001ing with the pledge of allegiance. So, if you could stand and think about or look at our flag. Thanks. I pledge allegiance 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. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um I just want to sort of bring us or just kind of do a little bit of a summary of where we've been. In December we began these special meetings around facilities and with consultants from Slam and Collier we reviewed uh the studies and the info information that's been done between uh starting in 2017 going up to 2024. Uh we also learned or heard about anyway the state reimbursement process for major construction projects both the criteria and the process and the
002timeline. And as a board we came to consensus about at least trying to aim to apply for any state grant um by the uh June 30th of this year. But we are also we remain aware that the grant application to the state does not necessarily have to come before a referendum. So there is a little flexibility there, but we'd still like to be as aggressive as we can and try to do it by this June 30th at all possible. Um we also um talked about uh what else? um additional information that we would and background that we as a board would like to gather. And then um uh what came up and then the EOCC committee met and what came up uh was um I'm going to quote Nicole now. It's her words that she
003would like a um holistic and other people concurred with this kind of a holistic view of our situation. um not only focusing on the middle school but taking a slightly broader view and then kind of working our way in. So that's why we're um here tonight. We're going to do two things. Um one is here the town perspective from the first select woman's Sam Neestor's point of view and we really thank her for taking the time to be with us tonight. And we're also going to hear about other major school capital projects. We've seen them uh in the budget, but we just kind of want to uh highlight them a little bit tonight so we know what else is on the horizon besides trying to address the middle school. So with that, I'm just going
004to turn it over to uh Sam. And again, thank you so much for coming and speaking to us. You've been obviously here a lot longer than I have, and you have the the whole town perspective. and we just want to hear your thoughts about what kind of facilities issues does the town see that might impact uh the school campus. >> Well, thank you Debbie and thank you to everybody uh at the school and on the board. Happy new year to all of you. Um, and I am, it'll be a repeat for some folks, but uh, I wanted to just let you all know that we are focused in a a few different directions. Uh, all of what I'm saying is public knowledge. Um, in fact, many of these um, projects have been funded in the
005past two budget periods or through previous grants. Uh, so there's there's no brand new information, but when Debbie and I were talking, what we realized is we've never actually had the conversation bringing it all together in in one place. Uh, so the the town has some very much deteriorating facilities. Uh, top of mind has always been the annex, uh, which is well past its useful life. And we are currently working with an engineering relocation options for the town employees that are currently housed in the annex. Um, and that was funded with money from last year. Uh, and so with that building, I think it's getting close to 25 years old. uh and it was the Kinderland uh from when uh WHIS was uh being built. So uh that we we are working on that. Uh
006so we will need to put our building department uh our land use department really real public facing and human services and our fire marshall. uh those are public-f facing uh uh departments uh that actually are some of them are our biggest revenue drivers as well. Uh in addition uh we have a deteriorating building which is the parks and wreck building which sits upon our village district v rezone village district. uh we need to find a home uh and again we are working with an engineering firm uh to relocate them uh and h with a standalone location where the um more more house uh heady house is um in that location and those are the programming areas that we are looking at. Obviously, the senior center is very important to us. Uh whether they expand, stand
007alone. Um we will know more I believe uh once we get our survey back. Um but we we really want to be able to be focused uh in the facilities and looking things holistically on the senior center. At the same time, h it feels like forever to me, but it only has been a couple of years. Uh we are in the design phase of redoing the school and town water treatment water system. Uh that system has been operating with a um POS filter for a couple of years now and we have uh been enrolled in the state revolving fund program to redo the entire booster booster plant. Uh we went through the feasibility study. uh we are now in the design phase and we are hoping in the next year that that um uh that
008portion of the clean water uh for the department of public health uh that will be completed in the next couple of years. Um the other part of the water side is we have been doing studies on the xenon plant um that uh go back Phil it goes back a long time right um and we've been looking at capacity issues um uh and uh ways of hooking the school and uh the hurlbut school and our town facilities because we have um been at capacity for our SEP IC system and so no expansions have been really able to go on at the library or really anywhere else in our area. So we have been looking at that. Um and obviously our uh town hall we will be needing to do a major HVAC overhaul uh uh over
009the next in the next five years. Um and lastly uh we have engaged in a feasibility study uh to start compliance with the 2040 electric bus mandate uh where the engineering firm has looked at is looking at the current bus depot as a as a location and two other possible locations. Um, so those are I mean it doesn't sound that many, but it's kind of everything. We these are nothing. The only thing really new uh is from the 2020 uh uh Connecticut mandate uh for the 2040 bus mandate, but everything else is uh pretty much uh been the same. and we'll have, you know, I'm looking forward really to the town survey ending. Uh the portal closes on January 9th, which is this Friday, and I really am interested in seeing sort of where folks
010priorities lie. Uh I think we're already at almost 20% response, so it's not bad. So, >> can I ask a quick question? >> Yeah. >> First of all, thank you. That sounds like you're saying it's not much, but that sounds like a lot. Um, so the question that I have is, um, you talked about the the town offices that are currently in Kinderland and you have you've currently made plans to move them over closer to Morehouse, correct? Or that? >> No, not them. Not them. the the the we we are working with an engineering firm to get c to get designs and you know what our options are. Parks and wreck would go to where the recreation fields are. >> Okay. All right. >> So they would know where the sports fields are. We um
011are currently, you know, the first order of business for the engineering firm was looking at each of the current locations. Yeah. >> And then saying, you know, can we stay, can we not stay? And coming up with different options of what would it be to bring all of and I we're we're currently getting those. What would it be to move all of parks and rack and all of the annex to town hall and that's just not possible given our septic capacity and given the amount of room that we can grow there. um and giving given the costs that it would probably entail. Um but >> so the consideration then is potentially moving parks and wreck closer to the soccer fields which makes sense and then potentially moving the building inspector the all that over to
012parks and wreck that building. Is that correct? >> Manu moving them to either we could and and this is why I'm saying we're in process. >> Okay. They could we could build the new building. Uh we we have to see what is more cost effective and what is uh um what Hold on. You're a little laggy there. I don't know if it's just me, but I've lost you've frozen, Samantha. >> Sam, I think we lost you. Okay, >> hold on. >> Sam, we lost you there. Um, >> so, um, we lost you just as you were saying. >> I'm gonna get off and back on. >> Okay. All right. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yeah. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yeah. Yeah. It was weird how you just went You lagged
013for a second. >> Okay. Sorry. I'm glad I didn't curse. I'm glad I glad I didn't curse that. Um, I think I have a child playing a video game which is, you know, cursing in the background. Um, nope. You froze again. Uh, >> Sam, I think I think you're gonna have to boot your kid off the video game because you're freezing. You're freezing. >> Can you hear me now? >> Is it better? >> You're still frozen. >> Sam, if you just turn off your video, sometimes that helps with the Wi-Fi. >> Yeah, as great as your hair looks tonight, we'll we'll hear you better. >> Right. Can you hear me now? We can hear you. A little better. >> Great. Great. Um, so we do not have completed plans. Okay. >> Or even the options
014yet because money was part of, you know, part of a a budget part of the budget process. So what the engineering firm what we asked them to do was to find us a way to house relocate the people in the annex. So they're they are looking at town hall. They are looking at possibly building you know a new standalone building where the annex is. Um, and what we learned through this process is we could not put people from parks and wreck at town hall at the same time. And programmatically, it makes sense to have them be by the fields. Now, it's not a finished, you know, this this this the results have not been presented to the board of selectmen. Uh, they are still um, you know, tweaking design and coming up with the different
