6-21-21 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001Um so I would like to call the June 21st um reg uh actually it's a special um board meeting to order and it is 601 um and the first order of business is uh for the pledge of allegiance and this is the part that gets so difficult because we're all on screen. Um, but Susan, do you have any um, uh, um, you know what, Phil, you're in the middle of my screen, so that's >> Go, Phil. >> Um, could you start us off in the pledge of allegiance, please? >> Absolutely. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for its standy with liberty and justice for all. >> Phil, thank you. And u Mark, thank you for grabbing the flag. And Andrea, thank you for remembering to

002do that. Um it we are now on to our um recognition of visitors and guests and Susan um would you like to kind of uh uh brief the board about this please? All right. So, tonight we have our poet laurate from Fitch High School, Janelle Pumo, and she's actually got her work in this wonderful Amphora. And if any of you haven't had a chance to read the AM4 or haven't gotten a copy, I would really recommend every year we really win the award from the National Council of Teachers of Ed of English Language Arts um for this excellent work in the Amphora and she's been instrumental. She has um a few poems in there and she has um is our honored guest and I look forward to hearing her recite one of her poems and

003would love to turn it over to her just to share a tidbit or two. I know she's just graduated. >> Hello. >> Hi. >> About your experience as a writer and as a poet. Tell us a little bit about you. Uh uh so I'm Janelle as Miss Awesome said uh I graduated from Pitch and um uh I I I really like poetry and I never really like focused on it until this year I guess. Um I'm going to Clark University and I'm going to be majoring English and I hope to be an English teacher one day. >> Yay. Come back and see us when you're ready. Yeah. Um, so I was commissioned this year by Miss McKenna to write a poem for our graduation. And so this is the one that I've chosen today. It

004is called Out of the Woods. Um, out of the woods, into the woods, a 4-year journey, something familiar, something unknown. The dirt paths diverge and fade to nothing. Where to go? Go left. Go right. Turn around. Trees tower at every turn with untapering tangling knots concealing whispers around every corner in sulky shifting eyes. To move through the woods is to master the grooves of the trees. See through and crawl in darkness until sunshine peaks through oak curtains. That's when the woods are nearing its end. No more will there be the toils of tripping over tangles and roots. No more will there be the strife of aimless wandering through neverending woods. Now the sun is higher than ever in this endeavor. And it's time to go out of the woods and into the world alive and

005breathing. Thank you. >> Oh, what a poet can do. I tell you, well, we just so appreciate that and we're so proud of you and just the best wishes ever. I don't know if any of the board members would like to speak to you, but I am certainly grateful. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much. It was just beautiful and Clark is a wonderful university. >> Um, I agree with um Lee. Clark is a wonderful university and for all of us in the psych business. It's the only place that Freud visited, but that we won't go into. >> Janelle, I'd like to tell you what a wonderful poet you are. Just fabulous. And I I wonder if you and I could u get together in a little bit of a a literary click, if

006you will. Uh, and maybe if you have other friends who who write poetry, but I do this with cadetses and I do this on with some of my professional colleagues. We have little writing groups and I'll send you some of of mine and you'll send me some of yours and we'll talk about them together and um, have you ever have you ever heard of the poet Lawrence Furling? >> I'm afraid I have not. >> Okay. He just died this this spring. he was 103, but he was a big influence on my on my work. And if and that's happened since, you know, all the way since I was in college and up to now. So, I'll send you some of his so you get kind of get an idea of how he thought I think

007you'd like it and u and maybe you and I can get together on Zoom and share some of our work. Okay, >> that sounds like fun. >> And don't forget to come back and visit us. Yes, >> even if you'd like to come um as you you start your teaching career or even before you know and work in the summer, we often have summer school, summer camps, and all kinds of wonderful opportunities for budding teachers to take advantage of. So, come home when you can and let me know. >> Thank you. That would be really helpful. And uh Janelle um the two women who um responded uh um both Lee White and um Andrea Arian are our writers of the board. Yes, they are. Lee actually um has written for years and years in our

008local newspaper and and still does for the Gotten Times. And so for for for two of them to jump in and to say what beautiful work um I I I trust what they have to say. However, um it was for me it was absolutely beautiful and thank you so much for sharing your talent with the board and being willing to kind of come in and read to us like um you go um and got you know wind speed on your way. Um you were just fabulous. Thank you for sharing. >> Yes. Thank you Janelle. >> Thank you. >> Have a great summer Janelle. >> Thank you. I hope you all have a great summer as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you for your reading. That was wonderful. >> This is the way

009we need to start every board meeting >> with our students voice. >> That is great. So, we're going to move on. Janelle, once again, thank you very much for um showing up for um for the reading. You're more than welcome to stay on if you would like. Um but you don't have to if you don't want to. >> I'm afraid I have to leave, but thank you again for letting me come on and speak. Bye. >> Bye, Janelle. >> Bye. Bye. And Kim, you're just a little hard to hear. I don't know if other people are having a hard time. >> No, I am having trouble, too. >> So, can you now hear me? >> Yes, much better. >> I am sorry. There is someone who's powerwashing next door and I was not able to

010hear anything. So I put my earbuds on but that does compromise the my microphone. So I I apologize and I think he has stopped for a little bit. So I'm I'm hoping it will be fine. We're now in the next um section of our agenda which is the comments from citizens. Um, and this is the portion of the agenda where the board welcomes comments from citizens and each presentation should be limited to 5 minutes or less and citizens should, if possible, submit written comments. Presentations to be related to matters pertinent to Graten. Board members will only ask questions in order to clarify the speaker's presentation and cannot respond during the comment citizen portion of the board meeting and citizens should state their names and addresses for the record. Miss Joan, do we had do we

011had anyone that had signed up? >> Not with me. >> Okay. >> Uh, yep. So, um, it says Josh um on your screen. Um, but I will recognize you and I am sorry. Welcome. >> Hi. Thank you. I'm putting my timer on. Um, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak. Um, I'm actually Sarah. Sarah Fornier Hillman. >> Thank you. >> And um, I live on Pearl Street in Graten, Connecticut. I am a current parent. I have a second grader at SB Butler who I actually withdrew this academic year to homeschool. Um, my husband and I had to drastically alter our livelihoods in order for me to be able to do that. There were several factors that went into that decision. Um, one of the biggest factors was the mask mandate that

012was in place for this academic year. Um, which is why I'm here to speak to everybody tonight. I would like to state that I am in adamant opposition to the mask mandate, uh, especially going into fall of next year. Um, and so that's why I'm here tonight. Um, I also come to as a board certified physical therapist with a doctoral degree. Um, and a huge part of my professional career is teaching people how to properly breathe. Uh, it's a huge part of our well-being, our health, and our ability to function. And it impacts every aspect of our life. Um, especially our mental health, right? are whether or not we feel depressed or anxious, our emotional health, things like our mood, our self-esteem, how alive we feel, like Janelle just spoke about in her poem, um

013how alive we feel. Um and then of course our physical health, our cardiovascular health, our skin integrity. Think about the kids wearing masks all day long, what's been happening around their faces and their noses, our immune health, and our oral health. I don't know how many of you heard about the results of the study that came out by some parents that sent masks to be tested in the state of Florida after their students wore them all day. But the results were astounding. They came back with a host of malignant bacteria, things like borealis, which causes Lyme disease, tuberculosis, uh the staff that causes sepsis. They were horrible. It was really bad. And I can make all of the things that I talk about tonight available, all the citations that I use. So I will do

014that after the call if anyone's interested for talking points. Um, and so the bottom line is our students can't breathe. The kids can't breathe in the masks. They cannot wait to get off the bus and rip them off. Um, I know that there are some students that say they don't mind them and that's perfectly fine. U, but think about the conditioning that has gone into this for the last year. Um, and so I'm going to read some of the data points that I've put together uh for Graten specifically. Um, one of which is that there is no current public health crisis that justifies masking the kids at this point. There have been eight cases of COVID and Graten in the last two weeks and 13 and 20 in the previous two and four weeks respectively.

015This is directly from Legate Health District. Um, and so if masking children is to protect the kids, what we know now after living through this for more than a year is that the symptoms of COVID are not affecting our children nearly as drastically as they are um our populations that are at most risk. Uh, four kids between the ages of zero and 19 have died in the state of Connecticut. That's a fatality rate of 0.000014%. So, our students are not getting this and dying from it. Um, and if it's to protect our adults and teachers, graten vaccination rates are approaching more than 50%. And the recovery rate if you're under 65 and healthy is between 99 and 99.75%. So, is it really fair to ask all students to wear masks to protect you the other

01625% of getting COVID and recovering from it? Um, the other major point is what are we going to do with the alarming data coming out of the psychology and psychiatry units in Connecticut for rates of children with serious mental health concerns including suicidal ideiation, suicide attempts, eating disorders, behavioral health crises, and then the, you know, not so bad ones like general generalized anxiety disorders, panic attacks. I've heard stories from all of my peers, other parents whose kids are coming home after going to the nurse for panic attacks, headaches, not feeling well, and it's not right to continue to ask our children to do this. Another mom in the state of New York who's fighting this there said, "Imagine if we asked a bunch of dogs to go into a room and masked them in 80°ree

017weather. What would happen? we'd be taken away and arrested, right? How can we do this to our children? It's child abuse at this point. We cannot ask them to carry the weight of this pandemic any longer. Um, and so I implore all of you, please use your positions. We cannot wait from guidance from the state of Connecticut. It's not going to come. We've got to say we've got to join other districts like Old Sabbrook, Old Line, Southernington and say Groten is not going to make masks mandatory in the fall. It will be optional for the students and families who feel that they need to continue to do that. And we've got to take a stance. I know it's going to be hard. There's a huge group of parents getting together by on social media across

018the state of Connecticut to make sure that we can do whatever we can to fight this. and also to support all of you who have to make this hard decision and stand up for what's right for the students. So, whatever we can do as a group to support you in this, we will do. And we've got to stand up for our children. You all are in no bigger of a position at this point to make a huge impact directly on our children than you are right now. And so, that is what I ask of you. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate that. And I know that you did send us um a uh letter earlier on today, I believe. And I will make sure that um that uh our our our

019clerk gets that for the record too as well. And if you would like to add any of your talking points, please send them um to me and I'll make sure that they get to Joan, which then gets them around. All right. Thank you very much, Sarah. Excellent. >> Can I also add Sarah that we will be talking about the safe return to school later on in this um presentation. Dr. Phil Piaza will talk about it. So, please stay around or watch the recording because I think you'll be um pleased to see what we're thinking about. >> Thank you. >> You got it. Is um are there other people who would like to address the board? Does anyone see anyone? All right. Hearing no one else. Um, and Susan, I'm I'm assuming that the response from

