001Oh, hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi, boys. Hi, boys and girls. How you guys? Hi. We're um my my name is my my my name is Mike and um I'm the chair of the board of ed and uh Dr. Jones and I are all really excited um that you were able to come join us today. Okay. So, we're not going to do anything. We just wanted to bring everybody's attention um um to the front of the stage. We're going to call our meeting to order and do all this official stuff after you perform because we don't want to um have you wait anymore. Okay. So, if you just give us just give me a second so that I so we can all sit come sit in the audience so we can come see you. Okay. Is
002that okay? >> And then we'll start. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Jones, board of education members and guests. I'm Diane Fox, the principal of Hamilton Avenue School. Every student at Hamilton Avenue School plays a string instrument. Every single student from prekers all the way up. It's it's absolutely beautiful. Uh and on behalf of our entire school, we want to thank all of you that are here and Leah Stilman, our new music and arts coordinator, we really appreciate the support you've given to this program throughout the years. On the stage tonight, you'll see a few of our students from preK through grade 5. They began tonight's meeting with a performance of French folk song and would like to perform one more piece for you. I just wanted to take a moment to thank so so
003much our director of Suzuki Strings, Dr. Danny and orchestra teachers, Miss Lisa Wolf and Miss Tory Bretzky who are here on their time to lead us in this beautiful performance and also to all these parents in the audience. So you may not know, I mean you may know because I'm sure you've heard it a lot that our school starts very very early in the morning and a lot of these parents commit to bringing their children even earlier at 7:10 in the morning for uh morning lessons. So we really appreciate all of you really. Uh we couldn't do this without you and I want to turn it over to them. um our beautiful teachers will lead our students in their last song of the evening, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. So, thank you Oh, speech speech. Y
004boys and boy boys and girls, thank you so much for coming and and being with us tonight. We really all of us on the board of education really uh really appreciate you coming and sharing your talent with us. Uh we want to thank your families for bringing you and helping and sharing sharing you with us for tonight. The um the board of ed is um it's not a lot of fun um a lot sometimes. Um and seeing you all up there playing your instruments so wonderfully uh really helps make it all worth it. Uh I hope you love it and I hope you stay with it long after Hamilton Avenue. You know, you go to a very special elementary school and I hope as you go on to middle school and high school um you
005keep music in your life because it's so important. Um, thank you uh for everybody else, your your your teachers for for bringing you and preparing you. We really appreciate you coming. So, thanks so much I follow. Okay. So, we are um Is this on? Yep. All right. So, we are we are going to officially call uh tonight's um meeting to order. Um please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Thanks everybody. We um and thanks for joining us. Um we're a little out of order. Um we walked in and saw um a bunch of early elementary students twitching on the stage. I felt better to just let them go go forward instead of doing the pledge of allegiance and all that uh stuff. But uh so that was great though that the the ham a uh
006we're going to move in. We have a um a massive uh agenda tonight of all sorts of uh different things. Um some some some some high interest and some some an allimp important. So we're going to get right right into it this morning uh this evening. First though is the consent agenda which I did not forget. Uh, can I get a motion um for the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Cheney. >> All right, Miss Sophie seconds. All in favor of the consent agenda. >> Is is Karen with us? >> All right. So, that passes 70. Okay. Right. Dr. Jones. Um, you're on with the superintendent report. >> Um, first of all, I I'm not going to go on too long because I know we are so busy tonight. Um, but I
007would just want to remind people that every Friday in our GPS note down on the bottom, we do list all the different community events and things that are happening. There are a ton of events this time of the year. Um, from musicals to, you know, choir and string concerts. So, I just encourage you to check some of those out. They're fantastic. Um, I also just want to mention, um, Oh gosh, I just lost my train of thought. All right, it'll come back. I'll pass. Yeah, sorry. >> Plenty of time to comment. Um, >> long meeting >> perhaps. Let's go on the reports of officers, committees, and leaison. Anybody have a a board report this evening? Well, go ahead. >> I have uh four quick board reports. Um SEAK, the next SEAK meeting is May 12th
008at 7 p.m. on Zoom. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. It is the last one of the year. And SEAK, sorry, and SEAK is looking for volunteers to uh for their executive board and anyone interested or knows anyone who might be a good fit, please reach out. [gasps] Uh for the Riverside building committee over the April break, we had our architect walkthrough of the school and there was a really great response to the RFP. We're hoping to have an architect selected by the end of the month and the district also provided an extensive report in Tuesday's capital projects update which was sent out by email. Um the Greenwich Alliance Board for Education had a board meeting on Tuesday. We reviewed the proposals for the reaching out grants. Grants will be officially announced in miday.
009And then also this month, AVID 11th and 12th graders participated in a networking workshop to develop an elevator pitch to help with job internship and college interviews. AVID alumni are planning summer events and are gaining experience through participation in career affinity activities. And then theater arts is also booming. The Julian Curtis students delighted their audiences with the Lion King. And at New Lebanon, students in K through2 theater clubs performed stories about food, glorious food. The developing artist program brought esteemed artists who focused their work on the environment to ISD for a pre-earth day all day handson workshop and they will also be at OS on April 22nd. The alliance is also going to be celebrating their 20th anniversary next year with many more details and events to be shared. And my last and I'm going
010to say I think my most important report this evening is the this week the recipients of this distinguished teacher awards were named. So I would ask that we all congratulate the following uh award winners. Patricia PJ Connelly who teaches first grade at North Street School. Cody Levinsky, science teacher at Western Middle School. Michelle O'Brien, third grade teacher at Parkway School. Sarah Roth, art teacher at Riverside School. Laura Berdick, English teacher at Greenwich High School, and John Ellinger, advanced learning program at Julian Curtis School. And please mark your calendars to celebrate this incredible honor of the distinguished teacher award of the distinguished teachers Thursday, May 7th, 4:30 right here at Central Middle School. Congratulations. You're >> here. That's great. Veronica, you don't know, do you know have a sense of how many architects uh voice interest
011or did the walkthrough at Riverside? >> Um, I do I don't have the exact number off my head, but I want to say it was over 15. >> Great. >> Good. That's what I want to hear. Wendy, >> uh, the the Italian textbook committee met on March 31st for our final review meeting. As you may recall, the committee evaluated various proposed textbooks and will be presenting the board its recommendation at next month's board meeting. My second update is for the Julian Curtis building committee. Uh the dedicated members of the JC building committee have been meeting diligently. For example, Mrs. Chia Veroli stepped in over a break to meet with the new contractors. Thank you. Uh the new contractor, JA Rosa, will begin work on the cafeteria and kitchen on June 1st. Work will only occur
012after school. During this time, the school's kitchen will be closed and the district's food services department will offer summer style modified meals. The project is expected to be finished for the first day of school on August 28th. We um and we now have a confirmed date for the ribbon cutting, which will be on September 14th. Step number 14. >> Okay. Awesome. >> Go ahead, parent. >> Uh, quick update, a quick update from the GHS science textbook committee. Uh, I will I will not share too many details because I don't want to steal Mr. Demoiko's thunder. Uh, but I did want to say that as both a board of education member as well as a parent whose daughter will be using these books in a couple of years, I am really pleased with both the process
013and the outcome. Um, and I I wanted to say I think Amy Farnum in particular deserves recognition. She has run such a well ststructured, rigorous pro process. She's incorporated input from teachers, from parents, from students. And I want to recognize all of them for their incredible uh focus and dedication. Um, and really just very grateful for all the effort. This is a significant amount of effort goes into these textbook selections, particularly when you have uh two levels of three subjects. >> No, I think we're going to speak enough about Central Middle School later. The um old Greenwich uh building committee um has exciting news in that we broke ground. Um hooray. So um over spring break uh the construction walls went up and we started the trailers went up and we started some preliminary work.
014Um most of the um real heavy construction is only going to start once school is done this summer but um out for the summer but construction is has started there at Old Greenwich and so far we're one week in where are on time and under budget. >> Um policy also met this week. There's one policy item on the agenda tonight that we um solved. We'll talk about that later. um um the um board member vacancy policy continues to um uh percolate. So, we're we're making slow progress there. Um, we also started talking about looking at possible revisions to our uh political activity on campus policy um as well as um um talking next time um about something uh safe harbor which was a rec recommendation from the um uh from from the um town board
015of uh ethics uh committee. So we're going to take a look at that. And then also we also talking take taking a closer look which we talked about last month on a possibility of a student representative on the board. So all those are are policies of foot. Um uh we meet bi-weekly um to try to keep the ball rolling on all of these things. Moving on then speaking of which we're going to bring up uh Gabon Colin here for student government report. All right. Good evening, distinguished members of the board of education and Dr. Jones. I hope all has been well since our last board of ed meeting. My name is Colin Reynolds and I'm the student body vice president. Right now, right now is quite a busy time of the school year, especially for
016the senior class. Next week, the senior spoons game starts. With this game, you are assigned another senior to tag with a wooden spoon. However, certain safety rules exist to not disturb the classroom setting and to add more excitement. On Monday, you wear oven mitts. On Monday, if you wear oven mitts, you cannot get out. On Tuesday, it's pool floaties and goggles. And on Wednesday, it's underassment. Thursday and Friday, safety will be voted on soon by the grade. Additionally, many seniors have decided on colleges and decisions have been rapidly appearing on the class's official Instagram decision page. Students highlight their school major and parent with a cute baby picture. May 1st is a national deadline for acceptance and on that day, seniors will come to school dressed to represent their college. Two weeks later is a
017senior options where seniors can leave for an internship or to work on a project. Many seniors are excited with some going to help prior teachers at middle and elementary schools, gaining experience in their work field of choice, and more. Lastly, it will be time for graduation on June 18th. The senior class officers have a lot of great things planned that will soon be revealed. Thank you. >> Uh thank you, Colin. Uh good evening members of the BOE, Dr. Jones, students, and community members. I'm Gabriel Lei, the student body president at Grenwich High School and h and I'm happy to both see and speak before you this evening. To start, the senior class has finalized prom logistics for our masquerade theme and is in the closing stretch of graduation planning with cons with commencement speakers narrowed
018down and class gifts ordered. Uh, senior spoons will uh continues to dominate hallway conversation and one final spirit week has been organized uh for the class of 2026. The junior class wrapped up another successful profit share and continues developing the Cardinal cookbook which will be available on international night with submissions now complete. Uh their prom committee has also been hard at work behind the scenes laying the groundwork for a strong senior year. Uh the sophomores ran a successful Gopher's profit share and are already putting together one final profit share uh to close out the year. And the freshman class has continued its new tradition of having a monthly morning movie uh with great success and is also organizing an afterchool candy sale and one final end of the year event to honor the seniors. Uh
019this has also been a notable month uh for GHS recognition more broadly. On Tuesday, April 21st, Greenwich Public Schools will hold the 2026 Community Service Awards at our own uh performing arts center, honoring students across the district for their service work uh in their schools and wider communities. Uh among the honores, GHS senior Riiona McCurs has been named the winner of the prestigious Fleechman Service Award. Her work is a reminder that students are defined not only by what happens to them inside our classrooms, but by what they do beyond them. and that efforts like hers inspire the rest of us to do the same. Beyond class level work though, I would like to extend thanks to the administration at GHS for the new speakers which were recently installed in the student center. Uh investing in
020quality of life improvement serves to better our community. Uh so I extend my gratitude and for the the freshman's monthly tradition of having a morning movie. It has uh significantly improved the movie watching experience. Uh and I'm very proud of what the school community has built this year and I look forward to seeing what comes next. Uh, and so with that, I'd like to thank you for your time and for your service to Grant. I look forward to speaking with you next month. >> The the board of ed stands ready to provide any and all movie recommendations. U >> be careful what you wish for. Uh, welcome Margaret Jensen from the GA. >> Good evening, Chairman MCanty Anthony, board members, Dr. Jones, and community members. My name is Margaret Jkins and I am the president
021of the Grenwich Education Association. Tonight I'm here to speak about teacher attendance and the message we're sending to the educators who support our students every day. Dr. Bud provides you with a monthly report as to how we're dearing doing. And I think we're doing a pretty good job. Recent data shows that our district's average daily teacher absent rate is approximately 4.7%. That number matters. It's below the national average, which typically falls closer to 5.5 or 6% in public schools. In other words, Greenwich teachers are showing up consistently and reliably at a rate that exceeds expectations. And yet, despite this strong performance, teachers continue to face repeated denials of personal day requests. That raises a fundamental question. What standard are we trying to meet? If our educators are already outperforming national benchmarks, why does the system
022feel increasingly restrictive rather than supportive? Attendance is improving. That should be recognized as a success. It reflects professionalism, commitment, and a genuine dedication to students. But instead of acknowledging that progress, the focus now appears to be shifting toward another issue, lateness. Of course, punctuality matters. Everyone understands that. But when one metric improves and another immediately becomes the new point of scrutiny, it creates a perception that there will always be something else to fix. That kind of environment can feel less like accountability and more like constant criticism. We should be asking ourselves, what is the goal? If the goal is to support highquality teaching and stable classrooms, then the data tells us that we're right on track. If the goal is to foster a positive and respectful workplace, then we need to consider how our policies
023and decisions are experienced by the people doing the work. At some point, it's fair to ask, why does there always have to be something to scrutinize even when progress is being made? Our teachers are meeting and exceeding expectations in attendance. They deserve to have that recognized with trust, reasonable flexibility, and professional respect. Thank you. >> Oh, there she is. All right, we welcome Mr. Lisa Sylvester here with um the PTAC. >> Good evening, everyone. My name is Lisa Sylvester and I'm the PTA Council President. On behalf of my board, we want to start by saying we are thrilled about the few construction projects that have happened. Phase one of the old Greenwich School renovation began over spring break. Julian Curtis now officially has their elevator and their ADA compliant front entrance. And lastly, the new
024Central Middle School looks amazing and from what we hear is on track to finish on time for the new school year. Thank you to everyone that made all of these things possible. We know Riverside School and the GHS pool study are upcoming and we want to offer support to those as well. Digital learning, this is a hot topic and not one going away anytime soon. We thank you for forming a committee to look into this. Please keep in mind that we as parents can offer unique data that schools don't have. What actually happens when digital learning hits home? We know most children tend to be on their best behavior at school. Not all, but most. But when our children come home and are in a different environment, as parents, we see more clearly when our
025children are disengaged, overwhelmed, or frustrated. We can see how long assignments really take. This information is not meant to compete with or bypass what teachers see in the classroom. The information that we can share is meant to show you the bigger picture of how digital learning affects our kids. It's also it's also worth noting that the digital age has come with other problems such as loss or lack of handwriting skills, effects on eyesight, posture, and carpal tunn tunnel area during stages of growth. These things should be taken into consideration as well. We're looking forward to the meeting on Tuesday and many more in the future and we hope to be a great resource for you. Elementary school start times. Looking at the survey results and seeing that the six schools surveyed show a 61% favorable
026preference to return to the 8:45 a.m. start time, we hope that the district looks more closely at this. There are, of course, many things to take into consideration. dual income families and the impact the later start time has on them. Not to mention the end of day return time home and missing out on after school activities. The issue of where the money will come from to pay for this change is of course a concern to all of us. Maybe an interim request can be made because we certainly do not want to see this change at the cost of cuts made to studentf facing areas. We want to encourage everyone listening to remember that teacher appreciation week is coming up May 4th to the 8th. And if you have not already volunteered, donated, or otherwise, please
027do. Our teachers deserve the world. So, please do your part to make that week amazing. We too want to offer a huge congratulations to the six distinguished teachers. We are also very proud of you. >> A special thank you to the distinguished teacher committee for all your hard work. As Gabe has already mentioned, please be sure to attend the GPS community awards on Tuesday the 21st at 5:00 PM at GHS in the pack. And lastly, and very near and dear to my heart, the PTA Council has a volunteer tier award called the Essence Award. This yearly award recognizes up to two outstanding volunteers who through selfish excuse me, who through exemplary achievement have inspired others, demonstrated selfless spirit, and made a significant difference in the school community. This began in 2011 with the inaugular award
028going to then GHS president and now current select woman Lauren Rabin. Over the years, there have been some amazing volunteers nominated and chosen as winners. And we want to encourage all of you and anyone listening to please take the time to nominate someone this year. We have outstanding volunteers in our town, some the face of a school, some behind the scenes, but we want to be able to recognize as many as possible, and we cannot do that without the community's help. Nominations are accepted until April 27th. Thank you. Thank you. >> Think now we have uh community comments. >> Okay. First up we have Henry Mateo Teada, a WMS student, followed by Grace Natali, a GPS parent. >> Um good evening board of members, Dr. Jones and the community members. My name is Henry Tahada
029and I'm a seventh grade student at Western Middle School. Today I'm here to speak to you about the concerns and health risks due to the buses being parked at Western Middle School. Um there has been a large uprising in traffic traffic ever since the buses arrived at WMS. In both the morning and the afternoon, the roundabout right next to the school has always been flooded with cars and the buses adding on to adding on to this only makes it worse. These inconvenience this inconveniences students and makes them much more late before the doors open to all students. Some students can attend extra help sessions and the congestion could interfere with students commute. As this occurs, it would be preventing students from receiving the learning that they deserve. This is not only an inconvenience for students
030but school staff too. The roundabout where cars enter the school now requires more surveillance because the increase of motor vehicles and buses greatly increase the chance of accidents happening. An accident a month ago actually happened with the buses and cars and that was only a few cars and three buses occupying the front of the roundabout. As expected, this was caused by the disorganization of the buses. The second concern is that the field right next to the black top is being polluted with the bus exhaust and is also being ruined by the buses driving over it with dirty tires over and over again. Before the buses arrived, the field right next to the parking lot was healthy and easily traversible. Now, because the buses have come to WMS and trampled along the field, it has been
031reduced to a muddy field littered with tire tracks. The exhaust being basically poured into the field and polluting it and could be releasing dangerous chemicals plus the polluting gas. According to an article on Zebra, an auto insurance company website, car exhaust is dangerous, especially in enclosed spaces. It contains toxic gases like carbon monoxide which can be deadly in minutes if inhaled in a garage or other unventilated area. While catching a quiff whiff outdoors usually won't cause serious harm, outdoor exposure in areas of high traffic congestion can can raise health risk especially for children. My evidence proves that the students inhaling exos can prove to have major health risks especially with how the buses are placed. Now, the field is currently unavailable because of these conditions. And even if the buses leave, it will still be
032most likely out of commission for another year. This is extremely unfair be especially because there are other spaces in town where these bus where these buses can be parked as well, especially when students from EMS and CMS don't have to face the major inconvenience we do. My last and possibly most important point is that the buses beeping throughout the day cause stu causes students to lose focus. Mult multiple times throughout the day during classes the buses will beep and if teacher is completely silent it makes it seem almost like another voice is speaking in the room. I know this especially well because it happens to me daily and I know for a fact that other students have suffered from the exact same. According to my personal research, uh 75 people or 91.5% answered yes to
033losing focus during a class because of buses beeping, and only seven people voted no. Um when I asked how often you lose focus, only one person voted rarely, 26 people voted sometimes, and 49 people responded very frequently with five people responding not available. This is out of 82 responses. This can happen during group work, silent reading, unit tests, NWA assignments, and if the buses are not removed, the SBA, which is considered to be the most important test of the entire year. All these things mentioned are deteriorating the school. So, which one would you prioritize? Saving money or allowing students to be treated with the proper proper education they were promised, which is also the entire point of school. This bus situation is not what is best for students and it never could be. Thank you
034for allowing me to speak. Henry, thank you for that. We really appreciate it. >> Next up, we have Grace Natali, followed by Gabrielle Laser. >> Is Grace here? >> Grace here or online? >> I am. I'm online. >> Hello. Oh, you can hear me? >> Yep. Go ahead, please. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Grace Natali. I'm a 14-year resident of the town of Greenwich, a mother of three public school students, two of whom magneted Western Middle School, and the co-president of the WMS PTA. Tonight, I'm speaking on behalf of the roughly 660 students and staff at Western Middle School. It's been eight months since the school year began and eight months since we were first told that district buses being parked at Western and at all schools would be a temporary measure.
