001All right. Good evening. I'd [music] like to call to order the Board of Education special meeting public forum number one on Wednesday, January 14th, 2026. Um it is now 7:02. So let's start with the pledge. Just trying to figure that to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Good evening. Um, I'd like to read our usual preface to public comments. Uh, the board welcomes the opportunity to hear from members of the public about matters concerning [music] the schools. Public comments an important chance for the board to receive input and feedback. We listen attentively to all comments. While we value and play close attention to comments, it is our practice not to respond substantively
002or sometimes at all during public comment. There are several reasons for this. First, engaging in a discussion on a non-aggenda item could violate the board's obligation to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Second, the board or the administration may not be prepared to discuss certain matters raised in the in the instance by public comment. Third, the board develops its meeting carefully to ensure that the board addresses matters that are pressing or relevant at the time of the meeting. We encourage members of the public with specific questions, concerns, or complaints about our schools to reach out directly to Superintendent 40. You may also email the board at our at our email address, board of education at westernps.org. Um, so this is a slightly um different uh meeting tonight. It's called a public forum. It is
003to focus on the capital and operating proposed budgets for 2026 27 a year ahead. Um we have two of these scheduled. One is tonight and the next one is next week and I think the next one is zoom am I right? Zoom format for the next public forum. Um, so we're w we want to hear your comments, your perspectives, your suggestions, and your questions about our board of ed budget proposed. So if you are asking a question, we will indeed listen and record them tonight and the administrative team will then uh research um the details to the answers and we will include [music] the questions that come up tonight in our future board of ed discussions. and Superintendent 40, depending on the volume of questions received, will email you a response. Um, regardless of whether
004she's able to do that, all the questions and answers, including from our own board members and the public, will be included in a document after those questions are discussed at the board. And the document will be posted on our website. And it will be kind of coming out in in parts depending on how far we get with the questions. All right. Um, so and we're, uh, just so you understand our process, the budget's been proposed by the school administration. It's our job as the board of education to examine it and vet it and then, um, decide whether to approve or not and whether to change the number or not, etc. All that process and discussion [music] has to be finished by the end of the month and the board of ed will need to adopt
005a budget to move forward to the town no later than January 29th so we can by charter get it at the proper date to the board of selectmen. All right. So with that said, um this is the public forum. So, please, if you have questions, comments, suggestions, perspectives, um, uh, statements you'd like to make, please come forward, give your name and address, and Jody will direct you from there. >> Hi, how are you? Oh, my loud tonight. You have five minutes to speak. Please state your name and your street address for the record, please. >> Absolutely. My name is Kelly James and I live at 11 Burn Hard Drive. Good evening, members of the Weston Board of Education and District Administration. I'm a parent of two children in our district, a second grader at Hurlbut
006and a fifth grader at WIS. I'm here tonight to ask that you honor and maintain the current studenttoteer ratios in our elementary schools as you finalize next year's budget. For our youngest learners, class size is not just a number. It directly affects classroom management, individualized attention, and the overall learning environment. In the elementary years, especially, teachers are laying the foundation for academic competence, social development, and a love of learning. Smaller, balanced class sizes allow teachers to truly know each child, their strengths, their challenges, and how best to support them. As a parent, I see firsthand how impactful this is. When teachers have the capacity to provide personalized instruction and manage classrooms effectively, students thrive academically and emotionally. This strong foundation carries forward as children move through the district, benefiting not just individual students, but our
007schools as a whole. Weston is known for its commitment to excellence in education and maintaining appropriate class sizes is a key part of that commitment. I respectfully urge you to prioritize and protect these re ratios in the upcoming budget so our youngest students continue to receive the support they need during these critical years. Thank you for your time, your thoughtful consideration, and for all that you do for our children and our community. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else that would like to speak for public comment tonight? I think that's it for public comment. Okay. Uh we'll close public comment. Um anyone listening um please be aware that there will be another uh public forum and in addition you always have the ability to email the board of education. Um so
008we're going to carry forward with our board of ed discussions about um different areas of the budget uh based on the questions [music] that board members have posed earlier. Uh superintendent 40 has organized those and I'd like her to explain how that will run tonight. Thank you. Is that good? Can you hear me? Okay. Thank you. Um this evening uh my team and I have organized um 50 plus questions that were submitted by the board of education into specific categories. Uh we'll start with a a sequence of categories and I'll explain what those are in just a moment and over the course of the next several meetings we'll work through the responses of those budget based on the themes for each category. This evening we're going to start with special education. Um and Dr. Edwards
009is here with us this evening. She's going to read through the questions that were submitted and verbally express the responses um relative to those questions. Uh from there we will move into a set of questions around uh finance, operations, safety and security. Once we complete those questions we will move into questions that are categorized um in the area of technology. Upon the conclusion of all the technology questions, we'll move into curriculum, instruction, and academics. From there, we will transition into questions around um staffing um I'm sorry, enrollment, classroom sections, and teaming. After that, we will transition into questions around staffing and then finally transportation. Um, so at this point I'm going to turn it over. Yes. >> I just had one question as we go through for instance special education questions. Um, how would you
010like the board to interact? Do you want to finish the section and then if we have follow I'm guess I'm asking about follow-up questions. How would you like to deal with those? >> I I think if we can give Dr. Edwards the opportunity to read the question that was submitted, respond um and then work through the series of questions and then we'll pause at the end and then we can follow up with any additional questions that surface at the table. Okay. >> All right, that makes sense. Um I did see two two people come into the room, which is great. Um and if you're here to listen, that's wonderful. But if you'd like to make a [music] comment before we sort of dig into the board of ed discussion, um, you know, we want to
011reopen that up if that's okay with the board members. So, I'm not I don't mean to put you on the spot. If you want to comment, comment. >> I'm sorry. >> Oh, sorry. >> I Okay. All right. There's no no worry about being late. Would you um and we'll try to address the door situation. Would you like to do you need Would you like to make a comment? >> Oh, wow. That turn. >> If you're here for public comment, can you please state your name for the record, your street address, and then you will have five minutes to speak. >> Susan Baron, Old Tide Road. Um, I've been a resident of Weston for 32 years. My children did not go to school here, but I have I am a taxpayer. Um, a large part of
012our taxes or almost all of our taxes I've got to take a breath. Pay for the school and I have never received any information about what's going on in the schools. And I feel as a resident and a taxpayer, I should be on your list and I should be receiving all the information that's going on with the schools. Okay, that's number one. Number two, when you have meetings, I'd like to know when the meetings are. I think you should be on the town calendar. You are part of this, you know, the this town. You should be on the town calendar. And I shouldn't have to go all the time to the Western government's the to the site to click click click click click click click to get the information. Okay. And it would also be
013helpful that you said it was in the library. You just said Western Middle School is all I heard. So that's it. But I would like to be put on the list going forward uh and know what's going on and how you're spending my money because I'm not really thrilled with what's been going on and I think everybody here is to blame. All right. Thank you for those suggestions. Any other comments? >> Good evening everyone. Uh, my name is Aaron Burkoff. I live on uh 38 Northfield Woods Road. Is that the right info you need? >> Yes. Can you just spell your name for me? >> Last name is Burakov. B U R A K O FF. >> Thank you. >> Um, so I have my wife Julie and I, we have three children in town.