020the from Does anyone else have a response? But we will be hearing obviously from um uh Phil a little bit later on in our meeting. All right. Hearing none. I'm moving us on. Um student representative report. I don't see any student here. So, >> oh, but we did hear our Z who has been with us for a couple years and he did a marvelous job at graduation with his speech at the end. I, you know, if you didn't get to see it, Mark is putting this together and we'll be put uploading it onto the website. So, if you weren't able to attend, please watch the graduation. Our students did a marvelous job. >> They did. They did. They really did. Um, so if no more responses then I'm going to move us on to the

021superintendence report. So, so Susan. >> Okay. So, I wanted to share with you because I was kind of reflecting and capturing my reflections and I put some words together um in my own poetic way. Um, I don't know. Can you see this? Is it big enough? Yeah. >> When I was reflecting about this year and all that's been accomplished and what this board has accomplished in the last seven years that I've been here with you, um, this Graten 2020 kind of showcases. So, I was just kind of thinking about the things that have happened. And so, with Bronten 2020, we opened the gr brand new Bratton Middle School this year. That was no easy feat. you remember that we were still um you know coming in and moving them in you know in the beginning

022of the school year and had to do a week of remote learning because of that and finally got everything signaled and delivered new schedule knew almost everything for them bringing two schools together and that's historic I talked about that at the promotion for Grant Middle School they are part of history that we took the westside students and the Cutler Middle School students and we have the one middle school and the whole idea of brought in 2020 is to appreciate excellence, equity, and efficiencies. And that was done. And it's it's still a journey. We're still on the journey. And but um if you could have felt the love at their promotion and also at the the Fitch High School graduation, if you were able to be there, it was just it made me have goosebumps. I

023mean, I just treasured it and will always treasure it as my first convocation and promotion speech and being there with the kids and the teachers. So, in the in the meantime, we're finishing up our Thes River Magnet and our Mystic River Magnet and we've magnetized all five elementary schools. So, parents and students not only have a wonderful um neighborhood school they can go to, but they also have had choice. And through the lottery that happened, you know, I think health and safety was like everpresent on our mind and as you heard from that mom, it continues through to next year. You know, um it it's not over yet, but it's gotten much better. And then, you know, I think about diversity, equity, inclusion, and our DEI um committee that took hold. Um they're going to

024be reading a book called Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning. And if any of you want to read that book with me, you know, we can certainly get it to you. Um, but that's going to be one of the book talks this summer. Um, and I'm really excited about that. And as this board of ed has kind of set into place in their operation budget, funding for a stipen and for materials and things that we can do like these books um, to help grow this initiative. It's a five-year plan that we have set forth and we just want to get better and better at understanding our beautiful diverse community. So, you know, acceleration is kind of smack in the middle. And I think that I I talked a lot about the beginning of this journey this

025school year was survival and it was start slow and grow. And then we decided that we could thrive a little, you know, in the next half of the year. We really put into plans progress over perfection. And then for next year, we want to transform education. We want to take all those highlights and those silver linings and the things that we really did well that really engaged kids and move that forward. So that's the transformation and the state talks about that too and that's going back to better than normal. So, I kind of captured it in this slide and I just thought I could share that's what my reflections are of the school year. There's probably a whole lot more like the summer camps and the summer learning and the tutoring and the summer, you

026know, work that's going into planning for acceleration, but um it's all exciting and we will keep you a breast of every step of the way um of what what's happening. >> That was nice. Thank you Susan. >> So the next topic is um transfinder and I think we have Tom here. Um you should have received the frequently asked questions. So Rebecca Beas and I and Phil worked on with Tom. um kind of an overview of what's happening in a two-tier bus system, you know, and then why did we even go out to consult Transfinder and what is the purpose of having this two-tier system and so on and so some of the board members contributed, some of the different parents in the chat box contributed, some of our own administrators contributed to this and it's

027an ongoing, it can be something that we add to. So, if you haven't asked about it or have questions about it, please do because I think we'll find a special meeting sometime in July to really, you know, vote for this. I know next week Transfinder plans on sending us all the bus runs, middle school, high school together along with elementary. Never have we received bus runs in July, early July or end of June. That's very exciting. It's usually that we're sending them out and getting them on our website at in the, you know, just right time for school to start. This way, families will know ahead of time what their child's bus run will be and especially if they're going to a magnet school. I think it's really important to give out as much information

028as early as we can. But I'm going to turn it over to Tom Londale to just kind of he's been really the one who's been in communication with Transfinder and he's done some work himself checking how the buses are working along with Sam and how they'll bring the kids in and get them home, especially with the double run with middle school and the high school. So Tom, your turn. >> Thank you, Susan. Uh I apologize ahead of time. My my 10-month-old is in a very bad mood today. Uh, excuse me. So, she is crying outside. So, if you're hearing that, I apologize. Um, also I'm losing my voice again. I was sick last week. So, it hopefully it holds out for a little bit. Um, so as Susan said, you know, we really just wanted

029to provide some time to talk about those frequently asked questions and also give extra time for you guys to be able to ask additional questions. If I can answer them today, I'm happy to, but if not, we can always go back and and get answers to those questions. Um, as Susan said, I I did meet with Transfinder today. they are 95% done uh was their quote with all of our routes. Um so we anticipate by early next week having finalized routing um which at that point we would just be reviewing and making sure that everything looked right on our end that all the um you know bus routing was acceptable, the bus stops and also the bus times for each of the bus runs. Um, but that gives us enough time to go back and

030revisit should we need to make any changes. Um, and be targeting, as Susan said, an early July meeting to be able to finalize and hopefully approve um, adjusted start bell times for next year. Um, would it be helpful to the board if I went through the frequently asked questions document? I don't know if you've all had a chance to review it yourselves or would it be best used time for you guys to ask additional questions? I I I mean we've had it and most of us have had the packet for a while. Um but I mean it's the will of the board um how however they want to do it but I don't know reading it. People had come up with some different questions that would be um helpful as well. Vita >> um I

031have a question Tom. >> Absolutely. >> And um I at least I couldn't find it. Um, in the frequently asked questions, it says that you will be dropping off the Fitch High School students first and then the Graten Middle School. What is the reverse like coming home? >> Uh, so um, with the reverse, the Fitch students would be picked up first and then the Graten Middle School students. >> So then they exit the the which driveway do they exit on? Do they exit onto Route One or will they exit onto Bron Lone Road? Does it have to swing back around again? >> I'd have to defer to Sam on that question. >> Yeah, they they'd come back out through the high school. >> And why not? Why? Why? They couldn't go out through to the

032traffic light where Grasso is. >> They're all facing the high school. They go down and and come around uh and again face the high school. Oh, >> it just seems like extra time to me. But I was just curious, you know, and also there's a light there where I know sometimes there's not always um a policeman directing traffic when the buses leave and students are coming. So, it was a concern at least they'd have a light on Route One as opposed to no light on Graton Point Road. Yeah, there may be a couple of buses that do exit through uh the uh technical school driveway, but uh the majority of the buses will exit through the high school, but we'll keep an eye on that and if we need >> Yeah, we'll get more information

033on that. >> I do know that Grao time is not changing. So, it's almost a better situation for us that our middle school and high school are exiting a little later because I've been down there when Braso is is ending, you know, at a near same time and it is very congested, >> right? >> So, we have to pay attention to all those things. >> Thank you. >> Sam, was there anything else that you wanted to speak about with regard to this? I know you've been you've ridden the bus yourself with a bus driver to try it out. >> No, I I think the last time we spoke al all together, I said that we would uh work with the police department to uh ensure that we have uh uh traffic control uh at as

034they exit the high school. So, that's one thing that we'll be working with the chief on. Yeah, I think both at entry and exit times, it's really important to have safety measures in there because people are trying to get to and from work themselves. So, thank you. >> Um, I also thought, you know, there was no one exiting graduation. There was not a policeman there, which was I thought was very unusual. Usually, there is someone there when people are leaving pitch after graduation. So, I'm not sure why, but it would have been nice if there was. Yeah, I'll put it on our list of things to remember for next year >> because Yeah. Well, usually >> you got out early so I didn't even notice it, Rita, but I'm sure later on it was probably

035>> Yeah. tricky. >> And you know, at one time um someone from the board of ed actually and the assistant superintendent, I believe, met with the the town manager, the mayor, and the police chief, and they would discuss. They'd have like a monthly meeting or every other month. and and that was like when things like that were brought up. So maybe to have a meeting with the chief would be a good idea sometime. >> I like that idea. I did that in my other districts where the police department and the administrators got together. >> Yes. >> Um he's the police chief has been getting all of us together for this united command every Friday, but that's been more with regard to COVID and the pandemic. So maybe we can move on to bigger and better

036things next year. >> Thank you. >> Good idea. Tom, was there anything else that you wanted to mention? >> Jay, >> I think Jay's raising his hand. >> Oh, okay. >> Um, as I had two questions. Have these frequently asked questions been posted yet on the district website? >> No, because we wanted to bring them to you first. I like to bring things to the board first, >> right? >> Um, this and what Phil is going to present on the safe return to school really the board needs to see first and then I can post it. >> Okay. And then secondly, um this might be a question more for the registar, but um do we have any information on how many lastm minute registrations we usually get um in August? Because I know that we

037usually don't post the bus schedule until just days before school. Is that because of late registrations? >> So um partially yes. Uh partially late registrations obviously affect bus routing. Um it is possible that there will have to be some changes based on um changes in registration throughout the summer. Um but the I I think I've I hope I haven't used this this metaphor with the board before, but the way to kind of think about how we're changing our bus routing. Um but before we played man-to-man defense, so we were trying to match a bus to every student and and try to map our routes. Uh now we're playing zone. So our bus >> We're playing what? >> We're playing zone defense now. zone defense. I like this analogy. >> Yeah, buses are set up with

038uh with separate zones that they're kind of responsible for. So, as students kind of come into our district and register, they'll they'll basically, you know, show up on the map, the the system automatically says, "Oh, this student's within this zone for this bus," and it'll kind of route them put right onto that bus. So, our bus route should largely stay the same as long as a student falls within the zone of a current bus route. Now, obviously, if a bus reaches capacity, because we we happen to have a large shift in enrollment in a certain area, that zone for a bus may change. Um, but overall, um, we should have kind of less changes we have to do throughout the summer because of the way the system's going to be set up. >> We're never

039filling up a bus 100%. Remember that 66% was kind of the ideal. That's where we wanted to get. >> Absolutely. >> So, there's always going to be room for another student somewhere. So, I think your point is taken, but I think sometimes it's just, you know, there are some last minute changes and they don't want to put it out until it's all done. But we feel like with the way we've looked at this efficiency report, we can put it out and even if there are a couple students added on, it won't make a difference that there's still room. >> Absolutely, Susan. Thank you. >> Any other questions? But as they develop, funnel them to Susan so that she can then get those questions. >> Thank you. Yes. And even if there are parents who are

040here or listening, they can put on the chat and we might be able to along with our frequently asked questions, Tom, put a a survey or something so parents could ask additional questions if they have it. Thank you. So my my third topic is the board retreat. And so um you saw the attachment from Mary Brick. This actually came up through the board of ed and I think it was at a COW when you were talking about what should you know oh actually it was our special meeting when we were talking about retreating and what should be our next step. So, it was actually our board who said it would be really good to be able to look at that self-evaluation and to set some goals and maybe to have Mary Brick. So, um with