035While I called the parking situation untenable in the fall, we as a community understood the predicament this board of education faced when the district's planned parking option fell through. We extended grace and have been incredibly almost relentlessly patient. However, it's now April and I ask the BOE to please seriously consider managing and meeting the expectations that it sets. The students at Western, just like you heard from Henry, have not gone one day of instruction this school year without hearing the necessarily loud beeps of reversing buses. Parents, staff, bus drivers, and the neighbors have spoken to the diverse and daily inconveniences that each of their populations have had to suffer as a result of the district's buses traveling down Western Junior Highway and the narrow, ready congested streets around Western. Tomorrow is career day at Western
036where many community volunteers will kindly share their professional experiences and perspectives with our students. It's a day that the students look forward to all year. A day that aligns perfectly with Western's Avid theme and its college preparatory mindset. Tomorrow, all of our visitors will also unfortunately get to see, hear, breathe in, and smell for themselves the traffic congestion inducing disaster of a multitude of buses that is our dual recess blacktop and W-wing bus parking lot. Tonight, the Western community has three requests. One, please find a more permanent place to park the buses, a place that's not WMS or another school. Two, please work with Principal Coin to move the buses during the upcoming SBA and NWA testing. Three, please work with Principal Coin to move the buses during eighth grade promotion. I know that not
037all of these are easy to do, but we really appreciate your consideration and your action on these. Thank you very much. >> Okay, last up we have Gabe. this time speaking on behalf of himself rather than the student body. >> Uh hello again. I know I said it'd be a month till I would speak to you next, but uh it's a little atypical, but this is something I'm kind of I'm quite passionate about, so I thought I'd uh I'd say something about it. So, yesterday at our lunch meeting, uh I had a little back and forth with Dr. Jones uh regarding the Havomire situation and uh perhaps the new construction behind uh the old high school, the current town hall. Um and it had really reminded me of a similar situation that the town faced.
038I think it was a decade ago. Uh and it was with the post office right on Greenwich Avenue, uh which is now today a restoration hardware. And the actual post office got moved to a former pet store and it's now a rented front. and the building itself simply doesn't have the grandeur of the former one. And so, you know, uh I have a I have a little passion for architecture. So, here's a little history for our country. When Thomas Jefferson, uh designed the Virginia state capital, uh he did so to replicate a Roman temple. And he did so because he thought that our new republic and the the strength of the civic life of our people should be reflected in the buildings that we build. And it should reflect our heritage as well. But today
039we see that many of the new buildings we build such as the new Central Middle School, new Lebanon School, um the library. I mean, the list really is quite extensive, look like they could be anywhere. It's quite an international style as it's been coined. You could place them in the middle of the desert and they wouldn't look out of place there either. We have really lost our local Greenwich flare that we saw in so many prior buildings that we would build. And when it comes to our civic buildings in particular, perhaps where the BOE itself is housed, um, they should have a civic face because without a civic face, they tend to just be buildings and they don't really tend to inspire generations to, you know, pursue a life in public service if you simply
040pass through them as a building. So, as we look towards the semicentennial anniversary of our nation, I feel that the coming buildings that we build and you know, I feel like that should start with the architecture of our civic buildings should be returned to uh more classical bases such as CNET Riverside School, old Greenwich School and the former GHS building which is Town Hall. Uh they tend to be a lot more reliable which is why Havomire stood for 130 years whereas this current CMS only 70. Um, but with that, that's that's all. >> Thank you. Thank you. There's no one else on the list. >> Um, anybody have any um comments or want to ask any questions or thoughts about anything we heard during the public hearing? I can say I was um I I
041was um um the sound of the buses being um a distraction during during the school day that that was uh um that was news to me uh particularly with SBA testing and things. So So I don't I I I appreciate I I very much appreciate the the research you did um um um on on and asking different students. Um, just being for myself, Henry, the um and the the statistics you had, that was that was very that was very helpful and something something I know, you know, we we've been working on, but hearing hearing your perspective um um hits home just how important it is that we need to we need to continue to do all we can here. Um there is a um later on the agenda there is um um an an item
042around some of the efforts that the district's been making. Um but it's there's nothing there's nothing right now. Um as we heard from the other comments, there's nothing there's nothing right now. There's no solution right now. Um so your bringing it forward is really helpful. Um so we know that we don't lose sight of it amidst all the other um things that come to our attention. Um we know how the important this is to to Western Middle School and to the students specifically. >> Want to reiterate this. Sometimes we forget up here that we are involved in in other things and this is our opportunity to um let the the public know and especially with long meetings tonight, we try to make them quick. But uh as it relates to the busing, I I do
043want to let the general public know that it's a it's a massive um uh uh it's a massive undertake. No, it's a massive we're all really killing ourselves to try try and do it. the administration is really spending a lot of time and a lot of energy and we know how important it is and we are really um doing everything we can. I think we we we had some expectations. They didn't happen. No one's um keeping their uh you know not keeping their eye on this ball. It's very well stared at every day. Uh I myself have literally gone to uh areas that I think could be promising and knocked on the door, left notes on the door um spoken to people and um and that's from you know an elected BET position whereas Ben
044and Tony I get to see the work that they do as well. We we have our eye on this ball. We just can't hit it. We're trying our best and uh we're going to keep trying. Thank you for your input. inspires us. We recognize how frustrating it is and uh we're going to continue to work diligently. The other thing I'd say is I like uh two out of three public comments being students is a good is a good average. I think that should be a good tradition for us. And we'll talk more the um and Gab's uh points are well taken. He also gets extra credit for working in the word semicentennial. [laughter] >> All righty. So, moving on. Uh, next, whoops. Next on our agenda, we want to welcome our friends from the YMCA
045to talk about um to to highlight our partnership with them. My name is Matthew Scar. I'm the CEO at the YMCA of Greenwich and I have the pleasure here to share a little bit about our partnership with the district and a little slide deck to go along with that. Um, next slide, please. So, first off, I don't think it would be appropriate if I didn't recognize the fact that the uh Greenwich YMCA has been serving the town of Greenwich. This is a big year for us, 110 years. Uh talk about architecture. I don't know if we lost our students, but uh some grand architecture. Uh 1916, uh the building was built as a gift to Greenwich to always be a YMCA. And if you ever pause as you walk uh the corner of Mason and
046Putinham, you will see two uh grand entrances, one on Mason, one on Putinham, identical on either side of the portico. Uh if you look up at the wording, you'll see that the Mason Street entrance was the boy's entrance and that the uh Putinham Avenue entrance was the men's entrance. And so since 1916, uh, the YMCA of Greenwich has found ways to serve innovatively to serve the, uh, the folks of Greenwich. Uh, for a long time it was boys and men and then opened up in the, uh, 70s and the 80s to women and children as well, uh, girls. Um, so, uh, next slide, please. There's a variety of different ways. I've been in my role here at the, uh, Y of Greenwich uh, in my fifth year, and I think I had a meeting with
047Dr. Jones in uh probably my first month. Uh I came out of the YMCA movement up in Albany, New York, where the Capitol District YMCA had a very robust partnership with over uh approximately 12 13 school districts with a footprint from southern Saratoga Springs all the way down through the Catskills, both sides of the Hudson. So I knew what a what a robust relationship looked like with a school district and I was excited to establish that uh with the Greenwich Public Schools. I'll go into a little bit more detail on each of these, but um youth development, healthy living, social responsibility are the uh the pillars of the YMCA and uh we are doing that in a variety of different ways uh representing those uh pillars with the uh public school system here. So, uh
048and I'll go into a little bit more detail, but youth development and family support, out of school time is a is a really big piece of what we do. obviously aquatics uh and athletics and then uh even health and wellness for our educators and administrators in the town uh and then through our scholarship program ensuring that everything that we do is accessible to everyone in Greenwich regardless of the ability to pay. So next slide. Uh our most recent uh uh program launched in September uh is an early learning center program, full daycare program housed at the YMCA. Uh this is in response to the uh reality that um affordable critical child care is a huge issue here in Greenwich and remains to be so. Uh what we uh launched was a program with a commitment
049to ensure that a minimum of 50% of our spaces are reserved for the underresourced of Greenwich. Uh the idea here is that it's a full daycare program, early drop off, late pickup. Uh and that really our concept here is to prepare the best way we can children for success as they enter kindergarten within the public school system. Uh next slide, please. and the afterchool program. Uh this was one of the first programs we launched. Uh I remember calling Dr. Jones and saying we'd love to uh target the title one elementary schools, but the caveat is you've got to put us on the bus route. Uh and so uh happy to say that uh today we welcome approximately 70 children across almost every elementary school uh at the YMCA for RAP services. uh taking uh children
050uh under our care all the way till 6:30 in the evening. We have a partnership with the Greenwich United Way reading champions who push in uh 3 days a week. We also have a math champions program in partnership with uh multiple schools uh throughout the the town. Uh our goal here is to um in a non-classroom set setting ensure that we continue the work that the school district is trying to achieve during the school day. Uh social emotional learning uh making sure that kids have connection with other children. Uh that physical activity happens, homework help happens, uh swim lessons continue to happen. Uh so this has been a really important program for us. Again, uh at this point about 60% of the children under our care receive financial assistance through our scholarship program. Next slide.
051Uh one of my favorites uh is the safety around water program. So we launched this program. We're now in our third year and I have to say that uh when I first came to the Greenwich Y I uh I reflected on where's all the kids right outside of competitive aquatics in the afterchool program we just didn't have enough kids in the building. And so when the uh the district made the decision to make the 9th grade program swim program optional uh I got in a conversation with Dr. Jones very quickly and said, "I have some ideas of uh a safety around water program that would happen during the school day and happy to say now that third year we welcome all 600 give or take fourth graders on Tuesdays uh at the YMCA of Greenwich.