015options for us. Um, so I wish I was further along, but that's as far along as we are. >> Okay. So, I guess the main reason why I started asking this question was because I was curious about the forensic lab that we currently have on campus because that's obviously um, one of our key comp, you know, not a key component, but it's a very nice component for us to have as far as security is concerned. So, is that something that um, the town is looking to relocate as well, or is that something that we will still have the luxury of having on campus? Um that's uh for the police commission to have those conversations. And that facility is is a um statewide facility. That is a a regional facility. And if that stayed where it
016is, it could stay where it is. But that's not something that we hired the engineering firm to do. It's we hired the engineering firm to relocate our town employees. >> Okay. So that's a different conversation for us to have then. All right, that's what I wanted clarification on. Thank you. >> Hey Sam, it's Mike Leo. A quick question for you. Um, as you go through all these projects, and look, we're considering of course what's going on with the district and what the capacity is in terms of finances, what and what we may want to spend or or or can spend. Uh, of course, nothing happens in a vacuum, right? And what we're trying to assess here is together is yes what's best for the school system but also what the town can handle in terms
017of it's you know its total financing right and so I guess my question to you is it sounds like you're at various stages across these projects when do you envision when do you envision having some sense of what all of these things, let's say, will cost, just an idea, an estimate. Um, so that as we're making our decision as well, we're not getting to a point at which um it may be okay in terms of debt capacity with what we're spending, but then factoring what the town needs then may put may limit our options as far as what we do. So is there any sense to you on timeline as to when you would have an idea let's say and you know preliminary estimates as to what these things would cost. I would say to
018you that we are pretty far along in in the design side of this and uh because we've started uh six months ago and some of these projects two years ago uh we were able to uh when we were doing the when the board of finance was doing the debt capacity analysis uh we had a pretty strong sense of what the total, you know, uh, bonding would be for, let's say, town needs. Now, that'll be a year and a half prior to what we were doing. But, yeah, I would say by the end by the end of this fiscal year, we will have a very strong idea um, and be very clear on what these things cost. Um, and I had hoped that we would have had those numbers by this year, by this budget season,
019so we could have at least put some of those numbers in. Um but uh in our in our um estimates for example the water system even though we're doing the design now we estimate estimate that the water system for the state revolving fund may be maybe maybe because it changes and this is fluid maybe around $4 million but that is an entirely separate bond that is a lowcost bond that is done through the state and up to 45% is forgivable, but that would still go on to our line of debt. But that's a very different type of debt and that is a very different rollup. But it would still require uh um a special town meeting uh to be approved. That is the only number that I can really give you now. And it's taken
020me a couple of years to get that number. Um the other numbers I think will have you know I I've learned that there are cost estimates with design and then once the design is done and you have the construction estimate uh those two numbers can differ. So the only number I'm particularly comfortable with is really this uh state revolving fund number and because the num because the numbers that we had given a year and a half ago to the board of finance those were really guesses. >> Okay. So you're thinking just to put a finer point on it somewhere around July. Is that you'll have a better sense? >> We can hope. >> Okay. Okay. >> We can hope. >> I'm not I'm not I'm not holding you to it. I'm not holding you to
021this. These are a lot of moving parts. >> Sure. >> And they're very, you know, only two out of the whole list of things that I have talked about are being um produced by the same design firm, by the same engineering firm. Every every other project are different different firms. So um I want to be realistic in have in setting expectations um because but but I will also say all the programming needs all the interviews with the different departments all the spatial considerations all the conversations and uh discussion and uh research about how our team how parks and wreck and uh land use and the building department how they how their programming needs and how how much space they will need and why and how all of that's been done. We are just waiting to
022get what the different options are. >> Got it. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Sam, I just had one question. Um and it's probably about the obvious one, which would be the pool because obviously it's part of the middle school. I'm assuming that's a um and I know it's a valuable town asset and so um that is something that um needs to be um you know preserved andor maybe down the road um expanded or updated in some way. >> Am I right about that? I don't have any timeline. Sorry, I forgot I forgot about the pool. But and the pool is dep that is a big dependency with you. Um and parks and rack that is you know and and our and our um and our teams our swim teams >> um all of
023them uh uh utilize the pool but the you know parks and wreck they do the Red Cross lessons they do life you know lifeguard lesson like all of the the parks and wreck department it is a huge asset for the parks and recck department especially in the summer. >> Okay. Yeah, I just wanted to kind of I know that you you meant to say that um but maybe it's just because it was so obvious. Um I'm just trying to put all the all the things on the table um in terms of the moving parts that might affect the uh the school planning as well. So, thank you. >> Um >> and and I should say that we have a we have a 10-year plan that was done about five years ago >> that we're still
024moving through. And you know, the other the other component, the reason why it might take a little bit longer is because we're looking to see what is part of that 10-year maintenance plan, what can we remove? What can we take out of that capital plan and be replaced with these, you know, with these other projects. >> Got it. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. Um, and again, we don't want we don't want to get into the weeds tonight. Uh, but wait, Peter, you had a question. Sorry. >> Right. because uh this actually builds a little on Michael's question. Um, how much of the Xeon plant or let's put this way, how much of sewage treatment or water treatment is school district driven your capacity, right? Is it is is the school district driving more capacity
025or is it independent and it's other issues that depend on that capacity? >> So, the Xenon plant does not >> process anything from the town. in town. Yeah, because you said the library requires maybe capacity issues, right? That's >> Well, the library is on the town. We we currently are on a septic system that is at capacity that we just clean out. Yeah. >> So, where where I'm taking it is as we progress and plan are the things the school district can do to make things more efficient for those operations. But it seems like they're slightly different. So nothing we no efficiency changes changes really those operations. I mean the be fast the wire is probably >> I'm I'm not entirely sure what the question I'm not >> what what I'm saying is if we
026do things for the positive for water treatment and sewage treatment does the town benefit >> we share a water right >> we share the water the water and you know and the water system is part of the town budget and we we manage it and we um we we we're in charge of maintenance and we fix it and we're we're we're heading up this whole project. But the water school and water booster treatment plant that is, you know, that is both of us and with that improvement that is um benefits both of us. But that is that was fixed not through a school grant which I guess you know but that was fixed with the department of public health a water treatment the water the clean water program and that was with the infrastructure act
027and that money is still there and we were able to avail ourselves of it and you can get that right now I believe the the interest rate is 2% and uh you you have forgivable component of either 25% or up to 45%. So because this is an emerging contaminant and we have the POS in it, you know, there is a possibility that we will get a higher reimbursement rate for that. Um but we we got in the queue for that in 2022. So, um, if if there is an expansion of the xenon plant, um, and you're able to, you know, hook up us going uphill, get, you know, down down in the area where it's police, fire, town hall, hurlbutt, and um, and the library, our whole area, if you can hook us up there.