041that being said, with the communication that I was receiving from board members at that meeting and reviewing the the agenda and the minutes, um we did reach out to Mary Broadick and she did have some times, one in July and one in August that she was available. She did send a proposal. I was able to reach out to the Nautilus museum and we even can go into the torpedo room on the main floor. So, it can kind of be a little Nautilus history for all of us which is near and dear to my heart. And um certainly I had said when I we were making these plans, I said to the new Lieutenant Commander Sutton who's overseeing the Nautilus that our board of education is so devoted to the children of Brten and our military

042children and always have been. They understand the compact. Brtton was one of the first to start the military superintendent liaison and and efforts for the compact. So I said there's nobody who really cares more deeply. I don't think um than this board of ed. And so he certainly appreciated that and he said you can have the classroom, you can have the torpedo room, whatever this board needs. So we do have a nice space to go to in July and August. So I'm going to leave it up for you all to discuss this. I think you saw the proposal. Um you know, I think visioning is a is a good thing to do. While we might have some new board members coming on board, this board has been together for a while. So, I would really

043appreciate your thoughts and ideas now, you know, and then we can always come back together again in the future. So, that's all I'm going to say, >> Liz. Um I'm referring back to that last meeting and um I remember that we had s said something some people said you know we had the July date and an August date and I didn't say anything because I thought maybe I missed something but I went back in my emails and went back all the way through and I could find nothing about an August date and then when I got this paper from we got this proposal it doesn't have an August date. So, I guess my question is is what's the August date or hasn't it been set? >> I don't think it's been set. >> Okay. Thank

044you very much. >> I actually I think Joyce did put something on my calendar. Um, and I think it was in replacement of the CO. So remember when we said this summer we were only going to have one CO and one regular board meeting and then our curriculum meetings, policy and finance as we needed them. So um I do know that um for sure the July is that um week of the 16th which would have been a CO and then in August I think I don't want to be misspeak but I think it was the 16th which was the second CO >> I have heard um from a lot of people that they're concerned because of the potential of having so many new board members and then you know it's a it's a whole new

045board whatever and um my thought process around that is I'll you know we can do whatever we want to I think it's it's still important for us to get together we haven't it's been a long time since we've been together as a group to kind of to to kind of think things um and I just think a board self makes a lot of sense um but there might be another way for us to do that. I just if we have that many new board members, I just think it's so hard to learn all the mechanisms that happen in a board and all the people and all the players and all the whatever that it might be nice for they're already to have some vision work already done. It doesn't have to be completed, but at

046least the start of it. um so that they're not having people are not having to adjust to the nuances that happen of just being a board member and the board of education. Um but um uh but it but it would be nice maybe to have that support. But that was my thought process and I am open to hearing from others. >> Tim Andrea I I thoroughly agree with you. I think we should have a vision in place if for new board members to come into so that they have an idea that we can have a structure for them to be thinking in and in how the board should think because I know from my own experience it took a while for me to really get the gestalt of this. So if this were really put

047together and done with professionals such as Mary and Dr. rentals. I think that would be a um a wise spending of taxpayer money and it would be certainly helpful for any future members. >> Rita, >> I I have the exact opposite thoughts than Andrea at this time. I feel that having taxpayers dollars, $2,500 spent on a board retreat is too costly. Um especially this these same two people are going to be presenting at the National School Boards Association meeting and they also did it um last year and they're going to do it again in San Diego next spring. I would like to have the board do an evaluation a self-evaluation and get together. I it has been a long time since we've all been together in one room. Um, but I don't feel that we

048need these two facilitators at this expense. If it was less, I would be for it. But to me, it's just I don't know why we we have to pay for two. We asked for just Mary. I know Jack Reynolds. He's a very fine person. Um, but I just think it's way too much money and I'm all for a retreat and I would like to wait if you want to hire somebody until we have three or four new board members because that's almost half the board. It could change in November. So I I that's those are my my you know my thoughts. I I'm all for a retreat, but I feel we can do it ourselves. So that's it. >> Lee and J, >> who I won't be voting for. >> I learned a lot in

049um having Mary um work with us in terms of choosing the superintendent and assistant superintendent. Her background is so strong. Her experiences are way beyond what all of us have had. Um and she's a breath of fresh air. I think it's money well spent. She is a very charming uh knowledgeable woman who brings out the best in all participants. Um it makes it would make a huge difference. I think when anybody is has been in a group for a long time the the the feet are entrenched and you know it goes for all of us. We have strong feelings about things. Well, what I experienced was seeing Mary come in and ask questions. She didn't um she was not dogmatic at all. She brought out the best in all of us and as a group

050um both teams made decisions after learning a lot and and problem solving together. So I I even if I were going to be staying forever, I would say please bring her in. She makes a difference and helps transform any group and makes it stronger. >> Thank you, Jane. I'm going to recognize Lee and then Jay. >> Um yes. Um, number one, I'm 100% with Rita. Um, and and the most that the I think that the money is we've never even really had an honest to goodness retreat in six years. I think it is time. It's overtime, but I think $2500 is a lot of money. And there is a possibility that as of the end of November, we will have more than a quorum quorum of our people gone. I think doing now is a

051a a waste of money. I think Mary is wonderful, but I think if we're going to do it, we should do it ourselves. And I will be voting now. >> This is not coming to a vote, guys. We're just having a conversation because we heard so much. um of dis so and this is just a and remember this is just a proposal Jay and then Rosemary >> and and I have to say that I um I was all for uh having Mary uh for this retreat. I still support the idea of a retreat. Um, but I cannot support this amount of money. Um, and uh, so I I now withdraw my my support for that. And I I agree with Rita and uh, Lee >> Rosemary. >> Um, I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with

052Mary. Um, and I would love to do it again, but I don't think we can afford it. And I think um I I agree with everybody's proposals. Um I think we need one. Um I think we need to do something soon, but um rather than wait, but I but it's too much money at this time for our town. >> Dean and then Andrea. Andrea, I need to rec I'm recognizing Dean first. >> Thank you. Um, yeah, Rita said it best and so I'm I'm with Breida and and with Lee on this one. And uh there are some that might say, "Well, it's only $2,500." It isn't really just the money, but it's because our budget is so huge. What's $2,500? But it's the kind of thing that, you know, you you got to watch the

053pennies sometimes. Um now, I would say if we're really keen on it, what we do is we say, "What's 2500 divided by nine? Let's all chip in and pay for it ourselves, right? Maybe we won't be so keen on it." Um, I'm a little jaded when it comes to things like this. I mean, I I've run into experts and consultants that have done whisbank jobs. Um, and I'm not I'm not hitting on these people at all. Uh, I haven't haven't met haven't met them before. There is something to be said for maybe waiting until we know what the board's going to look like. Um, it's June. We're almost in July. Maybe we see. We do have a lot of experience on this board. It's not like there are nine neopights. I'm probably the newest person

054here. Um, it's it's hard to imagine. I guess I'm a little oldfashioned. Hard to imagine that we can't figure out ourselves what what it is we're supposed to be doing here. I mean, why why do we want to be on the board to begin with? But, uh, is it nice to hear from somebody else? Sure. Uh, I'd almost rather kibb us with another board of that, frankly, for free over coffee. >> Andrea, >> coffee is not free. >> Well, I'll buy it. I'm just wondering, Susan, is there any money out there for for professional developments of boards? >> Well, we do put money in the operation budget for our board. >> I don't I don't mean that. I mean, is there grant money out there for um >> Well, I'm not sure. I think that

055um even with the ESRE fund when you think about us going through COVID and coming out again and our work together, there could be a point that and I can check this out if there would be funding through that that would help provide the support. Um and I can see it happening now. I can see it happening later, but I just feel like this board of education has so much knowhow behind them and you've been together for a while that um you would be a good group to help set vision and before new folks got on, you know, and to have those conversations. We could do it ourselves, you know, and Phil and I will join you and we're going to be at the Nautilus and, you know, we can do our meals and I

056think it's going to be great no matter what to come together. But I did, you know, the reason why we reached out to Mary was that I was hearing at that meeting, the planning meeting, that people were interested in having her. Um, so whether it's now or at a later point, I can check into where that funding source could come from. >> Is there any other source besides what's in place now? Is there any new things that that I think it's Rebecca, right? Which one which one is our >> Shannon, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to share Shannon but is there something that she could look into for for professional boards uh um development of boards of ed that might >> I will I will check with her >> absolutely >> so if it doesn't happen

057now it could happen in the future I mean even like to go to a national board conference I know Rita gets to go because of her learn affiliation but it might be something that others would like to go to >> oh >> I I highly recommend going >> I'm gonna I'm gonna recommend Liz this first and then >> Sure. >> Um fine. >> Thank you. >> Um I've been sitting back and listening because I've been kind of on the fence on this. I do see the necessity of having a vision statement of something that of the vision that we need to develop. However, I don't think that um we need to necessarily spend $2,500 and have Mary. And I really do like Mary. I my first experience with her was with you know the hiring

058of the superintendent. However, I was thinking, could it possibly be would it be best in our interest that we sit down and we figure out what we're doing first and then maybe later this well after the election is we have a retreat because quite frankly it might be a a better time that when we have the new board which will be more vested. They will be here for at least two more years. that way we have people available that we can sit and really hash out okay what's now the vision of the board what's the one we want what where have we come where are we going and you know I'm not saying to to shove it I'm saying let's let's set the groundwork in July um and then maybe after you know some time

059do the do the retreat um when we have the next board has been seated. Thank you, >> Liz. Thank you, Rita. >> No, I was just going to I was so pleased that Susan mentioned about other board members uh going to the National School Board meeting. The our our board usually had always in the past supported two people going um to the National School Board. And um again, you know, Mary could and Jack could also be presenting this at CA. I'm not I'm not sure of that, but if it was at the cave conference in November, it would be great. And my other question is, is it possible to ever reach out to Mary and ask if it could just be her and not two people? >> So, I there's no smoking mirrors, folks. She

060gave me a proposal and I've given it to you and so we could we could talk about it. She brought someone. She brought someone. Um, we can absolutely say we don't want her. >> Is there a way that she could bring down the cost? Any of any and all of that stuff. But it sounds to me what I'm hearing the board say, which makes a lot of sense, is we need to get together. There's a there's there's a there there's a desire for us to sort of be together um as a group. Let's do this. We already have the the nautilus for the the for the July. Um, and so then my question to you guys is, is there a group of people um that want to kind of come together and and think about

061what we want to talk about at the retreat um and and form the planning committee or do you want Susan and I to um to do that? Um that's truly that's um that's up to what you guys would like to do. Um we usually have a group of people that kind of come together for the food stuff. Um, but I I have no problem with, you know, maybe there's one or two people that want to work with Susan to come up with the with with the I mean for the retreat. Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. >> Well, I think some of the things Mary put in her proposal are valuable. So, you might want to start there to look at that, you know, to see are those any things that you feel