052There's no cost to the district for this service except the busing that takes the kids there. So, one classroom by another comes through the Y. And uh we've learned through the last 3 years, we split the boys and girls up. Uh we send half the kids up to the uh gymnasium and we do some dry land training, how do you recognize a lifeguard, some relay races, introduction to CPR, uh concepts about life uh lifeguarding if they ever want to pursue this down the road. While the other half of the children go to our historic alumni pool, uh warm water 88°ree alumni pool. Who doesn't want to show up at a YMCA and go for a swim on a cold winter day? Um, and so, uh, what they don't realize is that there are multiple stations
053in the warm water pool. Our swim instructors are there. Our director of, uh, swim school is on the pool deck. Uh, we work in great partnership with the district and have lists of the children so that, uh, we know them by name when they come in. And what we do is we move them through each of the stations and in a way that they don't even realize it's happening. We're testing whether or not at the age of 10 or so that they have adequate water safety skills. We've learned to ask some other questions. Do they have they ever taken swim lessons before? Do their families spend time in or around water? And what we're finding is that uh on any given year, anywhere between 85 to 110 of those 600 children do not have adequate
054water safety skills. Uh those children are then invited back for free 8-week uh lessons uh at the Y at no cost to them. Uh we're still working out the uh kinks to try to get more of that percentage of children to uh show up and take advantage of those eight weeks of uh of swim lessons. And then those who do come in and begin to realize that they want to continue to learn how to swim, we will put them through progressive swim lessons through our financial aid program. Uh this is really important. The number one uh preventable death of children is drowning. We live in a waterfront community. as the premier aquatic facility in town, we felt like this was our role to step up and find ways to uh ensure that whatever we do,
055we play some role in in in uh making sure that that does not happen here in Greenwich. Uh next slide, please. There's a variety of different ways that we provide child care and family support. Um out of school time is a is a real issue for many working families. Where do their kids go? safe, reliable, and affordable. Uh, and so beyond the afterchool program, our summer camp program has grown tremendously. Uh, we now serve anywhere between 110 and 125 children a week in what is for many families critical child care during the summer months. very excited to say that um this summer we have signed uh an agreement with uh Scouting America and we'll be running camp out at Camp Seatan in Glennville uh for our older kids, our uh third, fourth and fifth graders
056and also launching a much more comprehensive leader in training program for middle schoolers and counselor and training programs for children who are 14, 15, 16 years old heading towards uh employment opportunities. Uh this is a great opportunity for us again uh 50 to 60% of the children are from the free and reduced lunch uh population here in Greenwich. Uh and the other part is uh last year we were approached um the summer school program needed a wrap program, right? So those kids who got out of the program early afternoon still needed uh child care. the YMCA uh we stepped up and we launched a program and those kids uh who are interested, families that are interested are busted over to the Y for the wrap service in the uh summer to support the summer school
057program. The other thing is uh teacher uh uh professional development days, right? Uh vacation days throughout the school year. Uh we have seen that program grow tremendously. on any given uh school holiday during the school year, we'll have anywhere from 20 to 65 children at the YMCA again providing critical child care. Uh next slide, please. We also run a variety of youth programs. Uh right now we just uh about 3 months into a leaders program. This is targeting the tween which are often difficult to uh figure out ways to uh engage them. But we've got about uh 15 kids from the Greenwich Public Schools right now who are doing all sorts of service projects that are supporting the community. Uh we're working in partnership with uh organizations to figure out how to help them, whether
058it be toiletries that uh will go off to neighbor to neighbor to support their program and the folks they serve. A great way for children to learn leadership skills. and then a variety of other uh educational uh enrichment programs, sports programs that happen in the uh afterchool and out of school times. Uh in our winter program, we had over a 100 children from uh the Greenwich uh community involved in those programs. Uh next slide please. Competitive aquatics is uh as everyone knows uh the YMCA of Greenwich built a Olympic pool and opened it in 2007 uh in response to uh the fact that we have a very large commitment to aquatics here right at the high school level. We know that uh some of the most successful aquatic programs in the country come out of
059our high school. And so, uh, proud to say that our club teams operating within the YMCA, we have approximately 550 children involved in the programs from as young as 7, 6, 7, 8, all the way up through high school in uh, water polo, uh, dive and swim teams. Uh, and many of those children are, uh, students of the Greenwich Public Schools. And so we support uh their outofse time at the Y in our clubs and uh under our expert coaching continue to develop their skills. Uh we know that we are seeing a lot of children out of a lot of uh seniors out of the Greenwich uh public school system who are signing to compete competitively at the collegiate level. uh happy to say that the YMCA plays a part in that ensuring that our
060clubs are moving those children along in their progression and getting them more uh readiness. I will say that I will know when our YMCA arrived uh because we will celebrate a kid in Greenwich who will be the first to go to college in his family perhaps partly because we got some access to our club programs uh for those kids and that pipeline through the safety around water program is beginning to get those kids um uh access to that Olympic pool deck. Uh we are signing kids. We've got two uh athletes now, former athletes who are on the USA national team of about 35 for water polo and likely will be in LA in a few years. And so uh Stanford University, Harvard, Brown, MIT, uh there's no reason why we can't have some of the
061children from our underresourced communities there in the years ahead for sure. Uh next slide, please. I'd also like to say one other thing. Um, I know the challenges that the uh district is having with the high school pool and I was very happy to uh be able to uh ensure that the dive program at the high school continued uh by providing access to our dive well at the Olympic pool at the Y of Greenwich. Uh next one. Great. We know that a healthy workforce matters, right? Uh time out of work, uh wellness, health and wellness is is really critically important. About four years ago, we decided to launch a program to support those who serve the community of Greenwich. And so, our town of Greenwich membership reduces our membership fees by 40% for all town
062employees. Uh we've got uh well over about 150 town employees including many administrators and educators who have taken advantage of that program uh and accessing uh the wise programs and services to ensure that uh they continue on their own health and wellness journeys. And then next uh slide and then this is probably my favorite. Uh I in my first year I said to Dr. Jones I need your help with a program. August of 22, we launched a back- to-school shopping trip targeting uh the underresourced children of Greenwich. Uh the first summer of of 2022, this district provided the buses. Uh the bus service at that time waved their fee after they saw the impact of this program. Uh we took 35 children shopping. Uh we take over Kohl's in Portchester. Uh many now uh of
063your educators have become volunteers for this program. uh which is really fun to see. 25 children, 25 volunteers. Uh parents leave the kids behind. The kids realize, well, I get to pick out what I want. Each child through our fundraising efforts has $150 gift card. Kohl's is very generous. Uh and last year we took 125 children shopping uh in the district. Uh it's a big burden for many families. It's several hundred to prepare for school so your kids are confident and uh there's nothing better than watching children uh put on new sneakers and sweatshirts on the bus hot August nights. Back to the Y uh for a community photo. But we love this program and uh we'll continue to do this in the years ahead as well. And then next slide. And then I think
064this is the biggest one for me and I I'll just highlight the numbers. Um four years ago we were providing about $250,000 in financial assistance through a variety of different programs at the Y. Last year that number rose to close to $600,000 and this year's budget has us committed to providing $850,000 in financial assistance across all platforms. The largest growing segment in our departments is child care. uh and that is setting these children up for success and ensuring that we've got a safe place uh that's affordable for the families of Greenwich to be. And next slide. And this is just the beginning, right? We are uh on a on a committed journey in this partnership with the district to continue to find ways to elevate this partnership and find ways to support the children, the
065families, and the folks that uh uh put their their heart into this work every day as educators and administrators to ensure that we've got one of the best districts in the uh in the country. So, we'll continue to increase financial assistance, find ways to support the district uh and the children and families of the district in the years ahead. That's it. Thank you very much for the opportunity uh to present on this partnership and thank you very much for the service that you all provide the town of Greenwich. >> No, thank uh thank you. We really um you know on behalf of the board you know we uh we couldn't be more appreciative of the the the years of partnership with the YMCA. I mean you see in this this this presentation just the the
066wealth of um um facets of that partnership and just it's it's just incredible the um everything from the fourth grade swimming to the back to school shopping to the after school program and everything in between. So, so we really we really appreciate um you taking the time to to educate the community on all the the Y offers as well as our staff um and the discounts for that which we really appreciate as well. Um so really appreciate the opportunity and and hope we can only continue to grow that in the years to come. I know my sons will be there this summer at summer camp so I'm excited about it. [snorts] Thank you Dr. Bud. I think you are you are up with the staff absentee report. >> It's nice to have the new >>
067I know. >> Hi everybody. Can you hear me? >> We can indeed. >> Excellent. I appreciate the earlier time tonight, but I know that the wheel of fortune will have me at the end of the agenda in no time at all in a few months. Anyway, uh there are two brief things I would speak about on this report. One is I added the past four weeks and basically at this point in the year the data more or less has stabilized and second I turned the presentation sideways and made the slides larger in uh reflection of your comments last time. Other than that it's anformational item. I'd be happy to answer questions or just have you accept where we are at this point. >> Karen. >> Uh thanks Dr. Bud, um, I wanted to propose, first
068of all, really appreciate this and and and I understand a lot of work goes into this. I I think we might be at the point where it makes sense to pivot to a quarterly update potentially. Last last month, we also talked about maybe going broader. Uh, certainly absenteeism is is not uh the only the only HR issue, right? We've talked about uh substitute fill rates. We've talked about teacher morale. There's a whole range of issues that are relevant. Um, so I think it might I I would suggest maybe we do a bit more of a management by exception. Uh, and I' I'd ask you to advise us, but you know, if we do this once a quarter and only have an interim update if one of these key metrics you monitor breaches a certain threshold
069such that it becomes a problem again. I think as we heard from Miss Jenkins this morning, you know, we are we are down on uh staff absenteeism from from the levels that raised the concern that started this uh to become a regular agenda item. Uh but of course I'd welcome thoughts of of my colleagues up here. >> I support that. >> Yeah, I do too. Karen, I think that's a great idea. I would support it also. >> Dr. Dr. B, I think you're off the hook for next month. >> All right. I won't take it personally. Thank you so much. Um, anybody else or Mr. Mercante Anthony? >> I mean, we said I said uh Well, now that you've demoted me and you're >> I'm so I'm so sorry. >> I'm kidding. >> Mr. Von,
070>> yeah, right. [laughter] >> Um, no, I mean, I think we talked a little bit about it last week. It was something, you know, some of the things that Karen mentioned, and I know you're preparing something for for later spring around um Yeah. vacancy rates and um um other HR matters like that. So, so maybe it's something to think about as far as um moving forward um putting G because that's a more robust report doing that less often, but some some other some other indicators that might be good for us to to keep an eye on at at this level. >> Yeah, >> I would be happy to do so. >> Thank you. >> No problem. All right, Mr. Demo the um I believe you have a textbook recommendation for us. >> Good evening. Yes,
071I do. I'm hoping um Mike will access my video because it says that I cannot access my video. Can you hear me at least? >> Loud and clear. >> We can hear you and see your team. I think Michael Mike's trying to tell you something. [laughter] Well, there we are. Good evening. Well, let me make sure I get this right. Good evening, Chairman Dr. Michael Meranti Anthony. I don't want to get chastised. Dr. Bud's going to be very upset the rest of tonight. I can guarantee you that. Welcome. >> Technically, it's Michael Joseph. >> There you go. And I blew it, too. Thank you. Well, I was just trying to make uh Dr. Bud feel better. Okay, so tonight we're excited to be here. Uh, as you can see, we do have members of my
072team joining as well. Um, we're here for the first read of several of our new textbooks. And I want to start by uh thanking uh uh Wendy and and Karen for your comments earlier. Uh it is a uh significant undertaking to sit in on a textbook review committee and I think you all have uh now firsthand knowledge of what actually it does take and we do um an incredible job. I think the teams do an incredible job of doing their due diligence and preparing thorough uh presentations to the board so that you can make thoughtful and informed decisions. To that end, I do want to mention that there are some uh textbooks that we initially thought we'd be ready for you to do a first read on u that were not quite ready. Upon further
073reflection, there are a few and uh Mr. Hoy and Miss Farnum will talk to talk to you about those in a minute. Um that we need a little bit more time. Um, one of the things, uh, several years ago I was tasked to create a textbook review committee process and I think we have a pretty good process in place, but when you think about at the high school level, um, the expertise and the content uh, specialtity of our staff, I think we need to go back and look at our textbook review committee makeup and perhaps be more inclusive of more teacher voices. And so to that end, I think we're going to pull back just a little bit tonight on some of our recommendations so that we can go out and talk to more teachers
074because at the end of the day, we want to make sure that the teachers not only feel comfortable but also confident and that they feel like their voices were heard. So having said that, again, I want to thank everyone who has served on a textbook review committee either uh past or present. I appreciate your time and um we have Shawn and Amy tonight for science and we have uh Dr. Shanker who will be presenting our Italian selection as well. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Sean and Amy and and I'm thrilled that you can actually see them because they're coming all the way from the West Coast because they're actually representing the Greenwich Public Schools and they can tell you a little bit more about that as well. So Sean and
075Amy, take it away. Thank you very much, Mr. Demo, and thank you uh everyone on the board and Dr. Jones for allowing us to to discuss uh the book review tonight. Um uh and I also want to uh echo um uh how well Amy did with uh running the committee um while I was at Western Middle School this year u for for a small part. Um and um and so uh we're here to we we uh posted a video and so we're here to answer any questions. I think um one of the big things to understand about um our recommendations is um you know the in 2016 when the um NGSS standards came out we we basically made a a homegrown um curriculum and uh over the past 10 years we've spent a significant amount
076of time um working in our departments and um in in our summer curriculum institutes on on really identifying different areas of need and adjusting our uh our curriculum uh to meet the student needs. And I think especially over the past few years, we've seen a significant increase not in just our student thinking, but also we're we're very proud of the scores we've been getting on our NGSS um uh assessments. though the the recommendations were are to really to up update a lot of our um very outdated um textbooks as supplementary resources. Um, and um, I'm going to I'm going to let Amy um, take it away and then if uh, if any board members have any questions about um, the recommendations for um, on level bi uh, biology on level chemistry and um, honors chemistry,
077we happy to discuss those further. Um, so Amy, without further ado, I'll let you take it away. >> Excellent. Thank you everyone for those kind words. Um I was so excited to leave an amazing team. Um Karen was our representative um from the board and she did an incredible uh diligent job. Um we had parent members um and our our team of teachers. We had six different teachers um and Sean and myself um looking at this and with Tara. So, a lot of eyes were on um these books. Um a little background on why we're in California. I'm so excited to present um building thinking classrooms and how we're using that in our science classrooms um with Marina Pancasic. Um we are uh excited to be um a leading district in the country and in
078being at the top edge of what NGSS looks like in the classrooms. Um and I know that every speak every um textbook company that what we were working with was impressed with where our district was. Um, so we we're a leading district and we need a book that reflects that. And um, you'll see that we recommended uh, Savis as the on level um, book for biology and for chemistry. And that's because this book is made brand new. It's not just a new edition um of old books that um you know maybe we use the phrase or Tara used the phrase in the beginning putting lipstick on a pig. Um this one didn't do that. It started from scratch. It's using current brain research on how students learn. So there is a lot of white space.
079Um information is chunked really well. Um there's text to speech um capabilities that are innate and not some clunky process with a robot reading to you. It's innate human voices. Um there's alternate text on every page. It allows us to um have more rigorous information for students who need it. And there's extensions um and opportunities to accelerate so we can help push our students to take on maybe an honors class the next year and make sure that they're ready. but also it's able to um keep that keep our students meeting the standard without um you know leveling down any information. We're going to make sure that we raise them up um to meet our high standards and our our program does an amazing um job at meeting students where they are and moving them forward
080um as as you can see our scores have shown. Um, but it's also the the beauty of the NGSS standards is it allows for transferability and making learning sticky. Um, we're um at NSA, that's the phrase that we're hearing a lot is how do we make um learning sticky and in transferable and how do we build the skills to let all students be scientists. Um, so the SAVIS recommendation for the on level we as a team we all thought it did that the best. It helped supplement our amazing curriculum. Um, so we're excited to bring that forward. And for the honors um textbooks, you'll see we have an open-source um book because it was the most rigorous uh for chemistry and we're excited to um bring that one forward. And um if anybody has any
081questions, we would be happy to answer that as a team. But um I want to thank our whole committee. They worked really really hard um and we had lots of very robust discussions comparing these books um and making sure that we're giving our students the absolute best material that we have out there. >> Amy, could I just add a couple things? Um >> absolutely. >> Thank you. Um so I just so for all of these all the textbooks we would have um physical copies of the textbooks and digital versions um of the textbooks. Um there one of the um you know big asks um from a lot of the committee members was that we wanted physical textbooks for the students um but also want to have a little bit of flexibility with the digital resources
082as well. Um and and so all of our resources uh uh have those. Um and then um in regards to um the why physics is not on there currently um for the recommendation, we originally put uh put forward a recommendation of SAVAs for uh on level physics. um a um a new book came in at the end of our um recommendation process and we're going to be re-evaluating that next week and then bringing forward that new recommendation um on uh in May. Again, we want to make sure that you know we have enough teacher voice and the committee committee can review um all the resources again uh to ensure that we're putting the best resources in front of the students. >> I apologize. Sean, did you mean honors physics? um on level and honors physics.
083>> Oh, both on level and honors. >> So, yeah, we're going to be relook at um since a new book got brought in at the end of the process. it was literally out like on recommendation day. Um we decided that we're going to um take both of those books off um to ensure that um everyone has an opportunity to see both um all the resources and then we're going to uh reput forward the recommendations after everybody's able to see the uh each resource. >> All right. So to clarify, um, so as far as a first read, we're not voting on anything this evening, but as far as a first read, uh, we're looking at, uh, biology, um, chemistry, and honors chemistry and honors biology. Well, the I guess those are the recommendations, although the honors
084biology is not really a change. >> Honors biology is not going to be a change. we're going to move forward with our current book and then next year the we um >> we received really late information that the originally the book would we we understood the book was not going to be um uh updated and then in December they made a change with that and um and and we uh reached out again uh to see if that was going to be if there was going to be any update and they said oh yeah in December we decided we're going to re-update that. So, um, our very happy with that. Um, and we do love the the concepts and connections book. So, um, we're going to look to, um, renew next year, go through again, renew.