014Our eldest is at WIS right now. She's 10 in fifth grade. We have a seven-year-old in second grade at Hurlbut. and we have a one-year-old who will you hopefully be in the schools in a few years. Uh I just wanted to come out tonight and express my appreciation for all that you are doing as a board um as an education community here in Weston. We like many of the friends we've made here in town moved to Weston for the great school system. I was listening to um the board of ed meeting last night and the one of the themes was just you know the special um the the special education the not special education that too but the um the focus on providing individualized education for the students here and how important that is and
015just that really resonates as a parent. Um thank you for that. So, speaking for my family and many of our friends here, just wanted to come out and let you know how much we appreciate what you're doing and want to to be able to um continue to pay our taxes to support the special education we came here for and want to keep getting. That's all. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? >> Is there anybody else? All right. Public comment closed. back to you. >> Yes. Okay. So, I think we'll move on from now and we'll work on our special education uh questions. Dr. Edwards. >> Thank you. Uh good evening everybody. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to share information with all of you tonight related to PPS and special education in the
016Weston public schools. Um, as Erica said, in terms of process, I'm actually going to read the questions uh before I provide answers so you know exactly what was asked by each board member. Um, Deb, I'll start with your question around an overview of special education, overall enrollment, general description of disability categories, additional ELC class, staffing needs, major services provided, outplacement trends, settlement trends, trends in 504 placements and services. So, this is obviously a big picture um question. In terms of context, over the last five years, we've seen an increase in the number of students qualifying for individualized education plans in special education, rising from 249 students in 2018 to 323 students in 2024, as well as an increase in the number of students qualifying for 504 accommodation [music] plans. Despite this increased need, we have
017reduced our outofdist tuition costs every year for the past five years and are also proposing a reduction in settlement costs in the fiscal year 27 budget. This is due to the fact that we have expanded and improved our indist programming, including initiatives like the pathways program at the high school to better meet the needs of our students in Weston schools and in several cases to support their return to Weston from other placements. In addition to our special education teachers and related service providers, our mental health team, which includes school psychologists, social workers, and counselors, play a critical role in this process. This same team has also worked to support the increasingly complex mental health needs of our students postcoid. In addition to indistrict programming improvements, we have also prioritized expanding our own ability to provide
018specialized and related services by our district staff rather than relying on contracted providers which does two things. Enhances the quality of our services and also reduces costs. Along with reductions in outofd district costs, we are also seeing improved outcomes on standardized measures such as NWA and smarter balanced as highlighted in previous meetings and increased interest in our ELC program. We require high quality staff and manageable case loads to be able to support and sustain these programs and services. As a result, the proposed fisc year 27 budget recommends maintaining our current level of certified and non-certified support within special education and PPS. I'll move on there. Just in terms of context, there are um several more technical questions about specific roles um and case loads that I will go through and I tried to organize them
019in a way that will make sense hopefully in a logical progressive format. Um Sharon had asked how many school psychologists we have on staff and how they're spread across the schools and asked the same question regarding school social workers. Um we have four school psychologists districtwide. There is one school psychologist assigned to each school. Um districtwide we have five [music] social workers. There is one social worker assigned to each school with the exception of the high school which has an additional social worker who is dedicated exclusively to our pathways program which there are some later questions about the structure of that program um and how that works. There was also a question from Sharon about counselors. Um actually multiple questions. So what is the case load of each guidance counselor and how does that compare
020to other duray schools and how does it line up with the state minimum or maximum for a guidance counselor? Um the average case load for our high school counselors is 148 with the director of guidance overseeing a reduced case load of students. Um the average case load for high school counselors in DUI a districts is approximately 170. The recommended state maximum is 250 students per counselor. It is important to note that our school counselors oversee and case manage 504 plans, which is not necessarily the case um in all other places. And there are currently 180 504 plans that [music] are in place at the high school alone. Beginning next year, our school counselors will also be supporting small groups of students in developing executive functioning skills like organization, time management, and cognitive flexibility, replacing this
021year's model of the structured study class. Nicole had asked for me to explain the role of the Weston High School Career Center guidance counselor. and how this counselor differs from other high school guidance counselors. Um, you had also asked some follow-up questions about how this position differs from the vocational specialist and the transition coordinator, which I'll answer in later questions. Um, the high school college and career counselor is a schoolwide highly specialized [music] position that supports every junior and senior student at the high school and their families in planning for post-secary experiences. Um unlike our general school counselors, this person does [music] not carry a traditional case load and is dedicated exclusively to um advising around college and career readiness, which is particularly important in a district where we have 90 to 95% of our
022students metriculating to four-year colleges. Um, this counselor serves approximately 480 students annually. Um, with 98% of our sophomores, juniors, and seniors participating in individual meetings, group programming, and family presentations. Um, and like I said, I'll talk about the transition coordinator and vocational specialist next. Those roles are um, very different and serve a different population. Sorry, can you just repeat the the role of that counselor like what their position is >> for the college and career counselor? >> College and career. >> Okay. Is that I'm just trying to remember what my questions were. Yeah. >> Was that the equivalent on your budget? The Weston High School Career Center counselor. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Nicole, you had asked to explain the increase in the transition coordinator. how many students the transition coordinator serves and whether
023that support is in groups or in one-on-one settings. Um the transition coordinator has actually historically been a part-time position. That person has served as part-time transition coordinator, part-time special education teacher. Um given the roles and responsibilities of that position and the fact that they are supporting students at both the middle school and high school, our goal has always been to make that a [music] full-time role. Um the transition coordinator right now is working with nine students in group and 17 students individually. I do want to underscore though that these numbers do not include the support that um this person is providing to students in out of [music] district placements. It does not include the transition evaluations she is completing for students in district and out of district. And it also does not include um the
024time she is spending supporting families and students around adult services like the department of developmental services DDS which is critically important for our highest need students and the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services BRS which serves a a broader population of students beyond our high need students. >> This is for the transition. >> This is the transition coordinator. Yeah. >> I'm confused. You're saying it does not include the other things that she does. Do those fall into another category and that's where that funding is or how I'm not quite sure. Glad you asked that question. So what I was explaining Nicole had asked about her case load, right? So these are the students that she's seeing and interacting with on a very regular basis, the same group. And I had outlined in the response that there are
025nine students she's seeing in group and 17 students individually. But what I was trying to explain is that that number doesn't include this other set of responsibilities that she has in her role which includes supportive out of district students, evaluations, helping families engage with adult services. I I am mindful that there is a lot of technicality in this department I think in particular. So, I mean ask questions in whatever way I can be most helpful. Um, Nicole, you had asked, "How does the vocational specialist differ from the transition coordinator? How many students does this [music] specialist serve onetoone in a group? Um, our vocational specialist supports our highnee students at the high school. And I did want to point out that this is a part-time They're enthusiastic, right? >> Um, this is a part-time position.