028um what it what it does do is it allows for more more options in in that area of the campus. So if you wanted to expand anywhere in that area, >> good to know. So if we're smart about water, smart particularly water saving features in any new build and we're smart about you don't have to be so much smart about sewage since you're on a separate system. Understood. So, I mean, we're just trying to figure out if we do something, can there be benefits to the town that we can build in the front? >> Thanks, Peter. >> All right. Thank you. Um, any other general questions? >> I just I have one question that might be a very clear obvious question, but might as well ask it. Thank you for coming, Sam. I just want
029to you said that the you have engineers coming to talk about how to relocate employees from the annex. Just to be really clear, the employees are only the town employees, not the ad employees. The engineer is not looking at all at relocating the ad employees. >> Correct. Sorry, Phil. >> Yeah. So, it's just it's finding a place for for our folks. Um and uh but but I will say to Board of Ed's credit, their area is in way better shape than our area. So they you guys may you know you guys are it's it's it looks it looks good over there. Um yes, it is just we have just looked at the town footprint. >> Okay, makes sense. All right, any other questions, comments? All right, Sam, I want to thank you for um coming
030tonight and um bullet pointing uh all the different facilities that we need to be paying attention to as the town works through your priorities um and the board works through um its priorities. Um I I think in the future we may need to come back and want to come back and have a further dialogue as we get closer to um you know some options that we're considering. then we need to have another dialogue at that point. So, thank you >> and I appreciate it. And when we are further along and when the board of selectmen kind of gets the reports, >> I'm happy to share with the the board of ed and for you guys to to know where we landed and because we're going to have, you know, estimates of what it costs for
031square per square foot for a municipal, you know, municipal project, right? >> Okay, perfect. All right. So again, thank you so much for uh for being with us for this portion and we will absolutely be talking more as both of us uh make this journey into capital improvement land. So thank you. >> Thank you so much. Sorry about my video. Thank you. >> Oh, no worries. Thanks. >> Okay. Um continuing with our sort of holistic uh view and and narrowing it down a little bit from the town now just looking at school. Can I can I interrupt for two seconds, Deb? Of >> course. I just I I missed it when she mentioned something about you had asked specifically about the pool. Is the town the parks and wreck there looking What was the comment
032about that? What was her take on that again? I I missed that. There's noise in the background. >> Okay. Just that the pool is obviously an important asset. Um I want to keep it obviously and there are sort of longer term plans for um renovations, improvements. She did not get into the specifics of those. >> Okay. But they are there. >> But the town is looking at taking the responsibility for that as opposed to the board having to the board of education having to budget for them. Correct. >> Well, we didn't we didn't get into that. >> All right. >> While we're on this while we're on this subject, um am I Yeah, I'm I'm my mic is on. While we're on the subject, um, did did SLAM give us any indication of whether the
033building parts of the building could be taken down? Is the pool a separate building that's attached? Are the lockers attached? Are the classrooms attached with with the pool? What how is the uh middle school divided? Um, I can probably let Phil and um and Mike answer that question. Although we don't want to get into the weeds too much tonight, Lisa, I think when Slam comes back and talks about renovation um andor build as new, they'll certainly include, >> you know, here's the pool, you know, it stands alone or it gets attached or it gets renovated and, you know, attached, you know, all those different options that we'll be looking at. So but yeah so that that's a question mark you know if the pool stays a part of the middle school option whichever one we
034choose um then where does the responsibility fall after that so thanks okay so Phil um that's sort of the segue into you and Mike thanks for being here as well um looking at the major capital needs both short-term and long-term um outside of the middle That was another question. >> Thanks, Steph. Um, so for some this may be just a quick recap, for others it's going to be new information. So back in 2017, um, the district engaged, I'm just going to say with a consultant um, to do a district-wide feasibility study. Included in that feasibility study was a facility condition analysis. from that con um from that analysis a 10-year capital improvement plan was developed. So this again was back in 2017. Last year while we were considering the various options for the middle school
035um the same question came up in terms of a holistic view for the entire campus. At that time we met with collers and we escalated those 2017 prices. In addition, we gave them some input in terms of what we were seeing in terms of what the needs are for the district. So, I'm just going to base those numbers. So, these numbers that I'm going to give, there are still a little bit not 100%. These are best estimates. I'm going to go with the with the numbers first and then I'll get into some specifics. So over the next 10 years for capital improvements for all schools, all building excluding um the middle school, the district will need approximately $33 million. Of that 33 million, 20 million will be needed in the next 5 years with the
036remaining 13 in the upcoming five the following five years. What we have done is that we've broken we've broken down those Calvin improvement projects into three broad areas. um IQ internal air quality which focuses on heating, cooling and ventilation and as we have pointed on previous meeting that has become a main focus of the state since the pandemic. In addition to IIQ, we have costs that we determined to require significant spending for construction and then broadly speaking just all the C broadly speaking just all the in terms from those three categories IQ will account for 38% of the cost approximately $12 million projects with other significant construction dollars will account for approximately another $12 million and remain remainder will fall in Other category broken down by school cost will be needed for Hobart at $12
037million, the high school another 12 million and the west at $3 million and the rest of the cost will be spread um across the district. In terms of some of those categories that will fall under the significant capital improvements are construction. Um we have at the high school we have improvements to the D and E-wing which includes IQ and improvements of lighten which would be approximately four4 million. In addition to that there's significant BA bathroom upgrades throughout the district district for approximately another $3 million. Um there's some sprinkler in um sprinkler installation that will be needed based on the last assessment at approximately $1.3 million. And going back to the pool, this includes some renovation work including the bathrooms and the locker for the entire pool. Just so that everyone knows the cost for the
038pool is a shared cost. Um we share a percentage of whatever the maintenance cost is for the pool currently. As I mentioned before, IQ will be approximately $12 million and the other broad categories will account for the remaining I mean amounts included in those amounts will be turf replacement, some improvements to the Xenon plant. Um the Xenon plant has been in place now for several years. Some some level of renovation to the main central office building now the annex. So broadly speaking, those are are the really the main things that will be needed in the next in the next 10 years. I know the question came up I believe it was on Monday in terms of the significant increase that we currently project for a capital but is but as you can see not only
039will fiscal year 207 be expensive but then in the near term all the following years will also be a significant dollar ask you mentioned um in the 33 million that approximately 12 million was um earmarked for Hess 12 million for the high school, 3 million for WIS and you didn't mention anything about a middle school obviously because of where we are but still that's 2427. So that leaves another 6 million. Where would that where's the other six million allocated? Is it like the turf or is that considered to be part of the high school or >> it's it's spread. So there there's there there's several other smaller projects. I mean they're small but they they do add up quite a bit. So, those are really spread throughout the district. >> All right. All right. >>
040Hey, hey, Phil, just just quickly, I I'm not I don't have anything in front of me. Um, is there is there a table um or some sort of summary that you have or or you can provide? >> Sure. >> You know, elaborating on summarizing what you just said because I I try to write down stuff as quickly as I could and I think I'm I think I'm confused. That's I I can I can help I can I can help too with with any clarification you need. But the numbers that that that that we have these are the numbers that were these are the escalated numbers that was done by colleers last year. What we've done since them is that we review that some projects which which were completed or we determined are probably not necessarily
041needed immediately. We've we have sort of kind of took those out and made some modifications to that. So this these are these are amounts are these amounts are the specific the specifics of these has been shared before. I'll definitely share this updated um sheet with with the board. >> Yeah. Yeah. I've I've I've obviously heard heard bits and pieces of most of this. I just just just to see the summary and it broken down would be very helpful if you could. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. Um, Phil, does that 33 million does that include the um potentially 2 whatever it is 4 million for the north house at? It does. >> It does. Okay. So, that's in here. >> Um, and my other question is if it's 33 million over 10 years, am I right?