085>> Awesome. So, before any questions, Karen, anything you want to add a committee member? >> Uh, yeah, I just wanted to just a couple things. So, on that honors biology, uh, this was a book that was only going to be available digitally and and given parent concerns, we had ruled it out. Uh and but we as when we looked at across other high-erforming districts, they were all they all had been using that book and I think they were probably all facing the same dilemma. Uh and so we were mourning the lack of that option and and then the week after we discussed it, we got the good news that it is available. So that was a that was a really pleasant surprise. [snorts] Um and as far as the uh Savas books, I just wanted
086to say uh you know, we looked at a long list. It was there this was a clear winner. This was not close. The the it was it is very it is readable. It is engaging. I mean it really draws the kids in. We looked at the diagrams for the same topic across all the books. The diagrams were the best. I mean this was a clear winner for the on level and uh you know similarly as we look at the u open stacks for chemistry the the level of rigor the math uh it is for those who don't know open stacks is a project from uh I guess it's rice university the professors there have written the book and actually make it available it's a nonprofit they make it available for free and the print copies
087they sell at printing cost uh but we didn't we did not weigh the fact that it is much cheaper It is by far the best uh book for the the honors level [snorts] >> questions. >> Yeah, Bob, >> I just wanted to say you have a huge fan and Karen here. She's been talking to me about as you guys were discussing it, she's been talking about this is so awesome. It's so amazing. Um I actually just had a of curation on a technical level. I assume it's on the digital that the text can be adjusted to different reading levels. I find that fascinating and yeah and an amazing uh benefit. Yeah, it's it's actually so it can go two grade levels lower and so and you um and if the students want it as a
088printed resource, there's a button right down at the bottom left. You can just click print and print that area um for it. And and again, the nice thing about it is um Savas does such a great job of chunking the information. So, one of the things that we really enjoyed about um the platform was um it basically walks the the students through in a very similar way that we introduce work to students in the class with a phenomena and then they go through these mini experiences and then so the mini experiences are also phenomena based and it will talk a little bit about the content but then it then they have to engage in like a science and engineering practice or crosscutting concept making it a two-dimensional question and then and then it further extends
089that as you move on into a three-dimensional question. So it it starts scaffolding um the work for the students and it's chunked really nicely that you know it's not like they read a ton of information then they have to go back and forth and back and forth um to try to find information. It it really walks them through the process really nicely. Um, you know, and again, a lot of the accessibility features that are on the digital platform for students who may need that with the speech text, but also the alternative text for anybody who might have a visual impairment um are are really well done. They it explains the pictures and the diagrams, the data um very well. Um, and so we were very pleased with that because we want to make sure that
090we're make we're uh having resources that are accessible for all of our students. >> That's great. And the scaffolding sounds like a great way to make it uh sticky as you say. >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Um thank you guys so much for this. Um what's the lifespan of um these textbooks? I'm I'm just interested like how long would you expect to be using them um in any of the classes? >> About a week and a half. >> Uh so the digital licenses are six years um is what we're looking to purchase. Um, but the books could last much longer. You saw with the honors biology recommendation or recommendation is to continue. So then the books would still be relevant. Um, and SA Savas said they print about every 10 years with a new edition,
091but every every book is different, but that's roughly what all of the companies were saying. >> But Mr. Demo, this probably speaks to the curriculum cycle. >> Yeah, exactly. Mike, one of the things that we try to do in the curriculum management plan is forecast when we will have renewals. And u sometimes though the publishers will surprise us and accelerate a new addition. And other times what we'll find during an internal review is that we don't need to uh adjust what we have because when we look at our academic performance and we garner feedback from teachers and administrators um what we have seems to be suiting our needs. That said, you know, sometimes standards change as well and when we have expectations that change, we have to change with them. But the point is, uh,
092you know, a standard license is typically five or six years. And so, I want to reinforce the point of why we do our due diligence because we are investing for an extended period of time. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. >> Any other questions on science? >> Okay, >> great. Thank you. Um, are we talking Italian? >> We are talking Italian. Dr. Shanker, please. >> All right. Good evening everybody. Um, we had a wonderful committee comprised of teachers um, parents and um, Wendy did double duty for us on our committee and we looked at three different resources. Uh, and we came up with it was a clear winner for us as well was KLET and it was the Giovani reporter. um both the teachers and parents and even students who looked at the book really
093felt that it made Italian accessible. It is modern. It is coming out this June. We got an advanced copy, so it's hot off the presses. Um it really speaks to the teenage learner. And what's really important about Italian is that our students who come into Greenwich High School choose to take Italian in 9th grade. And so they're starting their Italian journey. many of them come in with experience either with Spanish or French from the middle school. And so having a resource that's new, that is um centered for students is really important. And one of the things that we also really liked about this program is that our AP Italian teacher felt that it really scaffolded well for students who wanted to challenge themselves and get to that AP level by the time that they were
094a senior. so that there was enough rigor within um all of the units that are provided, but there is also a tremendous amount of scaffolding um and supports for all learners. The other thing that our teachers really appreciated was how modern and up-to-date the um the technology is in terms of the listening comprehensions and the different activities that students can do online. Um, one of the things that we did talk about similarly to science is um, screen time. And we we reminded everybody that this is a resource. Um, everything is printable and our teachers really focus on communication, interpersonal communication during class. Um, and the textbook, especially online, is really something that is a resource that students have if they're at home and they need help. We also will be getting um a set of
095hard copies so that we do have books available especially if a student has a concussion from sports and they can't be on a screen. We want to have that accessible to them. So we think that this is a a really positive step for our Italian program which has not had a new resource in some time. Um Italian resources are hard to come by. they are not as um as ubiquitous as uh Spanish. So, this new resource is very welcome by by all of our teachers. Are there any questions? >> Wendy Wendy, anything to add? >> Oh, I I just want to say I was very surprised that you're here tonight. I thought it was going to be next month. Um so, um thank you for giving the update. Um and it really is such an
096exciting Italian book. I mean, I I want to take Italian myself. It made It was so exciting to see. I can't wait for the kids to actually be able to use it. Everybody worked really hard on it. I mean, yeah. So, thank you. Thank you to all the teachers and parents. >> Any questions on on the Italian textbook? >> And to clarify, just to reiterate, so we're we're we are getting um hard copies of that as well, right? Yes. >> Yes. We're we're going to get class sets, not copies for each student. Um each student will be rostered to the digital book, but we will have class sets within each classroom. >> Okay. Uh I worry person I mean I just talk about myself. I worry about that. I I wonder if that's something we
097talk about. The um we don't have a policy or tradition as a as a district. Um um but I know I I have a lot of reservations about not um moving forward with not getting a book per kid given everything that we're continuing to learn about um digital distractions and and and and online learning and and and all the the challenges out there. I worry if we're not setting ourselves up for the success we did. I get the importance of some of the digital tools particularly in something of Italian. Um, but I I worry uh that um systemically if we're not we're not setting ourselves up for full success if if we don't have a book for everybody. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> I agree. >> I mean, we've had a we've had a lot
098of discussions about this and especially with a lot of the digital learning you heard PTA mention tonight. We can buy the books. We can't make the students use them. We have 10 to 20% of our students that will actually want a hard copy book. And we have to I think from a staff perspective be very realistic that wasting thousands of dollars of books that sit on the shelf. It it's not wise. And if you go back even you know 15 years ago when we used to buy books it was a whole different issue where the books all weigh you know 50 pounds and kids had these heavy heavy backpacks and they were hurting their backs and then everyone would say why are we not going digital? I think it's finding balance and for a student
099who really wants a hard copy book and it's about kind of looking at we estimate based on what we know because we have physics books that we bought I want to say five years ago maybe even six and a lot of them have not been used and still sitting on the shelf and so we want to avoid that issue while also providing what our students need and want. So I share that with you because there are also students who want the screen reader. They want components that come with an online that you don't get with a hard copy. So, um, we're trying to be very thoughtful about it, but not wasteful. >> Yeah. >> Go Karen. Karen first. >> Yep. Uh, look, you know, budget hawk that I have been I appreciate the uh the
100desire not to be wasteful. Uh, but there has been a lot more research that's come out more recently and I'm not sure that our families, our students are aware of the educational outcome impacts that the studies are showing. And I I am concerned I I look I I I like saving money. I'm I'm concerned that a classroom set is insufficient. And I do think it may be worth some finding some way to do a little bit of educational outreach to so that students understand. They certainly easily understand the cons of carrying a heavy backpack, but I'm not sure that it's well understood all of the advantages that have been discovered on print text that may that that more than the 20% may decide uh make it worthwhile. >> It just kind of made me rem
101I'm reminded of a few years ago when my son took honors bio, he did take a book home and it was falling apart. So, people do use them. Um, and I think it is important to to to have them for for for them to use. >> so if I agree with what everyone is saying and I'm just wondering if we commit to a certain curriculum like do we have the opportunity to buy the books later or you know >> we usually buy the books up front you know so that everything is ready to go. Can you buy more books at any point in time? Absolutely. That's a good point. >> Should I just make one comment? Sorry. Hand up there. >> Sorry. Um, all of the resources and this this is for all of our
102world language resources, everything is printable. And I think if you look at our classrooms and you look what teachers are doing, they they understand, they appreciate what you're saying. And so they're they're not leaving kids alone with just the digital. They can print if there's a reading comprehension, they can print out the reading comprehension, especially in class. They do really want students annotating and using all of those good skills that we've we've taught them along the way. So, while while yes, they have a class set, they are not strictly bound to just the digital platform because the teacher does have the ability to print um materials for students. Just as a side note, >> Karen, go ahead. Ha. >> Having been the the uh individual on the board that sat on um every single textbook
103committee up until this point, um I just want to thank uh my fellow board members for actually uh offering to do it this year. I think it's great to have other voices and opinions out there. So, thank you to to Wendy and Karen for that. Um, but I will say one of the things we always ask is about making sure that there are hard copies for students that want them and or need them. And we, as you know, other than having, you know, always having a class said, as as Dr. Jones said, if a student wanted a textbook, one would always be provided. Um, but you know, all the things all the points that we had been brought up before is like there's there's so many additional um opportunities for students to dive deeper to
104get extra help. Um, typically when they have the online textbooks, they can access them while they're sitting um at practice if they're, you know, or at a game that they're not uh playing in um in athletics. Um, and again, they have added resources for a lot of these students when it comes to I'm assuming that the Italian textbook is like the one we, you know, reviewed for French a few years ago where it helps students really learn about the proper pronunciation of the words, for instance. Um, you can see things in action in the science books. You can see the, you know, somebody doing something, you know, a chemical equa, you know, equation and and thing to just get a deeper understanding. So, a lot of the opportunities the students have to use these digital
105textbooks um often and I'll say this using the word outweighs um carrying around a a hard copy um and you know just think about the number of classes our kids take the number of textbooks if they had to take hard copies in is is really detrimental to their physical health as well. Um which is a discussion that we had years ago um and that was why a lot of those decisions were made. So, I think there's always a good balance and it's it's fantastic to know that everything can be printed out for students. Hard copies are always available if they want them. Um, but much like Dr. Jones says, we can purchase them, but the majority of kids prefer to actually use the online um versions because they have so many bells and whistles that
106come with them to help support their learning. Um, whether they want to go deeper, whether they need a a re-explanation of some of these cla, you know, concepts they learn in class uh by the time they get home. So, I I think it's great that that we have all those opportunities for the students. >> I appreciate it. And we do have the um the curriculum committee uh specifically looking at this. So, I don't I probably I know I started us down this this rabbit hole, but given the agenda, we probably um want to want to want to want to move on the um um um with that. Um you you one last comment. >> Sorry, just one one quick comment. I would point out that these heavy books don't have to go back and forth
107every day. If you've got a set in the classroom, these books can live at home where students have access to them without having to carry them. >> So, right, I think there's I mean, that's why I think we have to have a a larger a larger conversation about it. The um um there's um we probably know more than we did 15 years ago when online textbooks started becoming a thing. And now it's something something that we have to we have to we have to think about. Um I think that's fair to say. Okay. Um so, um no other questions. We're going to move on to so thanks everybody and thank you. Um I should acknowledge Miss Fogle who we did not um um did not speak but that's because her video uh presentation was so
108robust and comprehensive that she said everything that she needed to. So we appreciate your time. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. So um on to uh Riverside School um um >> elementary start time. Excuse me. Dr. Jones, >> that was my signal to be quick. was it? >> Mhm. >> Um, so I just did a one-pager on the front just to give you the the background of the survey. The board knew that we were going to put this out there. Um, it launched on March 19th. The data in the board agenda was pulled on April 1st and that's just because of spring break and trying to get everything ready. So, I did go back in today and check it. Um generally when we do surveys like this the vast majority of p parents answer
109pretty quickly and especially one like this that was kind of a 30 second a minute long survey. Um we only had four responses uh between April 1st and today additional. So just to to help people feel better about April 1st. Um and again this was looking at the six elementary schools that moved from 8:45 to 9:00. Um 9:00 yes. Um down on the bottom what you'll see is cumulative if you're just looking at the whole district and you just asked the question if you'd prefer to return to the 8:45 start time. Um because we have heard it is hard for working parents. They used to be able to drop at 8:30. Now they can't drop until 8:45. So if you start work at 9:00, it is it is challenging. It also pushes back in the
110afternoon getting to piano lessons and dance lessons and all those sports activities. Um and it was basically um 60% said yes. Uh 61.40 and then no didn't want to change 22.95 and then you have another percentage almost 16% just don't really care. No preference. Um but when we actually asked the question and we let people know that it would require approximately 11 additional buses and the estimated annual cost would be 1.6 million. um it drops to a 40% yes. And I did get a few emails, I'd say less than 10 from parents. Where would this 1.6 million come from? And the reality is it comes from your operating budget. And 75 to 80% of our operating budget is staff. And then that that last little 20 25% most of it we don't control other than
111things like textbooks because it is um you know it's the utilities. it's all of those fixed costs that we have in the school district. So, it it did we did get a different response. Um I will say on the very back page um the last two pages, you can actually see it by school and that can be a little bit uh interesting as well. Um because you can see where some schools had more. Yes. Um but then when you ask them the question about, you know, what it was going to cost, you know, it switched a little bit. So, North Street's probably one of the interesting ones on the first question. and 71% said yes, 18% said no. Um, but then when you look at the second page and they knew it was going to
112cost 1.6 million, it dropped to 48.7%. So each building is a little different and I think sometimes that can have to do with proximity, you know, too. I mean, uh, for Glenville and Parkway, it's a little more difficult for parents in the afternoon to get from their buildings down to dance or athletics or whatever's happening in the middle of the town. Um, and so again, I I guess it's just getting a a sense and we don't have to do it tonight um from the board because I I know in the budget committee we had talked about um using surplus. The board I think was pretty strong to say didn't want to go in that direction. The BET didn't support us going in that direction. what I have said and um even to PTA at their
113full meeting where all the PTAs are there um is that maybe from a school district I need to do more work. I have more time this year because we're not changing the buses like in the 11th hour but to look at a different strategy to help these six buildings. How can we get that 20 minute challenge if in the morning where parents could drop off at 7:30 and maybe we need to look at paying a small stipen for a teacher or somebody that can come just like we do for cafeteria monitors um to so that parents that really need it um could actually drop off. And so I think maybe looking at a different solution that doesn't cost 1.6 six million. Can't help in the afternoon, but right now those few parents that need to,