026The vocational specialist provides a combination of group and individual support to 10 students. The primary roles and responsibilities of this particular position include um job coaching, supervision at various work experiences, and also support in community outings. It's a really critical part of our programming for high need students, allowing them opportunities outside of the high school, and this person helps to facilitate that. >> [snorts] >> Uh the vocational specialist is also working in conjunction with the supervisors at the job sites that we partner with, is in regular communication with them, meets with our transition coordinator to make sure that our experiences are aligned with what students need in conjunction with their IEPs and general programming. Um and has also started and maintains the community cup program at the high school. uh which if you're not aware,
027it is a coffee shop that is in the high school facilitated by our students um serving the adults in the school community and it's an amazing experience for our students and also for the people who uh visit and enjoy the services that are provided there. >> Can I ask a quick question on that? Just for clarification, both the vocational and transition coordinator, those are both those are based upon state mandates that we have. Correct. >> Yeah, great question. So, we have an obligation in Connecticut to start planning for transition for students who have IEPs, beginning the IEP when they are going to turn 14. So, all of that work starts at the middle school. It of course evolves as students age. We are not expecting a 14-year-old to know exactly um what their trajectory is,
028but we are mandated to support that work beginning in the middle school. And that's earlier. Several years ago, it was 15 and years before that it was older. I'll switch gears a little bit because the last set of questions is about the pathways program at the high school. Um, which just for context, this is an example. When I started in the district, there was an outside contracted agency running the program at the high school. Um, and we made a shift to an in-house program. Um, which is really doing amazing things on behalf of a number of of students. Um, Deb, you had asked what does the Pathways FTE mean? The Pathways program is a school within a school model. It's designed for students who have complex internalizing challenges like anxiety, depression, school avoidance. Um, this
029program provides students with the opportunity to participate in core academic classes that have a much smaller studenttoteer ratio. It is important to highlight that we have these offerings and the exciting thing about the pathways program is that students also can engage in general education classes to whatever degree that they are comfortable. So a student in the pathways program does not have to take all of their core academic classes within that program. Some students do, some students don't. The pathways FTE that's in the budget um reflects the FTE partial FTE assignments for the four core content area teachers who provide this instruction. Um it's really exciting that we are able to connect our highquality certified content area specialists um who teach a variety of other classes at the high school to support this population of students.
030And that's what that allocation represents. In addition to the teachers who are supporting select classes within that program, Nicole, you had asked please explain the role of the pathways social worker, which school do they serve, how many students, onetoone or in a group, and how does this role differ from the Pathways classroom teacher? Um, the Pathways program is specifically at the high school at this point. So, we're only serving students at the high school. The social worker assigned to this program is currently working with 15 students. That's the size of our program right now. Eight students in that program are receiving both group and individual counseling. And seven students in that program, at least at the moment, are just participating in individual counseling. Um the social worker position in that role is a mental health
031support rather than an academic support. Um and that position requires a high degree of specialized training to be able to support the complex social, emotional and behavioral needs of students in that program. Um this particular position also involves interfacing with outside agencies at certain points, private providers, an extensive amount of communication and collaboration with families. Um this position more than some of our others uh includes things like home visits. Um but that is and and we have really made it a priority to keep a social worker assigned to that particular program given the needs of that program. Kind of bringing us for full circle. This is the program that in many cases has allowed us to bring students back to the district um successfully. Um it has also helped us to introduce students [music] um
032who maybe have moved into the district who have more complex needs who might not have been able to be served within our our mainstream or more traditional programming. And that captures the questions that we sorted in this particular category from the 51. >> Before we transition into additional questions you may have, I need to just credit Dr. Edwards and the work that she's done. I think you would be very hardressed to find another district in the state of Connecticut that has reduced its tuition line five years in a row. Very hardressed. And I think it's a it's her the strategic nature and her leadership for building programming internally, staffing it accordingly with levels of expertise that allow us to have internal programming with high levels of success readily available to accept additional kids that may
033be in outplace tuitions back into district. That is not an easy feat and very difficult to do. and it's why most districts contract externally with agencies to run that program internally for them. Um, I think she's super thoughtful about the staffing, how she matches the levels of expertise of her staff to certain programmings. And I thought I think she's done an amazing job over the course of the last five years um supporting the needs of a very diverse group of students successfully for a lot of success. Um, a lot of what she presented to you is mandated and we are required to do by law. But I think how she does it is thoughtful, strategic, fiscally responsible with like highly effective staff, always focused on what's in the best interest of kids. >> Thank you.