062like you'd like to tackle on your own, >> right? >> Um, and then there might be other things. You know, one of the things I've been wanting to do because here I am past my hundred days, you know, it's going to be a half a year and it just goes by so quickly, but Phil and I have been talking a lot about the organization. So, I would love to share with you and get your feedback on that. >> Okay. >> So, there's a few things that would be certainly I could add to. >> Okay. >> Um that we could talk about. >> So, it it's it's in years past it has typically been sort of the superintendent with with the chair. Um, but anyone who wants to come, just send me a quick note and

063I'd be more than happy to have you guys part of those conversation. Does that sound fair? >> Okay, Kim. Kim, I think this is this is a really sound approach. I'm I'm uh I'm very happy with it. I can support this. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Andrea. And so I will I will notify Mary that we are really appreciative of the proposal that you put put forward and that we're looking at the possibility of next year when we have um uh uh quite frankly a um maybe a whole new board um uh not a whole new board but a lot of new members um um on that maybe that's when we would u want her leadership but I will be more than happy to make that phone call or email unless someone else

064would like to do that. All right. Um, Kim, before you leave, I I just had a question for Susan. When you said you wanted to share your thoughts about and that you've been talking with Phil about about the organization, do you mean the organizational chart in the central office or what? >> Yes. Is that what >> And just how we're going to divvy up our evaluation process. you know, we've been talking back and forth in some of the roles and responsibilities. I really want to overlap in a lot of ways, but I look forward to talking to you about that. Um, okay. Because Mike and I did it really very specifically. I did elementary, he did high school and middle school, and there are some things that I really would like to work with the

065high school and middle school on. There's a NEAS report that's coming available, and Phil has wonderful expertise on that. So, we're going to share some of these things in different ways. So, I just, you know, we're going to map it out a little better for you and just share with you how what we're thinking and get your feedback. >> That's great. And my other question is that um this the board self-evaluation I think as soon as that was sent out to board members, it would you know be very helpful. This would be um it's less than a month away July 19th. So I think to have it and then start processing you know what the feedback so that we could have it even ahead of time. >> Okay, we can get that to you. >>

066Good idea. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right, so we're going to move on to Phil. >> Okay, good evening everybody. Um what I'm going to do in just a few seconds is share my screen. Um, I've basically taken the documents that were in your packet, attachments three, four, five, and six. Uh, three is the PowerPoint that I'm about to share and then I reference the other documents in the presentation. So hopefully if you have those in front of you, but I'm also going to put uh most of them on the screen as well as we talk about them. Um, and um, I'll explain which ones will be posted for the public to view after this meeting as well. So I'm going to take a shot at at sharing my screen. And you're going

067to have to just give me a verbal >> you can see that. >> Yes. >> And I will uh get things underway. Okay. You guys can see that. Okay. Right. So, so what I hope to do is just present, you know, a clear and and concise uh simple introduction to our uh to the work of our district ARP esser uh advisory committee uh for you guys tonight. Um I know that um you know the board might know, but those of you in the public who might not know uh what everything stands for, all these acronyms. So before we move forward, you know, I just want everybody to understand what everything stands for. Um, >> thank you. >> ARP uh is the American Rescue Plan um that was designed to invest in uh mitigating strategies to

068get students back into the classroom uh and stay there and address the many impacts that the pandemic has had on our students. Um ESSER stands for elementary and secondary school emergency relief. Um, and this will act to fund health and safety measures consistent with uh CDC guidance um and help address the disruptions to teaching and learning resulting from the pandemic um and to get students back in the classroom uh quickly and safely. Uh so in this presentation you'll see how Graten has used these funds um thus far and how hope you know what our plans are for um for moving forward. All right. So, our advisory committee, this ARPser advisory committee is made up of a cross-section of the school community uh and its stakeholders including teachers, uh parents, school administration, district administration, uh as

069well as board of ed. Uh the goal of the uh group is to is for the safe return uh into school for all Graten public school students. Uh the process uh beginning with our first meeting which occurred um just earlier this month um was to set expectations for the work uh gain a strong understanding of the priorities that the state has set forth um and determine and define the outcomes we want to achieve and then of course to develop next steps for the advisory committee to address throughout the summer uh and then again as the school year begins. Um, as I said, first we wanted to make sure that we understood what the state priorities were. U and you'll see these uh a few times in this presentation just uh separated into five different bucket

070buckets which I'll get into in just um a moment. Um um really communication, collaboration, and clarity um will be all key components of this committee's work. Uh in order for this to work, our students uh voices need need to be heard and plans need to be communicated clearly to the school community so everybody knows uh what's going on. Um the committee will be going uh will continue to go to board of ed meetings um attend town council meetings, RTMs, uh to get feedback on the plans as we move forward. Um the district, as I said, needs to submit a plan um as well as the entire grant at that's due to the state towards the end of the summer on August 16th in order to uh get access to the ESSER funds. Um our safe

071return to in-person learning um outline needs to be public by June 23rd. Uh so again, that's why we're presenting this to you today. um and we can discuss or answer some questions and then get you know hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow uh get things up on our website and then we have funds um all the funds should be obligated and accounted for by September 30th 2024 um so we we have some time for that but as we all know that'll go that'll come quickly so just to outline I know this is a busy slide so I'll try to summarize it but these are really the five buckets that the state has sort of set u for the for this committee work. Um uh the first one you know is continuing the work

072to advance equity and inclusion. Uh districts need to have plans in order in place to move uh to move the learning forward. Um we you know we have you know coined that phrase getting back to better than normal and making sure that this includes all of our students. Um the second area uh the pandemic has reinforced what we've always known uh but now maybe we understand it a little bit better that the education of our students is a team effort and we do need to explore ways to keep that partnership alive and thriving with our our our parents um because we have become partners in this as we have all seen. Uh the third bucket um uh there's no escaping the challenges and trauma that our students and family and faculty um have faced over

073the last 15 months. So, making sure we're providing programs and support services um still needs to be an important part of our plan moving forward. Um our fourth bucket involves uh looking at what the pandemic has taught us um involving technology and continuing to make this tech available to all our families and making sure that we identify um the things that have worked well and uh our best practices and continue to invest our money in those programs. um as well of course as continued professional development of the teachers so they know how to use this technology to the best of of their ability. Um and the final and fifth bucket is using the funds to continue to ensure that our buildings are safe and healthy environments uh for our students and our faculty. Um so

074the district has used these five areas um to direct the spending of the grant monies thus far uh and it is the goal of the committee to uh continue to do so. Uh this is attachment four. I've tried to project it. I know it might be difficult to see, but you you do have board members have still have that in front of you. This is to give you an idea of uh how it how the SR1 and SR 2 um have been spended have been spent, excuse me. Um and you can see along the left hand side here are the the five buckets that we just uh described to you. Um you can see the SR1 funds uh totaled u almost 687,000 uh and we've split between the five bus uh buckets uh designated by

075the state as priorities. You can see 421 uh,000 put towards learning acceleration, academic renewal and student enrichment. Um 135 uh towards family and community connections. Uh the 64,000 here uh towards social, emotional and mental health of students and staff. and 66 uh in the area of building uh technology or building safe and healthy schools. Um later uh as SR2 funds became available those totaled um quite a bit more just over three million. Um, majority of those funds, as you could see from the breakdown here, went towards uh learning and academics and student enrichment as well as uh techn uh technology. Um, and then for now in the right hand column, those are the ARP esser funds we're talking about right now that we'll have access to hopefully by the end of the summer. Um and

076we uh simply just broke it down 20% across um each of the different areas, but of course that can change based on the district needs uh which we will determine. So Susan uh touched on this um earlier. She was reporting out and how the year ended. Um you remember you know again as she described we began the you guys began the the journey this year in survival mode or last year actually when we first went home. uh starting slow and and growing over time. Uh the teachers had to fly the plane basically as they were building it. Um and and obviously you guys were you know you've talked about how impressed you all were and I know um you know we've heard a lot about how impressed we were with the teachers ability to learn

077the new technologies um as well as the students and and parents ability to to learn how to manipulate them. It really was incredible. Um, you know, across all districts really. Um, the teachers ability to bounce back and forth asynchronous, synchronous learning, uh, to provide the best education possible. Um, as last year came to a close, uh, you started the year September uh, started moving back, you know, to the thriving uh, time to thrive mode. Uh, pushing forward with academics, balancing it with the social emotional teaching. um and um moving forward with the idea that it was progress over perfection. Uh knowing that we were all still learning and trying to move forward. Mistakes will be made as long as we keep uh try to move forward and help each other out. Um and the work

078now as Susan has spoke to um is to transform. Uh we don't want to go back to normal. uh we want to go back to what we're calling better better than normal using the knowledge we've learned the best practices uh and programs and using them now to support learning uh um better than ever. Um so these ARP esser funds will uh allow us to do that. um before I move in you know towards that um attachment uh five which is the state uh safe return to in person this is this is one paragraph that's right um from the document that you'll see but I just highlighted a few things so I'll share that in in a in a minute um but this this paragraph is part of the plan and describes our district's shift to

079full in-person learning for all students um for next year our plan is to only move to remote learning in the case of a COVID quarantine which is still a possibility although much less so uh than a year ago. Uh we want real time engagement over screen time engagement uh with a focus on building and growing strong relationships with students and teachers and schools and their families. Uh maintaining our balance of course of academics and social emotional learning while trying to re while reestablishing our routines and our expectations uh and continuing to work with our students on maintaining appropriate health protocols for everyone's safety. Um, so what uh you'll see there, I'm going to escape out of this and try to bring up that document. Um, as well to see my email. Can you now see

080the safe return to inperson instruction? >> No. >> So it looks like it's on its way out the other one, the slideshow. So maybe as long as you've um stopped sharing that and then start sharing the other. >> All right, that's what I'll do. >> And this is the this is the actual template that the state has provided all districts to use. >> All right, so we all have to use this district and I'll just take it uh >> we'll take it through step by step. Okay, as long as you guys can see that and I'll try to make it as big as possible. Um >> too big. >> All right, that's good. The f the first they broke it down into um these five areas here and it's they're very similar to the buckets

081that the state of has uh subscribed. Health and safety strategies, continuity of services, uh public input and comment, a review process in place, and then um making sure everything's in in an understandable and uniform format. Uh so first and foremost, what a lot of people are interested in are the health and safety strategies. Um, so you could see here, you know, briefly stated, "We'll continue to follow our health and safety policies and procedures based on CDC, CS, you know, um, uh, the Connecticut State Department of Health and the Ledgeite Health, um, recommendations regarding all the mitigating strategies, which I'll go over in just a second. U, we will continue, of course, to monitor health data from our state and local region and adapt our policies as needed. Um looking at those mitigating strategies, um the

082first one that usually comes up and the first one that we listed is the universal and correct wearing of masks. Okay. Um our advisory committee's response to that is that we will only require masks um for students, staff, and visitors should the public health measures require such a need. um that along with um I'll scroll down to our physical distancing. We're going to um adapt the same policy where we'll continue um our efforts to distance individuals only um if the public health measures require such a need. Um so again, we're all we're all monitoring the different you um you know, our our parent representative tonight listed some some some statistics. Those are things that we're keeping an eye on and as long as you know, it sounds like things are moving in the right direction.