114they just check their children out early. Um, which, you know, parents have done for years in school districts. So, um, so that's where it is. I thought it was it was fascinating actually. I thought the percentage would be higher for Yes. I just have a question like with North Street which seemed to be the one right where people are most passionate about wanting to change it back. How many of those students take buses? So that if we did have the stipen and have teachers there earlier, you know, if you're taking the bus, it's not going to help you, right? But if you if your parents are dropping you off, then you could start something earlier. So just do you see what I'm saying? like you wouldn't be able to access that early start if you
115were on the bus. Is that is that true? >> That is true. But what I have heard and again it's not quantitative in that nature. It's more the parents that are dropping physically with their cars um because they're the ones that drop and then they can't get to work. Um they can get them on the bus early, but it really was more about how it was impacting their morning um and getting where they need to be in the morning. So, >> I mean, I for one prefer the idea of having some sort of early morning drop off program and spending the money on that, giving the parents the flexibility than adding more buses to our fleet of buses that we're struggling to park as it is. Well, and I will say because you heard Matt
116tonight and he's been a great partner. We've really worked on a lot of programming and we had a discussion before school started about uh whether or not he could find some YMCA staff that could run a program like that. and we were pretty positive about it, but again, we were changing the entire, you know, everything. So, we really just it was too difficult to get it off the ground. But I do think there are other other solutions where we need to be maybe a little more creative. >> Right. >> Um, as someone who, and I've said this multiple times, has lived a lifetime by the time I drop my children off at 8:45, [laughter] um, because it they've been awake for a long time. Um I am in favor of the earlier start time. I
117do understand the cost. Um I have two questions. If there were some sort of um uh stipen for staff for an early morning drop off um I guess my question is uh does that is that something that needs to be vetted um that you know like that that a parent you know has to like run off to work or can anyone just go and and use that service? That would be my first question. And my other question is is if we're not changing the start times um with the buses, if we have success finding a place to park the buses and um would we consider this in next year's budget? >> I you know I think we could. There are so many outstanding factors though. We don't have a contract for next year as of
118today. So what is it going to cost next year? Um, are we going to find a bus slot and that's going to be x amount of dollars? I mean, there's just so many too many questions right now, unfortunately. >> Other questions? Cool. Oh, go ahead, Karen. >> Um, well, I had two questions. I know the budget committee you said had discussed using um you know uh any you know unused or leftover funds that were returned back to us but you know I think it's certainly before we even move forward it might be something that could certainly talk to the uh the bet about if they would be interested in having a discussion with us on uh an interim um for this because it wasn't something we necessarily considered but I I would hesitate and say
119or ask the question prior to doing this is that It's it's not exactly fair for parents who do have to put their children on the bus. If they can't, you know, they don't have transportation to get their kids to the school that early, they're being negative, they could be possibly negatively impacted both ways. I also know that there's a lot of parents who um don't send their kids on the bus because the buses, I mean, aren't always the most reliable. um you know some mornings there, you know, at the beginning of the year especially. I know it was it was a little bit of a bounceback, but there's people that choose to drive specifically for um you know, to guarantee that their kids get there at a specific time. Um so I I just think
120I think there's a couple of factors that we didn't really look into based on just a few survey questions that were asked. So I I would love to just if we are really thinking about moving this forward, I do like the idea of bringing, you know, moving the start time back. um you know is finding out which parents you know if people would take advantage of that early hour uh you know >> well Karen yeah I I hear what you're saying Karen I I don't know if um um reading the room the same way I I don't know if there's um I don't want to speak for everybody so speak up the um I don't know if there's a lot of um interest in what I'm hearing for for moving forward with an interim to
121change start time given given these statistics No, you've read me correctly. >> Yeah, may as well. >> Well, again, I think it's, you know, the majority of parents that were, you know, responded said that they were certainly interested in moving the start time back. So, >> well, let's let's correct that. No, the the majority said no, they didn't when they when they found out the cost said 40%. Yeah. >> Right. Well, that's because at the point we don't have that funding. The question is would we be able to get it? That would might change the question. That's all. Hold on that. Let me call Dr. Jones for a second. >> If I can just address the interim, that's the exact same situation we were in last year. We can't do an interim because an interim
122happens at July 1 or after and we are working on buses as the year ends. We have to know that we have the money to go into the contract for what we need and we can't wait. An interimm happens too late. So it would be not doing it next year. It would have to be a budget discussion during the budget process. >> All righty then. Never mind. >> And my understanding was that the questions the the the survey led into was knowing that it would cost this much money. How do you feel about it now? Not hey, we don't have the money. Um if we don't have the money, how do you feel about it? So th this was the survey asking about whether or not this was worth the spend. So I don't see
123this as a oh well let's see if we can get an interm and then ask the survey again. I know the survey was saying, "Oh, wow. It's going to cost that much." No, I'm I'm retracting my answer. >> Okay, seeing no other comments, we're going to move on to our next disc discussion item, which is now the Riverside School edition. >> I'm just going to quickly u mention why this is coming up now, and then I know that the board of ed members that serve on the building committee are going to want to speak. Um basically when we were in feasibility and we were looking at um having two preks as part of the concept for Riverside, we um at the time the legislation was interpreted as um having a 15% bonus on top of
124the 20% renovation uh reimbursement, but only for those two preK classrooms that would be added. That was then clarified. And I I'm not sure if they actually amended the language or if it was just clarified at the legislative level happened after this was in front of the board. Um but in followup and clarification, it is 20% bonus if you're adding prek space to the entirety of the project. So if it's 40 million, it applies. Um so it is very different than when you were just adding two rooms and you had a bonus on two million, a million dollars per room. it is on the entirety of the project. So that's why it's come back up again. It was in the original edspec that came in front of the board. We had pulled out prek and
125so now it's the discussion, do we put prek back in? Understanding what that bonus reimbursement is. >> It is 20% of the entirety of the project. >> Is that right? 15. 15. Thank you. Thank you. It is. >> It's 20% reimbursement on the renovation. 15 is the bonus. Thanks. before us as a discussion item is the original, make sure it's clear, is the original uh um edspecs that we approved um a little more than a year ago um with the prek page that we pulled out a year ago back in. Okay. Right. Who wants to start? Do we want to go to So we we we've um Paul and Veronica have both um been been on the um been been working with the Riverside committee. The Veronica is going to take the lead moving forward,
126but I don't know if you guys want to want to say anything to >> I think maybe we let Karen start and then Veronica and I may be able to help answer questions and guide and then we'll share our opinion as well. But let's get off the ground with Karen. >> Hey, >> um and I'll be brief. I know it's late. I think there are three things that I've heard from the community and Dr. Sh, I know you've answered them for the board, but just for transparency. Um, one, could you talk about briefly about the reimbursement timing because in years past, uh, there's been a significant lag and I believe that's changed. Two, could you talk about impact of the additional 30 students on traffic in a residential area? Uh and three uh I believe
127there was a request to look at what the cost uh as an alternative would be of uh building new rather than renovating. I think many of us were quite surprised to see how high the cost of the the renovations to old Greenwich were relative to what we've spent to build entirely new schools uh in the recent past. >> Sure. So in looking at the reimbursement timing, I think um what floats around are reimbursements like HAM that really have taken forever that was finished back in 2009. Um there are two big factors that have changed. One is uh if you have followed the construction office at um at the state level, they went through significant change. There was some actual like embezzlement. I'm just going to call it that. I don't know if that's exactly what
128it was. um but it was poor practice and um because of that they actually uh went through a reorganization. They are much more efficient now and I know if you look at the Q&A we sent either last night or today it was in there um where we shared some of that information. >> Yeah. Sorry. I I've read it. I just didn't think it was available to the public and I thought the public deserved to know. >> Yeah. No, absolutely. I wasn't questioning that. I'm just for the board. I didn't know if anybody You got so many Q&A things over this last week. I just don't want to assume you read everything. >> Sorry, there's a wrong two. Um, so the timing is they're much more efficient. I mean, when I email them, usually within 24
129hours of not the same day, they make every effort to email back. They know the answer to a question. They're working really well with us to the old projects to get them phased out. The other thing that really impacted Greenwich is the building committees kind of didn't see it as their responsibility to think about the reimbursement paperwork. So then we had so much turnover in Habamire and senior staff like from a school superintendent, you know, you you show up and if you're only there for a year or two, by the end of the first year, you're trying to figure out what it is you didn't know about something like that. I mean, you're trying to run schools. So there was so much turnover with Habamire that there were projects that had set literally for years,
130but we're getting all those closed out. They're much more efficient and we're more efficient. um the impact of the 30 students. Um in again in the Q&A we sent you today, you can see um where one of the questions shows you how we time prek differently in those buildings that need it. They either start 15 minutes early, 15 minutes later, but we do that based on everything we know about traffic because it does take longer to unload and you know load little ones. So um that's one aspect of that. Um and then the cost of the building new versus renovation. Uh we should have those uh the number from the official like cost estimator very soon. Yeah. On um on what that actually will cost. We've seen the concept. We are actually looking at it
131just again today. So we're getting that ready for you. Um and then that will go to the building committee to help inform the building committee. And we went ahead and did that work because we were hearing over the last many months several questions that was bubbling up and it's like we might as well as staff get it done to help the building committee to hand it off to them. So it's coming in a matter of a week or two. >> Um thank you. Um I think speaking from the building committee I think that we're trying to to look at everything and what makes the most sense so that we make good decisions in the process. Um I think particularly with this prek thing um that came back up there's the potential need for prek in
132the district but there is a clear mill multi-million dollar savings that comes with a total cost of this project if we add in prek. uh the numbers that I estimated around $5 million. The project itself is cheaper by about $5 million by adding in prek. Even if you get a little bit of a different number on that $5 million, it is still an incremental savings to add it on. Um and and you know, there was some discussion of we're going to have so many pre-k classes. Are we going to fill them? Are we going to need them? Um, if we add in two preK classes at Riverside and we open them whenever we open them and we don't have the numbers that we thought we would, we closed two other classes somewhere else. We currently
133have so many schools in the district that have prek. We just opened one at Parkway. We're just opening one now Parkway again. And so there's other areas where we can close them to keep them at Riverside again to ensure that uh reimbursement. So, I think that really the conversation is do we want prek at Riverside? That's because we know that it's going to save us money. We know it's better, but fundamentally, do we want pre-K at Riverside? Uh, one thing that Veronica and I had a conversation today about is, you know, if you look at our enrollment projection report, Costco, Glennville, those buildings that are expected to be exploding, it was very difficult to get the third preK at Costco Cobb and we had to dislocate a class that's upstairs that we preferred to be
134downstairs. Um, so if if it really if if that report holds true, highly likely we would need to move a pre-K out of there because they're going to need it for kindergarten or first grade. Well, it was helpful [clears throat] looking at this and and that we had just done the whole space utilization study for the entire district. Um because we know that our buildings are very well utilized, especially um Riverside is a building that is really at maximum capacity and even with the renovation will be quite full. And frankly, um, you know, not so much just when I've been serving on the board, but as a as a parent in the Greenwich public schools for the past 14 years, like inevitably we do have like a pipe burst or HVAC fail or something like
135that. And so I also kind of just like the idea of having two extra classrooms on the east side of town for swing space if we needed it because um in years past, you know, we've ended up putting people in the auditorium actually well here at Central Middle School or at Eastern Middle School, you know, and it so it's it's not a bad thing. You know, I assume those classrooms will be full and will be used as prek, but having two extra classrooms, especially if it actually save us saves us millions of dollars, feels like a good decision, >> Wendy. >> Um, well, this is our most populated elementary school. There are already traffic constraints, parking constraints, field constraints, and I just feel like adding preschool to Riverside um probably would not be very helpful
136to the community in that area. Um it doesn't seem like responsible planning because we haven't identified any plan for additional parking for staff and the traffic flow. Um, and I, you know, I'm on the JC building committee and we do have EDS specs as Dr. Jones put in our Q&A document tonight. um we we didn't get to to even go down the road of I I know you put that we didn't apply for some permit or um special licensing that to to I'm not using the right terminology >> because JC is was just p peacemilled. It wasn't actually approved as a project. There's not an official building committee that has to go through the state. Otherwise, we would we wouldn't get reimbursement at all. Like we're not getting on the elevator or anything else that
137is being done, >> right? But we could revisit and we could probably apply for that and we could probably get a reimbursement for that one. I I'm just saying if we are I don't think we should just build a preschool just to build a preschool. I think we should really be thoughtful about where we're putting it. JC is centrally located and I think it makes more sense. It's a small school. Enrollment is down. Um I don't know. I I'm I just think it would be easier for families to get to. >> For for what it's worth, I um I I agree I agree with Wendy. I mean, I was I voted against um putting or I voted for taking prek out of the edspecs last year um out of concern of the the concerns that
138that Wendy's uh saying there. Um we have our um it is our largest elementary school. I remember at the time that we lose a number of things including, you know, there's traffic concerns, things like that, but also you lose playground space. Um you need a pre-K party ground. that there's some um look at those classrooms we're going to go um uh cover some play space and stuff and I just worry that I I think there's two different questions. I think it is a separate question of whether or not down the road the district u will need uh prek space. I suspect you know all the evidence is saying that we will. Um that's different than if we want to have that precase case at um Riverside. Um it's not um I think it's important to
139remember to think of preK as a special education program. I think um too often um um we think about um we we fall into the trap a little bit of thinking about uh different special ed programs as as school-based. Um um and we have had a challenge in NorCy of convincing families to go to a school outside of their neighborhood school because it's um it's it's the the special ed program best for their kid is only at this one school. Um and and when it comes to uh prek, I think we got to think the same way. I think we got to think where is it best for the program um to to support that and and in a building that is probably smaller probably makes a lot more sense. Um, go ahead, Veronica. >>
140Oh, thank you. >> Go ahead, Karen. >> Sorry. I was gonna say, um, you know, I I I'm always in support of adding more, you know, swing space and space for preschool. I think preschool is exceptionally important. I know we've talked about that being one of the main reasons to of student success when they have access to preschool programs. Um, but I would also say one of the complaints that we've heard from parents is that, you know, we're western heavy with uh preschool classrooms and there's we're not as strong on the eastern side. And I I hear uh Wendy's comments about JC, but I think, you know, if we had done the if we had done it the way we had originally wanted to do it, JC, and that was adding those um it would
141have worked, but we, you know, were put into a position of chopping it up into multiple different pieces. Um, and I think this is a perfect space to add it back in. We already have all of the plans. Um, and if it's actually going to end up saving us money and giving us money back, it makes perfect sense to actually put it there. And again, whether or not those classes are full or we end up using those as swing space is a different piece. Um, do we know like in order to, you know, if they're built as preschool classrooms, um, do we know, are we required to use them as preschool classrooms for a certain period of time to be able to get the funding, uh, back from the state on that or, you know,
142if it's available space if needed, would we still get that funding? >> It's building the early childhood space. So even if we don't end up having them filled as preschool classrooms from the get-go, we still get the funding back. It makes perfect sense then. >> Yeah. Because you're building the space for prek which is correct which is has specifications which we all know for prek, right? That are more challenging, >> right? But that's my point is it's we're adding those two spaces. is they'd be sw you know we designate them and call them prek because they're going to have all the you know necessary things that are needed for prek and if they're not used as prek they're swing space and we're still getting money we're saving money on the project by adding two rooms.