034I would I would add that too. As the non-p profofessional, non-education professional, I wasn't aware. Thank you for explaining all the roles. I wasn't aware that Weston had all of that programming in the high school. And so, just wanted to also add color that the types of students who get to take advantage of those programs are the ones who have highly highly individualized needs, who without a doubt, if we did not have this programming, they would there would be out of district tuition payments and transportation costs for those students. So, thank you. You can ask questions related to special education and Dr. Edwards and the team would be happy to respond. [laughter] >> It's a It's a staffing question, but it relates to because she just talked about staffing. >> Special ed. >> Yeah, it
035is special ed. It's all it's about counselors and guidance. And I I thought I heard in our online meeting that that either a science teacher was giving guidance or a guidance teacher was teaching science halftime, right? So, it was I was like, is it it's not whether it's true or not. It's like is that I guess it's like is that accurate and is that how we would deploy resources because I thought when I heard the pathway program where they're in-class teachers then my mind was like oh maybe it's an in-class science teacher that's teaching to the pathway program but maybe you can address that because that that you know in my mind I like to separate science teaching from the other necessary resources that we need to apply to looks like looks like a fairly
036large population in our high school. >> I think I can clarify. I think you're referring to the academic support um position, which is actually not under the umbrella of PPS and special education. It's under the umbrella of MTSS and general education. And I think at some point you're going to talk about that. I am. >> I think staff comes later. >> Thank you. Um, I think we're ready to move on. >> Just wanted to reiterate this will all be written up and posted on the website. >> Yes. >> Because I, you know, after a certain point, I said, "Wait a minute, I'm going to see it in writing later." So, >> yes, >> actually, I think it'll be helpful for the public as well. After each meeting, when we respond to a certain set of
037questions, there will be a document on the website under the budget section where we will include responses to the questions after we've presented them to the board and that will be updated after each meeting as we get to more and more questions. >> I had asked some questions about academic support. Does that fall under Tracy? >> It does not. >> Okay, there we go. Sorry. >> Good question. All right, thank you very much. Um, moving on, we are going to now enter a series of questions around finance, operations, safety, and security. Many of which, um, Phil will be responding to this evening. Mr. Cross. >> Good evening, everyone. Um, try to follow the same format as Tracy did. Uh Sharon, you were looking for some sorry clarification around um what's included in districtwide. Um districtwide
038in general covers all costs that are that are not allocated to an individual cost center. For example, items such as health insurance and payroll taxes. Um Deb, you had a general question about utilities. I'm sorry. I don't have to call the board members, but it was a general question. >> It's fine. It's absolutely fine. We're just We're just we're just you know tell it'll tell who's who's asking really bad questions. [snorts] >> So there's a general question surrounding our utility cost there's concern is um are the levels maintainable and how do we get there? Um so what we have as it relates to electricity in fiscal 25 we saw a significant increase to the delivery charge by Eversource. um what we did for fiscal in fiscal 26 those delivery charges are tw trending slightly lower
039than they were in fiscal 25 in addition to that we do have a new contract for on the supply side which is fixed so combination so one of the reasons why we did not increase any expenditures for fiscal 27 was we have fixed rate for supply and because we're seeing a trending decrease in the distribution rate. So, relatively we are holding the budget for fiscal 27 at the same levels as fiscal 26. As it relates to natural gas, again, what we're seeing year-over-year is that our usage is relatively the same. In fiscal coming into fiscal 26, we were closing out a new contract. Um, so that the rates there were pretty much an estimate. We have a new contract in place and those new rates are lower than what we have budgeted. So with those
040lower rates, we're able to in effect hold the budget the same as it was in fiscal 26. >> I'm trying not to call names, so I'm not going to call names. Okay, >> just just so you know, I am kind of paraphrasing the question, not reading them verb. Um, Nicole, you had some clarif some clarifying questions relating to repairs. Um, so what what we have done for in the repairs line in general is that that line has not seen an increase in several years. What we're doing for fiscal 27 is to adjust a slight we've seen uptick in the cost. So we're just making a slight adjustment to kind of align the budget to be more in line with what we're seeing in terms of what the actual cost is year-over-year. If you look at
041those expenditures um over the past several years, you'll notice that they're slightly ticking up. So we just wanted to make a slight adjustment. as our budget gets squeezed, we have less room um to to absorb any kind of deficits. So, we wanted to ensure that we had money budgeted to cover these costs. Um there was also a question um around the pool. The all costs for the pool, these are shared costs between the board of education and the town. Um so we're this covers salaries and also supplies. So this cost again the cost that we're seeing for supplies um is trending on slightly upwards and this also accounts for salaries and al payroll taxes and pension costs for those employees as well. So these are town employees and we pay a portion of that. Also
042you'll notice not in your question but there is also a line within our budget um for a chargeback so to speak a revenue offset. So the board of education does charge a talent for utilities. Um you had a question as it relating to supplies for both custodial and materials and the same answer would apply to R&M. We're pretty much just getting those those budget lines in line with what we're seeing for true expenditures. Uh there were several questions Sharon, Deb, and Nicole um surrounding management fees. Um management fees covers consulting fees, administrative costs, and also compliance fees as it primarily relates to employee benefits. So for example, we have a company that manages um our retirement accounts, our retirement plan, so to ensure that we're in compliance with um the IRS guidelines or federal law.
043We also have a cost for um FSA which is section 125 criator plan of the IRS. Um the significant increase that we're seeing for fiscal 27 has to do with the fees for our health insurance consultant. We mentioned at the start of the school year that we did not budget for that in fiscal 26. That was a mess on my part. um because we in for the prior prior two years those costs were absorbed um by the insurance provider. So this cost here I think is like 30 mid30s really accounts for the cost relating to our health insurance consultant. Sharon also had a clarifying question as it relates to the cost for a mile of safety and whether or not that included the cost for our S for our SRO though the amount there 122,000
044thereabouts only accounts for our mile of safety and also for fire the SRO has been covered by the by the police department we do have some money allocated in our budget for training but that's a minimal cost >> just out of curiosity okay mile of safety officer fire. What is the fire? >> Um, when we have large group events, um, we do need to have some fire someone from the fire department here. >> Okay. >> I think it's called fire monitor or something like that. >> Okay. >> Fire marshall. >> There you go. >> Okay. Perfect. >> You're welcome. >> Overtime. Again over the years we we have tried extremely hard to to kind of keep our budget at a certain levels. Um so we have strategically not had a lot of increases and a
045lot of lines. We have been sort of kind of hopeful that there will be some kind of savings in other categories to offset that. But as the budget budget gets squeezed we are finding as mentioned in those other categories that we do have to make those adjustments. What we're seeing in our overtime line is a little bit of an uptick in the cost for for that. Overtime covers several things and primarily over the past two to three years we've had several multiple custodians and just multiple employees were out. So we have had to use internal coverage to kind of cover all of that. So this primarily accounts for coverage and any extra duties of the custodians and also the grounds department. So, it's custodians, it's grounds, and it's also the maintenance department. >> Just out
046of curiosity, because I don't have the number in front of me on the document that I'm looking at, but what is the percent increase year-over-year for the overtime? >> Uh, I think it's like 11% or so. >> But that's So, is there any way that we can I mean, why is it we're expecting it to be 11% more than last year? Because I think that some of the custodian issues, I think, have been resolved. I don't know. Um, so why is it you're predicting 11% I guess is my question. >> Yeah. So again, so if you look historically that line has tended to be a little bit higher. What you're seeing is actually the budgettobudget comparison and a budget-to-budget comparison is slightly higher. However, if you look at what the actuals have trended over the
