001All right. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, uh, and good night. Hi, everybody. Um, we're going to call this, uh, meeting of the Greenwich Board of Education, uh, to order. Uh, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. So, thank thank you. Thank you all for coming. Thanks to everybody watching online. Obviously, this evening, it's our regular uh business meeting, but obviously the main issue before us uh this evening um is the budget. Um, so we have a number of uh public comments before we um probably will most likely take action on the operating budget this evening. Um, before we start, I want to thank um everybody who uh has participated in this conversation, this community conversation over the last month. We've gotten no shortage uh which is a good thing. No shortage of
002emails, um, opeds, conversations, phone calls, all sorts of things. uh which is which is great, which is really terrific because regardless of one decision or another, the fact that so many um of us in our community are so concerned and so invested in our school system is is only a good thing. Um and and that's and that's great. So with that and with that spirit, uh we'll be we'll move forward with our agenda. And up first uh appropriately is student government representatives. So come on up. Uh good evening distinguished members of the board of education and Dr. Jones. I hope you all have been well since our last BOE meeting and had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Before I begin, I'd like to thank you all for dedicating many hours to working on the 2026 to 27
003school year budget. I understand the complexity and difficulty of balancing fiscal responsibility with the needs of our students, staff, and community. With that being said, I have a few details I'd like to address. With the 6.5 instructional and one administrative reductions at GHS, I urge the board to reconsider this drastic cutting. Enrollment is expected to drop by 85 students next year and fall to 2400 students in two years. This is described as a temporary 5 to sixyear dip, which is expected to rise again. Staffing cuts that are made now may likely outlast this enrollment dip, leaving students with larger classes and fewer offerings when enrollment rebounds. Moreover, if the board determines that teacher reductions are necessary, despite the negative impact on our school community, I urge you not to base those decisions solely on spring
004course enrollment, but on previous history and future projections. The decrease in enrollment in a course next year does not determine that course's future enrollment. For example, I am in my fourth year of studying Chinese at Greenwich High School. In my freshman year, so many students were enrolled in Chinese that I had to be split into two classes. Each of these classes was comparable in size to the advanced Chinese classes with each only having one itself. Had funding been reduced based on the enrollment of the grade above me. I would not have been able to pursue my interest and I would never have had the opportunity to study Mandarin Chinese for four years. Similarly, the proposed budget eliminates some world language teachers with only limited sections of each language currently offered. Removing teachers not only reduces
005student opportunities but also increases the workload for the remaining teachers, a concern that has become reoccurring in recent years as a result of many previous faculty cuts. In conclusion, I urge the board to carefully consider the long-term effects of these FTE reductions as they could limit student opportunities and increase the workload and stress on teachers, potentially affecting the quality of education for years to come. Please delay tonight's budget vote to allow exploration of options that retain our valued teachers and administrators. Thank you for your interest in student initiatives and I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you. Yes. >> Um, yeah, I'd like to second everything Colin just said. Uh, but, uh, good good evening members of the BOE, Dr. Jones, students, and community members. I'm Gabriel Lesi, the
006student body president at Greenwich High School, and I'm happy to see both, uh, both I'm happy to both see and speak to you this evening. Uh, as the bitter cold weather rolls in, I can tell you now that students have not stopped in the wake of this tumultuous weather. Uh without fear, we see seniors continuing to make the trekk from the parking lot to the main entrance. Our athletics program continued its generational run this path past month uh winning the football state championship for the second year in a row. Our girls soccer team won the state championship for the first time ever and our girls volleyball team took home the chip as well. Our annual voices day was held on November 25th where uh we advocated against bullying and saw great success in both student
007participation and the program itself. Roots and Shoots raised 117% of the food they needed for their Thanksgiving food drive and are able to ra were able to raise uh all the necessary money for gift cards to families to buy turkeys and hot items. Uh the senior class hosted the Harlem Wizards basketball game seeing incredible turnout uh and raising a substantial amount of money. Uh I would like to thank everyone who attended and and uh a special thanks to Mr. Kelly for playing and Dr. Jones for kicking it off. Uh juniors are beginning their college search of which us seniors are hearing back from uh have been hearing back from in the past two weeks. Uh and the results to say the least have been nothing short of incredible. These phenomenal outcomes can undoubtedly be accredited
008to the rigorous nature of GRE public schools, our superlative teachers and focused administration. I personally want to thank all the teachers, counselors, administrators, support staff and families as we cannot do it without you. Um, English poet John Dunn said in his 1624 pros, Devotions upon emergent occasions, "No man is an island." I've put a bit of time into thinking about this line as of late and I've come to realize the truth in it. Uh, we are all of us products of an environment. And in a school system, teachers are not just employees within that environment, but they are in many ways the architects of it. And it makes that island become a continent. The true foundation of which uh the student body becomes. At 11.5 uh reduction in FTE in the proposed 2026 2027 budget
009would be of 10 general education FTE. Four of which are at CMS and 6 and a half at GHS which follows a 34.3 decrease in general education FTE since just 2023. This doesn't even account for the substantial cuts made to the media centers uh in the same time frame. This 11.5 uh does not feel like a decimal to the students, but as Colin had mentioned, tighter classrooms, fewer class sections, and the disappearance of courses that make our very large high school feel like it has something for every single student. And so as our world becomes more divided, it is cooperation and listening through meetings like these that we can ensure the continuence of a cooperative community. I know that these are not easy decisions, so less we make them in haste and ensure the best
010possible outcome. My request tonight is simple, which is to postpone the vote on tonight's budget and weigh these reductions a little more, especially in with in mind with everything everyone here will say tonight. Um, so I ask you to not only ask what can be cut, but ask what cannot be replaced once it's gone. As Colin had said, make sure the values we write this year will still read like Greenwich does. Ambitious, rigorous, and humane. Now, I would say I look forward to our next meeting in the new year, but the midterm exam season is not a particular favorite of mine. So, with that, I wish you a good night, happy new year, and a very merry Christmas. Thank you. Okay. I u was remiss in that I over I skipped the um consent agenda.
011So is there a a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> The second. Okay. All in favor of the consent agenda. >> Aaron here. Aaron's not here yet. >> She's not here. >> Okay. So that vote is 70. I can right and welcome to GA comments. Good evening, Chairman Mccante Anthony, board members, Dr. Jones, and community members. My name is Margaret Jkins, and I am president of the Greenwich Education Association. First, I want to say how disappointing it is that for the first time since 2014, there is only one opportunity in December for public comment on the budget. The citizens of Greenwich deserve more opportunities to be heard on this important topic. That being said, I want to tell you how proud I am of the way the Central Middle School community
012came together at last month's board of education meeting to express their concerns about the budget. I'm equally proud of the teachers who are here tonight and of the flurry of letters that have been sent by the faculty of Greenwich High School who couldn't be here tonight. I hope you have all read them. It's essential that the board and the community know what it means to be a teacher at Greenwich High School. Among the many points made, the letter from the GHSGA leadership remarked on the dangers of pitting school against school when it comes to cutting funds. Can you imagine what that type of competition does for morale? Our English teachers highlighted the importance of student teacher collaboration and how the opportunities for it decrease proportionately when there's an increase in class size. The social studies
013teachers highlighted the personalized attention that is lost as class sizes increase. Special education teachers wrote to you about services that can no longer be provided to our neediest students. Our counselors reported that with fewer selections available, student scheduling options are shrinking when graduation requirements are increasing. Science teachers describe the potentially alarming increase in safety risks associated with larger class sizes. Math teachers point to an unsustainable workload as well as the 30 positions that Greenwich Public Schools has already lost over the past several years and that ghs has already absorbed a significant number of them. Our world language teachers focused on the importance of having a second or third language in today's global community. And speaking of world languages, as a Spanish teacher with, and I cannot believe I'm going to say this, but as a
014Spanish teacher with 40, yes, 40 years of experience, I was heartbroken to see that of the 6.5 FTE cuts facing GHS, three of them were targeted for the World Language Department. I find that appalling. Why would you target nearly 50% of your FTE cuts in one department? Now, we've been told that those positions are merely placeholders and that the final decision will be made once student enrollment happens in the spring. Nevertheless, I do not see why one single department would be targeted with the bulk of the placeholders. It's a privilege to be able to address this August body and it's a joy to hear student leaders speak of their accomplishments, but it is equally a tragedy to hear them stand up and speak out against budget cuts that are going to hurt them and all
015the students their voices represent. The bottom line is that they should not have to come here and beg the board of education not to make studentf facing cuts. Parents should not have to stand in front of you and beg for the programs that matter the most to their students. And we teachers should not have to write letters and make speeches to beg for our jobs and for the protection of the needs of our students. Please tell me where the logic lies in cutting people who are directly responsible for the academic success and social emotional well-being of our students. There must be other budget lines to consider. I understand that you are legally bound to make a decision before the end of the year. However, today is only December 18th. There is still time. All right,
016we want to welcome Lisa Sylvester from from PAC. Good evening everyone. Uh, Dr. Jones, board of education members. My name is Lisa Sylvester, as you all know, and I'm the PTA Council President speaking tonight on behalf of my board. We know tonight is difficult. The proposed budget is being voted on. We ask you all to please listen and take into consideration the outpouring of support from the teachers, students, parents, and PTA leadership that are not only here tonight, but were here last month. They are all advocating for proper resources for their schools, retaining trained, experienced, well-loved teachers, and asking you to not eliminate positions or reduce staffing when so much is up in the air. They are passionate and deserve to be heard and have everyone's undivided attention. Central Middle School will hopefully be open
017next fall. We know that all schools are an attract. We know that new schools are an attraction. If you build it, they will come, as would happen with Glennville and New Lebanon. We understand an open enrollment option is on the table. We support that and urge you to please begin that process right away. We believe numbers will increase. Also, as a priority school, they need more resources, staff, and support in order to thrive. Given its priority status during the two-year enrollment dip, this is a perfect opportunity to repurpose excess time for power tutoring, academic support, professional development, or other initiatives aligned with the goal of improving academic excellence and achievement at Central Middle School. Let's all work to make sure they have what they need. Greenwich High School is also on the chopping block for
018proposed cuts coming as well. You will hear from their PTA leadership and others that this will have negative impacts. We know that in the past positions have been eliminated specifically at Greenwich High School, but we don't know if real thought has gone into who will take on those duties of those eliminated positions. More cuts means more duties to be redistributed and it's the teachers and administrators who need to absorb all that. That's not okay when the teachers already have a full plate of their own. Just looking at the number of students with IEPs and 504 plans alone, which has skyrocketed since CO, these plans require more for the teachers to do. Let's try to come up with ways to help the teachers and make sure they are focusing on their students needs and the best
019ways to support them, not add to their already full plates. We understand the temporary bus parking contract is being discussed and we hope almost finalized. And while that is great news, what is not so great is the incredibly bad press our town has received in the past few days over this. In case you don't know, CBS News from New York came here and did a segment on our parking fiasco. The video of that segment was shared with us and has undoubtedly been shared countless more times. This is not a good look for us and quite frankly, it's an embarrassment that a town with as much money and resources as ours has let this happen. In the future, we hope that backup plans will be in place before any major contract changes are made. Having these
020plans ready would help prevent negative press, which can give outside vendors which can give outside vendors a reason to raise prices or reduce services for our district. With the new board that we are all very excited to work with, and the new year ahead, we are very confident though that we can work together to accomplish a great deal. We know that at the root of the frustrations and emotions, the entire GPS community cares very deeply about our schools as do we. We envision every school surpassing their goals, every child being seen and heard, every school thriving, and every parent, student, and teacher working together collectively. Thank you all so much, and please have a safe, happy, and wonderful holiday and break. Okay, so we're at the um time for public comment. Uh before public comment
021tonight, um a message went out. Uh we messaged something, the district messaged something out um about 5:00 today. So I wanted to make sure Dr. Jones uh clarified that for admitted attendance in case someone was going to speak on that about the open enrollment. So go ahead. >> Um so the board did ask that we work on getting the survey out for open enrollment. So that went out I think around about 5:30ish um to all of the families that that would apply to so that we can get the feedback um to see if in fact um we have students that would like to be able to opt in um to central. So we'll be watching that over the break and u when we come back in January and then um I set the timing of
022January 15th because that's a board meeting date so that night we can get the best update possible. >> Okay. So, we have 19 um people scheduled for public comment. We're going to try to get um all of them in in the hour that we usually all lot. So, um everybody has uh three minutes and uh take we'll we'll we'll we'll I'll turn over to you, Madam Secretary, and we'll we'll move forward. >> Um just a quick refresher on the uh well, first of all, good evening. Um and thank you all for being here. We do appreciate so many of you coming out and emailing us to share your perspective. Um, just before we open it up to the community comments, I did just want to remind everyone of the ground rules that were established by