143It seems like a no-brainer if you >> um so I actually fully I love the idea of having prek Julian Curtis and I would love the idea of building prek at Julian Curtis. Um, you know, we are finishing I've been on the building committee since the second meeting that it started and we are, you know, finishing [snorts] a multi-year phased project which up to this point has not once considered prek and it's not that we can't, we still have another phase to go. So, there's an opening to do that. Um, I don't know if it's feasible to do within the current footprint of the building. Um, and we had discussed the idea of possibly adding uh a a space and expanding um the school a little bit. It's a it's a small footprint. Um, and
144we talked about adding those pre-k place classes. [clears throat] Uh, what we learned in that process is that not only is it the cost of construction for that, um, but that would require Julian Curtis to add sprinklers to their building, which is a $10 million cost to the district. I think having sprinklers in the building is great. I think that having preschool at the building is great. I if that is something that we want to move forward with, I think that's fabulous. But I don't think that that should eliminate having preschool at River. Like we can do both is basically my idea because there's other classrooms in the district that can be used for other space. As Dr. Jones says, Glennville and Costco are very full. And there's also other schools in the district, elementary
145schools that house multiple programs, uh, district programs, uh, co-ad Cobb, unique learner, North Street, positive pathways, old Greenwich, and the preK. This would evenly distribute district-wide programs to all of the elementary schools. So, the one thing that I would say just, you know, the only reason we're having this discussion is because it was economically a smart thing to do at Riverside because we're paying the rooms are paying for themselves because the reimbursement applies to the entirety of the project. We don't have a $40 million project at JC. Um, so if we're talking about reimbursement again on two classrooms if that's what we would put a building committee for, I guess we could add one of the other peacemail pieces, but nowhere is it going to reach what the project is at Riverside. So you're actually
146it may end up costing you money. You would want to really look carefully at the numbers. Even if we formed an official building committee and we got on the priority list for the state next year and then the following year you're moving forward as cost continues to escalate and go up because as we know it takes us like five years to be able to get these projects through the process. So I'm not sure it would be economically advantageous. You'd be doing it because you want to build preK which was the previous discussion the board had like a year or so ago. having uh served on the feasibility committee at Julian Curtis what seemed like 4,000 years ago and being on the building committee with Veronica as well that the in my opinion I think the
147ship has sailed for Julian Curtis for doing those things. We had grand ideas we had some amazing um ideas of things we wanted to do I I don't think it's possible right now where we are in our cycle especially with upcoming projects as well. So, I think that this, in my opinion, is the best way to utilize this and to get uh two preschool uh classrooms in and save money. >> Wonderful. Um the last word is um yeah, I think we've uh this is a wonderful discussion item tonight because we can look at some of the some of the actual things here like that extra square footage of space. Where is it going to be put? Is there going to be parking? What's the extra extra um uh playground room? Where is it going to
148go? Is it going to invade this field space? I don't think any of these things um will result in us not wanting to take advantage of this. Uh but I do think they they should be looked at and they could they could avoid an un any unintended consequences. Um I wanted to double back on one thing that I heard in this conversation. I'm not sure how it crept in, but I I I do want to continue to be careful about how we speak about this. But Miss Hirs had said that um had referenced student student success um you know was much higher when they had preschool access. Are we talking about special ed are we talking about all access to preschool? Like because that's happened and that's not the conversation. these preschool classrooms are for
149special ed. They're they're not for um uh general ed. And the uh and I do agree that there are studies that show that that kids that have access to preschool are um you know are better suited for success in the future. But that's just not our mission. Unfortunately, it's not. Um I just go ahead Karen >> I just oh I which I was just going to say yes it's not our mission to just have a general preschool class and while they are are part our preschools are targeted um specifically to the students with learning differences and and other needs. We do have spaces for typical children uh you know typical students in every single one of those classrooms as well. So, it does actually provide that that support for some of those kids that that
150might not have it otherwise. That's sort of where I was going with that. Just that we know preschool is a is a great uh precursor for a lot of students to help, you know, lower the lower the divide. That's all. >> Not that that was this not not that that was this specific program. So, I thank you for getting me to clarify that. I was just commenting on preschool overall. >> I I recognize that. I think that I just want to keep us laser focused on >> well like I said we do have typical students in those classrooms as well >> just so classrooms are for the >> the purpose of the classrooms are for the special ed and the fact that typical kids are there the typical kids are there as a benefit for
151the special ed they do have the unintended consequence of getting educated and that's wonderful but we keep creeping back into uh the benefits for typicals and that's a consequence of our responsibility to the special ed who need much more of our attention. >> Okay, Wendy, now you get the last word. >> Okay, I just wanted to circle back with um the 10 million was just a rough estimate. That was not a real number. And >> sprinklers >> from my Yes, for the sprinklers. Um and from my understanding, we there was a workaround. I mean, now I'm getting into the weeds of our building committee, which nobody really probably wants to hear, but we could have put more [clears throat] classrooms upstairs and then moved classrooms downstairs to make room for the prek. Um there there,
152but we never got to go down that road. Um we could there is an opening if you want to do that, but um >> So, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. So it sounds like for for for next time it sounds like there to to Paul's point um um there's probably a number of questions we want to try to nail down everything from the effects on clay space to um the sprinkler numbers or other uh you know what will process would be if we would if we had prek at another schools um exactly JC we keep mentioning but also any of the um consequences whether intended or unattended to to adding um prek back in at Riverside. Cool. Okay. So, >> same questions. >> Yep. Yep. And please send any questions to Dr. Jones and
153we'll we'll get them out. All right. So, now we are at um the um I95 parking office. This is Dr. Jones and Mr. Bryan. >> I'm going to let Mr. Bran take this one away. I do want to say thank you for the comment that um and Mr. Capielli that we really are working on this every day. Um, it has been, I think, a much greater challenge than ever. You're >> talking about the bus parking. >> The bus parking. Yes. >> So, I do I do have a uh I run through the slide deck that's in front of you in front of you. So, I have it up on the screen here. Appreciate the opportunity to do the update. I know some of this you have you have seen, but I just want I'll run
154through it very quickly for you. I recognize the time. So just from a background perspective just I think it is important to know where we came from. So in the fall of 2024 our current vendor at the time said uh they were not going to uh maintain transportation services in the December of 24 uh and thus we renegotiated that put us in the the uh a very quick uh position to try to find additional options while negotiating with the vendor. Ultimately came down to uh biggest constraint is where do you park the buses? DO came forward uh after we spoke to numerous vendors. Deco said we're willing to do it if you can find space. At the time we were exploring a variety of different spaces. So we said let's take a calculated risk. And
155uh that's so we know where that risk is now taking us. But we at the time we thought we had a calcul calculated risk to take. Uh to date we've we've looked at over 45 different properties as we continue to uh uh have this issue. I think it's really important to talk about why is parking important. Really, we're I'm going to say we're playing the long game here. Is in the past when you do not have control of the property, you do you you don't get the economic benefits, uh really doesn't create the the best uh bidding environment when uh you have this controlled space. So I really thought that was just important on this slide just to talk about if we can get our GPS controlled location you actually have many more vendors coming
156in that can that can bid because they can park in our location versus spot that they own and only they will use for their operations and no one else's operation. So when we we entered this agreement with DECO we were in in discussions with the Connecticut DOT for parking under uh River Road in Kazkob right here at the highlighted section. Uh we thought this was a perfect spot. When you take a look at it, it's flat. It's accessible. Uh it's underutilized. It's it's uh this and the the address we use is for if you Google it is uh 33 or 10 River Road, put your weight in this this location. It's incredibly flat and it's very long when you when you walk back there, drive back there. Um, and it's we we thought at the
157time it was an ideal spot, again, underutilized, ideal spot in town, covered location for uh uh bus parking. And that's the other side of the road. You can see it's currently being used for other uses for some uh you can see some trailers there. Uh unfortunately, as we know, we now know we got the uh response back from the DOT that uh in June that they officially denied our request based on the flammability guidance uh from the Federal Highway Association. Uh so that that certainly was not the answer we were looking for nor nor anticipating. Uh we then started digging deeper and deeper and under trying to understand the public policy and some of the uh uh behind this. When you dive into this rabbit hole of the f of the the federal highway uh
158guidance, it does not prohibit parking under highways. In fact, when you go to one of their FAQs, FAQ43, when you take a look at the the guidance they recom they reference has, they clearly talk about parking is is a uh an acceptable use. And what we we have here is just a very quick slideshow of just examples of public parking in Connecticut, but also uh the US. Uh so we believe when you just look in Connecticut and uh several of the staff have have the game over the weekends when we drive around the state. Uh it's my wife and I was one of our favorite pastimes now when we we drive around like what about here? What about here? I I've talked to several board members the the same concept like what about here? What
159about here? Uh so if my wife and I are on the interstate I'm always looking for underneath the underneath the interstate what's going on there. Uh but there is a and just in Connecticut alone you can see some examples and I'm just going to go through these very quickly. You see both municipal examples, private use examples and also state facility examples underneath uh the interstate. Uh just in our own town, Kazkob train station uh is is used for commuter parking which is a municipal use. Stanford next door. Stanford Transportation Center uh is there with their they use for their uh trans uh citywide uh busing is is is used there. You can see the uh the weights the uh pedestrian uh waiting booths there in Westport. We uses it for the parking for municipal and
160near their uh for both business and commuter. In Bridgeport, if you go to Bridgeport, right next to the arena and the train station, they have uh parking right under underneath I95. Uh, and then, uh, this is one of my favorite ones, although I understand that may be changing, but, uh, New London, their transfer station, uh, and their compressed natural gas refill facility is underneath, uh, New London is under I95. That's municipal use. Uh, private use, uh, right next door to the property we're trying to use, 33 River Road, private business in in Greenwich, has has improved parking underneath I95. If you drive by there, you see it's it's it's striped and clearly used for private use. Uh Greenwich Historical Society has uh is is used it. That's in the same exact area we're looking at.
161So if you look at the book ends that we're looking at, you have the historical society at one end, the private business at the other end. We're just trying to use a space uh in between. And then uh Bridgeport on Park Avenue, they have private use. In Straford, there's uh Marina uses underneath I95 for private use. In Hartford, it's not just 95 and Interstate 91 private use for uh parking in 91. And then Graten has a private use for uh a marine facility underneath uh I95. Uh state uses uh underneath I95 for their use. So there's several boat launches. So you have in in New London, uh Milford, Old Sabbrook has boat launches underneath all I 95 which allows uh the parking as well. And then uh Westport which is right across from the river
162where the municipal use. So on both sides of the river, Westport uses it for uh the municipal use and then the state uses it for their their boat launch. So right now we believe we're the only known entity not permitted to park. So if you take a look at we just talked about municipalities Greenwich, Stanford, Bridgeport, Westport, New London. Private businesses in Greenwich, Bridgeport, Straford, Harford, and Graten. And then the state of Connecticut uses it. And so who's not allowed? You know, we're not allowed. uh which we're we we believe we're we're an outlier uh to this issue, but it's not necessarily just contained in Connecticut when you take a look at nationally. Now, I have not gone on the road trips. I have I have gone to some of these locations, uh but if
163you just take a look at nationally and we really wanted to take a look at uh geographically. So, we're coast to coast and north and west or sorry, north and south, east and west in Connecticut. We think it's consistent across um the US which which is this is a federal federal regulation. So you would you'd expect consistency uh not just a different state interpreting federal regulations differently. So right next door in Ry New York uh same again same federal rules same type of uses they're using a 95 for uh their train station parking. Boston uh Massachusetts this one is interesting. I'll pause here. There's uh when you dive into this lot, there's over 200 parking spaces that are used for parking uh underneath uh Interstate 93. In California, Interstate 5 has uh a relatively professional
164parking garage underneath uh Interstate 5. Uh if you're in Wisconsin, they have it's in uh 247 parking uh underneath uh Interstate 794. And in Austin, Texas, they they use uh Interstate 35 for um parking and for boat uh boat uh launching. So, our concern we have here is you look at the federal highway framework, we're just getting different outcomes. So, the state of Connecticut, Texas, California, Wisconsin, New York, and Massachusetts can use the rightway for parking. Uh and the we can't. So it's it's again this it's this that same same guidance same rules but it's just we believe it's being inconsistently applied. Uh we did the superintendent myself we working with the first selectman we did and I think the board has seen this letter in the fall of last year we said can we
165just give it one more shot as we continue to look at these pictures we said this the inconsistency just does not make sense to us. Uh so first select when Camilillo reached out to the governor uh during I think Thanksgiving time we heard the verbal answer back is that they've they've reconsidered and the answer is still no. Uh I think what we wanted to talk through this proposal uh today just a update the board on where we're at but also really if we can get some reconsideration or a clear objective criteria for the approval. I think the examples uh speak for themselves. Uh and it just the denial does not make sense to us and it would really solve a local issue that I think we all we all recognize where we're at. So I'll
166stop there. Uh certain to answer any questions or comments you may have. >> Go ahead, Sophie. >> Um thank you for this presentation which is incredibly thorough and I appreciate it so much. And um I could give you another 10 examples of of parking lots under 95. Um one thing I just wanted to ask you, I believe that also the lease amount if we were to have a lease under 95 is a dollar a year. Is that correct? >> We never got that far with the state, but historically when you're when municipality to the state, it's it's the just the dollar consideration because of because of our status. That's not the same. I think for a private business it's significantly higher. I think the historical society when I looked at their lease it's a couple
167thousand dollars a year that they're paying. >> Okay. But it would obviously be dramatically dramatically less than leasing any private lot anywhere nearby. >> You can add several dramatics to that word. Absolutely. And I assume, but please correct me if I'm wrong, that all of the other uh parking lots uh public parking lots or private parking lots around like around town in Greenwich, specifically the public ones have been are not suitable for a variety of reasons. >> For a v for a variety of reasons. Yes. Yeah. Like I was thinking even the train the the like part of the Costco train station parking lot next door. There's almost like five four or five different parking lots for the Costco train station that one of those can push some cars over to use a couple of
168them. >> When we were looking at looking at that was on our list. We ultimately landed on Old Greenwich just because of the the size of that. And just to state the obvious, it's significantly easier to to park a type two or the uh the smaller uh vans in the lake than than the larger ones. So those can fit in traditional uh car space. So OG right now is used for that. We did look at Kaza, but also we said the least impactful was OG at the time. Uh just speaking as a uh not as a board of education member but as a parent of a of of a child of two of two children in the public schools of which there are more than eight of us, you know. Yeah. Um is there anything
169we can do to to help move the needle on this? Is there any actionable items we might be able to do to to assist in in this? If if somebody knows somebody that we can continue to have this uh an honest, frank conversation with the state, that would that would be very helpful. I think if you look at the the press that's been covered in this, it's inconsistency still exists. Uh I think I think you're starting to make semantics. Uh I think when I look at the local newspaper article that was today, it it talked about parking and storage. And I think the article said that the historical society is parking and we're asking for storage and we're asking to park the same way everyone else is parking. And I think using those those those
170distinctions are not helpful moving the conversation um forward. And I also think the article mentioned that it's important for safety. Absolutely. We're not saying we that's gonna we disregard that. There are several things you can do to mitigate that risk. Obviously the uh throughout the Connecticut and the US people have have done that. I think also to bring up the Norwok fire uh issue uh doesn't fit the fat pattern that we're talking about here that that was an accident that occurred on I 95 that damaged a bridge that crossed 95. It wasn't it was a tanker truck. I'm assuming it was licensed to drive on I95. We're not talking about this. We're talking about parking underneath. to create that just creates that doesn't it doesn't help the conversation to say oh we can't do this
171because of this it it just doesn't match up with the what we're seeing as as just examples >> I would add referencing the 1980s 95 collapse also was a is a stretch >> well said thank you sir appreciate Thank you so much. >> Was it you, Mr. Mr. B? >> It's uh where's Pat? It's supposed to be Patrick. We do straws and it was his turn. Okay. Thank ready. Okay. Thank you, Ben. Um and uh good evening everyone. So this month on the financial report um the financial results for the month of March is pretty consistent with what I have spoken in last month. Uh the operating budget remain on track. Um the year-to-day spending is kind of exactly the same in terms of the percentage used versus last year. Uh special education cost continues
172to be looking positive in terms of the budgets uh budget balance in there. Same as the school lunch program. The result is also kind of like um is expecting the full year results to be better than the budget that we have and will finish similar to the last year result. And lastly um on the capital budget we continue to close out the a capital budget uh capital project we closed another two projects uh in the last month. >> Okay. budget transfers. >> Uh budget transfer there's only one item uh for information this month. That one is uh uh all within the special education program. They are just kind of like repurposing the uh available budget in the different uh spending lines together to do the um professional development surface for the special education students. So
173uh that is kind of like for that purpose. is all spending within the same major object code. All right. All right. Thank you, sir. >> Good. Thank you very much. >> All right. So, they are Mor moving on to action items. We have four action items uh this evening. Mr. Brandon is back up with the first one which is tuition fees which we talked about next week. Are you you want to make a motion? Yeah, I'd like to make a motion that we take a five minute bio break since we've been here for three hours and we all need to be here for the action items because they require a vote. >> Uh there's a second. >> Okay. Technically, yeah, I don't know what proper rules we need to we okay with that. Okay. out.