047past several years, you will find that those the actual expenditures exceeded our budget lines. So, while we are trying to get everyone back in and to ensure that we have full staff, that's not always the case. Um, right now we have I know we have one person who's 10 who's out. Um, and that may be a little bit longer than we may plan. So, it's it's always difficult to anticipate um what those needs are. And again, only thing that we're trying to do is to ensure that we have enough money should the needs ar should a need arise to fund this expenditure and then I am going to pause and Julie's going to take over. >> Hi everyone. Um there were a series [music] of questions that were asked related to substitutes so I'm going
048to proceed through those at this point. Sharon um you asked for clarification and thank you for the question because we use different terms to um refer to our substitutes. You asked, can you please differentiate between substitute teachers, building subs, and long-term subs? So substitute teachers is just a broad term that we use to encompass um our daily substitutes, building substitutes, and long-term substitutes. Building substitutes, who we sometimes refer to as permanent substitutes, are full-time staff members who are routinely deployed to cover classroom responsibilities in the absence of teachers. Their assignments shift from day to day and sometimes from hour to hour, but they work daily. Daily substitutes are engaged on a PDM basis when additional substitute coverage is required beyond uh our building substitutes. Long-term substitutes are assigned to particular roles when we have extended
049absences uh amongst our staff and when they are anticipated for instance in a maternity leave coverage situation. These are typically certified teachers where building substitutes and daily substitutes often are not. Deb you asked the question, do building substitutes receive health benefits and what is the rate for daily subs? So, our substitute rates effective uh as of January 1st, 2026 are as follows. Our daily substitute teacher rate, that's the PDM rate, is $123 a day. Our substitute paraheducator rate is an hourly rate, $1694, aligned with the Connecticut minimum wage. And our building substitutes, again, our full-time staff members um are earning $130 a day. Building substitutes become eligible for participation in employeeonly health benefits after a 90-day probationary period. At this current moment, only one of those staff members is partaking in those benefits. Sharon, you
050asked the question. Um the category building subs went from an expenditure of $140,966 in2425 to $23,175 in2526. Um you stated in the past when cost has increased we have um later returned to regular levels and asked for the reason for a sustained increase. So, the budget for building substitutes for FY25 was $23,175. There were some difficulties filling positions that resulted in an actual expenditure that was less than what was budgeted. So, the FY27 budget amount for building substitutes is actually unchanged from FY25 [music] and FY26 budgets. And finally, Deb, you asked how budgeting for substitutes is done. Um, as I'm sure you can imagine, substitute needs are very challenging to anticipate from year to year. Um, because there are a variety of needs that are changing and that arise sometimes um, very quickly. The strategy
051has been to maintain consistency within the budgeted line item and offset any unfavorable balance through FML savings. So often if a teacher is taking an extended leave um all or some portion of that leave may be unpaid and therefore there is an offset there. The substitute budget has been unchanged as I previously stated over the past five budget cycles. Can I ask just a follow-up question that my main um driver in asking the substitute question was health benefits and if all building subs were getting health benefits that could be um pricey but you're saying that one is availing themselves. Did I hear that correctly? >> Yes, currently one and our building substitutes um are only when they become eligible are only eligible for employeeonly coverage. Oh, self self not family. Correct. Is that what that
052means? Oh, yes. All right. All right. That helps reassure me a little bit. Thank you. >> Can I can I ask a question? [laughter] So, your LA Julie, your your last statement was the last five budget cycles, the amount of the mix of subs has been constant. No, the dollar spent's been constant. >> The budget has been constant. >> No, I think it was the last five budget cycles. Didn't you say the last five budget cycles >> or just the last two? >> Have they Well, I don't have it in front of me. >> Are you looking at actuals or are you looking at budget? I guess actual versus budget. So actual is 20 actual for 2022 through 2025 and then budget for 2526 projected for 2526 and then requested. That's what So I'm look
053what I'm looking at now is is for substitute teachers the actual was 246,000 in 2023 2022 23 and a little bit less in 2324. It went back up to 20 239,000 and 2425 budget for this year was 178 projected is 178 and then requested was 178. So you went down. >> No, this So the the first three years, Sharon, yeah, >> those are actuals. >> Those were actuals, >> correct? And then so we the 178 that you're referring to, that number has not changed over the past several years. So I think I think I think we have to separate it, right? So we're looking at we're trying to look at individual lines for subs. We're trying to look at the daily subs, the building subs, and our long-term subs. Right? In our mind, when we
054think about substitute in general, we're looking at that full bucket of money and that full bucket of money is available to us and it's just a matter of how that funds are allocated. What you'll see over the past several years is that the line for a long-term sub that number has grown significantly. But as Julie mentioned, while one of the reasons strategically why we have not increased the substitute budget over time is that we said, okay, it's difficult to determine right what our substitute needs will be. Let's hold that number constant and if we have a need as in excess of that we we hopefully will have some savings in um for FML and and the like and in the past we have seen that so there's not been so while the substitute in the
055actual substitute expenditure has been a little bit higher you'll normally historically but well over the past few years we've had a relative offset in salaries above above up top >> it looks like it's higher in the substitute teacher and it is higher in the long-term substitute, but when it comes to building substitute, it's lower. So, it all you basically it's the same pool of money. It's just how you guys are allocating it budget. So, all right. >> Well, I would think also [music] in the last in that list, the compensation for each capability has gone up, right? I mean, has the minimum wage was in 1694, five years ago, it was less, right? >> Yeah. What what what you'll also see typically for a long-term sub or a long-term sub are subs that really are
056here for the majority if not entire year and those teachers technically come in at a much higher rate than what you will see for a daily sub or for a building sub. >> So the mix is about the same except you may have a long-term sub because that's like the dynamic, right? That could be a nine-month >> commit, right? And that could change year to year. So what I'm really fishing for here >> is the need for substitutes. Right? So the last five years, have we had more of a need teachers not in a class for a day or not in a classroom for an hour or the same needs or has it decreased? And what I'm really saying is are teachers chronically absent or they not chronically absent because no teaching means no learning
057typically for that day. And I know as a parent I've seen that. So I'm a little concerned, but it looks like you've it may not be as bad as I thought it was because it seems pretty consistent. But let's answer that question now. And then the other parents that are listening or want to know, no, do we have a chronic absentee issue with our teachers in our school district. So, we monitor um staff attendance on on a routine basis, but I without an opportunity to kind of look back and give you that five-year look, I I don't necessarily want to answer that question on the fly, but I am happy to bring you some some long-term trends. >> Let's do that. I think that's healthy for for me for multiple reasons. >> Can I ask
058just one question on the budget or substitutes? It's a it's you can't predict teachers being out. So you use your best guess to simply copy and paste from the previous years. By the end of the day, end of the budget year, but the money isn't expended, it's surplus. And now we have the opportunity to keep that surplus in our own budget for the following year. So, isn't this line item really just good housekeeping so that we don't run under budget and a combination of best guesstimate based on past run rates? Okay. I I think the answer to that is going to be no. >> Okay. um because I was trying to actually to to get the data that that shows what the actuals are compared to budget. We've never been under um in recent years
