there are there's one workshop on Monday morning and then as a board next week at um one of one or one or the other of the meetings the 27th and the 29th we will need to vote on this budget. Um so as board members we need to start reaching conclusions for our discussion at our um uh uh we we will follow the forum on Thursday night depending on time with the discussion and we'll certainly to continue the discussion at our workshop on I think it's
072Monday morning. Um anyway at that point we as board members need to start making some judgments and some conclusions and recommendations. So, um, if you did have any last minute questions, we're quickly running out of time. So, I encourage us, uh, to ask, uh, before we, so you make sure you have enough information to make your conclusions and and our in our discussions. All right. Um, I think we're ready for district updates. Uh, leading off with superintendent. >> I do not have an update this evening. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, pupil personnel. >> Hi everyone. Um, brief update for tonight. It's that time of year when we start planning and preparing for extended school year, our ESY programming and transitions for students between buildings. Um, both of those processes are really led by our assistant
073directors of PPS and require a tremendous amount of collaboration among staff, students, and families. And I just am very appreciative of the time and energy that everyone invests in that process um and in supporting our students at these very critical points in their educational journeys. Uh we also convened the SEAL working group last Friday. Uh you would be hardressed to find a more enthusiastic and thoughtful group of people. Um we've established an immediate focus for our work which is really to streamline and align practices districtwide especially between hurlbutt and the intermediate school and the middle school and high school. The team has also spent time reflecting on our priorities how to best support staff in this work um and how to ground social emotional learning in intellectual habits. I just want to be transparent that
074this committee's work will be ongoing well beyond the scope of this school year um given the many layers of this work and the importance of social emotional learning in supporting the well-being of all students. Thanks. >> Thank you. Um finance and operations bill Good evening everyone. Uh I the major highlight for this um for this month is that we have dug took a deep dive into our accounts and we were able to identify some savings for the fiscal 27 um reducing our deficit by approximately 270,000. So as of today we currently have a deficit of $80,6772. Um the def we were able to reduce the deficit by savings in salaries of approximately $183,000. There is some savings um in a special department of approximately $156,000. uh we we're accounting for the karma equity distribution of
075$18,000 and we have a negative um for health insurance which is primarily driven by change in our enrollment for retirees. So all in all we're we're we're on track to to to mitigate the full budget hopefully by the end of the year providing that there's no there aren't any additional or new surprises for the remainder of the year. Thank you. And um this was discussed in in uh more detail in our um finance and operations subcommittee. So, Phil, um we know some of the ins and outs and thank you for your work. Um is this the point you want the financial report approved at this point? >> It is. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Is there a motion? Lisa, just could you unmute? Sorry. Mute. Unmute. Mute. Unmute. >> Um I uh I make a
076motion to approve the December 2025 financial report. >> I second. >> All right. Thank you. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Thank you. approved. On to committee updates. Um, communications committee. >> Uh, David is not here. He's the chair. >> Okay. >> Um, so we can Nicole and I could probably share with share with the uh rest of the board. Um, I'll I'll hop in here. Nicole, if I missed anything, please fill it in. Um basically our last uh communication committee meeting we talked how about how we feel it's best to communicate what is happening as far as our facilities conversations is concerned with the town to make sure that um our voters for a referendum would be completely informed all along the way. So, we basically talked
077a little bit about how best to present it to make sure that it um is uh in line with what the administration sends out, but at the same time has its own kind of um uh headline or its own feel so that the public uh understands what it is that we are trying to um communicate with them about, what specific uh project we're trying to communicate with them about. In addition to that, we also have talked a lot about the website and how to make it um as easy as possible to navigate for users looking for the information specifically about our facilities. um which is a big discussion to make sure that uh as we make the facilities uh discuss or make the facilities information prominent, we're not um doing anything that would jeopardize the
078usability and the information um availability on the site uh that's used on a regular basis for the for most people. So, I hope that made sense. I don't know, rambling a little bit now. Uh Dan, if you have anything you want to add or Nicole, if you have anything you want to add. That was the um the majority of of what I recall >> also that we rebranded facility. >> It's now called campus revitalization on the website. And so on the homepage of the website, there is a shortcut to the campus revitalization section where members of the community can access all of the previous documents and meetings relating to this topic. Yes. So, officially it is called the campus revitalization. So, as we talk about it in the community with people, it that's kind of
079what we'll be referring to it as. >> Okay. When I when we do agendas, I'll need to take that new title into account. >> That's right. >> Also want to thank the communications committee and Nicole specifically. I know you worked hard on drafting the bricks and mortar newsletter that went out. So, thank you for your work on that. um it was clear and concise and and also um comprehensive. So, thank you. Um and as we go down the road and and get into, you know, as we do our work um well, when we get to the EOCC committee, I'll work I'll talk about that a little bit. um curriculum committee. >> Uh it was really um Tina did a great job um uh presenting some things that were very helpful for understanding the budget. Tina,
080do you you want to sum it up? >> Sure. Thanks, Lisa. We had a really robust uh curriculum subcommittee meeting. First, I want to thank you all for approving the overnight field trip for our Model UN uh club who is going to Harvard to visit um the Model UN Nations conference at Harvard. They're hosted by Harvard this year, so they're really excited about that. Um two curriculum updates was regarding um the No Place for Hate update. Shout out to Principal Blue Stain, his staff, and the students that are leading that work. Um it's an ongoing um conversation. It's an ongoing design uh to really engage students in some of the work around ADL that ADL has provided around identity and exercises to deepen their self-awareness and empathy um within that program. So kudos to them.