174Sorry, >> Joe. We're almost there. >> I know. I'll return. >> How are you, sir? >> Good. I don't know. I had like Are you >> the came up here? You're okay. Great. We're trying to do it. for what you guys think you actually have a hard job. >> Doing an amazing job doing an amazing job. How are you? Good. I was saying we're normally You can see the architecture. question. Hip hop. She was just This week we Yeah, but Sorry, Joe. Stop talking to me, Joe. >> I I want to know your I want to answer your last question. Okay. Whenever whenever I can feel your >> Let me um um Well, why don't we do that? Um because we got things. So, first of all, thank you Karen. I think that was the
175first um time in board history we've done that. How civilized. The uh um I'd like to um because everybody else is stuck here. Anyway, um I'd like to mo make a motion to amend the um agenda to move um the CMS action item to next. Um only so that the so yeah um >> so Joe can leave. stuck in. >> Everybody else has stuck your hand in. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. >> Sorry. I'll second that. >> I'll third that. >> Okay. They all in favor. >> I It's anonymous which needed two/3. So, um, sorry, Mr. Bannon, we're going to bump you for a moment. >> This is the best agenda item I have. So now, so then the first action item this evening is going to be the consideration of the CMS interim
176request. Um, hi Joe. >> Good evening. Do I need to push something here or else? >> Good evening. Yes, I'm Joe Rosetti, the chairman of the Central Middle School Building Committee. And uh I'm not exactly sure what you've been presented. Uh perhaps you present >> We have your memo >> my memo. And I don't uh I I don't propose read the whole thing to you. So that's the the facts and I'm here to request your support. I don't I know you're not the appropriation group, but request the board of education support in uh seeking this interim funding for the project. I would like I would maybe like a few color comments. >> Yes. Let me give you one second, Joe. The um I'm remiss that we did not um I need to make a motion
177actually to put this on the agenda because it's an action item. I should have I should have done that first before Okay. >> turning things over. So, I will uh make a motion um to approve the CMS interim request. The I be here >> to say the CMS interim request as presented and Mr. Mr. Capielli seconded. Yes. Okay. No, please go ahead. >> Thank you, doctor. Um, so just a few color comments that really are subjective to the to the memo. Um, first I want to make sure you appreciate and we appreciate that our paramount goal is to get our students into the school in August, late August of this year. Our construction manager has told us that uh they think they're on schedule to do that. We're I will tell you that I think
178we were going to be it's going to be a push. We have a lot of work to do, but if you I'm not offering this opportunity yet, but if we we walk the the job regularly. Um and the building itself is remarkable. I mean it's it's beautiful inside. There's they're doing finishes. Flooring is going down. Mill work is going in. Millwork and cabinetry is going in. Lockers are going being installed. The auditorium is will be magnificent, I [clears throat] think. Uh so there's a lot of lot of work in that's just really cranking through right now. Uh but that's not to say that we don't have a lot of work to finish in four months. you know, through mid August. Um, the purpose of our interim request is we're on budget and we're under budget
179right now, but there are some l there are some forecasted things that we a little bit subjective, a little bit um uh I guess you might say we have some differences of opinion with some of our vendors and what the cost should be or shouldn't be. So the goal of one of the one of the goals of the interim is to give us some comfort, give our building committee some comfort in being able to um manage through those differences with strength. another perhaps more significant uh issue that really uh spreads and that's not the word that really impacts the other things that I hear what are going on now with OS and Riverside are some recent um I guess you'd say I call them external factors here that have contributed to us using our current
180contingency that we had a $112 million appropriation for. We had a significant we had $5.5 million contingency. But these this external factors that have influenced or caused us to build things that that were not expected. their post design, post design approval, post state approval that have come in at the request of uh outside agencies for the town of Greenwich basically. Um not that they're not warranted, but they were somehow not communicated well during our our design process. Um, we are I I I talk occasionally with Jackie Welch and James Waters with OS. We share some thoughts and what some experiences that we've had here on on CMS. Um we've we've encouraged our building official uh and the fire marshall to be not be not encouraged we've asked them to be on our to join our
181regular we have meetings every two weeks to to be participating in those discussions so that we can avoid uh some of the outside influences that we were totally unaware that they would they would ask to to impose upon project. So anyway, that really uh th those those additional costs to the tune of about $3.2 million uh are really not not things that you would expect to be uh that you would incur in a cont from your contingency in a normal course of construction there particularly after you have all your approvals done. So anyway, that's uh that's why we want to try to get a little a few more dollars to be able to um really be able to negotiate work through the the final stages of the project with some like I say strength, some
182comfort uh knowing that we can get the school trying to get the school built pro uh on time and um avoid long-term issues that the school that we might have with you know managing the school completion project and following on with legal issues and stuff. We're not we're not at all near those sit situations. Um >> um so go ahead. >> Um was there anybody who helped you uh draft this? Was there a a bet member that might have helped you draft this uh letter? >> Oh, sure. Uh we have a couple of we have an owner rep like the others I think most of your other projects do have an owner's representative. So uh JLL is um our owner's representative and gentleman Peter Rder their senior vice president that's worked for us. He he
183put together a lot of the the numbers here which I'm very familiar with myself. Um, but basically, uh, there's greater detail if we wanted to really get into great detail, but JL put together the they manage our budget on a day-to-day basis. Uh, and also, um, an an ex uh, member of our BE, a gentleman by the name of Harry Fiser, uh, worked with me and and JLL on putting this memo together. Uh Harry Fiser was on our building committee. Uh recent elections there was a musical chairs arrangement there and Harry was it was not on our building committee but uh as of recent uh notice to me from the the uh the chair of the BET uh Harry Fischer will be rejoining our our committee. So and he's quite helpful. uh he knows the
184ins and outs of the BET and RTM. U and I will tell you that I I'm aware of Harry's help where Harry's position on this is is favorable as is several other um you know conversations I've had with some other BET members that they would they're strongly in favor of supporting the interim. >> Yeah. Go ahead, Paul. I I had two questions that came to mind when I first read this and you've answered um uh very um critically one of them which was you know it at 5.1%. That's that's the you know 6% you start asking questions on a new uh on a new building as it relates to is that too much of an owner contingency. So 5.1 is is pretty close to it. And we just had this issue at another school um
185where the owner's contingency was too low, but that was a a rebuild. Uh anyway, my point is we seem to be doubling the owner's contingency, so we're coming in uh ridiculously high. And where's it coming from? Because we'd like to learn from this and be able to mitigate that in other building committees. And you've made it very clear where it's coming from, which is the town of Greenwich. Um and so our our closest ally uh where we should be able to get the most information from is the one that's coming back in the end. I mean I I'm seeing um the the the sewer department, the uh um building department, the you know everything. So maybe something we can learn on new building committees is to do do a trying which is to get them
186at the table more often. Um, thank you for recognizing that. >> May May I respond to that? Is it Paul? >> Um, yeah, there's some strong lessons learned here. Uh, not just the for example, Aquarian. I can give you a little story about the aquarian issue. the AR we did we did multiple water tests to validate the the flow and capacity of water that we would need to fire fight to for our fire suppression system in the new school. Uh during construction once we start construction we had to do additional tests and by the way when we when did the initial test we designed it appropriately. when we did additional tests uh which are required the water pressure and volume came back extremely low from aquarium and we learned and by the way that was
187during July probably that they said that may have been during when there's a high irrigation period and the result is that water pressure and volume was so low we had to we have to build a fire pump house behind the school. Uh significant cost to the tune of about $2.5 million for that new new feature. And um that we've also learned that that low water pressure system or low water pressure and volume is persistent in many parts of town and other developers, other schools, other um country clubs are having to put in supplementary systems to manage that low pressure from aquarium. So, um I guess the lesson learned is make sure make sure you do your test when there's a great capacity of summertime water use and and evaluate your your building design during the
188most critical periods of water pressure. I didn't know. Nobody knew that we had water pressure problems out in the out on the site. So, we found that out and now had to do something with the fire marshals. Is it is Central Middle School going for a I believe it's called a lead certificate um or no? >> Okay. I know some of the schools are and they actually aquarium has to actually put on uh smaller valves to so to to be lead um certified. And I I was curious how that related to pressure um in the school for the sprinkler systems. I would imagine there would be a different um water line. I would hope there would be a different water line, but irrelevant to this conversation. Um the other thing is I'm just curious um
189so that I can anticipate the future when these costs were realized when did you know that they were going to be costs? Um we the external items uh for example the fire suppression system came up in about October November of 2025 and the fire alarm was probably maybe a month or two before that. I I'm rough rough periods I guess. Uh the fire hydrant was the first the first item that came up. That was probably maybe I'm guessing March or so of 2025. And these fire hood changes inside. These are uh basically range hood venting that was uh [snorts] also probably in the late 2025 period. Well into the well into the we started our project in January of 2025. construction. >> Thank you, Karen. >> Yeah, sorry. I'm I'm a little bit puzzled by
190this timeline because you you tested the water pressure in July, which was 10 months ago, and realized it was unreasonably low. Back in November of 25, which was five or six months ago at this point, um you had a sense of these costs. I mean, it seems like the project had burned through most of the contingency or at least knew they would burn through it 6 months ago, but we've been getting monthly updates and we've been told everything's fine. I'm just confused as to why we're hearing about this for the first time now. >> Yeah. >> I mean, we're we're still using the contingency that we have right now. So there's we're we're still on budget and on time to open up in in August, >> but you're telling me you need twice as much
191contingency. And if you knew of these costs six months ago, you knew you would be down near zero or rather near a million. 6 months ago with another uh eight eight nine months left on the project. >> Well, let me let me let me respond. I guess the if you just took the external factors first of all we we were hopeful once we had the water pressure uh low water pressure tested results we were hopeful that we would uh that Aquarian Aquarian owes us a what they call a will serve letter that says we'll provide you water capacity for such and such volume and and water uh pressure so that you can fight fires. Uh we went back to them multiple times and asked them to retest. Would you would you uh provide a water
192provide a well serve letter that would be up to our original? We had two or three previous tests were like 780 gallons a minute. This this low water pressure was like 400 gallons a minute. They debated. They went back and forth. They finally said, "No, we're not. We're going to give you the worst case." they we recognize that it is the wait out on what do you call several deviations away from the normal but that's what we're going to tell you. So then that precipitated us having to come up with a new design that took several months to go. Now we did we we were we we were generally fine with our contingency. We thought we were okay. Subsequent that in recent months in recent months uh we've been approached by uh our consultants part
193of the project team uh that they may have some uh looking for us to pay them additional fees for some work and we're at I could say uh differences of opinion so to speak on uh whether they're entitled to those additional fees or not and those are just in the last those have come out to us in probably in the last two months and had had we not had those recent approaches I don't think we would be probably here today. >> So Bob, you're on the building committee, right? >> Okay. So we're asking for we're going to be asking for an interm. Uh we want the school to open on time. Um Bob just mentioned that we were actually um uh on targeted on budget and and then I'm hearing this this contractor thing. Are
194are are we asking for more money for the contractor or are we asking for more money for fire suppression and for the list of things that are on here? Have these things already been paid for and now you're down to 112,000 and we're reloading the contingency account for fear of contractor disagreements or are we reloading the contingency account for this fire suppression uh and fire hood changes? So the the there's when I say external factors from that memo there's number there the 3.174 million those uh some of that has been expended actually paid but those are hard numbers we will have to pay those in other words we we get pricing from the contractor when there's a change here. These total up to be $3.2 million. We haven't paid all the $3.2 million, but we're
195committed to pay those $3.2 million. In other words, it's it's going to be a future cost. It's going to be a cost and that that is going to be funded from various s from our project contingency essentially. >> Okay, that makes sense. I mean, so we're not we're not on track. We need we need the money because we we we've got to pay for these things or we can't open the school in time. >> Well, let me by the way, there is we still have almost we have more than we have like $750,000 in our contingency right now that's un unallocated. In other words, when we when we have a an issue come up on the project and it's it's unbudgeted and we think it might be a valid change or a valid issue that
196we would have to spend money for, we we on a conservative level would say, okay, let's take what we estimate the value of that that uh issue and we allocate money towards our contingency. We may not actually spend it, but we we draw it from our contingency say look that's an exposure we have projecting that we're going to have to use that funds. >> So what are the unknown factors and are they going to be more dollars coming down? >> So the the unknown factors the the sort of loosey goosey ones right now so to speak uh would be those down and the I we call them known factors affecting future contingency down at the bottom. Okay. >> Yeah, that confused me because that seems to be okay. >> A bit of an oxymor known
197factor. These are things these are things that we uh for example the town of Greenwich wants us to put sod on these two fields. We have softball and baseball field as sad in lie of just seating the the fields. Uh we didn't buy that from our original contract. We only had seating. So the to to put sod on the fields will cost about $180,000. That provides the fields for for use earlier than than it's seated. Uh you know, we've we debated should we do this? Should we not? We've talked to the the Tom Healey and the principal and the town of Greenwich Parks Department. It's it's to the benefit of the community, we think, to be able to do that. So, we say, "Okay, let's let's the committee has voted to try to spend money
198$180,000 to do that to put sod and we've allocated yet, but we have not yet spent it yet. We've not we've not incur they haven't put the sod in, but we're planning on planning on doing that. The next item is construction expos exposures. We've encountered additional rock where we're going to have to behind the retaining wall. This I'm getting in the weeds here, but there's there is uh significant additional rock that we that we have to uh actually you can hear it daily here right now. It just came up in the last month and a half that we have to excavate for retaining wall. We also have to uh we've we there may be hazardous materials in this school maybe. Uh we won't know that until we begin demolition of this new of this school
199in July of 2026. There is potentially about a million dollars, maybe a million dollars more of of cost to to manage that hazardous material. So it may it may not be a million dollars. It might be it's not going to be zero, we don't think, but it we we kind of try to take the worst case and put that into our our budget. Um, a firewatch. Let me mention that if we are not able to get this fire pump system on board, fully functional, tested and confirmed for use uh by the time we want to occupy the school. We may need to have some fire watches here in in our new school while we finish getting it tested and confirmed by the fire marshal. And so there's and we've talked to the fire marshall, made
200some estimates on what the cost of the fire watches would be and included that in that number. That's a recent number, a recent uh cost or exposure that we've had based on where we are with the getting the fire pump that we the fire pump system, the new fire pump house built. And it's that's a very challenging um part of the pro project to get done in time. And if we don't get that done in time, we might have to have a firewatch. Um >> do you want to just um probably clarify for everybody what you mean by firewatch? >> Fire watch is uh individuals in the building. Uh in addition to a fire alarm system that we have we have we by the way we've the fire marshall has in his review post design
201review uh required us to put a sign an in I don't know what was it maybe 300 more additional fire alarm devices in the building and that's amounted to about 500 thou $555,000 more that that system should be on and functional. But the uh the water system to to fight a fire in the event that you do have a fire may not be fully operational by that time. And then that may result in having to have a fire watch in the building which it might be a couple of people. I don't know if it's full-time 24 hours a day or if it's just when the students are the school is occupied. Uh, but that could be a significant expense for maybe maybe a month or so, something like that. >> And so if there's a
202fire, they're going to call the fire department. >> That's that's our question. >> And uh that does that make sense? >> I hope they have a different cellular carrier than I do because my phone doesn't really work here. >> Yeah. Well, we we do have this school does have a uh you know, it's going to have a I can't remember a redundancy uh a communication system that should be able to navigate that issue. >> And go ahead, Bob. And if I'm not mistaken, there's going to be a lot of guard rails around the future money so that it it makes sure that it is right the in our my discussions with the BET members that if the money is appropriated that there the the BET might put conditions on the use of the funds um
203and for what you know what on these debatable issues you might say, you know, making sure, you know, we that may we may have to go back to the BET to get fully released on some of these funds. Um, I don't know what the exactly what their conditions may be, but they may say, you know, come back to us for final final approval or so or something like that to before we release the funds. Um, >> Yeah. I um I'd like to understand if there's anywhere that the building committee could potentially economize. Um look, I just recently went through a kitchen renovation and we went over budget. So the vacation budget is uh is a little less than it otherwise would have been. Is there a a CMS equivalent to that? It >> a contingency
204plan, right? [laughter] >> No, I'm saying what can you cut to stay on budget? This is an additional $6 million that we hadn't expected to spend on CMS. I'm curious if there's six million of extras that, you know, we would love to have, but that maybe we sacrifice so that we stay on budget. >> Uh, at this point, I don't see us taking any any significant deduction on uh anything that's in the program or scope of work. right now. I think where we I think the opportunity, Miss Krauss, to save, if you will, is in our ability to uh to work through these these known factors here that we list and save on those to the greatest extent possible. And that's that could be debating with uh the contractors, debating with our consultants, debating with
205um well those two those are the two major issues right there. Uh and um trying to save on on those on those parameters. I will also say that they you should maybe you're not aware but the way the the the the contract is structured our guaranteed maximum price and I probably you probably have it at OS and others is that within the GMP number that we have with Turner Construction Company who is who is the contra our contract is with I think it's right now at about 90 call it $95 million in that $95 million. Uh there are there are contingencies within that $95 million, not the owner's contingency. All all we're talking here is the owner's contingency. Turner has within their contract uh what are called allowances and holds and contingencies to the tune
206of about $3.5 million which are really not uh well 2 million of that is un unassigned right now. It's just over there not being used. another million and a half is kind of kind of allocated but maybe not being used. And I will also say that we've already had some discussions with with Turner to release um significant monies from from those contingencies. Contractually, they don't have to release those monies until the end of the project, which is in late early 2027. So they they could if they want to release them give them back to the owner sort of give it back. It's like here here we don't need this money. Uh and they have indicated favorably that they may wish they may want to do that but they also want us to do something else.
207if they want us. I'm not getting in the negotiations of it right now, but uh so there's significant money in the $112 million appropriation that's right now $3 million and a half dollars is unaccount is un really not not allocated to be spent or at least two million for the contingency and some another million and a half somewhat allocated. So that money if it's not used is all returned. It's savings to the project. It's savings to the owner. Our expectation is a lot of that will be coming back to the owner. And any of these any of these monies here in the contingency that we're talking about right now, if they are not used, they all come they obviously they're it's a savings in a project. >> Thanks. Thanks, Joe. I I appreciate you explaining
208all that. the um we did get an email uh Tony got an email from um um the BET rep. Um there's talk about um should this come from come past us and go to the BET there's talk there's talk about conditioning some of these items particularly around those that are um subject to negotiation um because obviously um not having that um could weaken hands in negotiations so that there's they put sort of contingencies on on the funding of that. Um, one of the things I I so I guess I two things I guess I just want to point out um uh and make clear here because um it sounds like it doesn't sound like we have much of a choice. So because we don't want the building we want the building to open on time
209but I feel like to your point about lessons learned particularly since we have an unprecedented number of building committees going on right now um things to think about across town and move forward. I I think there there's two things that that are worth pointing out. One, the um 2.4 million for fire suppression redesign, 550,000 for fire alarm redesign, now maybe 2.5 million for exposures and possible firewatch. Um, you you're you're at you're at almost $5 million in unbudgeted and unplanned revisions based on the fire code. Uh, which is a big part of part of any project. Um, and and should should give us pause. I think that's that's something didn't work there. That's somewhere in town. I don't think it was the building committee, but somewhere something happened because that's bizarre. >> Oh, yeah. No.