042>> Um, why is it so front-loaded in the first five years? It's the a lot of it really has to do with the age of the equipment, right? So in from the on the IQ on the IQ front, give me one quick second, 8 million of the 12 is in the first five years. So and I think we've heard repeatedly right that at the ends meaning the middle school and at Hurw most of the most of the equipment that we have there there will will be on the useful life. Um so that's primarily why some of those is is frontloaded for example also included in that the 4 million or the 4 million so for the high school we have that earmarked I think for years two in 28 or 29 um and again so
043these are items that were presented back in 2017 we've sort of kind of stretched some of these items out so we're kind of using the guidance from the 2017 projects what do we have learned from the products to the consultants since then and pretty much what we're seeing currently >> and and and Debb let me chime in here just for a second because I think I think Sharon and Peter um can probably speak a little bit better to this but you know years a couple years ago Deb these budgets used to be like and Phil correct me if I'm wrong these budgets used to be like a million plus or minus >> and I think Last year was the first year where eyes wide open the budget sort of exploded as far as the I
044can see you know when we you know when when we're given the materials that that seemed to step up to you know two plus million dollars on an annual basis and so it felt like to me and and this makes sense Phil it felt like that the million dollar budgets capital budgets that we had been um uh uh you know uh voting on and sort of putting together. Um those were almost artificially low and the run rate here is really not the million dollar that we had for those number of years and you guys can speak to how many years that was. The run rate is really more like I don't know$ two million and we have catchup because we stretched some of this out. And so now what you're seeing is and it you
045know basically all this happening at the same time and so these budgets now going forward are not just run rate but they're making up for let's say um an underfunded capital budget for a number of years I think that the that you know that the board of ed had passed. So um I don't know I think I I think Phil if you can give us again just what that 10 year looks like. I've seen the five or whatever have you. if you could give what the tenure looks like, that would be um really helpful so we can plan out here um you know what we're going to need and how this fits into sort of the greater renovation and sort of what the town needs over the next you know call it 10 20 years
046>> right and and as when you guys do receive um that that that spreadsheet there may be a slight discrepancy between what we have in our capital budget as I as I mentioned we try to >> to best align and everything that we have but but broadly speaking they're they're they're trending somewhat similar. Do you think Phil, last question, I'll move on, but do you think Phil, am I am I characterizing that correctly in that um when you look at this and you look at sort of how this lays out over the next 10 years or so, do you think that once we sort of let's say get through these makeups, let's call them, um that the run rate here is closer to two. Is that accurate or how would you describe let's say a
047longer run rate on the capital budget? >> I think once we once we get caught up I think the run rate could be between 1.5 to to2 million. >> I mean if if if you look at at what the request is or what the assets for the for the west right over the next 10 years it's only $3 million. So I think that kind of gives you an indication is that if we spend the money or if we spend the money in the way that it should be spent and we make the necessary upgrades and improvements in a timely manner the the capital request by time will not be as significant right and again I think and I also want to point out that we're fortunate right in at the middle school and also at
048halba in that in those in those earlier years way back when there there for building equipment to last and the mechanical will last much longer. We're not seeing that the equipment and and all the mechanics are lasting as long as as they did in the past. >> Well, that's a lot of bad news. Um, >> I I have a question. >> Well, overwhelming anyway. Yes, Peter. Phil, I mean, Phil and I have been through this many times for the benefit of folks online. If you had to shake out the expenses, but using two other criteria, one is delivery of 21st century educational spaces versus, as Michael says, making up for lost time and just doing 21st century plant and equipment and repairs. How would that shake out? Are we building anything that actually drives educational
049delivery or are we simply just making up for 10 years of not doing things? >> That's a that's a good question, right? And I think we we spoke quite a bit about that um last year. So everything that we that we spoke about really does not improve any any space so to speak. Um with the exception probably of the construction that's needed in the D and Mike I always get this wrong in the D and the E-wing at the high school. Everything is just pretty much a one for one replacement. There's no improvement at all to the educational space. >> Right? So that's the wrinkle because if we envision some interesting new capability uh at least at the high school level that's another consideration on top of this right we want a prehealth lab an
050AI lab whatever we decide may be necessary to prepare our young people for the future that you have to lay that one on top too right because it's not a consideration here. Okay, thanks. >> Yeah, sorry, I was just writing down some notes. Um, okay. And I'm with Michael, Phil, and and I think all of us would just appreciate seeing um that on kind of a chart. Um, >> absolutely. I'll check this out tomorrow. >> Yeah, that would be great. Thank you. Um, any other questions now on um on that capital very quick overview? Um, okay. Uh, for those of you who haven't had a chance, um, or still want to or want to do it again, um, I want to thank, uh, Mike for providing a tour, um, for David and I and Nicole
051in December. Um, and that opportunity is still available to board members. I know, um, people who have been on the board longer probably know more than we do, but it was it was a good tour. Sure. >> No, I was going to say I still would like to do a tour mic with with you if possible and I don't know if anyone else Okay. Okay. The other mic is ready because I I want to minimize the amount of tours that you have to do, but at the same time I think especially in light of the conversation. It's been a while since I've had one and I would really appreciate one. >> Okay. Reach out to me and let me know um okay if there's anybody else that hasn't had one that now thinks they want
052one and I will coordinate those with Mike. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Yeah. Okay. Uh, all right. So, that's a lot of information to take in and and mull over and um, you know, sort of be able to put somewhere um at some point, but we um, we are sort of in the information gathering stage and uh, I guess, you know, at least to me, I guess it's natural that we're a bit overwhelmed at this point. Uh so we need some time to digest but on the other hand we still have to move forward. So uh the last two items uh tonight um again sort of well one of them is not really information gathering. this really isn't um it's kind of as we start to mle over um what the possibilities may be
053for the middle school and we will be hearing more from Slam and Collers in February um at a date uh to be determined. Um Phil has been in contact with with Collers and Slam and it may be their availability may be later in the month than earlier in the month of February. So we may um move one of our meetings around to accommodate that because I do think our next meeting really needs to hear them. Um so anyway, that will be another important piece of information of course. But as we go down the road and we start to think, you know, well, what do we want to do with and for the middle school? Um and what are the options? I thought it would be helpful if we could before we actually have anything specific
054that we're looking at that we kind of need to figure out what is it that we want and what would make a good option. Um so if somebody says well here's a possibility we can do A B and C. I just want to know like what our thought process would be in evaluating that. How would we know if that particular model or that particular option is a good one? what would make it a good one. Uh so that's what I meant by trying to lay out our criteria. Um some of the criteria will be pretty obvious, some of it might be more nuanced than that. But I thought and we're all bringing slightly different perspectives. Um you know, that's that's the beauty of having a seven member board is there are just sort of different
055ways of looking at things. So, I don't know who wants to be brave enough and kick this off, but when you say, "Okay, you know, here's what we could do with and for the middle school, how will we know that that, you know, that thing that we're looking at is good or satisfactory or is going to serve the kids? Like what's going through our mind? What are what sort of checklist are we making?" So, I kind of would like to do that as a board and list the criteria. Um, I think I compared it at one point, you know, to sort of interviewing candidates for a teaching position. You, you know, in your head, you know, you want A, B, and C. You know that, and the criteria are generally kind of fairly well spelled