023board policy 9325. Um, as Michael mentioned, we've allocated an hour. Uh, hopefully we will, we have 19 people. Hopefully, we will make it through all of them. If we hold the applause, um, if not, if we run out of time, we will all lot time at the end of the uh, discussion and action items. Um each speaker uh sorry speakers can certainly offer objective criticism of the district operations and programs uh to protect privacy. Any complaints about any individual personnel should be addressed through appropriate channels uh and not in a public forum. Um we ask that you be uh respectful in your comments and address the board in a civil manner. Um we appreciate that this is a particularly emotionally charged uh issue. Um I would just remind you uh that uh all of us
024on the board of education are volunteers and we have quite a few students in the audience who are watching all of us to see how we conduct ourselves. Um any sort of boisterous, inappropriate or disrespectful contact conduct is not permitted. It's grounds for termination or clearing the room at the chairman's discretion. No one wants that. Uh so so please let's all agree to act accordingly. Um and I'll just remind you the board doesn't respond to individual comments but we certainly take your input uh into uh advisement in our deliberation. Um we have some students speaking so we've put them first uh so they can get back to their studies and then we'll get to the adults in the order in which they signed up. Uh first up we have uh Nicholas Sosa who's a GHS
025student followed by Sanjay Divar. Perfect. Thank you. Good evening uh chair, members of the board, Superintendent Jones, and members of the community. So my name is Nicholas. I'm the senior class vice president at Greenwich High School. And you know, I have a lot to say tonight, but I kept it as concise as I could. So, since co Greenwich High School has not returned to the condition to the conditions that existed 5 to 10 years ago, reasonably so. Students are facing increased mental health needs, wider academic gaps, more frequent behavioral incidents, and greater safety concerns. They're not opinions. These are lived experiences that I witness every day. And yet, this budget responds to that reality, not by strengthening student support systems, but by continuing to weaken them. Greenwich High School is expected to remain near 2,400
026students, making it by far the largest and most complex school in the district. Despite that, the budget reflects continued reductions in administrative and program leadership capacity, including a reduction in program administrator staffing from two to one FTE layered on top of multiple years of administrative, certified, and support staff cuts since 2024. That's not efficiency in my opinion. It's erosion. Administrators are not abstract overhead. They manage discipline, student crises, special education coordination, safety response, family communication, and staff supervision. When those positions are reduced, the work does not disappear. It simply goes undone, put onto administrators, teachers, or students who already have too much on their plate. That's how systems fail. What makes this proposal especially troubling is the lack of transparency. The budget repeatedly uses vague language like adjustments and efficiencies, but it never clearly states
027which specific administrative positions at Greenwich High School are being eliminated, consolidated, or overextended, nor how student voices will be protected. That is not how responsible school districts operate. Across the country, districts facing similar pressures positionby position impacts analyses when staffing is reduced. Seattle Public Schools publishes school-byschool tables listing exact roles eliminated and impact on student services. Montgomery County Public Schools, one of the highest performing districts in the nation, publicly documents administrative staffing changes and explicitly acknowledges that large high schools require greater leadership capacity even during enrollment dips. Los Angeles and Chicago both identify specific positions and explain how duties are reassigned so communities understand the trade-offs being made. That level of transparency is standard practice. It has not been met in this case. I urge the board to delay the vote and to pause any
028further administrative reductions at Greenwich High School until a public position byposition impact analysis is released, clearly identifying which roles are affected. Thank you. >> You can email the rest of it to if you want. >> Okay. Next up we have Sanjay Divikar followed by Autumn Lavine. Good evening members of the board of education Dr. Jones and esteemed member of our community. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Sanjay Devaker. I'm a freshman at Greenwich High School. I'm also the freshman class senator and I graduated 8th grade from Central Middle School. I've experienced both schools as a student which is why I want to speak about the proposed staffing reductions at GHS and CMS. When teaching positions are reduced, the impact on students is very real. One of the first areas which
029is affected is elective courses. Electives are not optional or extra for students. They would many of us um figure out our interests and understand how our school works. It helps us stay engaged and learn how we work, how school works. Staffing cuts can lead to fewer elective offerings, fewer class sections, and limited access to specialized courses. That means less choice for students, tighter schedules, and missed opportunities to explore areas like business, technology, the arts, and other interest based subjects. Because I attended Central Middle School and now attend Greenwich High School, I've seen how early access to electives help students build confidence and direction. Cuts at the middle school level don't just affect one year, they also fall students into high school. The proposed administrative reduction also raises concern. Administrators play a key role in scheduling,
030student support, keeping schools running smoothly, and student safety. When those positions are reduced, the work doesn't disappear, it shifts, often affecting students and teachers directly. I understand that budgeting involves difficult decisions, but cuts that reduce staffing and limiting electives narrow educational opportunities for both CMS and GHS. Greenwich has built its reputation by offering a broad highquality education, protecting electives and student support is part of maintaining that standard. I respectfully urge the board to reconsider staffing reductions at GHS and CMS and to seek solutions that preserve student choice and opportunity. Thank you for the time and for listening to student voices. Okay, next up we have Autumn Lavine followed by Taylor Gr. Hello, my name is Autumn Le Lavine and I'm a sixth grade student here at Central. I'm here to urge you to not cut
031teachers at CMS. Our teachers are not just the people that teach us things. They are the people that make us feel welcomed. From day one, every teacher here at Central has had a smile on their face that lets students know that they are there for them. For me, every day when I walk into school, I feel supported and welcomed like nothing I've ever felt. Every teacher plays a role in helping students enjoy their middle school experience. Every student should be able to experience supporting teachers. Let the teachers do what they love and what they do best. If class sizes decrease due due to the lack of teachers, that will only hurt our education and our health. My classes have about 18 students at the max, which allows the teachers to teach the lesson, answer any
032questions student might have, and still leave time for us to complete the assignment. Increasing class sizes means more questions, and more questions means less time to complete the assignments. That unfinished work then carries onto our homework. That's not a huge deal, except for the fact that we're already receiving homework from that class, making the homework double. That takes away from our activities after school. I already have homework from about six to eight different classes and I have enough time to complete it all with the activities I love to do. For example, I come home from school and start doing my homework. I finish after an hour or two, then go to soccer practice, whatever activity I have that day. Having more homework makes less time to do the activities. With more homework, I would be
033staying up later to finish it, taking away from the time I need to sleep, which is something that all of us need. The next day in school, I wouldn't be able to focus because I'd be tired. It's not because I chose to stay up late. It's because I had more homework to complete due to lack of class time. All of that work and lack of sleep adds up to increasing our stress and decreasing our attention span as well as how long we can focus in class overall hurting our education. Another thing to take into consideration is our mental health. Students with special needs need the teachers to talk with them one-on-one. In the current class sizes, that's possible. Increasing the class sizes will leave their questions and concerns unanswered, and when they get home, they
034won't know what to do. and then in turn will get stressed out. No one deserves to be stressed ever, especially if they are trying their very best to help themselves but can't due to the lack of time and explanation that the teachers are able to give to the student. To sum up, let teachers and students continue doing what school is all about and help keep our health and mental health in check so we can have the best education opportunity possible. Oh, and also as a Julian Curtis alumni, I ask you to please address the bus parking situation at Julian Curtis Elementary School. Thank you and have a great rest of your night. >> All right. Uh, next up we have Taylor Gr from Central Middle School, followed by Norah Stern from GHS. Good evening, board
035of education members and Dr. Jones. My name is Taylor Gr, and I will be speaking in support of my teachers. I'm an eighth grade student at CMS and these cuts won't affect me personally, but I care deeply about what will happen to my school. The teachers have made coming to school every day not a chore, but a happy thing to do. I like coming to school and stopping into Miss Lipshot's room and talking with her and my friends and hanging out before I start my day. As an eighth grade student, it's my job to become the new leader of the CMS basketball team. Talking with my coach is a necessity. Mr. Alvarado has made the basketball team and softball team so much more fun. My other teammates and I love to go to his office
036during gym and before practice to talk about the games coming up or the games that had passed. He now spends his mornings at Eastern, making my teammates and I unable to visit. My te my sister is in the fifth grade and will be entering CMS as I depart. I want this school to be filled with all the wonderful teachers that have taught me and helped me learn through and grow throughout my three years here. She deserves the same excellent experience that I received. Please help ensure that the future is bright for the next group of CMS Cougars. Also, as I'm heading to the high school next year, it would be great if you didn't cut their teachers either. I like all the opportunities afforded to all the other Greenwich kids and looking forward to and
037I look forward to succeed there as well. Thank you. >> Uh, Northern Greenwich High School student followed by Sam Autumn. >> Good evening, members of the board of education. My name is Nora and I'm a junior at Greenwich High School. Last year, $4 million were cut from the Greenwich Public Schools budget, prompting significant concern across our community. Students, parents, and teachers spoke out because they understood that these cuts meant to our schools. Following the recent municipal election, it's clear that the Greenwich residents are calling for a change. Change that reflects a shared commitment to supporting public education. Furthering budget cuts would directly harm the learning environment at Greenwich High School. Larger class sizes would limit individual attention from teachers and make classrooms more crowded and less effective. Students would feel these impacts every day. Beyond
038academics, cuts threaten the environment that make GHS such a strong community. Electives, extracurriculars, and academic supports are not luxuries. They're essential to students engagement, well-being, and success. Respectfully, it's clear that the board understands the students and teachers wants and needs. Many of these community members have taken the time to speak at meetings, write letters, and advocate for our district. This is no longer a question about awareness, but of action. I urge you to protect our schools by not approving the additional budget cuts. As the GHS social studies department said in their recent letter, "These cuts cannot be viewed in isolation. They're the latest in a long series of decisions that have steadily weakened the academic infrastructure of our school." I hope the board chooses to preserve the quality of education that Greenwich students and residents
039deserve. Thank you. >> Uh Sam Autton, a GHS student, followed by John Fischer of the GHS PTA. >> Uh good morning. Uh good evening members of the board and Dr. Jones. I'm here tonight with many other students because we're extremely concerned about the education of the more than 2,500 students at Granch High School. Teachers matter. They're not just here to teach us. Uh they're the people that students trust, go for to help, uh go to for help, and feel supported by. Greenwich is known for having great teachers, and that's something that we're proud of. But if we cut teachers, there won't be many left to be proud of. Cutting 6.5 teachers and one administrator might sound like a good financial decision, but for students, it's personal. It could mean losing a teacher who knows you,
040who checks in on you, or who makes school a place you actually want to be. For some students, that teacher is the reason that they keep showing up and trying. I understand that the budget is complicated, but the impacts of these cuts would be ch huge. Classes would get bigger and other teachers would be asked to take on more responsibility, possibly without extra pay. That leads to stress and burnout and eventually affects students. Greenwich High School works because the teachers and administrators to support us every day. Taking them away hurts the school and the students rely on them. I ask that you please reconsider these cuts and look for other solutions that don't take support away from students. Thank you for listening. Uh John Fischer from the GHS PTA followed by Monica Fong also from
041the GHS PTA Chair Mccanty Anthony BOE members Dr. Jones. Everyone here and everyone listening. I'm John Fischer, PTAC past president, GHS PTA co-president, and father of two of the 2599 great high school students. My comments tonight are totally, completely, and entirely my own and not representing any organization. I will say I feel the urge to vomit every time someone says the school budget needs to adhere to alleged guidelines as if they are sacrosanked commandments from above. They are not. They were rushed to a vote by a lame duck BET. Only two of the 12 incoming BET members voted in favor while four incoming members voted against. I feel the urge to vomit every time someone says we need to cut staffing because of declining enrollments. We do not. I happen to know that GHS PTA
042co-president Monica Hang already will highlight that GHS will have about 100 fewer students next year than we had three years ago. But in that same three years, we've had many, many staffing cuts because of prior budget crisis. I feel the urge to vomit every time someone says we need to find other things to cut before we can even talk about keeping student facing staff that we already have. We do not need to do that. We need the administration and the BOE to provide leadership and a budget that enables our next level of academic excellence. We need to stop lurching from budget crisis to budget crisis, cutting staff and piling up the work until our student-f facing educators don't have a spare minute in a day. That's efficiency in a in a factory warehouse. Efficiency in
043education is enabling best practices and meeting and exceeding student needs. Do not blindly, uncritically cut unidentified seven and a half studentf facing positions at GHS, hiding behind false narratives about guidelines and declining enrollments and needing to find other cuts. Those are sick excuses for cheapening our students education. Every time I hear it, I feel the urge to vomit and I will reach for this barf bag. And I encourage my co-advocates for higher quality ed public education to reach for their barf bags, too. Thank you for this time, your thoughtful consideration, and for your service to the community, and I hope you all have excellent holidays. >> Uh Monica Hang uh from the GHS PTA, followed by Katherine McCery, uh GPS parent. How do I follow that? Um, good evening, Dr. Jones, members of the BOE.