059in in in that category. So, it's not just there pretty much, you know, to to kind of cushion our open. I think that number is solid, right? I think the only difference that has made since I've been here was that just to as we open the books, right, we wanted to differentiate or to better delineate the various substitute that that we have. So when we added the long-term substitute line, the only thing that we did was just reallocate the money from the sub pool. So in answer to your question right so we have seen the needs of the staff and for whatever reason changes every year and the reasons why a staff member may be out is going to be different in any given year. Um so while we can't anticipate that I think the
060numbers that I said just on the base number is adequate if we should go over from that we definitely have that offset in the sh line if that answers your question. Yeah, it's more along the lines of this seems like a tri a trivial dollar amount because we need substitute teachers. You can't schedule or sorry, you can't budget for something that's unknown. And if we don't have a need, that's great. The teachers are healthy. They're able to come and that budget item becomes surplus. So, I'm not suggesting it's put in there for surplus purposes. What I'm simply saying is it seems like it's essentially it's a placeholder and it's a placeholder that we need. So I think dissecting it is sort of feudal. >> Yeah. And and in in a year such as this um
061when we we're seeing um deficits we hope um that we'll have favorability and a substitute line that will help to mitigate that deficit. But again it's still early in the year to kind of tell what that is. Um and the surplus, you know, there's a lot of conversation about the surplus and what we should do with that. Um we always welcome the conversation with the board of finance in terms of what should be done um with surplus funds, if there are any, of course. >> Um I just have a question. Our daily um subs are paid 123 a day. Is that market rate, dur rate? Are subs hard to find? Um it is very much in line with our Durge um partners. Um there are some districts that have a different kind of a model
062where they have they um have more building substitutes than we might and they they they pull from that pool more so than they would from from the PDM group. Um we have historically in recent years had some difficulty filling substitute positions. Um, we currently have a vacant building substitute position. So, anyone who's interested in becoming a building substitute at Weston High School, we'd encourage you to apply. Thank you for the opportunity for that plug. Um, but we have been um largely very lucky this year that we have um a both a veteran and um highly qualified building substitute pool. And we've just recently brought on a group of new PDM substitutes as well. um and we continue to add to that pool as we find qualified candidates. So I think we are in a good
063place and we are always looking to ensure that we have that coverage available. >> Thank you. >> I think there are two more questions. There's a question Nicole you wanted clarification or just you needed to know what the rates have been for our ELC rates. Um so a fiveyear look back in fiscal year 23 that rate was $7,18. Following year $7,315 it was then it went up to $8,039. In current fiscal year is $8,277 and for budget year fiscal budget year 27 we have a placeholder of $9,277. Um just so that you know typically what we do is twofold. Um the rate for ELC is normally increased by whatever the budget increases. Um every two years or so we normally do a market adjustment. So I think for the past five years there's been two
064or so um adjustment. The largest adjustment will happen in and we're set for another market adjustment um of fiscal 27. Final question. >> Well, the question would be why don't we do it sooner? >> I think what when we have done it over the past two years, I think we have we did not see that much movement. So I think we have the cycle of um every two years I think is adequate. We do look at it and if there's any significant increases um we do change it. There is our our model is somewhat different from the neighboring Durks. We try to be somewhere close to that. >> Okay. All right. I'm just um I get the sense that there's some interest in in there might be potential to raise that [snorts] rate um just
065because of demand and um comparing it to um you know private vendors or you know preschools in other towns that are private. So this is a we're proposing a fairly significant increase compared to previous years for the upcoming budget year. I think your question was why not sooner. Part of that is we need to notify families about change in tuition and so we're looking at this next cycle but we also and I know there's some discrepancy between private preschool programs and public preschool programs. Um, we tend to be less expensive than private programs, which is not atypical. We do monitor though what the cost is for us. Phil said other Duray and comparable districts, and we've been pretty consistently in line um with that. So, and we have given families notice about this projected cost
066for proposed fiscal year 27. >> Thank you, Nicole, for the comparatives. Um, I did have some follow-up questions regarding if those were 12 month programs or 10-month programs, but we really appreciate that information. >> Admon I recognize that because I did ask that question, Debbie, that I said I would could like suggest an increase because I did share all of the a number of private programs understanding that this is public, not private. But um I do think for so many Weston residents, ELC preschool is far preferable than sending our young children to private programs in neighboring towns, but it's really the only option that they have. So that was why I suggested it. >> And one one quick thing for me, I'm surprised Phil didn't give me any credit because, you know, every year I
067say exactly what Nicole just said. We're we're we're totally in sync on this. I've said the words that we should be charging a combination of market rate and value we and and I think we don't and it's lost opportunity and I think that we really should look at and maybe this is the first year that we're actually making an adjustment that's really more geared towards the value of the of the ELC education because it is phenomenal as a parent who had a child go through it through identified need and not getting the lottery for a child who did not. So I I think that we should really look at the tuition for ELC and look are we charging market rate and I'll leave it at that but it is something I think I've championed that
068you will agree probably every year I've been on this board. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sorry. Also, Erica, I can't remember if I answered your question or not. They were 10-month programs. I don't remember if I said that, but they were all most of them were shorter school days than the ELC, too. while we're talking about ELC. Um, first of all, I think we all agree with the sentiments around the quality of that program. Um, and I appreciate the personal anecdotes that are shared around experiences within that program. It is an amazing program and I think suffice it to say we will continue to monitor the cost and continue to take feedback into account about that cost. We had a record number of lottery participants um this year. We had 55 families say I want
069my child to be in the ELC program. Um, and so we have spoken in previous meetings about the expansion of the ELC program from four sections in the current school year to five sections [music] for the upcoming school year, which does two primary things. Um, one, it expands opportunities for families who have applied through the lottery, which is a win. We get more students engaging in our programs at an earlier age. It also reduces our ratios of general ed or of special education students to general education students. Um, which just creates for a more balanced classroom and greater ability to provide more targeted support to the identified students within each classroom. So, I think this is a very exciting step for the ELC program and again I think we're going to continue to look at
070how things are going. um participation, engagement, community interest, and all of that information in conjunction with tuition. >> Can you remind us of of class sizes for the ELC? >> So, for um next school year, class sizes will be at approximately 14 students per class. um which is a little bit larger than we typically have and we're able to do that because of that slightly reduced ratio of special education to general education students which again expands opportunities um for everybody. So that's the the average knowing that we have students transitioning in the program in our threes throughout the school year. Um but we've our projections have been fairly solid with those numbers um in the years leading up to this one. >> Sorry, can I >> I just wanted to ask a clarifying. You said
071in the you're planning for the upcoming school year to charge 9,277. Just to just to note in the budget it says it's 8,525. >> What page did that? >> That was page 224. Tracy, one more quick question. Um, h I would imagine the higher enrollment or in interest and enrollment we have in ELC helps also plan kindergarten. Do you have a number? How many of the students that start in ELC either stay in Weston or wind up someplace else? It's the same question. >> Yes. And this actually I'm so glad you brought this up because Sharon asked a question in one of our workshops um that I couldn't answer at the time. So this is the second time in my time in Weston where we have had five sections of preschool instead of [music] four.