056out. You want experience, you want degrees, you want good references, you want good examples of lesson planning, you want to be able to see the person demonstrate something, all of those things. So using that similar model, what can we say about when we look at a model for um uh solving the middle school um state um improving it? What would we be looking for? What kinds of things? Lisa, >> so Deborah, I think the first thing that we need to establish is what each grade's guidelines are. First, Connecticut has guidelines for space allocation. So how many classrooms, how many offices and and what the shared space needs are for each grade. And so then we can look at are those spaces available anywhere else. I think we need to do it for each grade and
057the specifics for each grade. um and you know both the core subjects and um the other subjects that are needed. So at least we have a starting point to say this is the minimum that we can have that we need for each grade. And then you know if there are definite wants above the minimum needs we need to indicate that too as we look for as we see if there's space in other areas of the schools. >> I I agree. I think that obviously looking at what the state required minimums are for space um etc. that clearly we have to take that into consideration with any sort of structure whether it's you know renovating or building a new one or reallocating um the population. Um but you know whether we are renovating as new or
058whether we're doing a new um construction I think that what we want to do is we want to have a building that's reflective of this town right so so many people when they come onto the campus they see these buildings and they think you know we you see Wis and you you see Herald and you think that's a sweet little school for little kids you see Wis and you're like wow that is beautiful they you know it's obviously a modern facility there's a lot of natural sunlight in there it's conducive learning um and the kids take great pride in their school. You see the same the high school is also a relatively modern looking building and then you get to the middle school and you're like wow what happened? So I think so long as
059we can you know make it so that it's reflective of our dedication as a town to the education of our children. Um you know natural sunlight being a priority obviously is it you know helps uh with with all types of um the learning process. You know, I think that we need to make sure that the exterior I know that this sounds very superficial, but we're talking, you know, we're starting at the top. This is a wish list. It's got to look nice. It's got it's got to say that what what we stand for is we, you know, take the education of our children seriously and um we're not just sticking them in broom closets. We're we're really, you know, trying to make sure that the facility that they're learning in is geared towards maximizing their
060education. So, that's my top like very top picture kind of thing. Obviously nuts and bolts are the important part, but that's just my superficial initial. >> Okay. And not not superficial. And again, we're in the brainstorming phase, so we're not going to do a whole lot of value judgment, but you know, just when you you know, when we see a proposal, >> what are we, you know, in our minds, what are we looking for? >> Right. >> I I I wonder if I can just if I could kick this to Tina and Erica. Um I'd be very interested in I mean look you guys know best right? What what what do you think that we should you know a prioritize b be considering as we go through this process? I mean, you know, I could
061throw out a host a host of ideas, but they may have very little relevance for, you know, what Erica and Tina would deem to be necessary um or high priority for, you know, you know, for the building. So, I don't know. Do do either of you just want to sort of give us a little guidance here, you know, in terms of your thoughts as far as pri you know, how how we should think about this and and the priorities. I mean, I have some preliminary thoughts. Thank you, Michael. I really do appreciate you um seeking our our input here relative to the criteria that Deb is looking for. Um and I have some initial thoughts, but it also is really like dependent on the the the number of schools in the configuration. So, like it's
062highly dependent on what grade levels are actually in the school. And then once you have that defined, you can sort of wrap your head around what you want in spaces. I mean, if we had if the world was our oyster and we could have whatever we want, obviously we would want really bright um spaces that are flexible in terms of seating with innovative labs and equipment and programming. Um you really if if we wanted to um take a particular interest in any one of the specialized areas like the science content area, you you want to have classrooms separate from labs and you want those labs to be flexible and be able to use for a variety of types of learning experiences with kids. And that's what I mean by flexible. Um, you're also pretty restricted
063by the space allocations as Lisa alluded to if you want certain reimbursement rates. So, there's decisions that you're going to have to make relative to those spaces and what is most important to us as an educational community relative to the types of learning spaces we want our kids engaged in teaching and learning. So, it's it's a difficult question to answer off the cuff. um not knowing sort of the grade configurations and and who would be in there um and what developmentally what level the kids would be at. Um and and also like the restrictions on on space, but certainly vibrant, bright, large, open, flexible spaces where we could work with kids in a variety of of learning um groupings, tables, individually um and flexible inflexibly. Tina, I don't know if you wanted to add anything,
064but that just that off the top of my head, that's where I am. That was pretty good for off the top of your head. I did I I agree completely. Um having done this the last round when uh Principal Do was here, we actually did have a committee that came together of teachers where we did provide a little bit more specifics around what they were thinking about. Um, and now that Jason is here and knowing what some of his um, programming um, has been focused around, I will say one of the additional pieces that Erica um, in addition to what Erica mentioned is that I know one of his limitations right now that he is struggling with is having a large space to have like a schoolwide assembly where the acoustics within that space is
065conducive to hearing each other and kids getting up and speaking to like an like a a whole school assembly. Um, so again, I don't remember exactly where we are with the design at this point. I know there was a design last time, but thinking ahead, we should try to think about if there's there needs to be a space for a let's say a whole school assembly. Um, and when we think about the structure of that space, what do the acoustics look like? And I think acoustics in general when it comes to um large spaces is important. So your auditorium space, your um if they're going to do um plays or um certain types of performances, that's something that is a limitation right now at least for them as as I have seen them experience over
066the last couple years. Um I will also add on to what um Erica was talking about with the grade configuration. The other aspect of a middle school redesign having done this in Norwalk uh with the Ponis Ridge uh Steam Academy. Um we also wanted to ensure that the design of of the middle school followed um kind of the research of middle school designs which is around smaller organizations and teams where you have a large group of students but how do we configure um students and teachers in smaller communities. You can do that in different ways. Um, but that's also something that aligns to some of the research around middle schools and middle school redesign. Having having a large school but smaller school communities within the larger school space, that's something to think about. So we
067do sorry we do have that right now but thinking ahead you know what when you make the decisions around the grade configurations also thinking about how do we still um support some of the research around middle school design which is around small small communities of learners with adults um to support their well-being and their development at the middle school level >> and I think we want schools thank you Tina that was really great and I think we want schools to be aesthetically pleasing And a lot of the new construction that you walk into, there's very large foyers with, you know, three levels of of of space. I would be willing to compromise that to put the funding and um the materials and the design necessary in the instructional spaces. I know there's codes around those