044I'm Monica Hang, GHS co-president, speaking on behalf of my myself, my co-president, the GHS PTA board, and the GHS community. We oppose the proposal to cut six and a half teaching positions and one administrative position at GHS. Greenwich High is a large, diverse school. Our students have a huge range of learning levels and college and career goals. They need robust staffing to ensure that they get the academics, program, support, and services that will give them the opportunity to succeed in school and in life. In the past, it seemed the dis it seems to me the district has achieved staffing reductions through attrition, but this budget proposed cutting staff positions that will have lasting negative consequences for high school students beyond just normal attrition. It seems to me that the BET guidelines is a motivation for
045these cuts. However, these guidelines seemed arbitrarily picked based on CPI, consumer price index. But GPS isn't buying groceries. Instead, GPS is paying for cost increases in many areas, salaries, special ed, facilities, and transportation, which has 18% plus increases. That's not a reason to cut studenting position. It's a reason to have a budget that meets the financial needs of the district. Enrollments is often the motivator for the cuts. This doesn't really make sense. The projected enrollment for the upcoming school year at Greenidge High is 100 less than three years ago. But in those three years, GHS has already suffered radical staffing cuts. 11 and a half teachers, six learning center aids, media center assistants, five instructional coaches, one administrator, four administrative assistants, and 18 learning facilitator stipen roles. There may be a few underutilized classes that
046could be cut, but there are also many overcrowded classes. Cutting six and a half teachers and one admin on top of the cuts that have already happened is too much. If students don't have access to classes, support, and services they need during their high school years, it will be lost and gone forever. Students do not get to redo high school. The GHS PTA urges the BOE not to approve this budget. have the admin administration redo it with the minimum number of specific cuts limited to chronically underutilized classes. Basically, go back, take another look if you can. >> 30 seconds. >> Uh, thank you for your time. I appreciate all you do for the community and happy holidays. >> Uh, Katherine McCeri followed by Alexandra Stevens. >> Good evening, Chair Manty Anthony, board members Dr. Jones
047and members of the community. My name is Katherine Mccersie. I'm a parent of a senior at GHS and a sixth grader here at CMS. So clearly I'm here to talk about teachers. I oppose the eliminations of the proposed 10.5 positions. Concerning CMS, thank you for the update on open enrollment. This needs to be offered to all students in including current WMS and EMS students. Gather all the data on CMS and be certain that you have the correct data. Don't ignore your own enrollment data consultant who said about enrollment for CM CMS next year, and I quote, "A bit more caution than usual should be exercised when using these projections to make policy decisions. It is important to remember that the cohort survival method relies on observed data from the recent past. Its key assumption is
048that those conditions will persist." unquote. While moving into a new school is a new condition, so the current conditions will not persist. And much like the bump that New Lebanon experienced after their new building opened, the enrollment consultant is warning you now to consider this. Consider the number 550 when evaluating CMS enrollment. Again, I quote, "The new Central Middle School is being built for 550 students. Therefore, 550 students places CMS at 77% capacity, one percentage point over WMS. Yet, we are the only school facing eliminations. Consider this. With last year's elimination of 2.4 at at CMS, 2.4 FTE, there are already challenges. One of which, you may be aware is the difficulty scheduling orchestra with the seminar class in seventh and eighth grade. Our sixth grader is excited to have both of these important classes
049as her sister did six years ago. But this is now in doubt. CMS students who are not in an equitable situation for core sub subject offerings with their peers at EMS and WMS are not receiving an equitable education. Why would it be okay for students to receive less than their peers? Ask yourselves if you are okay with that. Does forcing top performing students at only one school to eliminate string instrument instruction or a core curriculum course seem okay to you? Consider this. Twothirds of your middle schools are priority schools. To reverse this trend, you as a board will need to consider options and even policy. Does pulling resources two years in a row out of a priority school align? Finally, I would be remiss if I did not say thank you to the many teachers
050here and the teachers listening at home. Please know how much the work you do means to us and that the miraculous moments of teaching become more evident with each passing year. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Happy holidays and a very happy new year. Alexander Stevens, DHS media specialist, followed by Carrie Gr, GPS parent. Uh, Secretary Carl, we still have one student who hasn't spoken. Could she go before me? Uh, of course. There's no other students on my list, but please So, please state your name and we'll work you in. >> Um, good evening members of the board of education, Dr. Jones, and other members of our Greenwich community. My name is Maya, and I'm a ninth grader at Greenwich High School, as well as the freshman class vice president. and I'm here tonight
051to speak against the proposed budget cuts such as the loss of six and a half teacher positions and one administrator position at GHS that will have an impact on our students. Our teachers are not just numbers in a budget. They serve as mentors, role models, and people who make our learning experience every day. Cutting teachers could affect class size and the amount of individualized support that a student gets. Larger classes would mean less one-on-one and focused attention, fewer opportunities for students to speak up and ask questions, and more students falling through the cracks. At Greenwich High School, students already feel a lot of pressure balancing rigorous academics, extracurriculars, mental health challenges, and the expectations of college or the future. Teachers are often one of the first adults to notice if a student is struggling, and
052reducing them takes away the support system that a student may need most. The proposed cuts to an administrative position is also concerning. Our administrators help to maintain a safe school environment, manage student behavior, and support the teachers. Less administrators means less oversight and slower response to issues. Greenwich prides itself on their excellent academics, and this excellence comes from investing in people such as our educators and teachers. Budget decisions send a message about what we value, and choosing to cut teachers tell students that their well-being and education are negotiable. I urge the board to reconsider these reductions and look at alternative solutions that may not harm a student's learning environment. Thank you. >> Maya, thank you. Maya, before you sit down, Maya, before you sit down, could you spell your full name for the record? >>
053Yeah. Um, it's Maya Zoloteski. I can spell the last name out for you. Um, it's Z O L O T A R E V S K Y. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. one one other one here too. >> So the um what's I it's possible that we had a number of student speakers that didn't they're not on our list. The um what's what's your name? >> Maddie Jones. It's not on the list. >> Okay. So technically you had to sign up by noon in order to to it's um it's not you can not anybody can sign up. That said, I'm not going to be mean and take you to sit down. But um moving forward and if you're not on the list, you you you have to um um it's only right. You that's our
054that's our policy. Okay. Please go ahead, Maddie. >> Okay. Um I came from practice to be here. That's why I'm dressed like this. But um I'm Maddie Jones. I'm a junior at Greenwich High School and I'm the class president at my grade as well. Um every year I've been here, there's been more and more teachers cut and it's a very obvious change in the classroom. I'm in an AP Chem class. my teachers here and um we have so many students that there's many desks in between the lab tables and it's hard to walk through the class without hitting someone. And when I was younger, I was in special education learning. I couldn't see while I was crosseyed. Um I pretty much couldn't read at all and I was struggling at every single one of my
055classes because of that. And the only reason I was able to uh grow at all was because I had a small class that had four students in it. And I had a teacher and we'd meet every day before, after school, during school. I had miss like normal classes to have special learning. And students aren't getting that ability in their classes anymore because they aren't getting one-on-one learning. The class sizes are getting so large that there isn't really ever time to talk to a teacher individually. If you want to talk to your teacher, you have to go before school. A lot of kids can't do that cuz they take the bus or they their parents can't take them in or things like that. And I just think overall with the amount of teachers being cut, you're
056not giving the students the ability to succeed anymore and it's just a board of education. I know you guys all do a lot for our town, but the education is becoming decreasingly worse for the students. Thank you. Good evening, board of education members and Dr. Jones. My name is Gia Chararma and I'm a seventh grader at Central Middle School. I'm not here tonight to discuss the devastating impacts on teachers and students of reducing four full-time equivalent positions. Rather, I'm here to address the reasoning behind this decision. The stated justification is that low enrollment at CMS. The real question, however, is why enrollment is low. Remember, this is only the current situation. Historically, this has not been the case. First of all, why are students who are districted to CMS choosing not to attend CMS and
057instead enrolling at EMS, which is already overcrowded? Why was the policy changed to allow all ISC students to attend EMS after fifth grade, further reducing CMS enrollment? Secondly, why are so many families leaving CMS altogether? Just one year ago, Cost school experienced a significant migration of fifth grade students to private schools, forcing a reduction in fifth grade classes. The causes of this trend are not difficult to identify. These include years of continuous budget cuts, an aging building that does not meet modern safety standards, and a facility that should have been replaced more than a decade ago, but was not due to lack of funding. Finally, why is CMS not designated as a magnet school? Many families would actively choose to go to CMS if given the opportunity. Reducing staffing is not a solution. It is
058a reaction. a reaction to a problem that have gone unressed for years. I urge the board of education to confront these root causes directly and commit to long-term solutions rather than continue to continuing to apply short-term fixes. Thank you for giving me a chance to express my views. I appreciate it. Have a good night. Good evening. My name is Alexander Stevens and I am a KSCO resident, GHS teacher, and the proud parent of two GHS graduates and one current Phoenix. Before [clears throat] I get into my remarks on the budget, I have a process concern. For the last decade, the BOE has held an early December budget meeting to discuss the budget in which public comment was sought. After the public comment period, almost the entire meeting was then devoted to budget discussions. Breaking with
059that long-standing protocol, the new BOE held last week's budget meeting as a retreat at Havomire with no public comment, essentially blocking the public from participating until tonight when it is arguably too late because you plan to vote. And you only spent about half of that budget meeting actually discussing this budget and less than 10 minutes discussing cutting se 6.5 teachers and one administrator at GHS. This is particularly troublesome given that the only time you scheduled for public comment is late in the middle of a very busy holiday season. Seems like half the district's sick and also the same night as the soldout candlelight concert at GHS. So, 1500 students, parents, and teachers who are passionate about GHS are unable to attend tonight's meeting. So, my question for our new board is this. Given the chairs