210Uh there was uh the building was there there's our architect our design team designed in their view designed the building to the fire code. >> Um it also got approved by the state. um the local authority having jurisdiction, the AHJ is what it's called in the code, which is the fire marshal or the building official has jurisdiction on in final interpretation. And if the local authority having jurisdiction, the AHJ, decides that he wants something different or supplemental. And I'm I'm not a super duper code guy, but he can ask for that. And that's what has come about particularly for the fire alarm. The fire suppression system, the 2.4 4 million is the is fundamentally a water supply issue which came at us from left field I guess you might say and I guess the the
211other thing to think about I'm I'm I'm not crazy about surprises the um um I think we've got to figure out systemically um if a building committee um does hit this kind of um contingency issue, how word can get to the board um a little faster. It doesn't surprise me when you mentioned the timeline and when all that fire alarm came up, it sounds like we were in the middle of an election cycle there. Um so that's probably part of the perfect storm of why the board didn't didn't hear about it. Um um so I wonder if like there's a couple things. So like building committees put together um quarterly reports. Those go to the RTM. They don't come to the board. Um, I wonder if that's something we need to think about because um
212um I would have liked to have personally I would have liked to have known before your email last week that um we were getting an interim request and or and especially that the the you know I would have been really concerned to you know the board should know that the um our the biggest capital project in the history of the pound only has $774,000 left. Um that's not something that should be a surprise to us. um um at the last minute. >> Hang on, doctor. Please. The the we uh we have in our contingency right now uh is we have $770,000. That's we have no intended use for it right now. Okay. the using the balance of the contingency. We have intended uses for it. So, uh, but it's not yet it's it's not yet
213certain if we're going to have those expenses. Okay. So, it's sort of a little fine line. Go ahead. Maybe someone here can answer this or or um Joe, I'm sorry. Um is this hitting our are we at making this request for for our capital budget or our operating budget? >> So, and I think I this is a premonition that I I have on another item coming up. But the capital budget, didn't they just vote on all this stuff? I mean the BET usually. Do we do the capital budget? >> Yeah, >> we do. We we approved. >> Well, so so this would this was in the capital budget several years ago before the before the construction be begun. You know, this would have been Yeah. Three three years ago when the capital budget. So this
214was an interim request um um that would would add to that budget. >> Okay. Just curious where the money's going. Thank you. Yeah. >> Yep. Um, look, I I share I share Mike's disappointment that we didn't know about this sooner. What I would suggest going and and it does feel like our hands are tied here. Um, what I would suggest going forward, uh, because we do have a fiduciary duty, is that we as a board receive a monthly update on the status of the contingency account for Central Middle School, anticipated, incurred, and paid so that we can keep closer tabs on this. The the monthly updates we've been getting haven't been working. We have to do something different. Well, I guess I guess the point I mean obviously as I think like you said, Joe,
215we're we're in um a race to the finish here to make sure everything opens on time. So, yeah, we we certainly and I know Dr. Jones shares a sense of concern. We we certainly want to be all on top of uh any any any issues down the pike here. Um because we've got a lot of kids planning to start a new school come September. >> Okay. >> Can we call the question? >> Yes, as I was about to say, why don't we call the question? So, a motion on the table, to be clear, is um to request an interim um a capital interim uh appropriation in the amount of $6 million to the CMS budget. All those in favor? >> Yes. >> That passes unanimously. Thank you, Joe. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate
216it. Okay, >> Mr. Mr. Brandon, you are you uh um you're you're back. You're back on now. >> So, tuition and fees, sir. So, I will make a motion to um once again um to approve the uh tuition fees as presented. I'll >> second. Mr. Chain will second. Uh, no change since the March meeting. >> Seeing none, I will call the question. All those in favor? >> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Brandy. [laughter] >> Okay, >> we did discuss it three times prior. >> That's right. The um Havier uh relocation. So this is a um another interim request. I will make the um this is a capital. >> It is multi-year. >> Okay. Okay. So I will make the motion to approve uh to to request a in request in the amount of $250,000
217uh to fund a Havier relocation. Sophie Coen will second. >> I have a question. >> Hold on. Um, let's um I don't know if Mr. Brandon or Dr. Jones wants to give a give give the executive summary here. >> I'll let Mr. Brandon just walk through the memo very quickly. >> Very I love it. Very quickly, we we know half of my relocation's been a discussion for for years. We gave a quick uh background. >> It has we have a quick background there just with the RFP where where we're at. We it's been a topic of discussion for the capital budget the last two years of board of ed. We've we've pushed the capital request out this year. When the first selectman presents the capital budget, they had some project money in there. That was
218a topic of conversation at the BET. Uh this motion was originally in front of the BET uh to add during their budget deliberation for the year that they're going to for May that we'll be the RTM will deliberate. It did not make it in at the time. Uh and then they came back to us and said we'll the board of ed do the interim appropriate interim requests, go through the process, have the discussion dialogue. So, we're back now asking for 250, which will allow us to uh uh do the A&E and just do the due diligence on whether or not our space needs can can work. Uh, one of the proposals is connecting to town hall. Uh, we are using existing money right now just to update our square foot analysis. You know, we it
219was done a couple years ago because this continues to talk. We've had some changing uh change of staff at central office. let's just update it, get the number so we have exactly what our needs are and then that can inform the the decision here. The timeline that we put in place works out really well. Uh if if we go through this process, we should have by end of May uh our analysis on our exact square footage which then will inform our decision on uh on the space analysis. You know, the last piece I'll mention is we mention every time we talk about this project, you need to relocate the facil's operation out of out of Havier. So the we're working on that as part of our space pro uh planning and programming age. We're working
220on horse neck as well. That's a completely different project if we proceed that. But in order to move our office operations, you have to move our facility operations which uh is very difficult to find office space plus the facility uh how we operate. So you need to uh bifrocate those two. And there are we're using existing funds um to to to study the facilities relocation. Yes. To >> horse neck. >> Correct. >> Oh, okay. Aaron, go [clears throat] ahead. So, um, Sophie and I were on the Havier RFP committee, uh, put together by the town and, you know, we had a, you know, went through all those RFPs and, um, presented a report to the board of selectmen. Um, and in it were, you know, even prior to the RFPs, there was a whole list
221of things that, uh, the town was required to do uh, prior to us even having this sort of discussion. I'm I'm not really sure I want to, you know, we just approved asking for an interim for $6 million to have a building of ours reopened. Um, we've done all the work to sort of figure out what, you know, what space allocations and things that we need without actually having an architect do it. I'm not really keen on adding a request for a quarter of a million dollars to do this when we haven't even have any sort of proposal um in writing uh from the town uh from the board of selectment as to what their proposal would be. Um so I I think it may be us this is rushing to ask for money for
222something you know that we may or may not even necessarily need. So I I to me I think you know the the town has not done what was asked of them in by the committee that they even created and put forward. Um so you know I'm not really understanding why we're putting this forward. If uh the first selectman had add money to his budget for this maybe this is something if this is what he would like to do come from his budget uh instead of you know us asking for more. So again, I I think we're sort of jumping the gun without having any kind of proposal from the town, something in writing as to what they, you know, wanting to put together because this is the first time I'm really hearing uh a discussion
223of a building that might be going into, you know, behind town hall to attach. We've repeatedly asked them to do a space study uh to see if there's any space within town hall that we could actually access and use. Um overall, they still haven't done that. We've been asking for that from them for I don't know what is it at least a year and a half. Sophie, how long was it? >> Yeah, I mean it's been a couple years of asking for that information. I mean I I'm in favor of doing whatever it is that we need to try to look to I mean I think we I think in general the consensus is that it would be a good idea to get the board of ed into a building that is actually designed and
224built for a board of ed. So I like that idea. Um I I share your frustration Karen that we did meet um the have merit committee met 14 times and um we had a robust document with recommendations for the town and it was a bipartisan um committee that was headed up by Andy Duce. So I do hope that the town is going to proceed with some of the recommendations that were in that report and I think the most important one was that it was extremely clear and if anyone attended our meeting the public was very unhappy. They wanted to have a lot more public input and what would happen to the Havier building. Um and they wanted to have sort of a series of public conversations about what that building could be used for in
225the future. And obviously the first thing is the board of ed has to be out of the building. So, so I guess that all that to say is I'm in favor of doing studies to figure out how we can move, but I do hope that the town also continues to um implement some of the recommendations that were in the um document that was created last year. >> Dr. Jones, do you want to clarify how how we got here? Yeah, I mean, you know, for for me personally, I'll just say I am a huge advocate for doing this work. This is probably the biggest step we've made in all the years that we've been talking about uh Havomire. And and quite frankly, I would say anybody who's in the workforce right now, how many of you
226work in a space that has no air? That's what we have at Havomire. How many of you work in a space that has like boards on some of the windows? Probably none. And probably nobody that All right. Well, maybe. Okay. different. >> All right. All right. New York public schools, we may be similar. I don't know. Um but but seriously, it's like we've either got to start investing. We can't just sit on this issue and keep saying we're going to do something. And so, I mean, I was we were not part of the discussion when this first selectman put it in his budget, but I thought it was very bold that he did it. He got a great conversation started. And I think when he had the suggestion that we could look at could we
227is it possible to expand behind city hall or town hall and I think Mr. Brandy could probably speak to uh they they don't need to pay 50 or 80,000 or whatever it would cost to tell us they do not have enough space inside town hall um to consolidate all of the staff that we have and the parking and everything that comes with an organization our size. Um and so what this money originally when they were thinking about putting it um in well they had it as an item I think on decision day decided not to fund it. This is part of the reason so we would have this conversation and it wasn't being done to us. The board of ed had a voice at the table to say okay yes we would like to do
228this. Um and when they you know suggested to us that we come for an interim and it was in a positive way from the BET I was excited about that. I think this could be a really good exercise, great work to give us good information and if there is a way that building a new building is actually going to be a cost savings versus we know after all the rental property we've looked at it is very expensive um to rent anything and the board of ed has not had this is a different board but has not had the will to even contemplate getting into a rental property when we don't pay rent now because I think everybody thinks it would impact our operating budget um later on. So, this really is just doing I feel
229like some great work looking at the horse neck building. It's a town-owned asset. It's sitting there. Why would we not consider that? Because, you know, looking for a facilities location is a lot like looking for a bus lot in Greenwich. Just I'm I'm just going to say we have a bus lot only in facilities sitting there. Um that is available and that is the hardest thing. and this 250 would be able to answer the question, could you do something behind town hall that would actually be much more cost-effective and quite frankly for the board of ed staff finally put our staff in a building that they deserve to be in to do the great work that they do for the town of Greenwich and Greenwich public schools. >> Okay, I'll leave it that way. >>
230Well, uh, thank you. You actually answered a question. Miss Miss Hirs had a question I think in the form of a statement which was why wasn't this in the first selection budget but I believe it was in the first election budget and there was um uh dialogue as well as the plan and everything else and just to be clear the BET voted on it voted it down and then sent you to ask us to ask them for the money again. >> That's accurate. >> That's perfectly accurate. same bet. [laughter] >> I didn't ask for it. I said he did ask for it. So >> I said he asked for the funding. So >> thank you. My apologies. I I heard it the other way. >> And yeah, and I I did speak with the um
231our BET um one of our BAT leaison, and my understanding this is very much a bipartisan request from from reference to the BET. Any other questions? All right, let's call the question. The um all those in favor um all right I see uh seven opposed motion passes 71 >> now. >> Okay. So now thank you Mr. Brandon. So now there is one item left, action item left, and that is the um I'd like to make a motion to approve the uh amended leave policy language um as um as presented. Thank you, Wendy. Wendy will second. Um Dr. Jones, you want to give us the executive summary here? The policy committee did speak about this um yesterday at at at length. Yes, this is um just an addition to a current policy that we would like
232for the board of ed to approve and this is um upon the advice of our attorney and it is the very last um sentence um in this policy where it says working another job while on family medical leave or any other authorized leave of absence is grounds for immediate termination to the extent permitted by law. Um, this is something that we actually were dealing with a case where somebody was on uh FMLA leave and they went to another school district, took another position while they were on leave with us and we could not we did not have the leverage um to actually terminate them um from our dis our school district and had to continue with the leave um because we didn't have the language in our policy and by the federal guidance and again
233attorney guidance um we needed to have this statement in our policy. If we do not believe that this is the right thing to be doing, >> call the question. Oh, you did have a question. >> Yeah, I think so. Probably. So, >> so Oh, >> go ahead. I would think that >> Go ahead. Look, absolutely. Let's put it in there. That's what the lawyers Did you ask the lawyer if this was broad? Isn't it already in state law as as fraud? >> To be honest, no. And and I think we were shocked as much as anybody else because I have not in all my years had this happen. But let's say somebody is in a position where you're stand I'm just going to say and this is not the case standing in the cafeteria where
234you're having to stand, you go on leave, but then you're offered a job in another district where you get to sit down at a front desk. Um, so there was nothing in our policy that would keep somebody from holding on to their job, being on leave with us while accepting a position that does that does not impact their say medical condition even for themselves. Um, or let's say they were in um they were on family medical for a member of their family, but it was uh not near like where Greenwich Public Schools is located and they wanted to take a job somewhere else. um to be by taking care of their father um or something of that nature. But this language was missing. >> Was it missing in the federal or the I know Connecticut
235has its own >> in the state? Right. >> I just want to know which congressman I should call to suggest. [laughter] Am I calling the state or the federal? >> I think it was state and federal because we the attorney that we use specializes in FMLA and um really knows understands the law. So I think it's it just it's not addressed in that way. >> All right, I'm going to call the question. All those in favor? >> Yes. >> All right. Motion passes 80. >> Talk about the agenda. >> Um let me look here. >> Oh, okay. So, we have our um business meeting on May is it May? Wait, wait, wait. I'm lost here. Yeah, thank you. May 14th. And then we have the retreat on the 28th, which is actually um quite heavy
236um as well. And I think the only request that we had on here was there was the item where we're talking about um prerequisites um where is that one? and it was to add ALP and um I asked the board member to if they could send us specific questions so we know um what they want us to address. >> Oh, it's it's on May 14th. If you look at where it says info, it's actually on the BIS honors and AP. Yeah. And so that was to look at um honors AP and then ALP. But I need the specific questions around AL. >> Yep. I'll send them. So, historically, we kind of do this differently every year, but on the May 14th meeting, you notice we have the uh self-evaluation of the board goals and then
237we have the first read of the new board goals. Um, we can talk about it, but I feel like it makes sense even though May 28th is is heavier is is heavy. I think we we typically talk about board goals during that retreat. I feel like we should do the makes sense to evaluate ourselves one meeting and then do board goals the next, especially since we've got so many board members. So, we can we can talk more about that, but that might make sense. I just want to point that out. The um um the other thing is are we going to get the um >> backwards? >> I think it is backwards. >> I think it might have got messed up. >> I think I think something's off there. Yeah, >> too. >> That that
238would make sense. >> Yeah. Because usually we talk about those on the retreat. >> Yeah. >> And we do the self. We usually do the selfale during the retreat >> is what we've done in the past. >> Um the um the other thing I guess I guess we heard we we might expect the would can we expect the um um um the havier assessment in June or do we want to wait on that? What? Which part? >> The um >> the results. >> They haven't even approved. >> You mean for after utilizing the 250,000 by June? >> But Ben just said I I don't I think he means getting through the interim process. >> That makes more sense. >> Yeah. not the actual work because the work that now the work will not be as
239like it is for a building committee because when you're you know building a school it's very very different than building an office and um you know our building right now is just over 30,000 square feet but you know 10 plus or minus is facilities so you're only talking about a 20,000ish square foot building so it'll go fairly fast but it definitely will be in the fall >> fair enough. Any else? Would anybody like to make a motion? Sophie >> would like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second. >> Yes.