072um it it didn't have an impact on the number of kindergarten sections, [music] but that's a little bit that could be misleading in that that also happens to align with the same year that kindergarten entry changed. And so I don't know if that was a factor. It's very hard to look at ELC enrollment and make any conclusions about kindergarten because not all of our kindergarten students are going through the ELC program. Um, I do think it's fair to say that most, if not almost all of our students who participate in the ELC program are staying in Weston. I mean, you have an occasional family who moves and circumstances like that, but we are seeing our ELC students transition to kindergarten um, and first and second within the Hurlbut community. and and credit to the Hurlbut
073team for integrating the ELC program in the [music] fabric of that school, which is not always the case. um when you have a a preschool program within the structure of a public school, they are very much part of the elementary experience and have access to special area classes. Um and also a great deal of alignment in terms of curriculum and content and preparation for kindergarten. >> I just have one last question on this. What limits sort of your capture because you said there's a lottery. So it's you know it's a 4 to 10 ratio now for five sections. What is it that you always need that four let's say and then you build out from there? So or can you have classrooms that don't have the four identified need children? I mean this is sort
074of a general question for the parents out there but then I I'll take it a step further. So the four isn't necessarily a significant number, although it is in terms of how our numbers fell for this year. Um, all of our ELC classes are always going to be integrated classes, meaning we have general education peers and students who qualify for special education services because that's the that is the primary purpose of that program. Um, in terms of planning, we look at how many students are projected to come to us from birth to three for our threes classes in the upcoming school year. How many students in our threes classroom are moving to our four's classroom? And what's the best way to balance those classes? And then from a a legal standpoint, we are not supposed
075to exceed a 50/50 ratio. So just for ease of conversation, if we had 10 students per ELC class, which is not the size, but if we did, we should only have five identified students at the most. Otherwise, it becomes a special education classroom instead of a general education classroom. And we are required to provide our preschool students opportunities in general education classrooms. Final question for me. Uh Deb wanted some more information relating to turnover savings and the impact that our early retirement incentive will have on on that number. Uh the budget amount for turnover saving, which was increase for fiscal year 26, we're going to hold that number for fiscal 27 is $370,000. um as to how this will the net of this will be reduced by payments for early retirement incentives. So the net
076number will be lower. So 37 for example, right? So we have 370 as savings because we have an ERP and we'll be making payments for the ERP, that number will lower. For example, if the total amount for the EUR is 100,000, the net savings will be 270,000. >> I'm just wondering how we budget if it's going to come in less. Did you didn't budget anything for e-rip then? that because of timing the ERP was approved after we the budget book was prepared. >> Okay. All right. I just don't want to see us in the red. >> No, no, no. What's going to happen? What typically happens dev is that we started with one number and as we go through the process if there is any adjustment we'll make those adjustments and the board will ultimately
077vote on a revised number if the number is revised. >> Does that make sense? So for example, >> but will will it change our bottom but it won't change our bottom line? >> We have to we the budget as it stands right now the budget as it stands right now does not include that the payment for the ER rep because the payment for the ERIP was approved after the budget book was prepared. >> Oh okay. So this bottom line of you know I can't quote the exact millions um can go up. >> It it's a possibility that it could go up. But but again but but again again again as as as Tracy as Tracy mentioned and there's other stuff that we need to talk about. Okay. There was some potential adjustments that we have
078that for for staff which will be discussed. So while I understand that it can't go up the question was whether or not it will impact it and the honest answer is that it will impact it. >> Okay. All right. And that's it for me. >> Thank you, Dr. Javon and Mr. Cross. We appreciate all your efforts and responses to those questions and for Dr. Edward's additional comments. Um, I think this is a good point just to pause after what Phil just discussed. Um, there are some moving targets relative to the budget. things happen on a daily basis, things change. So, we're trying to pinpoint a moment in time to capture that and then bring some revisions forward um to the board. But, we wanted to get through some of these preliminary conversations in advance of
079doing that to hear your input, your feedback, your questions um and any additional reductions that um you are suggesting. Okay. So if we have no other questions uh specific to uh the where were we? We we were finance operations safety and security we are going to move on to technology [music] and we have uh Mr. Dan Devito with us this evening. >> Good evening everybody. Uh the first uh couple of questions I'm going to group together was by Deb and Nicole which is basically uh why do the laptops have to be replaced for all teachers at the same time? Can they be replaced as needed? If we had to slow down the replacement of teacher laptops, what would that look like? Deb also asked, "Have we compared lease versus purchase approaches?" So, uh, we currently
080use leasing for all major uh, technology hardware purchases. This approach began in 2021. Each lease is a 48month term with a $1 buyout at the end of the lease. So, the $370,000 request uh for staff laptops, the actual uh financial impact for FY27 is a little bit under $100,000. The current staff laptops are 5 years old and they're nearing the end of their functional life. Uh with the Microsoftmandated upgrade to Windows 11, our staff laptops have become even slower and they're overheating more frequently. When devices overheat, they tend to break more frequently. So, hardware on many of our laptops are failing and due to a shortage of replacement parts, the only option is a complete replacement. There have been several hundred work orders regarding staff laptop issues just since September of 2025. The staff laptops
081get heavy use, not just for instructional purposes. And the biggest ask that I get from staff members is when are the laptops getting replaced because it's slowing down my work because of how much they either crash or just hang or freeze. If we were to slow down the replacement of the teacher laptops, that would push out the other technology replacement initiatives that are part of the six-year technology plan. Uh if you look at the six-year technology plan in your budget book, you see I try to keep the dollar requested year-over-year in a similar uh dollar amount. And so we wouldn't want to spike one following year to let's say $450,000 because we pushed it out. Keeping in mind we are le we have the four rolling leases, the four 48-month leases. We want that lease
082dollar amount to stay the same year-over-year. So as one lease expires, we take a new lease. So that's why we try to keep it as flat as possible with the requests every single year. If we were to push out the staff laptops and do it in phases, we would then push everything out by a year, potentially causing more issues as software as hardware becomes outdated and needs to get replaced. Deb asked the question about technology software. uh why the large increase I see the list of programs I just can't tell where the overall increase is so the majority of the increases for software is due to general increases from products we have current subscriptions to there are some products that they came in and they told us that it is higher than like a standard