068types of things, but to me, you know, efficiency, efficiency matters, and I would like to create efficient spaces where we're really putting the resources, the time, the funding, um, and the materials, and the spaces where kids are actively learning and spend the most time, >> right? That that's a good point. And um I also um when I was thinking about criteria, you you guys have gone in a slightly different direction which is really healthy. Um and I appreciate it. Uh but I also want to keep it at the stupid Debbie level, the general level. Um because um we have a set of edspecs that were written a few years ago and when we decide on an option we will not have a design. So the elements of the design we like are not necessarily going
069to be the elements of the solution or the approach we're going to take. So I want to also think about the approach. Um, so, um, uh, Michael, you said it two meetings ago. You said, "Well, one thing I'm looking for is affordability." So, you know, maybe we ought to put that on the list as, um, you know, as something to look at when you look at a solution, how affordable is it? >> Yeah. Look, I think I >> So, that's, you know, that's what I'm trying to say, but I also but I also appreciate it needs to be flexible. It needs to be a good investment. Needs to It needs to stand the test of time. >> Yeah. Look, you're always gonna get from me, Deb, the Okay, what are the financial implications here >>
070and and I just want to make sure that look, you know, we're going to put forth a couple proposals. We're going to work through these things and then there are um tradeoffs, right? um with any anything that we're going to choose because because you know money is not limitless and there are considerations around just being you know fiscally responsible but of course we want to do what's what's most efficient in terms of you know the student outcome and advancing that and so for me of course part part of this process but this is just table stakes for me which would be what is the you know for each of these options, you know, what are the benefits, you know, that we're getting in terms of, you know, advancing student outcomes, but of course, what are
071the financial implications and impacts to, you know, the town and and its residents, right? I I'm I'm not making a judgment here as to, you know, uh, you know, we should spend X, Y, or Z because ultimately the town is going to decide a lot. They're going to weigh in. But I do think that everyone needs to be sort of eyes wide open in terms of what the impact is again to um the town's debt capacity going forward of course and our ability to keep some powder dry for you know for renovations and maintenance and things unknowns right um as of today and um and of course the impact to the to the town's people right in in terms of their taxes and So, um, I I I I I think that needs to be
072a part of it. Again, there's no judgment as to what's right or wrong, but I do think people just need to be well informed when the decision is made. >> Right. >> Chime in a little bit. >> Yeah, of course. >> I wait, I'm sorry, Lisa, let >> No, Lisa, you go first because I actually want to go last. So, >> no. So I I just want to put forth there are certain regulations and guidelines that make building schools extremely expensive. So the senior center was once was a school. I I don't know with schools the way they're built is that when new guidelines are requested by the state they're usually grandfathered in so they don't have to do that. would um putting the senior center in another place require different type of building that
073would be less expensive than it would be for a school and using the senior center which is part of the campus as an idea for um grade placement just to you know put that on the table Now you're making all the senior citizens in town mad. What do you think? >> I lead them. >> I can say it. I can say it at the table. >> Do you want me to go now? >> Oh, okay. Sorry, Peter. >> Oh, that's all right. Because I use the word considerations a little stronger than I would use the word criteria, though it's perfect for the type of discussion that Deb is eliciting tonight. I was asked this question from Tony Pascal. I was asked this question from Steve Ezy's Deb asked me this question. I did my homework.
074In fact, Phil got my answers today with an apple. Did you get my apple that I left in your desk? But he has the answers to the considerations. And here's here's my soap box. You have really three overarching considerations for the town of Weston. You have educational delivery. That's our business, right? That's what we're in. That's what we're meeting here mostly about tonight. What is the best educational delivery for 39 acres of bucolic space in southern Connecticut? Second consideration is the reputation of the town which almost entirely rests on the reputation of the school district. outside of again it's picotic and it has the shot bar it has nice people it's pleasant there's no traffic but it almost entirely rests on the reputation of the school district are we burnishing our reputation properly are we
075not taking shortcuts are we going to go from very good to bestin class and I'm not talking in Fairfield County I'm talking nationally so that's a consideration because what does that drive drives exactly why n moved Here we have young people probably from New York City, young kids that populates our town over the next 20 years. And what do we want to do as towns people? This is where the tire really hits the pavement. Of course, we're not the realy board. We're the school board. What maintains and grows premier pricing for our houses? Because that's really the non-parents consideration. It actually eclipses taxes because if your taxes go up $2,500 a year to buy a new middle school for five years, but your value of your house goes up $250,000, that beats Nvidia Saki uh
076uh rise so far in the last two years. So, it's really about educational delivery, the burnishing of the reputation for housing prices. So our considerations are larger although this is a beautiful discussion I wish I had this two years ago than what we're having tonight because it's really about those three considerations. So we have to not trade carefully. We have to really think strategically about how to maximize education delivery, maximize reputation, maximize our housing prices because that's our exit plan for those who have high equity stakes in our houses. Right? I'm retiring someday hopefully, God willing, I'm dependent on that equity price, right? So things have to be done with those considerations. So what are the two things citizens of our town really react to with that? If I have to get great education and
077delivery, I really have to have a good reputation and the stakes financially are the price of my house. It's risk and uncertainty. What we're really balancing here is our risk tolerance. Our degree that we can deal with uncertainty. Because if you do one path that's a fix it path, you still maintain high risk because you're always fixing something. Something could go wrong. You totally have uncertainty because you're you don't know. There's no endgame. I'm not making a pitch for any one building or another. But if you build a new building, you have no risk and you have no uncertainty. It's done. Education deliveries in place. Decarbonization, energy savings in place. It may cost what it costs, but there's no risk in no uncertainty. So really the question we may have to ask is who what's
078the degree of risk people are willing to tolerate? What's the degree of degree of uncertainty you can live with? And if it's very low risk and low uncertainty, that really drives a decision. If it's I could live with risk, I can live with uncertainty, that drives another decision. That's actually the decision we've had the last 10 years because all we live in is high risk and uncertainty because we have everything breaking on us now. So that's the highest high level above Deb's uh request tonight. But that's sort of the 50,000 view. That's that little beautiful map we have of Weston. When you fly overhead, that's the view we're looking at. Then we can dig a little deeper into the 39 acres and go through all these really actually quite creative ideas. There's been a few
079new things elicited tonight for consideration. That's my uh soap box. >> Okay, thank you. >> I know I came to the party late, but may I chime in? >> I think that was a yes, Deb. >> Okay, so I'm going to bring this down. >> I'm sorry. I I said welcome, David. Of course, you can speak. I didn't realize I was on mute mute. I had a lovely evening at the fourth and fifth grade course. And if you, as I said this before, WIS is my favorite school. Not just the building, but the age. I mean, elementary is great, but fifth and sixth uh fourth and fifth graders, WIS is so I'm in a very good mood having seen these kids sing. Um it's just such a a happy joyous place. But I'm going to
080bring us down. I'm going to land this plane on the runway and I'm going to talk about where the rubber hits the road. That's where I think that we're at. So my asks and I think Michael sort of asked this as well. I would love to see a 58 configuration. New Kanan does it very successfully. Um it fits the teaming model that we have and I ask that we just be very conscious of what the community can afford. We deliver extraordinary education to our students. Not by the bricks that make the outside of the buildings but by the educators who are in the classrooms standing in front of our kids every day. So I think we have to be fiscally responsible. We have to acknowledge that it's the if we're going to invest any place