060and your commitment to transparency and stakeholder input, why was the first step you took as a newly formed board to alter your long-standing practice and decrease public input into the budgetary process? I urge you to postpone any plans to vote tonight to allow for adequate time for public comment, stakeholder input, and budget evaluation. Now, as to the budget itself, I have spoken before this body many times over my 16-year GPS career against repeated and debilitating cuts to the library media program, meeting success in the early years, but abject failure the past 5 years. Sadly, the board has made it clear that library services are not a priority in the district, and the subsequent negative impact on student learning is of little concern. I won't belabor the point, but I raise it today because I see
061the same thing happening more broadly in the building in which I work. Like our district library media services, ghs is suffering death by a thousand cuts as you seemingly work to replace excellence with efficiency. Those of you who sat on the board last spring criticized the bet's cuts and repeatedly said that because of the BAT, you had no choice but to cut people in programs. You admitted those cuts would negatively impact student learning, but you claimed your hands were tied by Traoneian BET guidelines. Last month, the town rejected that BET and overwhelmingly voted for a return to properly funding the schools. You have a mandate from the voters. What are you doing with it? You certainly aren't fixing the cuts you said you were forced to make last year. Instead, the proposed budget comes in
062at a quarter million less than the alleged guidelines and contains 11.5 cuts to studentf facing positions. Those supposed guidelines were passed by only two members of the incoming BET and have never actually been published to my knowledge. Yet, you seem to not only want to meet those supposed guidelines, but beat them. Your job is not to impress the BET with your ability to underfund key programs. Your job is to try to fully fund our schools. You should start by offering a budget that begins to correct the more than a decade of defunding, not doubling down on it. Thank you for your time. >> Uh, next up is Yep. Next up is Carrie Gr, GPS parent, followed by Francis Nov from PEK. Carrie, just before you begin, I just want to correct the record to make
063sure that we did have obviously in November, we had an extensive public comment section at our last meeting of over it was well over two hours uh worth of comment. The uh the decision to delay or the decision to um eliminate the budget hearing was made um not this year, but it was made by the previous board well over a year ago because historically um that has been very poorly tuned, ill attended. Um that said, we had um obviously the the extensive comment at the budget meeting and obviously the budget hearing was uh always a month ago. So um um you're out of order. You're out of order. >> No, no, that's not how it works. Thank you, sir. Okay, go ahead. >> Good evening. My name is Carrie Grus and by now you not
064only know me but have heard from me quite a bit and are probably pretty sick of hearing from me. Um, I'm speaking to express my extreme concern for the operating budget proposed by the superintendent, specifically four FTEEs Dr. Jones is looking to cut from Central Middle School. As you know, CMS is the only school that has already faced cuts this year. Some consequences students are currently facing because of them are my own child was told seminar couldn't fit into her schedule. She wanted to work on her public speaking skills before entering high school, but that could no longer be accommodated. That is not an issue at EMS. Students who want to pop in and see their orchestra teacher before school or ask for extra help can no longer do that because that teacher is no
065longer at CMS in the morning. My daughter can't pop into the gym to speak to her basketball coach or spring softball coach to chat about upcoming games games and engage in a respectful conversation between a coach and a student because Mr. Alvarado is now at EMS every morning. This teaming model is the gold standard and is of utmost importance to our middle school kids and I hope the teachers speak and have written about some of the techniques and strategies that they employ so that you have a better understanding of what they're doing. But to me as a parent, the part that we're not speaking enough about is the value add there is just simply to there is just to simply have your teachers in your kids' presence in the hallway, in the gym, in their
066classrooms. At a time when middle school kids are pulling away from their parents, it's the teachers they look to for guidance, acceptance, and that comfortable place to hang out when they've had a bad day. We've already pulled elective teachers this out of the building the second that they're not in front of the teach in front of the kids teaching and that has had an immeasurable impact negative impact on our kids. We can't pull our core teachers in all directions now too running everyone so thin that those value ad moments for our kids are removed. Middle school is as much about growth and support as it is about academics and stripping away our teachers hurts our kids more than their test scores will ever indicate. I urge you to please open enrollment now. Take more control
067and supervision over Dr. Jones's waiverss and exceptions and make steps to invest in Central Middle School. From fighting for a new building to being in a condemned building, having no outside space, and now having less electives offered, CMS has had to fight for years to be on equal footing with the other middle schools. Our community deserves reinvestment in our school. Please give Central Middle School the opportunity to thrive. Thank you. Francis Newbe followed by Andy Harrington Cosby. >> Good evening. My name is Francis Wu and this year I serve as the PTAC council facilities committee chair representing all 15 public schools. So I'm switching gears a little bit. Let's start with a few numbers. It's been 83 days since I first came before you to speak about the 65 buses parked at Western Middle School.
068It's been 71 days since GPS signed the transportation contract with DATCO in June. Worse, the temperature has dropped nearly 50° and what was once green grass has become mud, ice, and slush. What was once a cautionary tale is now a reality. Just this week, the driver's union, as um Lisa mentioned, appeared on CBS News. They described conditions at the Western Middle School bus lot as unsafe. No proper lighting, no break room, no adequate restroom facilities, mud and ice underfoot, unsecured buses, and buses getting stuck. We've already had an injured driver, creating delays impacting many families across town. It made sense in a moment in the moment to change transportation providers for cost savings. But unfortunately, any short-term financial gain seems to have been erased by injuries, delays, field remediation, and reputational damage. Which brings me
069to my broader point. GPS and the board of ed needs to have a strategic plan and approach to acquiring property when opportunities arise. Private schools in this area actively monitor and purchase key parcels near their campuses or far away from their campuses. We don't seem to do that at all. There should be active monitoring of a list of priority properties near existing GPS facilities that we're prepared to act on should they become available. Some of you may recall Peter Berg from district 8 urging the board to purchase the old flower shop next to Costco school which has now become condos. I'm not sure whether or not the site could have been used for bus parking or could have become a new home for GPS administration or would have been an acceptable location for eight tennis
070courts. But there's s certainly little doubt that there are properties in close proximity to Greenwich High School and many other schools that could serve any number of purposes for the district if we're thinking ahead. The bus lot situation, the ghs facilities, CMS teaming share a common lesson. When we don't plan ahead, we end up reacting often at great cost and greater risk. My hope is that we can learn from where we are today and make decisions that serve residents, students, staff, and taxpayers, not just this winter, but for decades to come. Thank you for your consideration. Uh, Andy Harrington Cosby, followed by Nate Jackman. Can you repeat the name? We can't really hear. >> Andy Harrington Cosby. >> Andy Cosby. No, Andy. I don't see her online either. Okay. >> We'll see. >> All right.
071Why don't we move on to Nate Jackman followed by Karen Ball? >> Um, we don't take questions from the audience. Hold on. >> Good evening. Uh, first of all, I'd like to thank you all for being here, your volunteers, and I know how thankless it can be to sit up here and get hollered at um for something you're trying to help. So, I do want to approach this conversation from I think we're all on the same team. We're trying to deliver the best education we can to our children in this district. I just wanted to express uh as someone who's only been here four years, so I'm fairly new to the district. And when we moved here, we were very impressed with the schools. And since then, I have to say I've been kind of
072shocked by some of the, you know, reactions that take place over the course of this these annual annual processes. the the idea to me that this BET that was so pompous and smug and flippant about the lives of these high school students, the fact that they were voted out handily and the entire town told these people to take a hike and then the response is not to step back a year and go, "What the hell did these people do to our school district?" I'm driving around at 6:45 in the morning and there's kids sitting in the pitch black waiting for their high school bus for a school that starts at 8:00 a.m. I mean, we're we're dealing with right now a crisis for young young kids in this country of mental health confidence what their
073economic future is going to be. and our response is to make them wake up at a time that through extensive scientific studies done by the very same board that this is so unhelpful and unhealthy for these high school kids to be waking up early. I don't understand why at this point you've received this massive mandate from the town including the RTM saying these people are out of their minds and instead of going back and revisiting and saying let's start fresh here's what a budget is that we need to run this school district properly we're just kind of continuing on from these same directions provided by these same pompous people I don't understand why we can't just who cares we were given this mandate take a step back here's what we actually need to run the
074school rather than trying to hit some number that's been provided by people who no longer have any say. And so it feels to me that we're not this town has clearly voted to fund our schools and fund this education. And um I'm sure you guys are trying to do the best you can, but I don't understand why we're stuck in this process of further cuts. I come to you as someone who came from a very nice suburb in New York. When we moved here, I'm cautionary tale. Our school had been going through the same thing. You had a lot of people that as soon as it got to high school went to private schools. And so what would happen is those private school parents would vote against um the interests of the public schools. They
075would take over to the boards. >> Thank you. And then eventually what would happen is the funding would get cut a little more each year and more and more students and by the end of it I think a quarter of the students were staying in for high school and the rest were going to private school. Um please restore the busing, please restore funding for these schools and um please revisit what happened at the B at the BET because you've been given a mandate. Thank you. Uh Karen Ball, GHS teacher, followed by James Walsh, GPS parent. Good evening, Dr. Jones, board of education members. I'm one of your high school library media specialists, and I've been in GPS for 30 years. I'm also the parent of two GHS graduates, and I'm a Greenidge homeowner and taxpayer.