083let's say 3% increase closer to like a 10% increase and we have looked at alternatives and we've tried to determine you know what the best step is moving forward there were several products that were needed to be purchased for FY26, such as the middle school e-haul pass software that are included in the FY27 budget. And for fiscal year 27, there's only one new software that's added right now. It's a placeholder, and that's a subscription to an AI product for the district. Uh Tina and I spoke about it at the curriculum committee meeting uh this month. Uh the $12,000 line is currently a placeholder until the district AI advisory committee recommends and moves forward with a product. Deb also asked uh the staffing tech uh technology technicians, how is the 7.0 FTE allocated? There are four
084buildingbased technicians who support the day-to-day needs in each school and we have three additional IT specialists at the district level that provide district-wide support including software licensing, data management, state reporting, system operations, network backend infrastructure. On average, we have about 850 support tickets that are placed per quarter. This does not include projects, recurring tasks, or major outages. And that uh is all of the technology questions. Does anybody have any follow-ups or any questions? Can I just add one piece to Dan's um response regarding the placeholder for the AI tool? We do receive quotes from the companies that we're exploring. So, it's not just a random number. We are looking at um the amount is [music] based on the different quotes that we've received from the four companies that we presented at the curriculum subcommittee that
085we are still in process of reviewing and exploring before we're making the decision on which one we'd like to adopt. And as Tina spoke about at the curriculum committee meeting, what the budget does not include is the eventual idea that some of the the AI products that we're looking at could potentially replace some of our existing software subscriptions over a few years uh depending on all these products. They they are constantly adding new new features to these AI subscriptions. So we're looking at all right does this now if we if we purchase this product does in now or in a year from now does this create a redundancy with the software subscription that we currently have and can we now get rid of that other software subscription any further questions on technology Dan Dina thank
086you very much. Um, moving on to curriculum, instruction, and academics. That's me. 8:23. Yes, I'm here. Um so the first question that I'm going to talk about this evening uh kind of relates to something that overlaps between the curriculum and instruction um department and the and the IT department and that's testing. Debbie you asked a question about um some of the increased costs over time uh within the testing line. um if it's an increased amount and how why is there an increased amount and how do we assess if [music] the time spent testing is worth the loss of instructional time and increased time spent on data analysis? All great questions. Um I'm a visual person so I'm going to speak to page I think 163 to 164 in your budget book. It's under purchased services.
087The object code [music] is testing. It's 3235. when most of my responses when I when we provide them to you, I do screenshot things and I do provide some summary charts in there too. So, even though I might narrate it this evening, you will get some follow-up um information that I speak out loud to within a chart format. All right, we there. Okay. So, [clears throat] although individual testing costs fluctuate based on enrollment and vendor pricing, the overall testing budget from last year to this year actually has decreased by 11% which is a reduction of approximately $16,000. And the district has not added any new assessments from last year requested into next year um within this line. So, you'll see the Yep. You'll see that the uh curriculum and instruction that testing and evaluation line
088includes OLSET testing our NWA assessments that we administer three times a year throughout the year. Our literacy assessment which is statemandated uh which is Dibbles 8 for kindergarten through third grade three times a year. It's also includes um our nagleary testing uh assessment that we use for identification for students in our gifted and talented program. our biiteracy assessments which is lost links assessments which is how we identify students that are receiving services for multilingual purposes and it also [music] includes special education assessments that are needed uh to identify and support the special education department. So the number, the type and the frequency of assessments have remained stable for the past three years with no new assessments with that we've added in this line. In fact, the overall testing budget has decreased from last year to
089this year as I mentioned um and cost fluctuations are driven by per student licensing and enrollment changes rather than on expansion of testing. you you'll see that that transition. When we adopted our new reading program, we also based on state mandates, we had to adopt a um universal screening assessment in reading based on a reading list that the state provided. That is when uh that first shift from uh the increase from 20 thank you 2425 to 2520 23 24 to 2425 because we needed to increase the number of licenses across the district to K3. Um [clears throat] the assessments included under this budget line represent a stable framework. They're aligned to our curriculum implementation, state requirements, student identification processes as I mentioned earlier. um and they support uh the identification of students uh within our
090MTSS program which our framework which we'll talk about in a little bit uh special education eligibility our talented and gifted program um mathematics reading um and also our multilingual programming um and services that we provide through our multi-tiered system of support framework. Um, and that's about it in that section. Question. >> Yeah. No, I appreciate it. Um, and I was looking backwards, not forwards. I realized the year to year is not an is not a significant Well, it's reduction, which is great. >> Well, it actually it's a big jump between n or what was it 20 >> 2425 to 2526. So, that looks significant. And I was just trying to figure out what what happened there. So you think part of that was the K2 licensing? >> Uh K3 >> K3 for reading. >> Yep.
091>> Uh we had to actually change the assessment. So um we used to use paper pencil. It now transitioned to online and the cost per student per license increased. >> Okay. All right. And and I don't need to go into the detail tonight, but just wondering that last question about instructional time versus testing time. And are we happy with the amount that we test? That's it. Just, you know, >> we don't have it's a loaded question. >> We and again, we can put that off on, you know, in a more educational kind of discussion, but I understand the financial stuff tonight. So, thanks for that. >> Sure. >> Okay. The next series of questions probably will take us into 10 o'clock. Um, >> yeah. No, I mean you you need you need to decide where
092a good place to stop is because we will not go past 9. >> So if you want to start fresh tomorrow morning, that's great. Or if there's a segment that you could get done in half an hour, totally up to you both of you. >> Let me just look at the question after this one that we prepared. because this one's three pages in my response. Um, and the next one is another page and then we go into enrollment which talks about the diad models and the teameing model. Yeah. So, I wonder if this might be a good logical place to stop, >> especially since I have some charts. I'd like to put the visuals up tomorrow. Yeah, I think that's >> In all honesty, we did not anticipate getting this far. So, I'm really really
093thrilled. I think let's see, we we made it through 29 questions. >> Yeah. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you >> for the opportunity and and thank you to the team. The extensive amount of work and thought that went into responding to your very very very good questions that really allowed us like an on-ramp to put some really great information, detail, and help educate not only hopefully our board members but our overall community. Um we felt like that this was a great opportunity to do that. So thank you to the team for your hard work. We're looking forward to continuing the conversation tomorrow. Um and thank you to the board for your thought. >> Okay. All right. Well and again um the board echoes uh your thanks Erica to the team who put all this
094together. I I know what a lot of work that is. So very clear and easy to understand. And if I can follow it, that's a great sign. [laughter] It means it's probably uh good for everyone. Um okay, so is there a um motion to adjurnn? >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? All right. Thank you. And we'll see you tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Thank you.