081with the limited dollars, we should be investing in the folks that stand in front of the classroom and teach our children every day and the administrators who make that possible. And then uh we see what we can afford. So I my big ask is just to see a five, six, seven, eight configuration at the middle school and um just that we be fiscally responsible for the community and we don't leave ourselves in a situation where I think as Michael was saying earlier we can't afford the unknown expense that we that we could incur. So that's that's my ask. So, so David, can I just ask in your vision when you see a five, six, seven, eight, you're looking at at how much space is available in WIS and then building on to WIS? >> No,
082sorry, Deb. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um I think Lisa, I'm just going to ask you to table that just for a minute because when our last agenda item is um asking the educators to look at whatever configurations we might want them to look at and um uh David's 5 through 8 is one possibility. Others of us may also have configurations that we want them to listen to or uh ask them to look into. Um, so let's stay away from talking about specific why do you want that right now because that'll come a little bit later. Um, so right now we're just sort of getting ideas on the table. Um, uh, okay. So I think this is there's a lot of there's a lot on this list so far. Um, I would want to add
083that I I want it to be perhaps looked at um as an investment that whatever we do is it a wise investment. Will it stand the test of time? Um, will it be a worthwhile place to put the money? Will it serve our kids over many years? Will it be flexible enough to know to be able to accommodate some changes that we don't yet know? You know, we built schools without computer labs and now we don't need computer labs anymore. So, things keep changing. So, we want spaces that are engaging yet flexible. Um, but I also would like to invest whatever money we have to spend. And even if it ends up being more than we want to spend, I think it's better to to put the money in a wise investment even though it
084may or may not be the cheapest dollar figure. I don't know if that makes sense. Um, but I think the investment needs to needs to last a long time and needs to be wise. um you know, you can do something for the short term and it's maybe a little bit more appealing because it's easier and it's easier to afford, but longer term you really haven't gained anything. So, you know, going to improving facilities, I I'd also like to see the schools be um efficient. Um somebody's tal talked about efficiency. Um, if we look at our uh space usage right now, um, a couple of our buildings are underutilized. So, I'd like to see what we could do to um, make the space that we have um, make sure that it is utilized, you know, a
085higher utilization rate. Um, okay. So, I think that's a lot on the table. Um, and at the EOCC meeting or committee, uh, good luck to us. Thank you very much. We'll try to um boil this down to a list of um and I like um Peter's words of considerations. Criteria is probably like too technical and too clinical and it does veer towards the edspecs which are a little bit different than what we're talking about right now. Um okay. So the last thing is sort of more information gathering. Um, we would need to know if we want to look at a 58 option, and I'm not saying yes or no to it. None of us are yet. We're just putting it on the table as a possibility. What would be the educational impact? And from that,
086we need um Erica and her staff to look at that. Um, okay. Are there other grade configurations that we would like the staff to investigate? We had we had talked once about moving moving some of uh instead of I mean we had talked about moving some of the grades from Hurlbut into WIS. We had talked about doing the prek um K and one in Hurlbutt and moving second through fifth into Wis. >> Mhm. >> Because of the space that's in whis. So I'm I guess I'm curious as to how that would if we were to move moving fifth out then just makes WIS that's a wash as far as WIS is concerned. But it's I don't know. >> Yeah. Well, so another well another grade configuration would be to five, >> right? Right. >> Which
087would leave prek to grade one. >> Correct. >> So prek to one and then two to five. >> Right. We had talked about doing that and then keeping the middle school a basic six to eight middle school. >> Right. Right. >> Okay. All right. >> Or or a one through five or a two through a one through four. >> Yeah. I don't think whisk can accommodate that though. That would be >> we don't again we just don't we don't want to like >> all right >> say no yet. >> Okay. >> Um but I think um one through four would be fair to to also ask for. >> True. >> Okay. >> I have a question on not a on a grade configuration which I previously mentioned. So the so I think the term is
088like a neighborhood school or I use the term school within a school. So other than grade configurations, is there a way to look at the a new building, call it what you want, that is um uh so 5, 6, 7, 8 as one grade configuration in a portion of that building >> and 2, three, four as another portion of the building, but they operate independent of each other. They may share common areas like I heard you talk Erica sorry Tina earlier about an auditorium then there's a cafeteria there's the food prep but from a grade configuration only figure out the building piece later that it is there what would from an academic perspective a delivery perspective a physical building that operates as two schools one portion of the school is operating uh 234 and then
089the other portion is operating 5 6 7 eight. I don't know if that impacts anything beyond a great a great configuration of 2 3 4. >> I think the only thing that I can think of on that Dave and I'm not trying to be the negative one here by any stretch imagination. It would definitely save space when it came to auditorium. It would make the auditorium space tight and as far as you know availability. Um but maybe food prep. But the reality is cafeteria, there's no sharing of cafeterias when you have two schools like that. Um primarily because there's just too many students to fit into one cafeteria and also a second grader and an eighth grader. Not really that there'll be a lot of I don't see those two blending. Um so that's the
090only >> negative that I I see with that setup in particular. I think there I well a challenge I guess rather than a negative that would be the challenge I would see with that setup. >> Yeah. And the way I would envision it from a construction perspective which are not there yet is simply two cafeterias one prep. Right. So you have a prep kitchen, you've got two cafeterias or two cafeteriums uh as would be appropriate. So two gymnasiums. So that essentially it it leads to the flexibility that Deb talked about earlier as well with our enrollment being somewhat dynamic especially over the next five years uh and the reimbursement rate based on the square footage which is based on the number of students in the building. So just from a grade configuration perspective, I think
091a 234 is that in the mix of of of looking >> Well, I I think what you're asking you you are asking for a 28 grade 2 through eight school um architecturally designed as you know that two different whatevers. Um I think that's what I'm hearing you say. >> I I would say so, but one physical plant. >> Yeah. but two separate entrances with separate main offices. Um, yeah, I guess I guess that is what I'm asking. >> Okay. All right. Well, this is the time to to ask. Um, >> can I get a tram as well? >> What? >> A tram? Could you get a tra? I mean, if you said this is >> from one school to the next, >> I think a tram is great from that >> solar powered tram. >>
092Well, I could just get a mono rail and be done with it. Um, okay. So, before we go down the Disney World thing, um, >> well, I have my request. >> Okay. >> So, I gave you my three considerations from 50,000 ft. >> If I integrate in some of Mr. affordability or let's say how much it costs us perspective and I integrate in we don't quite know where enrollment's going. I mean for five years we do generally according to Mr. Zuba but from year six to 20 it's a crystal ball. Then my request returning to what I had said in the past is to consider a magnet school and a it's like AI robotics or something STEM that doesn't happen in Fairfield County. So educational delivery is boosted. Therefore, our national reputation is burnished and
093it comes down to can the town of Weston handle candidly kids from Wilton and Norwok coming to our little town because that's that's the ass. You're going to have now 175 kids, right? Because that's the criteria beyond 537 to meet the consideration for magnet school. So that solves two things. It solves enrollment. We're getting a lot more kids, right? And it solves that we get 80% reimbursement. Like we know our taxes don't go up that much. We get a killer building with killer delivery for 20% of what any other like two through eight would cost us $150 million. So here we are saving a lot of money offering worldclass education comes down to can the town of Weston uh tolerate or accept or decide that our crowded neighbors Wilton. I mean I just drove down