083And so as long as they do, um hopefully we'll we'll um we won't need to have any of these mitigating strategies in place. Um the handwashing and respiratory etiquette and what we mean by respiratory etiquette is is just simple, you know, what to do um the proper ways to sneeze. Um we go over these with our young ones and of course with the older ones as well. Uh can't hurt. Um we believe that the handashing and and this kind of etiquette are best practices uh to help stop the spread of any disease. So therefore, we we will continue to teach and encourage good hygiene practices um throughout our schools um as well as provide the necessary supplies to do so such as the uh the the solution for our hands and and tissues and and

084so forth. Um the cleaning and maintaining of healthy facilities uh improving including improving ventilation. Um you know, hats off uh to Sam and his crew. you know, we we've said it before, but it it's worth saying again what an outstanding job they've done with all the schools. Um and and this is going to continue. Um we're we're also looking to continually improve our HVAC systems. Um that that'll all take place. That's in the process of taking place based on um the Connecticut State Department of Ed standards and industry best recommended practices. And uh we will always continue to monitor air quality as well on a routine basis to make sure our our buildings are safe for our kids. Other mitigating strategies that have been in place over the past um year and a half are

085contact tracing. Um you know, hope again like I said, hopefully we won't have to use these. We're less likely to do so, but in the event that it is necessary, again, we'll continue to follow the guidelines um specific to notifying those who are involved in quarantining those that might need uh to be quarantined. Um, in terms of diagnostic screening and testing, um, Graten Public Schools will consider providing screening and testing if it's deemed necessary, um, and available, uh, per Connecticut, um, and health department, um, guidelines. Um, right now we don't have that in place, but we we will always consider that if we think we can provide something that can help our schools. Can I just add this that we were able to provide vaccination clinics at Fitch High School for both middle school and

086high school students in our whole city and town. And we also added the screening before prom and before um graduation so that we knew 100% of our students and their guests were either vaccinated or had a negative test when they went to prom safely. So we we we really made a a concerted effort to make sure that this was going to be a safe opportunity so they didn't have to wear their mask and they could dance too. >> And so we'll as you can see with by the next point and we'll continue to do so. We'll continue to communicate to the school community about vaccination opportunities um and provide on-site clinics uh when available uh if we can and if that needs to continue. Um and of course appropriate accommodations for children with disabilities with

087respect to health and safety policies. U any student with a documented need um you know we will provide the necessary necessary accommodations. U the next part is is called continuity of services. It just it talks about um it includes but it's not limited to addressing students academic needs, social emotional needs um and and health and food um student health and food services. So we touch on that in these uh two paragraphs here. Um this first paragraph is exactly what I read to you from the slide. Um it just talks about focusing on um our move towards in-person learning uh for all students. Um the second paragraph uh touches a little bit more on health and safety uh both physical and emotional. Um those will re obviously remain top priorities for us um as as as

088our you know the committee the advisory committee, our educators and of course our board members. Um, our schoolbased health program um is top-notch. Our school nurses will continue to serve as excellent resources for both our students physical and mental health um as well as our um faculty. Um and also um we we'll continue to use our school counselor, social worker, and psychologists. Uh we know that social emotional learning is a key ingredient to schooling. So, uh that will continue. Um, and in addition to all that, um, we were happy to find out that we'll continue the service for all students at no cost for breakfast and lunch, uh, to all Graten Public School students. Um, so that will continue as well. Um, in terms of public input, like I said, we have members of the

089public on the on the committee. Um, and we we have, you know, over the course uh, since this pandemic began, we've collected student, parent, and staff feedback through focus groups and surveys and community forums. Uh we'll continue um to have this two-way conversation uh with all groups, students, families, and staff. Um we'll continue to use boards of ed, PTO meetings, and town bodies to share and discuss all the plans that we have related to uh COVID 19 schooling uh for next year. Um we will uh continue this work through the summer and of course we'll you know, as our re-entry plan um continues to take shape, we'll share that with the public. Um we just u probably I think we just closed up our school climate surveys and and we'll be getting the data from

090those from the end of the year. So we we'll gather input from that from again those were sent to parents, students and faculty um as a way to identify areas that we need to improve on and things that we want things that were positive. Um we made sure we added that question in um to make sure that we uh we keep track of those things that we want to keep around and the silver linings that we found uh through all this already. Um and we'll continue uh to provide the opportunity for public comment at boards of ed um and gather input that way. Uh the review pro this is a review process put in put um in there by the state not by our committee. Um this final date should read 2023. Um that was

091a mistake uh that we can't fix. But um they recommend reviewing every six months. Obviously as a committee we know that it's going to take more than that. But we actually have to report out on these dates um officially. But we will continue to do um ongoing updates uh throughout this process. And then the last part of course has been making sure there's clarity um and that all of our family communities can understand it. Making the um documents available in multiple languages. Anything posted on our website can be translated into uh a variety of languages. Um and we will also look to um you know continue to you know we'll have this video posted and anything that we have we'll we'll we've even uh talked about um recording oral presentations um of all different important

092announcements for the school community to make sure the community is informed the board's informed and and all our stakeholders are informed. So um so again that and and your attachment number six is basically this just this whole presentation in narrative form. So, I'm not going to go into that document um as well, but um that is the gist of our plan. Those two documents, the one I just showed you and then the attachment six, uh the narrative form were are the ones that we want to have posted by tomorrow afternoon. Um >> are there any questions from the board? I I see Lee >> just I just want to say thank you, Philip. It was a an actually terrific the university would be proud of you. >> Um >> thank you >> and since we

093went to the same one. Um and and also there there is um I am concerned we are all concerned about whether people are safe or not safe. I would just like people to know that in the past week and a half I have been involved with groups up to 150 people and if I was ever you have the right as a human being to ask if anyone is vaccinated. you have the right to ask before you you know and and I have done that when I am with groups of eight and 10 people I will say to them we are all vaccinated aren't we and everyone has we have that right if you are concerned as a human being you may ask the question >> that's all I want to say thank you >> thank

094you Lee >> good job >> I want recognize Liz and then Dean Um, Phil, I want to just uh emphasize a couple of things especially for the the parents that are listening is that um the mask mandate of course is going to be is um basically lifted unless there's an absolute need and I think that's really important. Um the other part I think is important for our our families to know is that we will be well I'll talk again soon providing um social emotional support because if you look at the budgets for the ESSER grants there are there's an increase in our mental health um professionals. So, I just wanted to highlight those two things because I think it's important for everybody to recognize that we really only trying to take care of not just

095the physical well-being of our children and our staffs, but also of the the social, emotional, and mental health of our our children and our staffs. Our staffs are exhausted. And I I commend those who are doing um summer school. I think that's crazy, but you know, that's just me. But um I just it's really comforting to know that we're really trying to make sure that we're looking at all elements of the whole person and not just one part. So thank you Phil for that presentation. >> Thank you Liz Dean. >> Thank you. Um okay going back to the the mass thing I want to dive in just a little bit a little deeper and this ties into the public comment from earlier. Um we we did promise her we would talk about this a little

096more. Uh so the decision so we're going to be again mask-free unless quote public health measures require the need to wear masks. What do you envision that that looks like an order from Ledge Light, an order from the governor? What sort of conditions are you envisioning? Are you going to leave it open um and general like that? Yeah, I don't I don't know if it's been set, Susan. I don't know if you've heard anything. Um, is it would it come from Ledge Light? Would it come from the governor? I'm not I'm not quite sure. >> So, we have a weekly meeting that several of us in central office have been attending since this all began. And we meet after that, and it really is the um Connecticut Department of Health. It's all of the local

097places. So, Ledge Light often chimes in. It's the Connecticut State Department of Education kind of taking their orders from the governor, all of them, you know, with where we are at different times. So, they try to give us the, you know, the updates periodically. So, we received the updates for summer, so there were less restrictions for summer for summer camps um and summer learning. And you know, we we've been it's been indicated that you know, schools are always more protective than the general public. So now you can walk into almost any any store or restaurant without wearing your mask, you know, or you can pick up a mask if you care to choose to or bring one in. It's up to the person. But schools have always been a little more restrictive. So we will

098just be continually meeting throughout the summer and you know if when we hear of any information if it tends to be more restrictive, we would let people know. >> Okay. But if we continue on the course that we're going down, I'm really very hopeful. >> Well, fingers crossed. >> I know. >> Fingers crossed. But so just just to as an example right now, Susan, if uh you make the determination as the super, you look at the weather and you think, >> are we starting starting late? Is it snowing? Is it going to snow? Is it going to ice up? Are we starting late or we're just gonna just gonna shut the schools down for a day until it blows over? That's your decision, correct? >> Right. So, what I've heard so far is that the

099there are meetings and you hear things and are you saying that you'll be getting information and then you'll use your own discretion as to whether or not to mandate masks or are you saying I'm going to be attending meetings or I'm going to be in contact and I'm going to be told by an authority like the governor that I must mask. So, >> so we've really been our course has been set by the parameters of the health department. I mean, if I had wanted the kids not to wear masks, there weren't really opportunities this past year. They really had to wear the masks. And for safety side, I was definitely approving of that. But I would say in the case of the snowstorm, not only are there all the weather conditions, but the whole southeastern

100Connecticut Superintendence Council works together to really kind of figure things out together. And of course, Montville and Ledger might look a little different than BB Cove. So, I do have the discretion to to decide, you know, even if it is it a snow day or is it a remote day, you know, superintendents, but when it comes to health and safety, we really do lean on the Connecticut State Department, but I think we will be able to make choices. >> So, so, >> so I think it's going to be a lot more relaxed than what we've had to deal with this year. >> Right. But the but the bottom line is you have discretion in that case as well. >> Right. Right. >> Okay. All right. Unless it's been mandated somehow. >> Oh, that you can't

101help. >> That I can't help. >> I I have, you know, concerns. Um, we are now at a point where we could go into a store if we choose to without wearing a mask and in crowds. Young children are not vaccinated. they will not probably be vaccinated until the end, maybe the end of December for those people who choose to for two ages two through 12. Um I know my grandchildren would never go into a school or a public building their seven and six without wearing a mask and I'm and I'm hoping that we really follow the Ledge Light and the Connecticut guidelines um on this. It's one thing for middle school and high school. They've had an opportunity to be vaccinated, but our young children have not, and I would not want to put

102them at risk. Um, there are many longhaul COVID symptoms that are coming to the forefront even to the point of decreased brain tissue. I mean, these aren't this is not a hoax. I mean, this is really scientific e evidence. So, I strongly I I would be very cautious with our young children in a classroom of other children just to make sure that they're safe. Um, and my other question is when we have remote learning, is it still the um the governor's is letting us or or the education department is letting us have remote learning on snow days? You have that choice. So we can have no snow days and we can adjust our calendar to that at this point >> and I think we almost need to Rita as you've noticed that the last day

103of next year is the 17th. So we've already given the teachers the parameters. I know that the hybrid model which was a super challenge um is really kind of not in the forefront. We're really looking at having identified um school substitutes in each building be the person to be the go-between to get the students work and to make sure they're tapping base with the remote student, especially if it's a short-term or quarantine kind of period. Um and for the remote um snow days, that would be then the teacher's responsibility because they'll be home too in a snowstorm. And kind of like our Wednesday, it'll probably be several mini lessons in the morning and some independent work. >> Okay, that's great. And thank you for this. It's very well done and very thorough. I really appreciate

104it. Thanks. >> Well, I thank Phil, I think, did a tremendous job. And I thank our committee because they did this in one one period and we're going to bring them back again and do our next steps. But I think the most important thing that we hear over and over again is we need to get this out to the community at large and we need to listen. So if there's anybody on who's hearing us and you'd like to put something in the chat box on a comment or a question, I would really appreciate that. And also look for it to be posted on the website and we'll put up some kind of a Google survey for people to fill in if they have any questions because I we really do believe in this two-way communication.