076I urge you to revisit the staffing cuts in the proposed budgets. The CMS and GHS communities have been very vocal about the impact that losing teaching positions has had and will have, and I support their advocacy wholeheartedly. My own department has taken severe cuts and I know full well how difficult it is to not be able to do everything as well as we have in the past due to lack of staffing. What I'd like to address is the planned loss of an administrative position at GHS. Our administrative team manages an enormous and diverse building, hundreds of teachers and staff, and thousands of students. Each administrator has multiple roles and many responsibilities as they have taken on more in the last several years due to cuts and eliminated positions. There is only so much restructuring and
077reassigning that can happen until there is simply not enough time to make everything happen and things start to fall through the cracks. Teachers depend on them for student discipline issues, but also for students with special needs and unexpected needs and situations. Many of our students are very successful and those students make the news almost every week. But we also have students battling a host of problems from severe illness, physical or mental health issues, family crises and more. My own family had such a situation when my children were students here. My husband battled a fatal illness and I depended on teachers, staff, and administration, Folsome House especially, to help my children when I was drowning in medical information I didn't understand, appointments and decisions, and ultimately the loss of their father. I'm here to tell you
078the support that I got from GHS was critical. Our administrators are making sure students and families are cared for and helped appropriately. They don't make the news for doing that. But make no mistake, cutting an administrator will affect students and families. Absolutely. Our administrators are our bedrock and we need that solid foundation. Given the results of the last election and the push back on the damage to the school system, I would ask that you all pause this vote and work with our superintendent to create a budget that preserves staff and supports the schools and the administration and gives students what they need. Greenwich deserves everything that you can do for them. all of these questions about the budgets and priorities. We have the funds to do this. We have the mandate to do this. I
079ask you please give our students and families what they need. Thank you. >> Uh James Walsh, GPS parent, followed by Kyle Stevens, CMS teacher. >> Hey, evening folks. Uh first off, please extend the open enrollment questionnaire deadline past the date when students get their private school acceptances to just kind of help the numbers. Um and now you know teachers are the bedrock and foundation of our school system. We should be looking for ways to support and retain them, not cut them under the banner of efficiency. We are blessed to live in a community with the resources to properly fund our schools and to push back when the BET supplies guidelines that can hurt our students and educators. However, if the board decides to stick with the current guidelines and move ahead with the FT reductions,
080I would like to propose some alternatives. One, a creative uh solution could be found in languages. An area where a middle school students don't have the same access as their peers in neighboring towns. Uh transfer these FTEEs from the high school to the middle schools. We only offer Spanish and French. New Kanan, Spanish, French, Latin, Mandarin. Derrienne, French, Spanish, Mandarin. Westport, French, Spanish, Mandarin. I'm seeing a pattern. Norwalk, they have a great magnet program. French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese. Um, now on to the cuts for CMS core academic teachers. I propose, and against my better judgment, because I'm 100% cuts of any FTEES this year, um, one that would be more equitable across our middle schools. If we look at the ratio of students per FTE and use this as a proxy for student access to
081course offerings and class size, some major differences um are exposed between the three schools, specifically in ALP, health, family and consumer sciences, and technology education. Currently, only Eastern has ALP FTES in the budget. A few years ago, all three middle schools enjoyed ALP FTEES, but over the past few years, this has been reduced to zero at Central and Western. the 0.7 FT at Eastern um could be removed from the budget and uh Eastern could do the same uh for the seminar program which is you know run by the ALP FTEES um at their school as the other two schools do. Um the proposed budget for both consumer science and technology education has6 FTES at CMS, one at EMS and one at WMS. This breaks down to a student to FTE ratio of about 700 to
082770 at CMS and EMS but 527 at WMS. By reducing the proposed FTES at Western for both of these to.7, you end up with Western at 752, right in line with the other schools. The FTE reductions at Eastern in both art and health could also result in more equitable situation across all three schools. Currently CMS has8 art FTEES while EMS has two and Western has one creating a situation where there are 527 students um per uh at CMS and and uh Western um exactly but only 387 at EMS. If you were to reduce Eastern FTES and art to 1.5 their number would rise to 515 right in line. Um it also the same thing is seen in health point4 at CMS and WMS. Eastern is 1.2. This results in uh about 1100 students at both
083of those schools but 644 at Eastern um almost half reduce their FTE to 7 the number would fall in line. Uh look in conclusion um instead of cutting educators we should be looking for creative ways to improve the educational experience for our student support to teachers. what I just said above would result in I believe uh 2.3 FTEES total. That's more than half of the four that you're proposing. So instead of cutting these educators which support our teachers, support our town and better align ourselves with the educational experience received by students in our peer districts. Thank you. >> Uh okay, we have Kyle Stevens. How are we? Good. Uh we have Kyle Stevens followed by uh Maria Juk. >> So I want to thank the members of the board and Dr. Jones for their service
084and for listening to everyone today. Uh I'm a sixth grade teacher here at Central Middle School and I'm here to advocate today on behalf of my students and how the proposed budget will negatively impact them. Too often, unfortunately, students get reduced to a number on a spreadsheet in these conversations at the C as the CMS community prepares for another round of budget cuts. I want to start just with how the budget cuts have already impacted us from last year. The first is the lack of elective classes. Other people have spoken about it, right? Some students are in study halls or academic support classes, not because they need them, because the electives aren't available at the time. whether a teacher is at another school, a teacher is traveling, right? Those electives just aren't offered anymore for
085those students. This is again an idea that looks good on a spreadsheet that you can move teachers around, but has a serious impact on our students. Another is with the sixth grade team that I'm a part of, right? Our special education position on our team was eliminated and not refilled last year. Because of that, the special education students on our team are split up amongst four different monitors, right? Again, all the services are being provided, right? Everything looks good on paper until you deal with the day-to-day life of it, right? We have 15 minutes every two weeks to discuss needs with the special education monitors that are not part of our team. We don't have built-in team time to discuss student needs. And when those teachers are be meeting with us for those 15 minutes,
086they're being pulled out of their classes when they're supposed to be providing students supports and working on goals that uh that they need to be working on. I'm really afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the new budget that's being proposed which will in effect eliminate the teameing model as I've already seen how the elimination of a special education position on our team model has impacted students. I feel like another 4.0 cuts from for CMS will be a devastating blow for our students who have suffered budget cuts just last year. It's another solution that I feel like makes sense on a spreadsheet, but scheduling complications will make teaming impossible and will only negatively impact our students. I was really glad when I saw that the email today went
087out and we talked about different options in terms of making CMS open enrollment, making it a magnet school, and I was really glad to see how the GPS uh talked about the new opening of Central Middle School and kind of was proudly anticipating its new new opening. Uh in there I have a quote that CMS will have three well-defined academic pods that are designed to support two teams in each grade level. I found that a little ironic as our proposal is going to eliminate the teameing model and uh which we considered the gold standard for education. I urge you not to support the budget. Explore alternative options. I appreciate you all and your service. I wish you all happy holidays. Thank you very much. Okay. Um, our last our last speaker is Maria Yuk. >>
088Good evening, >> me. >> That's okay. Good evening, members of the board of education and Dr. Jones. My name is Maria Yuk and I am a sixth grade English teacher at Central Middle School. I want to begin by thanking each and of each of you and the superintendent for all that you do. I recognize that you have a very difficult decision in front of you and I appreciate the time, care, and responsibility that you bring daily to this work. Tonight, I want to be clear about why both Greenwich High School teachers and Central Middle School teachers are here. We are not advocating for selfish reasons. We are advocating for what is best for our students. Sometimes on paper, decisions look simple and practical. In practice, it's very different. At Central Middle School, our sixth grade
089team currently serves 130 students with 9.2 stu teachers. Our seventh grade teacher teaches a single section of ALP writing. The 17 the 17 students we share across grades are only discussed once a month during teacher choice Wednesdays. This severely limits curricular alignment and our ability to address student concerns. In addition, I have 18 students who are assigned to the team 2 social studies teacher because the team one social studies teacher only teaches three sections. Although these students are on the same grade, they are split across teams. As a result, I only meet with some of my grade level teachers during lunch. We do this because the students need us to. I have 10 special education students whose services are monitored by four different special education teachers spread across three grade levels. Meeting about these students
090are scheduled once every two weeks for 15 minutes. Like Kyle said, during that time, a substitute is placed in the special special education teachers classroom so that they can meet with me. Anyone who works in education knows that 15 minutes every two weeks or once a month is not enough time to meaningfully discuss goals, progress, and concerns for students with complex needs. This is just a small glimpse into what it looks like when students are split between grade level teams. Keeping students on the same team is incredibly important. Teaming allows teachers to communicate consistently, share responsibility, and support students both academically and emotionally. When positions are cut or left unfilled, students are split across teams and grades, and consistency is lost. I understand the budget matters and I understand that these def decisions are difficult,
091but I respectfully ask you to consider the real lived impact of staffing cuts at both Greenwich High School and Central Middle School. I thank you for your time and your continued service to the students of Greenwich. Happy holidays. And just to confirm, Andy Andy uh didn't show up, right? Andy Crosby, you're not here, right? >> Okay. All right. So, to um just for the record, that is um we got through the whole list. So, we so there um um so that concludes public comment. We're going to go on to the superintendence report. So, go ahead, Dr. Jones. >> Thank you. Um just a couple of items tonight. Um first of all, congratulations to our high school who are at their candlelight concert um tonight. I know everyone said it's absolutely fabulous. Um just a reminder
092to um for our families that the flu season is definitely definitely here sweeping across our buildings. So if your children are really sick, please keep them home. Don't give them medicine and then send them to school um because it is spreading quickly. Um we do have a new uh budget Q&A that it was posted late today. So just making sure you know that that is on board docs and the board has it um in your packet. Um just I want to make one comment about um about the bus lot because it was um when the story aired on the news um about our drivers. You know we try to work in partnership um you know with Dco and we realize how difficult this has been for all of our drivers but there was one thing
093I just don't want people to think that when they leave in the morning that they just have to sit in their cold cars all day. We had actually put a proposal to DACO so that we cleared out our professional development calendar at Havomire, moved all of the meetings so that they could come, they could be warm. We were going to shuttle them to Havier every day um where they would have internet, they would have uh cable TV, they have restrooms, vending machines right on Greenwich Avenue and they said no. What I don't know is did it actually make it to the drivers and the drivers didn't want to do it. Uh, but there definitely was some miscommunication there. But I just I didn't want people to think we thought it was okay that drivers just
094sit in their cars between the morning and the afternoon routes and we really did try to solve that. Um, so just a couple of um last items. Uh, the open enrollment did go out tonight. We mentioned that. Um, somebody did mention the deadline. [clears throat] That deadline is just for an update for you. Um, so it basically what we would have to do is if the numbers start to go up where let's say a lot of students wanted to go at that point you would have a lottery. So it's really important that you kind of have first in. Um so if they're not in by the 15th and you had a whole lot of families we would have to run a lottery. If we didn't then you know if you're in by the 15th you
095would be okay. We technically if you don't have more students than necessary it could go on all summer. Um so I just want to clarify that. Um, and then just we also had a couple comments tonight on the budget that I know we're going to get to the budget, but while they're fresh on our mind, we I know um GA spoke about cutting half of a department. There is no half of a department that's been cut in this budget. >> So when we actually get ready to um have a placeholder when we have FTP FTE in the budget, it has to sit somewhere. And so I did provide a list and a breakdown of where those are sitting. Um just so that everybody would be kind of on the same page. Um and then I'll
096I'll I'll leave it at that and we'll we can talk more during the budget. Any questions? All right, let's go to committee committee reports. Now I'm sorry you're out of order. Um, all right. So, I I appreciate um the passions run high when it comes to the budget and we all want to do that. >> Um, where we I I young man, we can't interrupt the board. Okay. I app I appreciate your passion and participation very much. So, the Oh, okay. Um, committee committee reports. Let's move on to committee reports. Um, any committee reports? Go ahead, Paul. The curriculum committee, we've um discussed uh best times and we'll have a calendar out very shortly. On the old Greenwich uh building committee, um folks should know that we should have a price for um total cost
097of the project um next week. We expect that by next um next Tuesday. Um and so we'll get all that information to the board. Um all the bids are in and we're still we're still calculating but so that that information should come in next Tuesday. Mhm. Okay. So seeing no other reports, we'll move on to the first action item, which of course is the budget. Um, so so can I turn it turn it over to you to make a a motion to to get this on the agenda? >> Sure. >> As the finance chair >> like to make a motion to approve the um proposed budget for 2026 2027 as presented. Excuse me. >> Um, can I make a motion to amend >> first? I'll second the motive. Well, now go ahead, sir. >> Uh,
098could I make a motion to amend the budget? >> I would like to amend the budget by adding $216,000 to the 2627 budget. >> I will second Mr. Cheny's motion. >> Okay. All right. So, there's a motion on the table and there's a motion to amend that's been seconded. So, we can have discussion on uh the motion to amend. Uh, Bobby, you want to um explain the the thinking behind the motion? >> Uh, yes. I just feel like uh adding a little bit of money uh to the budget would be able to help out if there's any um need for the district to fill any gaps that might happen during the 2627 budget. >> Um respect >> go ahead. Um, yeah, respectfully, in terms of the order of magnitude, when we're talking about a $200
099million budget, I think what you're proposing is roughly 0.1%. Um, and I noticed when you had gone to the superintendent with a follow-up question, she had actually come up with uh within the budget a way to to find room for that. Um, I'm I'm just wondering if maybe that feels uh a bit um bit of an overreach for the board. Um to be talking about one FTE, one FTE here or there. That feels to me a little bit more like a management decision and somewhat inside the volatility when we're still looking at elementary schools that may 10 ele 10ish elementary schools that may need an extra section, 10ish that may go down a section. Um, I do think it's important to continue to monitor the situation as uh as enrollment uh becomes more clear closer