094uh Orange Diner to Walmart. There's a thousand new apartments. Where are those kids going to go to school? Well, I'll take I'll take 20 30 40 50 of them for middle schoolers. Those kids, those parents would love to have an AI education for their kids, 15-minute bus ride away. So, my ask is that's significantly and seriously considered because I think it solves a lot of problems that or challenges say that have been risen tonight. >> Okay. Um, you did bring that up before, Peter, so it's logical to bring it up tonight. So, thank you. So Erica, if you and Tina and and your staff can look at those different grade configurations that we um asked you about as well as the possibility or the feasibility or the requirements of um uh a magnet school. >>
095Okay. >> Yes. So, >> and then if we if we could get that um and again we have to we have a date for our February meeting but I think in deference to um when slam and collars will be finished uh we may need to change that date around a little bit but if you could have that by the February meeting if you think that's possible. >> Yeah. Can I just ask some clarifying questions and make sure I um captured all the configurations correctly? >> Sure. Sure. Sure. >> We have a a 5 through eight middle school Um, the second request was a two through five. Uh, the third request was a like a 1 through 4 and a prek, a 68 and an I12. The fourth request was a 2 through eight, but completely
096two separate schools. Um, and then a magnet school. >> Yeah. You think that's enough? Just kidding. >> Um, and I know the the request is for for my team to and myself to take a look at what is the educational impact. Can we just get some clarity as to what you mean by that just to make sure that we're preparing the right information for you when we come back? >> Okay, fair enough. Um, we know what we have now in in Weston um has great outcomes. Um, we like our four school structure. We like the grades that are in there. Um, how would other configurations work? Could we maintain those outcomes? Could we maintain the environment that's that the schools now have that we like? Um, does it make sense for the ages developmentally? Does
097it make sense for the kids to be in that particular configuration? >> Deb, are you also looking for more like some logistical parts of that whether that mean transportation for example? >> Uh, no. Right now we're just looking at the educational piece. Um, yeah. You don't, you know, we don't want to burden you with the >> Okay. the construction piece or the logistics piece or the phasing piece or any of that. It's just that if we wanted to move some grades around, would that be educationally um appropriate or would it be crazy? >> Um Deborah, can I just add um one configuration to that? So, as we look at costs and and we want the best investment possible, if we could build a middle school that was seven and eight, so it would be one
098grade less, 30% less and and do put another grade in WIS. So, it would be um 3, four, five, and six. I think that is a configuration we might want to look at. Got it. And Erica, if I could just jump in quick, one of the things I'd be interested in is the teaming model. I know we talk a lot about the teaming model in West and I know that that's not a system we want to break. So it I one of the things I'm interested in knowing is if we move since fifth fifth grade is the first grade that we introduced the teaming model, right? So if fifth grade were part of 678 where the teaming model is already in place and uh does that help her or is it a is it neutral
099relative to to the teameing model? >> Can I just clarify something just for the public too that may be listening? When you define a teameing model that means a teacher teaches one subject area. So therefore, your team is four content areas. That's a team. Um, in fifth grade, we do not have a teaming model. It's actually it's a form of a team, but it's a diad. So, there's two teachers that create that team. And one teacher teaches two content areas, the other teacher teaches the other content areas, and then both of those teachers cross over and teach a common content area. So, just I know it's probably we've talked about it here, but just anyone who's listening, um there's different configurations of teams. Um fifth grade has a diad model and then when you get
100to 6, seven, eight, it's a true teameing model. >> Yeah. But you can't you can't have an odd number and that was the that's the Achilles heel and correct of the team model is that as the enrollment changes you can't have a team you can't right you can't have an odd number of teams uh otherwise you you have a sub in fifth grade for example you have two subjects that have to get taught by one teacher. If you're maintaining a diad model that's configured with the content areas divided the way we're talking about, you do need an even number. Yes. Um and Tina and Erica going back to something you you made me think about uh Tina, the parking. um we don't want you to look at parking but the resulting enrollment of the total
101building I think is perhaps what you're really getting at. >> Okay. >> Can I just ask one clarifying question too? >> No. So I don't know four we're maintaining four four schools in any one of these grade level configurations when we are breaking up the grade levels. Is that what I heard or is that what I heard? >> I think there was one David actually gave um his suggestion was kind of the school within a school, right? So they're shared resources in the same building. It's just the buildings are separated. not physically separated, but they are their their populations are kept separate within the buildings. >> Right? So that's kind of my little wondering because in that model that would be a prek1 building then a 28 building which we currently don't have. Let's say
102a building that has two cafeterias or two auditoriums, right? Um and then a 912 building. So if we went with that configuration, we'd have to provide a little bit more, I don't know, ed specs around or educational impact which relates to a reconfiguration of a building if we were to go to down that road. But we can do that. I just want to make sure of the ones that I wrote down. That's a that's a three building, correct? Okay. It's a three building, but it could be it could be potentially, you know, instead of >> doing a right-sized middle school new construction, it would be a new construction for that. We could basically close down Hurlbutt, move them into Wis and keep the high school where it is potentially maybe make that Hurlbut since I
103believe it has to be used for educational purposes based upon the way that the property was given to the town. It would have to house the administration or something along those lines. Is that what you're thinking, David? >> Yeah. And 100% it is probably irrelevant at this point. How the building is built or whatever is more the educational impact. But yes, my scenario would be three buildings with that middle building being 2 through eight to um to really uh maximize the reimbursement uh and be able to give two give a new building to the equivalents of two buildings. Right. But we would still be maintaining four buildings because Herbal Butt would have to stay um as administration. It's just we would right >> we abandon the administration as it stands now, >> right? You still
104have to spend your $12 million to fix the HVAC and Hobi whether you have a prek kid or a town employee. So you're not off the hook operationally. Like you're still paying a lot of money for a lot of empty space unless you put in a bowl. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's not get into >> Yeah. I'm getting cons of the options. we get it and the considerations thereof. Um I think we've given everybody or I'm sorry the staff um a lot of work to do. So I I apologize for that but helpful >> and then um in February we will hear uh Slam and Collier's um update uh from phase two. Uh we'll hear a little bit of commentary from Erica and Tina and her staff about the various configurations. Um and then we
105you know we sort of really need to jump in um some point very soon um and get into these kind of give and take kind of discussions thinking about our considerations or our criteria depending on which term is more appropriate. Um, and that, you know, that would make sense because remember we do have that aggressive timeline that we're looking at and we do want to and need to talk to the town, the board of selectman and the board of finance as well. So, we have a lot of work in front of us and we have to sort of get into the, you know, the nitty-gritty fairly quickly. Uh, so I appreciate tonight. um it seemed at times to go a little bit all over the place, but I think it's healthy and there was um
106a lot of um you know, good stuff talked about. So, thank thank you for your attention. Thank you for you know your participation. Thank you for being so creative and thoughtful. Um and thank you to the people that have to follow up with more homework. and the EOCC also the committee will will sort of try to process this and come up with an agenda that makes efficient use of February. Uh is there anything else for the good of the group on the agenda that I haven't touched upon that or you feel like you didn't get a chance to say anything you'd like to make a comment? Okay. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> All right. Thank you. A second. >> Second. Oh. Oh. Oh.