105It's not only the schools pushing out information, it's receiving feedback and then doing something. Our plan really changed based on the um team working together in that one morning and we were able to make modifications based on that. >> Yeah. And the plan is to post it with some type of way for um the public to communicate any concerns or questions. So >> that's great. >> We'll try to have that up by the end of the day tomorrow. >> That's great. Thank you, Phil. Um I had a quick question. I know we we spent we have a lot of PPE in Grten. Um we we'll just continue to save it until we in to see whether or not we need it. I know we do have a lot and um when you look at how

106much was spent. So um I just didn't know in the future if we ever thought about donating it, you know, to those who might really need it in other countries. But that's just a thought for the future. Thank you. Thank you, Rita. All right, if there's no further questions, Phil, once again, really nice job of um I attended that committee meeting, so it was um the the fact that how the two of you kind of got all that consolidated and all that stuff um was pretty darn amazing. So, nice job. >> Yeah, it was a great group of people. We got a lot done. >> It was a really um it was a wonderful group. Um so, um I'm going to move us on to >> Before you do that, can I just um I

107want I've been trying to get your attention I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I did not see you. Absolutely. Um, I am very strongly in agreement with Rita because um, as you know, I'm a nurse and um, I see the worst devastations of this disease and it's horrible and um, to not be careful with our our youngest children is would be for me to be unconscionable. Thank you. Rosemary, thank you. And and once again, I apologize for not seeing you um uh flagging me down, but thank you for your point. >> If there's no one else, then I'm going to move us to Ken. >> Hi everybody. Uh I'm going to move us to uh attachment number seven, which is the object code report. Uh the most current report shows a projected unexpended uh balance of 8,752.

108Uh this amount takes into consideration uh some of the uh end ofear um items that we had talked about in previous uh meetings uh such as uh additional OPED uh payment as well as an additional um amount to health insurance reserves, some some equipment such as a floor scrubber, file cabinets, and some storage at the middle school. um the uh dealing with the excess vacation balances and materials for the new magnet schools. Uh so we're able to take care of all of those items. Uh and I we will we will end up uh uh within within our budgeted amount. Um at this point it's it's very close. Uh we still do have a uh one more payroll run and one more AP check run to go. Uh but we've estimated that and uh we feel

109we're in very good shape. And you took all of that into consideration with that bottom line. >> That's correct. >> And we thought if there were anything left over, we could continue to do our due diligence to pay back either OPED or health insurance. And I'm really proud that the board, you know, in talking to them about, you know, what our choices were, um, especially in finance and facility really authorized us to say that's a good thing to do. Rita. >> Yes. Um, Ken, I was curious in line number two, teachers, the large amount of over, you know, it's over three thou um $300,000, right? >> Yeah. So, that means that means it's actually under by 300 >> under. >> So, we're under we're above. No, we're we're we're under budget for for this teacher

110salaries. >> And why why would that be? Because we had the funds. >> There are number of number of uh factors. Uh uh a couple of them would be that we did um uh transfer transfer some of the uh some of the teachers to the cost the teacher to the MSAP grant where we we took on the cost of the bus and then we transferred some of the teachers to the MSAP grant. Uh there was also uh less stipens that came through. there were there were a little bit less um uh teams that happened so there was less amount there and uh some of the tutors were covered by esser grants and so we we didn't need uh to uh fund as many tutors out of the out of the board funds. >> So then

111looking down to nine and number um 12 other benefits those are the ones that were over. >> Yeah. So, uh, number nine, that that that's the result of of putting an extra amount in there for, uh, OPED and as well as, uh, health insurance reserve. Uh, and number 12, other benefits. That's, uh, that's a result of, um, it was, uh, unemployment. Um, and let's see, I just want to pull it up. Oh, and retirements. So, we we we paid the retirement amounts for folks that are retiring next year. We paid that out this year funds. >> Okay. Oh, great. Thank you. >> Any other questions about the the budget, >> Ken? Pretty darn impressive. >> Yeah, it's a gold star for this year. >> Yeah. >> You saw all those other additionals, you know, um

112Esser grants and we had to talk, I think, on a weekly basis, right, Ken? To keep it all straight. >> Yeah. Sometimes daily. >> Sometimes daily. Yeah. So, do you want to talk about the health insurance report? >> So, yeah, health insurance report. Uh, health insurance claims report. That's attachment number eight. Um, this is through, uh, April of 2021. It shows for the month of April, we're at 92% of budget. Uh, is compared to in um in March where it was 129% of budget. So, we anticipated this to come up. Um, actually, I thought that would be a little bit higher uh for April. uh we expect April, May, June, perhaps even uh July and August to be higher than uh normal because any of the postponed um uh things of medical uh uh procedures

113and and visits that people uh would do uh have been postponed till till now. Um so I anticipate that to be a little bit higher. uh might just be a timing uh but I would anticipate May and June to be uh pretty much up near near to budget if not uh a bit over it. Uh we've taken that into account in our health insurance reserve. Uh so we're in good shape in regards to uh funding those uh those those uh visits and procedures. Um we're just going to wait for that to happen. >> Any questions about the health insurance report? All right, Ken, I would like to commend the business department. >> We You have a wonderful staff and and they're working very hard to meet everything by June 30th. So, >> kudos to them.

114>> I agree. They're a good staff. >> Thank you. We'll definitely pass that along deserve that. Kudos. >> Yeah. >> The whole central office team, you know, they really have worked hard this year. >> Yes. So, um the next um the last thing that's on your um item is also going to be one that we're going to be voting on folks and that is what we talked about in the committee of the whole and I believe that this this document can represents the changes that we requested is that >> so so I'd like to share that if uh if I could um see share so can you can you see that? >> Yes. >> Great. Great. Um, so, uh, this this is, uh, uh, what we've been, uh, talking about. Uh, and I'll just go

115through the columns here just so, you know, we're all oriented. Uh, this first column, column, uh, F, is our tuition rates for this year. Um, that we set back, uh, I believe it was last, uh, last summer. Um, and, um, let's see, kind of goes down. Yeah, down a bit. Um and then the next column over actually it's column H. Uh this represents uh the the most recent cost per pupil that we have. Uh so the most recent we have is actually not for this year because we're still in it. It's for last fiscal year. So FY FY20. Uh and this is the cost per pupil per our EFS. EFS is the education finance financial system and it's the replacement of the old ED1. Uh and so we we file this with the state and

116one of the reports that that is generated is a cost per pupil uh broken down by elementary, middle, and high school. Uh next column over I is our uh we're calling it the anticipated additional cost. It's really a calculation. It's 85% of our of our uh average cost per pupil. It's what we're anticipating the cost to the district will be if another student is added uh added into into the into the school. Um so you you'll notice uh for instance the high school uh uh our cost per pupil uh as of last uh last year was 16,925. Uh 85% of that is 14,387 which is that's what we'd anticipate the additional cost to the to the district would be. And so this last column, column K, this is what we're proposing we should uh set

117the new tuition rates at. And and you'll notice that those are equal uh directly equal to uh that 85% of the of the cost. Uh so that's that's column K. Uh then just I'll go down a little bit here. Uh and these are the the additional costs, the special education uh program costs. Uh, and so the academy program, the MBA program, and transi transition academy, we we put them all in one line. Uh, they're staffed very similarly. Uh, I worked with Denise Doolittle to get um, uh, to to to work on on on the costs here. So, they're staffed very similarly, so we're we're we're kind of put those all on one line. The ABA program and multiple disabilities program um, are staffed a little bit differently. Uh, and there's a consultant involved. And so

118we we we made a distinction there. And so those are those are our anticipated costs next year for uh for those programs. Um for the IB program, we did break that out uh and and put it on a separate line as an added uh number. So LA last year or this year I should say uh it was an additional 3,868. uh we calculated for next year uh 2210 and that's just the the overall budget divided by the number of full ID IBDP students. Um and then uh some additional services uh OTP PT speech and uh counseling uh in the resource room we just increase slightly over last year's rates uh just to cover our any additional costs that might uh that might come up. So, so that's that's that uh schedule >> and I think

119the real purpose really coming from finance and facilities and the board was how can we be competitive with a St. Bernard's with a pine tree pineoint with a pine tree pinepoint with a um you know NFA you know that and we've actually gotten a call from someone who had attended the Williams school and is very interested in coming to Graten. So I think with with having that kind of competitive um funding and you know we also talked about giving discounts in certain places but we were warned against doing that unless we we kind of done it as a whole that we knew that there would be additional cost if there were additional students but it wasn't quite as much as what we had anticipated with the um per pupil spending. So, you know, in a

120sense, everybody would get kind of a discounted rate from the per pupil spending who came and it would always be, you know, per our policy, um, the superintendent approval and based on enrollment. So, we would never take a seat or anything away from a graten resident student. This would be just if there was room for additional students in a particular grade level or at a particular school or preschool. Jay, thanks um thank you to the finance you and to the finance and facility um committee to kind of shepherd this through and Ken for you and your um staff's work on getting getting this done. This this feels good that we're actually done with this piece. Um well, we're not quite done because we it has to go to a vote. Jay, >> and I just

121wanted to mention that um we've discussed this for many years during the budget season. Uh we even had an RTM member that was working with us through a budget season. And so this this is not a new thing, but um I think Ken came up with a great plan to recognize the fact that adding one student doesn't necessarily trigger that full uh per pupil expenditure. So he he recognized that fact. And so um this this is a these are more realistic numbers that make us more competitive. As we said with the new schools in town, you know, we are going to have some excess capacity here and there, which Susan will make that judgment. >> And unlike some districts that were allowed to have magnet programs paid uh for by the state, we don't have