100to the summer and if we do find that we have a problem uh I think we have some mechanisms to address that. But just given the the sheer scope, um I I don't I don't like the idea of doing a 0.1% uh change that would require I believe going back to the the BET. >> Dr. Jones, do you want to um um comment how we how we do kind of approach that? So if there's a a change that requires a staffing change like that or your comfort level with where we are with this budget for that matter? Yeah, I mean I'm comfortable with the budget or I wouldn't have presented it. I mean, but I also respect you all have different opinions and um we'll make work whatever you decide tonight. But when it gets
101to staffing, we watch staffing the entire summer. Um and in in the classes that students enroll in becomes very important. One of the students spoke about that tonight. we can see something go up tremendously because it's a popular teacher quite frankly and they start enrolling and we may need extra FTE there. We may have another class that's kind of waning a little bit um for other reasons. So we make adjustments to FTE in secondary um throughout the summer just every year all the time and in elementary it's about watching the class size. It's easier in elementary to watch because your guidelines are so clear. Um, and you know, if we if the guidelines [clears throat] are 21 first graders and we have 45, we need three teachers because we're over for two and but again,
102we add those staff in the summer if we need them. If something happened and worst case scenario, let's say 10 of those sections in elementary really did create the need for a teacher because a lot of little kindergarteners and people show up next year. Um, we would have to go for an interim if it's after the year starts. Um, and we didn't have enough really wiggle room in the budget, but we wouldn't even do that till halfway through the year. they would expect us to be managing our budget um throughout the year because you always have some lines that are over and some lines that are under. And sometimes that can be an unfilled position. I mean, we have some unfilled positions right now. So, you're not paying salary in those. So, you end up
103using that money to close a gap somewhere else. >> All right. Um Karen just asked if she can ask questions. You can certainly ask questions uh particularly to the motion probably but >> Okay. No more. >> Go ahead Bob. >> I just I think Veronica I I do want to say something as well. >> Oh okay. >> Oh >> Karen go ahead. >> Oh this Karen I never know which one. So sorry. I'm sorry I'm not there with you in person. Um I was gonna say I wholeheartedly support you know uh looking to add some funds. We came in under the BET budget guidelines which by the way um I've searched my emails and I know they were you know approved I think just by two uh we've never been sent them formally so I
104don't really know what their reasoning was for those particular guidelines and last year when they gave us the guidelines they made an error they gave a flat in 3% increase which was applied uniformly across all the town salaries and miscalculated our contractual obligation uh by $1.7 million. I know that, you know, 200 and change thousand dollars isn't going to, you know, bring us back to to right size from last year's reduction. Um, but it's a way to bring some of that back. Um, our schools are schools of distinction. We have a few schools that still need added academic support. I think giving um Dr. Jones some opportunity for some wiggle room um because we do know that inevitably classes get added halfway through the year for preschool. Um we don't know what our responsibilities are
105going to be for special education. We had extra funding last year because we were um lucky enough to uh not have as many outplaced students as we had expected. Um but that means we have more students that are still in our schools um that need more than just uh you know the average you know funding. They they have other support systems built into place. Um and I I think this is sort of a way to give back in some regards uh to the budget that was you know taken last year uh accidentally uh through guidelines miscalculation amongst other reasons but just as a start and I just wanted to say in we we are the board of education while we are not allowed to in my in my what what I think is we're allowed
106to say how the money is spent We are allowed to raise the budget. That is the purview of the board of education. So, and I would also say if a separate town entity can slash the school budget by $4 million a few months before the school year, I posit that the current board of education can add $216,000 in December of 2025 to the 2627 school budget. Um, I just wanted to add in um although Karen mentioned Dr. Jones did send us some detailed information um about how we could look to reallocate some of the the funds in the budget and keep it the same. Although um it is a it is a great option and strong option. Um I'm comfortable with the motion that Bob proposed and providing Dr. Jones some wiggle room in the
107budget to use at her discretion given that we have uh elementary class sizes, a few different grades at a many different schools that are uh like she said, one student over could turn into another class. We have a new building coming at Central Middle School where I believe that Central Middle School needs to be fully staffed and potentially and fully resourced to have the new school year start on a good foot. And lastly, uh for any needs at Greenwich High School as uh that I don't think can be determined right now given that it is December, but again to have that flexibility to make those choices as we have more clarity on enrollment numbers, course selections, and other things that um we'll we'll know more about in the spring. I know um just u just
108speaking for myself the um I I have a a level of discomfort um um and I guess and maybe Dr. Jones you can talk about this a little bit more. They um when um we have the folks that we put in charge of of of managing the district um working through these calculations and saying here's what we need. Um, I know we can always want we give more resources um to to a problem and more more issues, but um I know you you you we developed you developed a lot of this budget takes all summer and into the fall well before the guidelines are established based on um what we figure and calculate as a real staffing needs of the district. Um so maybe you could talk a little bit more about that. I mean,
109we really do start building the budget very early. Um, in the spring, it goes all summer long. Um, you know, through the fall, but generally the especially the last, I would say three or four years, we haven't had guidelines because we don't get them in time. We are so far deep into the budget by the time they passed. And this year, um, they really didn't I I don't even know if they passed before I presented. I can't remember, but I know it was within days. And so we don't actually set out and say, "Wow, there's the guidelines. That's what we need to build." We build for what we need. And so we go in, we start, we basically level everything out. We plug in all of our contractual costs, which are huge. That's, you know,
110that's our biggest driver. And salaries is is our biggest challenge. Um, after we do that, then we go in and start building the budget. Do we have new programs this year? It's one thing that was very helpful in this budget compared to the previous three years. you know, we had uh positive pathways in this year. We have extended day at Ham AB. We've put in our unique program. We've put in co-eing at Costco Cobb. We've we've done all that. Um this budget only had three brand new positions, which was to finish the co-op program at Costco. That's been really unusual o over the last couple of years. And I and I know we talked about it at the retreat, but this budget is really a 4.4% budget. if the BET right now, the new BET
111of that's elected was not supporting the way that we were able to capitalize in that 2.5 million and that was the big argument I think why they really weren't passing right before I presented um was are they going to let us count that or not count that because if we didn't count that 2.5 million that we had at the end of last year by underspending large portion of that was the great work that our special education were doing in outplacement um but we were allowed to use that money to pay down to get our bus contract going. Um, and they're allowing us to put that on on the budget line. And but again, this budget's really a 4.4%. So, I just I share that because it's very confusing. It's the first time because there was
112a legislative change to allow us to do that that we've done it. Um, and so it is new for everybody and I think it causes confusion that we have this artificially super low budget that's just because BET told us to have low guidelines and that's just not the case. >> Wendy, >> um, I know Dr. Jones, thank you so much for the questions. Thank you so much for the questions that you got back to us this afternoon. Um, I know that you just said that we we build the budget around our needs and I I one of the questions that someone had was about our our enrollment decline and so I see that we do have a substantive decline and so right I mean that goes into it. Well, I think that question to me
113and I didn't even really realize it until I was, you know, we're were answering questions, but you know, in 2018 we had 9,113 students. 2526 we're at 8,319. The projection next year is 8,270. And that means over these last several years, we are down 843 students. That is more students than we have at Eastern Middle School. And and so when we talk about reductions, for me as a school superintendent, I would feel very irresponsible if I didn't actually note that when we're building the budget and we're working through this process. And again, it's, you know, those are decisions the board ultimately has to make. But 843 students lower is a lot across the district. And so we have to look very carefully and we've got that on top of huge contractual increases for our staff.
114And it's a very difficult thing to battle. And I'm I'll just say I see Ben Brandon back in the corner and Patrick, I'm so thrilled I have such great financial people because these are are becoming more and more difficult budgets to manage. >> Okay. >> Um yeah, Dr. Jones, you know, we've heard from a lot of parents um concerns over equitable access to electives, particularly uh challenging at CMS this year. Um and I I' I've heard you say that this is really a scheduling issue. Um, and you know, as we're considering how many FTE are needed and and whether this can be fixed with scheduling, is this something that could be addressed for second semester so we can see if this is fixable with scheduling? >> I I want us to get some of it
115fixed for sure second semester. I didn't know anything about this issue until we got into the budget process and parents were sharing that their kids were just put into st to study halls. Um it's really important I think that we communicate more effectively going into next year with scheduling because um there's some real nuances. Some of our students if they're in zero hour for instance at the high school, they're going to have a study hall first block and and that was always done intentionally because they may even arrive late. You don't want them to miss part of a class. Um, but we definitely if we need to, for instance, let's say whenever the music teacher is here in the building, if that needs to be at a different time, the other part of the day
116is actually at an elementary, it's it would be more difficult to actually adjust that um if they were both like like high school and middle school because the schedules are so tight um in how they do the music. But in the um second semester, I actually had asked the principal literally probably two or three days ago. I um please go in and look at your schedule. We have an elective teacher who's teaching a study hall. He needs to be teaching elective. We have uh we just had a position that's a 08 position and the person I can't remember if they retired, but there's something um and that in that position nobody would apply for it because it was 08. So we bumped it up to a 1.0 0 and said there's another point too we
117can have for elective right now. So I'm really hoping we're going to do some work and it doesn't mean it's going to be able to fix everything in the middle of the year. It's tough, but I'm hoping we can get some of those issues rectified. >> So I I guess a related question there's certainly I'm concerned and I think that there's you've heard a lot of comments about um equitable opportunities across the middle schools. um how how confident are we that um the proposed budget um is going to allow for that as far as electives and yeah in those those programs >> and that's a really interesting question because another question that I I have received is well why are we working on that have the same three middle school schedules like why are the
118principles working together part of it is a misunderstanding on how their schedules are built they're all three different and they have been for I guess forever um and when you talk about things like health so At Eastern they had double the health just that's the way their schedule was built. It was for years to have like 44 sessions of health and then at Western and Central it was 22. Now it's the same curriculum. How do why do why did that ever happen? I don't know. Um but it did. We also have it's not that we have ALP in one building and not ALP in the other. It's just the way these old titles were sitting inside the schedules. Um as we're building our work in Aspen the principles are working together. they have a common
119list where they're going to have the same names, you know, so that when you look at one building or you look at the other, you actually know it is the same class. We haven't had that. So, there are some differences like uh at Western, they have a virtual reality edte class. They got a grant several years ago from the alliance. That's one of on one of their rotations. Um, Eastern has an extra digital class that they don't have at Central and it's been driven more by teachers like getting grants and things of that nature through the year uh through the years and so they're working right now to to be more similar in what they can offer kids um which I think is a really great thing and they're trying to get on the uh
120the same schedule because it makes a big difference when you have like world language if you if you need say a French teacher to go from you know one building and and has to go like to JC or something like that. Uh makes a big difference in the music program because the music teachers always you know K12 they move but not most of the high school but the K8 actually a lot of them move across the district especially in the instrumental when you're not even on the same schedule. It's very very different and we had one building on a nine period day and then the other two were not. But the principles again they have worked beautifully all three of them together. um they've got a really good draft schedule that they all three like.
121Um so I think next year it's going to be much improved. So it's not so much about inequity, it's more about the inequity in titles and what's on the schedule and what it looks like if you don't actually understand what's behind the schedule. Um and the principles are working on that. >> Any other comments? >> Uh no, I just was going to say can we call the question to do that? I think we need a two-thirds vote so that we're sure that discussion is is done, that nobody has any more discussion because we don't want to stifle discussion. So to call the uh question, we need a two-thirds vote and then we can maybe listen to Mr. Cheny's well motion again and we can vote on it. >> Yeah. So So um if there's an
122amendment to was this is Robert's rules. So if there's an if there's an amendment to the I looked this up before the meeting, right? There's an amendment to the action item. I don't think that needs a two-thirds vote. That's his majority to get to an action item. We can just vote on the amendment. >> That's correct. What what the two/3 vote is needed for is to call his question so that we can actually end discussion because we never want to uh stifle a board member. Um so we want to make sure we have a supermajority to end discussion and every board member's had an opportunity to speak if they so choose. >> I I I hear you. I um typically we we we can forgo that if there's no if there's no other comments, but
123[clears throat] okay, I think I think we're good. I think we can we can just move forward, but thank you. I appreciate it. >> Um okay, so this vote is on uh Mr. Cheny's proposed amendment um to add um do you have the exact number? >> 216,000. >> $216,000 to um the proposed 2627 um operating budget. All those in favor? Three opposed. Five motion. Um amendment fails. Is there any more discussion on the main on the main motion? So >> So I just want to comment. I mean, it's been incredibly helpful to have all the questions and comments and emails and speakers. And I think it's interesting the budget process shouldn't necessarily be driving um policy or some of our academic analysis, but inevitably it does. And it's been very very helpful to learn so
124much about what is happening in all of our schools. And I just want everyone to know that we take copious notes and follow up behind the scenes on everything and I'm going to find out what's going on with the overcrowded chemistry classroom and I'm sure everyone sitting on the dis has a list of things that they want to follow up on. So we are deeply concerned about the quality of education in all 15 of our schools. Um, so I just I just want to make sure that everyone understands that um when we move forward with this vote, but it's incredibly helpful the outreach and we read all of the emails and we appreciate it so much. >> Karen Hirsh, go ahead, please. >> Thanks. I mean I I understand especially we have a lot of
125new members um here tonight and it's always difficult to have that discussion as to whether to stay at reduce or add to our budget. It is our responsibility is to support uh the academic social emotional and other needs of our students and you know our staff as well. Um I know Bob made the motion and it it failed um to add funding to the budget. I just personally I'm a little concerned as to how we you know you know looking back to the presentation that Dr. Jones gave. I mean think about this is going to impact it's not just our educators. It's going to impact every single student. We're you know the efficiency proposed was you know reduction in per pupil alloc allocation. So it it will slightly impact every single student in the district.