081Um also Shauna uh Johnson who is our CIL for social studies at the secondary level provided us with an update on the Holocaust Remembrance Day which is coming up next week. the she has coordinated a series of lessons and uh guest speakers um at the middle school and the high school. And then finally, Dan and I uh presented an update to the committee regarding uh the AI advisory committee and the work that we've been doing with them uh to evaluate current um AI tools that we are investigating to determine and recommend to the district as we move into budget season regarding which one of our AI tools we want to actually um invest in over over time. uh which is our goal is to have that tool identified for the upcoming school year. That's it.
082>> Okay. Thank you. Um on the educational optimization committee, uh we talked about the campus revitalization. Did I get the term right? And um uh we talked about um the uh gathering of information and we're ending that sort of phase if you will of our work. Looking forward to the SLAM phase 2 um presentation and again hoping to use that February 23rd uh date. I just need to double confirm that. Um and also looking forward to a discussion on um uh feedback from the administration on some of the um grade configuration questions and the magnet school question. And then we talked about um you know needing to as a board again start coming up with um some specific um ideas and proposals and also how best to involve the town government. um and also just
083as importantly how to involve the parents and the community members. And then we sort of toled around um with um some ideas that might sort of overlap with the communications committee, you know, how best to hold what kind of meetings, what to do with our website, etc. So, we're uh largely focused on campus revitalization. um policy committee. We saw a lot of your work tonight, but go ahead. Sorry. Um yeah, so I'm trying to recall here we um basically everything you had for a first read was what we discussed in committee. Um there were I'm trying to think going back here. Were there any sticking points that you can remember aside from Tracy obviously got the answers for us about the publicized policies? Um trying to think is there anything else I'm missing. Erica, >>
084just the questions on the AED policies. >> Yep. Um and then I'm preparing um a chunk of policy from the 6000 series for the upcoming policy committee which may appear then on the maybe not the February 2nd board meeting but one thereafter. So we have a tremendous number of policies and I guess it's important for everyone to understand what we're trying to do right now is we are trying to go through the policies and make sure that everything is um current and that things that are not necessary i.e. the deeper policy um can be omitted from the policy book. But at the same time, there are a lot of policies that haven't been reviewed since the 80s. And um so we are just making sure that we go through and make any updates that need
085to be made. And if the if no updates need to be made, we just need to say that it's been revisited so that um the policy book uh is up to date. So we just that's where all of this is coming in right now. And Erica, thank you for bringing so much of of that to us. It's it's been uh you've been wonderful and bring a lot of it to our attention. So, thank you. >> Sharon, you might want to add that some of the policy updates that you're doing are state mandates. >> Absolutely. >> You're updating it because the state mandates that we do that. >> Just to add that. >> Yeah. Yep. Thank you, Lisa. Yeah, absolutely. >> Thank you. Um, safety and security committee. I'm not sure the schedule >> we didn't
086meet. I It's actually going to turn into every other month meeting. So, we'll be meeting. >> Okay, got it. Um, organizational updates. Um, Cab Lisa, I don't know if there's anything new. Um, there was a superintendent meeting, a superintendent and um, board of ed meeting in Westport. Um, and they bring up um, some of the mandates. Uh what was I think on the agenda and what I read was um the health care costs are an issue um across many of the districts um and the uh uh mandated special ed uh unfinanced um issues for the schools. >> Right. Um Sharon because you were there. >> Yeah. Yeah. Sharon and I were able to go and um our representative um Ann Hughes was also there, representatives um from other areas um as well and several superintendent.
087But you're right, um healthc care costs was a major focus. Um and then uh some of the um some of the state mandates or state ideas uh especially directed at uh school lunch programs, breakfast programs um you know dealing with you know quite frankly hungry children um and how best to address those needs. Uh I did put in um a a question about uh reimbursement for campus revitalization projects and um I think people were you know certainly to some extent um understanding um and we had a a couple of conversations with legislators offline. So you know hopefully we will garner some support. Okay. Uh what's next? CES. I think that's David and he's not here. Uh Weston Education Foundation. I don't >> So that's me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the last meeting because
088it conflicted with one of our budget workshops, but as you can see there, um they made some some uh gifts uh available to us based upon what we passed tonight. >> Yeah. Yeah. Great organization. >> All right. So, um, you see the next scheduled meetings and, um, All right. And you can see we were right in the thick of budget. So, uh, that's got to be our focus. Uh, so is there a move to adjurnn? >> I still move. >> Second. >> I second. All right. All in favor? I >> thank you. Thank you very much and thanks for all your work in in presenting tonight. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. >> See you soon.