122that luxury, but we still have people that inquire about sending their students here. Um and so this will give them the opportunity and allow us to sort of maximize our facilities. Now keep in mind the money will go to the town, but we're being good stewards of the assets of the town in using our buildings uh you know the excess capacity of our buildings to generate income for the town. So I think it's a very um responsible thing to do. Um and I know the only thing u finances looked at this a few times. Um in the last CO um the question was raised about the IB. I just want to say uh before we get to that that section uh when we actually vote on this, my my feeling about the IB is there

123are certain additional costs that are incurred for the IB students and I just don't know if the taxpayers um would be completely happy with us absorbing all of those costs. I mean that's just my personal belief um that we need to balance you know the use of the excess you know with the real costs of the IB program which are not as high as as as some people have estimated in the past but but still do exist and so um I'm sure we'll have a fuller discussion about that as as we go forward but I just want to thank Ken he has sat through finance facilities and spent endless hours on this and I think this is a a good plan and I'm glad we're moving forward >> and thank you for persevering with this,

124Jay. I I'm excited about it. >> I mean, I think it all looks really good. Um, just for clarifications, so are you saying that if a junior or senior comes into Fitch and enrolls in the IB diploma program that they would pay the amount listed, which is 14,387 and then pay for the cost of the test. Is that what you what it's written here? >> I'm sorry. for for for the AP uh program. >> No, the international balor if a junior or a senior comes in, they're the only ones that could >> be in the real diploma program. Correct. >> Correct. So, so what what this would indicate is yeah, the 14,387 plus plus the 2210 uh to be a full IBDP uh student, >> right? Okay. Thank you, Liz. I just want to clarify

125that number is not just for test. >> Okay. >> I know. I know. But I just want to make sure I >> But that's what you said and I want to just clarify that for anybody who's listening, >> right? >> All right. It's it's >> cost. We'll just say the cost of the IB. Yes. >> Okay. >> Just wanted to clarify. J and and and actually I misspoke when I I I shouldn't be using IB as a generic uh term because the MYP program is under uh the umbrella of IB and I'm certainly not suggesting uh anything extra that because all students are involved in in in the MYP. This would simply be for those out of town students who opt to come in and do the full uh diploma program. >> Thank you. You

126also have the IBCP and of course I was able to give you that good news in the board notes that CP has been um confirmed. So we're really excited about that too to have the careers program international balorate as well. >> Lee, you're muted. I could be a little wrong, but when it comes to and I thought it was fed um the school choice, if a student wants to do something and that school does not do it, I think it may be that the the the school that is original would have to pay the tuition. I'm not sure that the parents have to pay it. I may be wrong about that, but I'm going to check into it. In other words, if somebody if some student and parent want a kid to be an IB

127at Ledger, the choice is that Ledger does not offer it. So, I believe that that student could go to Fitch and the the I'm trying to write the Leard would have to pay for that tuition. I could be lying about that, but I'm gonna check it in. >> I'm gonna clarify that since you've said it, Lee, there is a moratorum on interdist um magnet. So, we cannot be an interd district magnet, which means that the district would pay the funds for the student to come. We can be an intra district magnet, which means our kids can be magnetized. But if any student who doesn't rest their head in Graten and have a residency in Graten wants to come to Graten and they do have to pay the parents have to pay the tuition. >> Yeah,

128I I'm only talking about IB and as I said I may be wrong about that. I will check it out. But I'm not talking about magnet. I'm talking about, you know, if a kid from Grasso wanted to come and do physics, as actually this happened, I think a year and a half ago. I'm not sure that the parents from Grasso have to pay for the tuition for taking physics. I'll check. >> So, if they're Graten resident, they wouldn't have to pay, but if they are not a Grass Graten resident, they >> I could be wrong. >> Yeah. >> And I will check it out. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lee. Any any other questions? Because remember, we're going to be having a discussion, a a point of discussion, um because this is a motion that's

129going to be on the floor very soon. Hearing none, I'm going to move us on to committee reports policy. Um I'm sorry, we did meet. Um we don't have anything for an action item at this point. >> Okay. Thank you. curriculum. >> I'll speak for curriculum uh since I chair that meeting. We discussed the middle school electives and we have another meeting set for uh mid July. >> Great. Thank you. Finance and facilities. >> Yes, we met on June 7th. Um and at that time we we discussed the transfinder report. um uh discussed uh the ARP esser um and um and of course the tuition uh which we've talked about I think in three meetings now >> thank you Jay you guys have been busy learn Rita >> yes we had um a regular board

130meeting was on June 10th at that board meeting we had um every principal from the different learns spoke and gave an overview of their program in the year. We also evaluated the executive director of learn Kate Ericson and we had election of officers and I was again elected to the executive committee of learn. Um, and then we had another I had an executive committee meeting last Friday where we needed to um approve a few different um new positions in the um organization, the central office organization. So that's it. Thank you. >> Congratulations on the executive committee. >> Thank you. >> Um uh town council RTM and board of ed leaison. I'll do that. Um, we met on June 2nd and Mrs. Austin reported on the u the um the the town council would like to

131see the the the minutes and the and any kind of um reports that Mrs. Austin has for the board, you know, like the weekly ones if they could be sent to her, that would be good. And Mrs. Austin talked about Kath this it says Kathy Bosno but it's Kathy Fosno Dr. Cosno um working with math teachers to to find ways to do relevant to do math in relevant ways and uh the town council report was that the mill rate has been set. The city council had no report. the RTM um the budget deliberations are over and it's been sent to the town and they're looking at they're talking about um the the authorized sale of of Grton Heights school and also I don't know what m mystic coastal access funding is but it has to

132do with the um signage on Pleasant Valley school property. >> That's it. >> You see I love doing that. Kim, >> I would um I would ask that we get the weekly report notes from the town council as well. It would be nice for us to know >> what's going in >> there. Um, Graten scholarships, Lee, >> Graten Scholarship. I I they had to change it once, so I was I was in Pittsburgh, so I was not able to go to the award, but I can say now that every student who asked for a scholarship got something. Um, it was it's a wonderful organization. We will not meet again until October. Nice group. Kim, if I if I could chime in on that. I just wanted to say I was thrilled to see and it

133was a surprise to me because I have no idea who the the scholarship committee will choose for my my scholarship which is for writing and it was it went to Fatima Mansour who is a Martin Luther King scholar. So I was thrilled with that. Thank you so much. >> Athletic fields Jay is there any update? Um, no. I mean, the town council approved the the funding to price out the uh athletic field plan. Uh, however, our last meeting uh failed for lack of a quorum. >> Thank you. >> So, next. Yes. >> Did we Did we do the A GSA GA? Did I miss that? >> No. Um, >> okay. >> So, so we did meet um and actually it was our annual meeting. Rita, feel free to to do that. >> Oh, no, no,

134no. I'm fine. Why don't you do it? who ran it. >> Um it was um it was the our end of the year um uh meeting um and I there was really no new business. I don't think that was um um >> talked about outside of the fact that it was a very tough year. Um and um they worked really um very hard. Um and um so Reita, if you are I did not I don't have the notes in front of me. So if you do you have memory of what else was talked about? Um I believe that again they you know the issue of substitute teachers and and the pay um and for paras you know the difficulty in in acquiring pair pair professionals. So I think it's you know it's just constantly um

135an issue and a strain for the teachers and our district and the students and Mrs. Austin was there also so maybe she has some insight. What else was >> Well, we actually talked about that at central office and that may be a way we could use some esser funds for additional substitutes but also for additional subpay. So Lori was going to look into the surrounding area to see what the norm is. I know even Denise um was saying that she was having a hard time getting Paris for her summer school that's taking place at Northeast Academy. So I think we bumped it up to whatever it was 13 something to $15 in the posting and hopefully we'll get more you know pair of professionals to be able to because we really need them >> for

136those summer programs. So um you know we will use our fun best we can >> but the subs are making you know depends on the district. There are some districts really paying substitute teachers much more than what we've ever paid. And then there's some who's paying less than we what we pay. So it can be a problem for sure. Maybe that goes into financing facilities as a as a way of kind of taking a look at because we're probably going to have to even if we use SR grants eventually those are going to end and then how we absorb that pay increase. So that probably is something that that committee needs to sort of be mindful of. um about how do we sort of do that um and and um and I had many of

137you had commented on the letter that was sent to all staff but that was actually came out of that leaison meeting where the staff were very appreciative last year of receiving one and so they asked for that to happen again and so I'm actually hoping that that becomes a tradition from the board um that we send a thank you for your hard work um at the end of the year um I'm going to move us on to the consent agenda um which is um all matters are going to be considered into one vote. So all those in favor of the consent agenda please say I >> I >> oppose abstain for first and second. >> Oh well that's kind of silly Miss Joan. Thank you. Um so can I have a second to the consent

138agenda? I got I got Rita. Now I'm going to do a discussion. Hearing none. All those in favor. All those opposed abstain. The motion is carried. And the board would like us to um would like to thank um Mr. Kenneth Michael Talbot who had made donation of $7,000 to initiate the Talbath would win award and how exciting that is um for that to happen. Um there is no old business. I know that's amazing. Um the new business. Um um Jay, would you be willing to read the motion, please? >> Yes. I move we approve the out ofstate out of district tuition rates for the 2021 2022 school year. >> I've got Liz discussion. Hearing no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion that's on the floor, which is to approve the out of

139district tuition rates for the 2122 school year. Liz, do you have a discussion point? >> No, I'm approving. >> Oh, okay. All right. Sorry. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. The motion has carried. Yay. Nice work. >> And Kim, uh just for those who are watching at home, uh I just want to mention that um if they're interested in the fuller discussion, there's three finance and facility committee meetings and we also discussed this at the last committee of the whole. Um sometimes I think if people just tune in to these, they think that we just rubber stamp something and they don't realize all the work that that went before this meeting. Right. >> Thank you, Jay. Um, Rosemary, would you be willing to read the motion for num for

140number two, please? >> You're muted, >> but you need to be unmuted. Um the motion is to approve the field trip request to Quebec City, Canada scheduled scheduled for May 26, 2022 through May 30th, 2022. >> Can I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Liz. So, um I see that we have Aaron with us. It's so good to see you. Um and I think we were given that information later this >> I know. I'm sorry it was sent later, but um when Aaron sent it to me, I thought you would have it, but she's certainly here that she can talk a little bit about the trip. She had a slideshow and she had some information to share with you. >> I'm happy to share any information. So, I do have a slideshow

141that I sent you um Joyce this morning and I asked her to share it with the board members. Kim, I know received it and I copied you as well. I I don't want to take up too much time with the slideshow, but um unless you want me to show it, but basically it goes through um Lee, are you okay? Oh, I'm sorry. Um so the slideshow um just goes through day one through day four and day five when we come home. So, and it goes through all the different attractions from breakfast on through dinner. Um, it has some links in it. If you want to look at the links of places we would be going, um, museums, you know, Quebec City, it's kind of really the rationale is our neighbor neighbors to the north and