126You know we know that the BET may still reduce the budget uh numbers that were given to us. you know, we've heard from, you know, middle school, high school, every single department at the high school, which is highly unusual. I would say, you know, all the years that I've done done this, both as a member of the board of education and um as an educational advocate in town, I've never seen every single department or almost every single department at the high school reach out um in support of of something um like this. So, I I just I'm I'm disappointed and I'm struggling to look at a budget that is even coming in below the guidelines when I know that this doesn't, you know, we have a lot of opportunity here to have innovation. We have
127schools that are are winning awards, but we have other schools that are are lagging a little bit behind that we want to add, you know, academic support to. So, I just I'm struggling to understand why we're we're not considering at least going to the guideline, if not, you know, more. But that's just my my thoughts. >> So um with that said, I think then we will uh call the question. Um so this is uh the original motion um to approve um the operating budget for the 2627 uh academic year as presented. Um all those in favor I'm counting seven. All right. Okay. The motion passes. >> Um, >> Mr. Chair, could you re can you just say what the final tally was? >> Vote was 71. >> And who was the one, Mr. Cheney? >>
128No. >> Mr. Okay. Thank you. >> I will. So, um obviously like we said uh like Sophie said that was um um um it's always a this is always a challenging discussion and to say we we appreciate everybody's participation um is it goes without saying. I think what's most important is that this uh the community involvement continues particularly because I for one certainly want to make sure this what happened last spring did not does not happen now. Last spring we made some decisions and we were told that the budget that uh it wouldn't affect electives at CMS for example and then we discovered during this conversation that it happened. I suspect we will hear from the community much more quickly this time if that's the case. So so we want to make sure that's the
129case. Okay. Uh moving on. Next agenda item is the uh much less um >> no >> yeah BOE meeting calendar. So I will make a uh motion um to approve the uh 2627 BOE meeting calendar as presented. >> Second. >> Mr. Capielli seconds. >> You want anything you want to talk through here? All right. So, even though I made the >> Go ahead, Kim. >> Uh, yes. Sorry. Um, you had raised a point uh at the last meeting of do we do we need three meetings in September? Is there enough substance to justify two retreats uh a week apart? I >> I I I remain skeptical. They um but let's let's let's so let's talk through it quickly. The um so so the so what's September 3rd >> I don't have that you put in
130here >> it's >> labors >> right before by size before before Labor Day >> I need the detail [clears throat] behind >> okay >> I don't think we have it >> I know one of the September retreats is the capital retreat I'm not clear what the other one is because I know the October one is the academic retreat. Yeah, but I think one of them is it's huge. >> No, that's the October retreat. Go ahead. So, >> so I I think it I I appreciate that people don't want to have so many meetings in September. It's a busy time, but I think that those are really important and especially I mean they were very very meaty, especially the first one. It was we go through a tremendous amount of information. Um, and so I I
131just I actually think that they're really important and I wouldn't want to cut them. >> Yeah, it was the curriculum one. One of them was meeting, one of them was not. One of them was very quick. >> Well, I think one of them this year, as I remember, we changed the format and I felt like it was much more substantive this year than it had been the year prior because we it was partly looking at achievement data, I'm remembering, and and they had um Dr. Jones's um team took our comments to heart and did a year overyear following cohorts this year that was like a much more substantive look I thought. So I really I really appreciated that [laughter] meeting. So I would be disincined to remove it. [snorts] >> Any other comments? >> All
132right, let's call the question. the um all those in favor >> Mike I had my hand up. >> Oh so I my apologies. Go ahead. >> I was gonna say I support what Sophie was saying. I find that you know having an a retreat in the beginning of the year talking about the academics that are coming up before we get results um has been very helpful. But more importantly than anything else, I think it's better it's it's I mean, and Mike Antonachu can certainly speak on this too, but it's a lot easier to have meetings scheduled and if we don't need it to cancel that meeting than it is to add one back in. So, if we find over the summer that there's not going to be enough um information or something that's, you know,
133substantive to have that second retreat, it will be easier to cancel it than it is to put it back on. Um and I think you know it's an opportunity for us to even if not do some you know uh board work uh amongst ourselves professional development and some such I've you know have somebody willing to come and do some professional development for us um that we didn't get to do last year as well. So um that's why I would suggest leaving it on >> and then having the opportunity if we don't need it to to cancel. >> That is an excellent point. Okay. So let us um let me just call the question here. Okay. Nobody. All right. All in favor. All right. That vote is unanimous. All right. Um so resolution for GHS pool
134funding. Uh Mr. Brandon, here he comes. So I know this has been Mr. McCyanthony. Before you move on, I think you also neglected to vote on the food services. E Gads, you're right. Thank you. >> And the minutes? >> No, you did do the minutes. Um >> Oh, we Sorry. Hey, my mind was on other things. >> Um I would like a motion to present the um to to approve um the um uh food service budget for 2627 as presented. >> I can second that >> discussion. Where is it? Because I didn't see it on our agenda. Sorry. >> It's It's part of the uh It's part of the operating budget. >> Okay. We don't I didn't know we did it separately. Okay. >> All right. That said, um all in favor. >> Okay. >>
135That motion passes 80. I'd like to make a motion to u approve the resolution for ghs pool funding. >> I'll second that. >> Mr. Brandon, >> uh the document before you attempts to take the feedback we received last week uh to make it more universal. Uh so we we changed pool to the word aquatics and tennis. We went down the rabbit hole of what exactly is a pool versus an auditorium versus aquatics. Uh but we ultimately uh settled on aquatics is I think a just a broader uh term. Uh so but we do believe the resolution before you uh allows multiple groups if there's two different fundraising groups out there that still allows that flexibility. Uh but it also gives enough flexibility that it can be as broad as the project we believe is going
136to be. So happy to answer any questions you may have with the the resolution before you. >> So just to clarify to make sure um we're clear. So this is a resolution basically to um allow a um out um a separate entity right to to start to fund raise on our behalf u for the the the ghs project that includes the pool that may include not only the pool but tennis courts and an access road. That all fair to say >> that's fair >> Sophie. So I guess I have sort of a question comment which is I'm assuming that this this resolution in in my mind is is showing the support of the board but once the 501c3 is established and there's a membership I would hope that we could maybe further memorialize some of
137the details in a memorandum of understanding around things like use of school logos things like that. I mean, I think it's premature to get to that level of detail because I don't know actually who's on the 501c3. Um, and but I just so I guess I'm kind of just flagging I'm supportive of this resolution, but once they are formed, I think it would be appropriate to actually, you know, do something more concrete around some of the those issues, you know, once the 51c3 is in place. >> No, I I 100% agree. Right. I look at this as sort of like the field of dreams. If you build it, they will come. So you build it and then they will come. >> Okay. >> Karen Hersh. >> No, I was just going to say I I
138supported, you know, support the idea of doing, you know, memorandum of understanding, you know, because I think I had a bunch of questions as to how it would operate in conjunction with us. I think it's important that they, you know, the 501c3 and all of those members understands our policies and procedures. we've talked about, you know, the memo and this um resolution also talks about talks about these things, but I think it's important if we have a signed document that discusses that and um responsibilities back and forth or whatever. So, I I was just going to support that. >> The comments? Okay, seeing none, um all in favor of the resolution. All right, motion passes. 8 Z. >> All right. Um, I'd like to make a motion to approve the HHS uh magnet theme uh
139proposal. >> A second. >> Dr. Jones, you want to talk us through this? >> Absolutely. And and Daisy, our fabulous uh principal, is here tonight. Um, and we hope you were able to watch our presentation. Um, and then you have a handout, I believe, in your packet as well. Okay. Sure. Um, hi, welcome to uh you all. Congratulations and thank you for having me here tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions about the presentation that was included um in the documents. And we're just really excited for Hamilton Avenue School as we consider um becoming um um a uh changing our magnet theme from steam to harmony and learning, bridging academics and arts through Avid and Suzuki. As you saw in our presentation, we had a long history of magnet themed school um kind of going
140um through different u variations of magnet themes and we're so incredibly uh lucky in Greenwich that we have um a beautiful robust steam um theme um you know steam science and math education throughout our district. And we're really not um doing things that are as unique as um uh the other schools. They have sort of caught up to what Hamilton Avenue is doing or has done over the past. Um that uh that being said, we still will be using our state-of-the-art steam lab and our tinkering studio. Um continuing with the great curriculum that's been provided to us. Um, but we did want to look at changing our theme to uh include AVID because we know that it's great a great framework. It will be great for our students as we transition into Western Middle School
141and then to Greenwich High School. Um, but we do um cherish our Suzuki um at our school. It really makes us stand out. Um it's really been a fabul it's really well embedded within our school and it's been fabulous for us. So we wanted to keep that um with um our within our theme. So we hope you'll support us. So, just for the uninitiated, you want to give a 30 second explanation of Suzuki? >> Oh, sure. Suzuki, uh, violin is um a a method that all students at Hamilton Avenue participate in. It begins in preK. So, every student at Hamilton Avenue School in preK through grade 2 participates in Suzuki instruction. And not only are they having Suzuki individual lessons with a a teacher who specializes in that form of um education, but parents are
142invited in to participate and learn alongside students and then they perform um um in front of the their classes and then in front of their school and then in front of the community. So, it's great. And then as students um progress through Hamilton Avenue School, they specialize in grades three through five in orchestra, band, and then we have other music opportunities um through chorus. Um so it's really been great and robust for our students. And then it feeds into our great music programs um through middle and high school. >> So So I guess my question um well, let me preface my question because I think it's I think it's a great idea. I've always been personally I've been I've always been a little skeptical of the Steam um magnet theme mostly because of its history
143and its motivation. It was uh um we don't have to go into the 10-year epic saga here, but it was we know it came originally out of response to um racial imbalance um um state state legislation and a sense response there. Um, so I guess where as opposed to really meeting like what you're doing here, which is really meeting all the needs of of the of the community. And I guess my question is how much of this is already reflective? You know, how much of these magnet themes are really already, you know, how much of this is new for Hamav and how much of this is kind of already what you're a lot of what you're doing? >> Well, you know, um, Avid is is just, um, a framework that really embodies good teaching and
144learning. So, um, this sort of, I would say, packages it a little bit differently and it really, um, makes sure makes sure that our teachers are consistent with the practices and procedures that they're doing with within good teaching. our teachers. You know, we we participated in some training last school year and over the summer and we are really um being really slow and cautious and thoughtful with how we incorporate the um the wicker philosophy of um AVID, which in involves writing, inquiry, organization, and rigor. And um um just really making sure our teachers have a firm grasp of how they employ some of those strategies. But our teachers are doing all of that. However, this just packages it. So, we're all kind of um using the same common language. Our students are are listening to
145the same common themes throughout um all of the classrooms. And then it really will continue on through middle and high school if uh students choose to opt in in the high school, which I think is great. >> Karen K. Um, well, first of all, thanks for thanks so much for being here. Um, and and I did want to add that I'm certainly a fan of of a program that emphasizes study skills and executive function, which are which are incredibly important for our student success. >> Can you talk a little bit about the costs and and the most important cost is not the money part, but the most important cost. What are we giving up in terms of academic minutes or electives? The school day is only so long. Where does this fit in and what