142just really, you know, exposing students to Quebec. The trip is open to everybody, not just students who take French. Um, in terms of fundraising, I'm going to be reaching out to some corporate um, sponsors. Hopefully, I can get some donations and I have a dine for a cause. Um, I'm going to reach out to Sift Bakery and Mystic and see if maybe they could help us with that. Um because and you know anything I can do to kind of knock the cost of the trip down for the students is great. Um right now it's under $1,000. So that's why I wanted to get on the agenda ASAP because I kind of you know got that pricing which is really makes sense for the length of the trip. Uh breakfast and dinner are included. So lunch

143is on our own. Um but the breakfast is a large breakfast and the dinner is a large dinner. So, any other thoughts or questions? Um, I see Lee. >> I I just want to say I'm sure by May 26th everything will be okay, but as of today, >> um, Americans are generally speaking not allowed to go to Canada right now. So, >> they're not they're hoping um 29th of July that that will be okay. Obviously, you know, this is something we're planning. If if we can't go, we can't go. It It kind of is, you know, what it is. >> No, I'm I'm sure it'll be fine by me. And I think >> I'm really hoping. >> Isn't there also insurance, Erin, that you do in case of something like that happening? >> Right. So,

144I would um in my planning, um there's there's two kinds of insurance. I would recommend that every traveler get insurance because if something happens um the student's ill um you know god forbid something happens in the students family they can't make the trip then they get their full reimbursement um if the border is not open then I don't know how the travel company could really hold us to the travel if that makes sense like if you legally can't go right now. You can only travel for certain reasons. Like I can cross over the border because I have a son who lives there. Um, and he's a dual citizen. But I really have to come up with a reason for that travel if you know what I mean. It's just not open for tourists, if that

145makes sense. >> Sure. So, yes, I would I would definitely recommend um that all travelers have the insurance. >> I think I heard that on the radio recently that that's been the advice for everybody, as a matter of fact, >> to get that travel insurance, >> right? And I think with a school trip, it's just even so much more important because it's a student and you don't know what's going to happen with families and all of that and illnesses. So, whatever, we just hope for the best. So, I have a question, Erin. It looks like a fabulous trip, but students would have to take two days off of school. The Monday obviously would be Memorial Day. So, couldn't could you possibly ever have had this trip during April vacation or when school gets out? >>

146Right. Well, that was my thought. >> Honest honestly, um at that point of the year, all the major testing is done. Being a teacher, I kind of know um you know when the um IB tests fall, when the AP tests fall. So now you're into Memorial Day weekend and then you're into June 1. So the reason for avoiding April vacation is families have not really been able to travel. So, if you have too many, you know, you might have a family um a few families that have planned trips and then now the student wouldn't be able to go to Quebec because, you know, there's just too much going on. So, I I shy away from April. The weather is nice in May. And I looked at, you know, the academics. I'm not saying that, you

147know, we're not learning anything. Of course, we're learning, but you're into almost June and you've bypassed your IB test, your AP test, so those students can participate, and we hope they do. Um, so that was the rationale for that weekend. And yes, they missed two days of school, >> but what about right after school gets out? I mean, that there's usually like a Bermuda trip and our other trips, our trips to Europe or we're always >> That's an option. That's an option. But I myself I am going to be um traveling to Europe on a grant that I wrote three years ago for fun for teachers and I haven't been able to travel on that grant and then I was going to go with Evat Morales on her Spain and Portugal trip. But now I

148can actually use my grant. So I will be leaving shortly after school gets out to fulfill my grant. And that's sort of like, you know, there's some grant obligations that kind of go along with that. But, um, you know, if students feel uncomfortable getting their work in advance for two days at that time of the year, I would I would imagine they've got six hours on the bus to do their schoolwork. And like any other field trip, you know, they're going to go to their teachers, they're going to get their work in advance. Students do it all the time. if they go on a vacation with the family. Um, but it's I mean it's such a great learning opportunity. So, I wish you know I could have picked June. Um, but I I just couldn't

149because like I said I have a grant opportunity that I have to fulfill and I've committed to this and received the grant so through >> fun. Right. Will there be scholarships for students who cannot afford it? Um, I don't know honestly where scholarship money would come from. Um, >> usually fundraising. >> Yeah, fundraising. >> Yeah, scholarship to me and fundraising, it's two different things. You have to be really careful with scholarships because that's an equity issue. So, what I would do is I'm going to approach the Mystic Cinema. Um I am doing some dine for a cause and then you make one uh lump sum of money and if you have you know real need you you try to work with the real need but then you kind of want to spread that money to

150all students because it can it could get really kind of you know become an real inequitable situation when you start giving one student $300 $100 and one student $500. That probably would not make me feel very comfortable. So, everybody gets a little bit of money towards their trip. And then, you know, like every other trip, it is, you know, student travel is student travel. I wish I could say I could afford to pay for students myself who can't. Um but this with any travel situation this comes up and whatever you can do to fund raise um is I think you know very helpful but I think you have to be really careful on how you split the funds. So it's an equitable situation if that makes sense. >> Always is. >> I mean what are

151what is everybody else thinking? >> It's true. >> It it would be an equity problem. >> You're right. And you know, we we want it to be a positive experience. So, I will work my tail off to get some funds. >> Erin, >> yes. >> Erin, I will not be on the board at that point, but keep me posted with fundraising a dinner for six. We'll see what we can get some money. >> Okay. >> I'm glad to do it. >> You could always travel with us, Lee. >> Yes, I could. Poutine every day. >> Yes. Okay. Any other questions? >> Erin, I just I just wanted to say how thoroughly you planned for this. And I I uh respectfully disagree with Rita because if this isn't a we're not going to Six Flags. If

152this isn't a learning experience with the museums and all the other things that you're going to do, I don't know that I that I've ever heard one if this isn't it. So your planning is is in my view beautifully done. >> Oh well, thank you. It's very interdisciplinary too because you know there's all the history. I'm also a history teacher. I'm an elementary teacher. Um so for me and Mr. Jones is my other chaperon. It's really something, you know, the culture, um, the just the economic ties and like I said, I'm really going to try to reach out to get some corporate sponsors, companies that deal with Quebec, Eversource, um, they do a lot of business with Quebec. So, I'm really going to try to get that money somehow to to help the kids because

153I I just think that student travel is really important. And like I said, I wish I had enough money to pay for the students myself, but I do not. Anyway, thank you so much for your time. >> But Andrea, I wasn't saying it wasn't educational. I just asked whether or not she had considered April or after school got out. >> I I apologize. >> It was just a thought. That's okay. No problem. >> I apologize for any negative. I just thought it would be fun to um respectfully disagree with you. >> Okay. And I and I just want to make sure Erin, it sounds like the board is really psyched for you to do this and it's so good to like hear about field trips again. I know I for one um have missed hearing

154about all this all the different ways that um we reach our kids. Um but just to make sure that any fundraising stuff kind of goes through the superintendent's office so that it's it's >> Oh, definitely. Like um I mean we have a form at the high school that we have to fill out and then nothing is done like everything's like documented. nothing. Um, but you know, some of the corporate sponsorships, uh, that might entail like me reaching out and then filling out the form and then, you know, >> you know, getting Ted a little bit like involved in that because I just I've never really done that before. But everything would be documented and you know >> I I I just think that the board is a little bit protective over the superintendent making sure

155all fundraising kind of kind of goes through uh through Absolutely. >> And Aaron and thank you for staying so long in the meeting for um for >> I was gonna say the same thing. >> Thanks for hanging in there with us Aaron. >> So I'm going to entertain I'm gonna wait. >> Well, we're gonna vote on it Aaron. So, if you want to stay the >> So, Kim, Kim, I had a question. I I couldn't find on here. How many students? >> It wasn't >> the >> Sure. I'm sorry. The pricing is on It's on the second sheet and it's >> because one one attachment didn't come through. Only one did. Only the slideshow came through. >> Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. So if you there should be a PDF attached on the second page of

156the PDF the pricing is based on 25 students. So if say I can only get 20 students then you know the price is going to have to be adjusted. But I mean I would like to fill a bus. A bus can fit like 45 to 50 students. I'm going to try to recruit as many students as I can. So then the price would change. >> Yes. If I get more than 25 students, then the price will decrease. And I can also take adults, but adults will pay $1,200 instead of there's two. There's a student price and there's an adult price. Any other questions? All right. All those in favor of the motion that's on the floor, which is to approve the field trip request to Quebec City, Canada, which is scheduled for May 26, 2022

157to May 30th, 2022. Um, signify by raising their hands or saying I >> I >> nayain. This motion has carried. Erin, you got yourself a trip. >> Yay. Not yet. >> Good luck. A >> um Liz, do you have any letters, communications, or comments? >> Oh, I got a list. >> All right. >> Thank you for calling on me first. All right. First of all, um I watched the recording of the underclassman awards and was completely impressed as always at the scholarship of our students. Um, I was also last week I visited Pitch High School to deliver the Connecticut History Day regional medals to Miss Haj's students Mary Clark and Jackson Kramer. So, that was a really cool thing. And by the way, the National History Day results came out in Connecticut as a as

158team Connecticut, the state, we finished in the top 10% um for the entire nation of and and the the rest of the world. There's 58 affiliates total. So 50 states plus eight affiliates, we were the top 10%. So we did good. Anyway, um I attended the IB senior celebration as well as the retirement reception for GPS staff and uh also uh attended the Fitch High School graduation. Those kids were my last freshman that I had the pleasure of teaching. So it was rather bittersweet. Um I had planned on attending the senior music concert. However, I got the time mixed up and I showed up at 6:30 and it was at 1:00. So, I kind of missed it. Um, I have had emails and multiple emails and conversations about the change in the start time of

159GG G uh Grant Middle School and Fitch High School, but I think it was mostly generated because of the uh mistake that was made on the calendar. So, I I think people will be, you know, as we get through that process, I don't think they're going to be as um anxious about it. Um, I had a couple of parents have come up to me asking about the uh summer music program for the time marching band and um I have had an email request to review the pay scale for paraprofessionals which I'm sure we'll be looking at at the finance and facilities. I did it quick, Kim. >> Fabulous. Lee, do you have um letters or communication? me. >> Yes, >> me. Um, yes, IB as always is exciting. The assembly was wonderful. The graduation was

160wonderful. Thanks, special special to Mark and his people who were just amazing. And I also want to say thank you to Ted. Um, his mom died on Tuesday and he was there on for graduation on Friday. Had it been me, I don't think I would have been there. Thank you, Ted, for that. That's it. >> Here, here, Lee. That's a wonderful um tribute to him. Thank you. >> Yes, >> Rosemary. >> Uh I attended the monthly um board meeting of Sound Community Services and where I share attendance with Michael Talbett who is a wonderful man and I will thank him at the next meeting. Um, and that was held in uh uh with the Norwich Chamber of Commerce as well. So, because we serve that area as well. And that's it. >> Thank you. Um,

161it looks like we lost um Susan again. I'm so glad that she pays a high praise for her to do