146does this take away from? Right. Great question. So, AVID Elementary is is a little bit different than it is in middle and high school where it's not a separate class. It is not an elective and it's not anything additional into the school day. It is a framework that you incorporate within the school within your teaching. So, for example, the teachers this year have decided to really focus on the O of the Wicker philosophy, which stands for organization. So teachers are not like teaching an organizational class or spending any time within instruction on or on on organization as a specific time period because as you know we are really um um have very uh much prescribed minutes per day on things that we have to spend. So a teacher um may incorporate a notebook system for
147example in third grade they are using notebooks to work on their organizational skills. So every third grader at Hamilton Avenue has a notebook where they carry from room to room and that that holds all of their materials and has their their goals and has their planners, etc. So it's really just sort of a a framework that's woven within the school day, not adding anything into the instructional minutes that we have. >> Um, great. And then the second part of that is then the the financial costs and maybe this is a question for Dr. Jones. uh professional development materials. Is that already reflected in the budget we just approved? >> Well, I can speak to the portion that um we're so uh very fortunate that we uh wrote and were awarded a grant from the Granwich
148Alliance for Education who has um um been able to fund all of the professional development that goes along with the support of of um the professional development for um AVID for our teachers. And it started back last summer where we went to summer institute and and will continue on. >> Mr. Capielli, I'd have a difficult time ultimately not supporting whatever uh principal Fox was uh wanted to do. Uh for the members that have been here for uh two years prior to me, you've had the opportunity to maybe watch the growth, you know, go. But for a new member to flip a page and see the hockey stick of what is being achieved at Hamilton Avenue School is just incredible. So, thank you and um we really appreciate you. >> Thank you. Appreciate your support. >>
149Yeah. I just want to say this is kind of a dream of Julie's with the alliance and they have been so supportive, very excited about this and because they've really funded the whole heavy side of the training now it's really only going to be when you have those new teachers which is very manageable for us to do going forward. >> Right, Miss Hersh? >> As a par, you know, as a former parent at Western Middle School, um you know, I saw AVID in action at the middle school. I've seen it in action at the high school. Um, and I'm really really like this was a very wellthoughtout idea as a suggestion for a magnet theme. I'm glad you're keeping Suzuki because that is something that's truly truly special adding music into these children's lives at
150such an early age and giving them that opportunity. Um, and I think AVID is a perfect fit um for your school. You've done so much work and I think it's fantastic. It gives students um kindergarten through 12th grade a full continuum um if they want to you know you know participate in AVID um an incredible opportunity to teach study skills early um helps you know bridge that gap that that we've been talking about for years the academic divide and I you know there's nothing I could be more happy to support much like uh Paul said um we've seen the incredible work that you've done there um and I just I just wanted to say I was really really impressed it was it was a great presentation >> thank We appreciate your support. We're excited. The
151staff is excited, too, which is great. It's been It's been a great experience, >> Mr. Cheney. >> Yeah, I just want to echo what Karen said, and I feel like having it at the middle school is amazing. And having personally volunteered some time at the high school, uh, working with the AV kids there, it's amazing. I'm really glad it's at the elementary level, and I just want to thank the Grenwich Alliance for for doing that. >> Agreed. Okay, let's call a question then. Um, all those in favor of the motion on the table. >> Okay, motion passes 800. >> Great. >> Thank you very much. Take care. Have a good holiday season. >> Okay, Mr. Brandon, you're Is he here? Is he hiding? He ran away. Oh, here he comes. Back for the monthly financial
152report. Okay. Um, good evening everyone. So the financial report in front of you is up to the end of November which is 5 months into the school years. The operating budget remains on track. The non-lapsing account uh remain as the 2.5 million. Um and then on the special ad out of district cost and the forecast it is still remain the same as last year uh last month. uh the school lunch fund program, the grant and also the revenue, they are also all stable and on track as well. So um the status pretty much kind of like um pretty similar to what I mentioned about last month. So any questions? Yep, >> I just have a question about how much revenue has come in so far this year. What are we talking about? >> Um, she
153looked at the report that is on page 10. So far, uh, the revenue is $770,000. We have a budget of 5.9 million. Uh, the large part of it is the special ed excess cost grant and also the education sharing grant is expecting to come in in February. >> Thank you. Seeing no other questions, uh, ML, are you going to stay up for the next item? >> Next item. >> Um, >> absenteeism. >> Oh, it's Dr. Bud. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Teacher teacher absentism. Thank you, Dr. >> All right, Mr. Bud. They have too many papers in front of me. Um, teacher absenteeism. I think he's just trying to connect. Mr. Buddy, are you there? It's um Can you hear us? >> There he is. >> Good to see you everybody. >> Dr. Bud, my apologies. >>
154Thank you for having me this evening. Uh, I will say first that you should see the report on staff absenteeism uploaded. I apologize that it came to you just yesterday, but as a connection to this report, I'll say I was ill earlier this week. And uh although the update runs a week behind actual time, so it doesn't show last week but ends with the week before, I will say that our staff absenteeism reflects the reality that you probably see in your workplaces and homes as well, which is this time of year. There's things going on that cause both students and staff uh to be ill. I will say though if you look at the teachers as well as the non-certified comparisons year-toear uh we continue to move in a favorable trend uh yeartoyear even given
155the fact that we are certainly sustaining some high numbers of absences and last week's absences and some of this week's absences will be high as well and I wonder uh certainly I'm happy to answer questions but I wonder If I can just as a point of pride take an opportunity to uh advise you that we have two outstanding members of our teaching staff retiring next week. We have Miss Lisa Boone who has been a literacy interventionist at Central Middle School for 20 years retiring. And shortly after that, Christopher Lever who is a transition uh counselor for our students from high school to postsecary and vocational training is retiring after 26 years of excellent service. So, I normally tribute uh retiring staff in June, which is when more of them retire, but Lisa and Chris deserve
156our commendations tonight, and I thought I'd sneak that in since you gave me the time. Thank you so much. Answer questions. >> Thank Thank you for Thank you for remembering them because that's that's that's very important. Um, Brian, >> thank you, Dr. Bud. Um, can I just ask a question for I guess clarification? when you have so many student uh teachers out in a building because they're sick and have the flu, whatever it is, um and the subs are out, h how does that get worked out, I guess, in each in each building? Um you know, I think about just one person's own house, usually one person gets a flu and everyone's down. So, I was just wondering for from a from a staffing perspective, um how that works out sort of when a a
157building's hit hard with something, which we know happens. Yeah, >> I think it it's dependent a little bit on the level of the school. Uh, elementary versus secondary handle those situations a little bit differently. At the district level, we do look at schools that are um outliers unusually in terms of absences and we can deploy uh building substitutes um based on that. So, we certainly have many daily substitutes and even some of our building substitutes that are willing to move from one school to the next. And uh from a district level that's hand how we handle that best. >> Dr. Jones. >> Yeah, if I can add to that from the district level as well. We actually uh the nurse um shares with me like her tracking sheet. So we actually know every single day
158how many students are out with the flu, how many we we have fever, send home. So we track all of that. We have had in the past if it gets bad enough um that you know you can close the school for a day or two days if you have to. But what we tend to approach we tend to take when it starts spiking is um amp up the cleaning aspect. Um and so the custodians have extra protocol that they help us with and we have not had a building hit that level yet uh where we would be worried about not being able to staff a building or you know have a safe environment. Thank you so much, >> Miss Co. >> Dr. B, I'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit about why
159there was such a big spike on December 5th. Do you think if you could hypothesize? >> Uh, I do hypothesize that most of that would be attributable. Well, certainly one trend we talked about before I can't ignore is that we've seen high movement on Fridays and Mondays for absences. Now to be fair, this particular Monday, December 1st, is actually less than Tuesday, December 2nd. So we have to acknowledge that that's a difference from the trend we usually see. Um, but we were back for a week after the Thanksgiving recess and and certainly we know from the staff who communicated with us, we did have uh and continue to have a lot of staff members with the flu and other seasonal conditions uh that they actually documented um that they just were not able to come
160to work or were in a contagious state or getting over a state of contagion where they don't want to infect more students. Um so I think most of what you see on the fifth is attributable to that candidly. >> Okay. Thank you. I have a quick followup too which is just do you see um differences in terms of the trends from one school to the next or is it pretty consistent across the 15 schools? >> I think it's pretty consistent. And I mean it obviously tracks based on the population of staff members you have in your building and u we see that schools especially at the elementary level that have more um students out based on illness we tend to see more staff members out too and that's likely because if you teach especially primary
161grades there's no way to really distance feet away from the students if you're teaching effectively. Okay, great. Thanks. Okay, seeing no other questions or comments. Thank you, Dr. Bud. >> I wish you all happy holidays, happy new year. >> Same to you. Okay, so up next the um all we have is the agenda plan discussion. Um so we have the you see the um um disc the the schedule here for future meetings. Um our next business meeting is January 15th. But uh please remember that we we have to call a special meeting um um on which will be a virtual meeting on January Monday January 5th. Um the only item on the agenda is going to be on the old day any proposal from old Greenwich and like I said we'll have that information next
162week. Um so that'll be that'll be a virtual meeting. Um, are there any uh suggestions uh for um revision of the agenda plan post that point out a couple things that were added? >> Go ahead, Dr. Jones. >> Very simple things that were added, but just for your um information, January 15th, um the Greenwich Alliance will be here just to share u with their programming and how we partner with them. Um on February the uh 5th, we will be watching for those executive sessions. the board um that was on last year will know we were unable to host that last February. So, I'll be uh watching that. It will depend um on town legal um availability. On February 19th, um that is when David uh Raben um will be in front of us for our
163United Way partnership and that's where he talks about our birth the birth to three program all the uh early intervention that we do in partnering with United Way. They do so much um for the district in partnership. And then the other one that I do not believe has been in front of us before April 16th is the YMCA partnership um that we have there and that has really continued to grow from our aquatics program is is some of you probably remember when we cut the aquatics at the high school. Our whole goal was to get our kids in the water swimming earlier and the program's just gone fantastic at the elementary level. Um, and then he'll also be here to talk about the back to school program and some of the before and after care
164and and initiatives that they've had tremendous amount over the last I think it's three years. >> Karen, >> um, and just, uh, one addition, Dr. Jones, you mentioned on February 19th, we should be able to get an update on the interest in CMS open enrollment. Okay. So, the mics were off there. So, so January 15th, we're looking at a update on on the CMS survey. Yeah. On enrollment. >> Okay. Um we'll talk I don't know if it's possible or not. the um I would personally I'd love to be able to to have an executive session um in January because we've got um a number of legal issues u pending litigation and things in addition to um the whole um because as a board here we have the eight of us haven't talked about the litigation
165of the town um nor um have we talked about um the challenges of the high school light situation. So I think those are two situ So you've got those two issues in addition to um the uh traditional um update on legal issues. So there might be a whole lot there. So we we'll talk about that. I don't know if we obviously that's pending availability of things, but we might need multiple executive sessions. >> Would you want to do an executive session before the January 15th meeting? Is that I mean should we see if that's a possibility since we're all together already for the meeting? >> Oh, that was what I was suggesting. Sorry. Before meeting earlier that day on the 15th. Yes. like 6 o'clock on the 15th. >> Okay, got it. Okay. >> Yes.
166Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What's What's maybe later? >> Okay. Any other any other thoughts? Okay. Um anyone have a motion to make Miss Coven? >> I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Um motion. Um, all in favor? All right, passes 8-0. Thanks very much. Happy holidays, everybody.