001Hi, Rita. All right. Good evening. It's my honor to um call the board of eds uh special meeting uh to order. Today is January 30th and it's about 6:05. Um and we are going to be marching through our budget work session. Um and before we do that, I just want to remind people that we are going to be meeting at 5:55. We're going to be starting off at 6:00. um for a budget meeting with a 7:00 meeting with the RTM town council uh the RTM education committee, the town council and us um to talk about budget budget issues. Um and so um I just wanted to remind people of that. Um we are are going to be able to um do hybrid for for those of us who um continue to need and want that.
002Um we are that's why we moved to Thrive 55. So I just want to remind people um that February 1st is our annual meeting um with the town council and a couple years ago we added the RCM >> and it's going to be at 7 o'clock. I understand the joint meeting. >> The joint meeting is at 7 and 6 o'clock >> will be our budget meeting. Right. >> All right. Thank you friends. Um that's been a process to get it. So, I'm glad that we are we are there. And so, with further with no further ado, um I am going to um uh send ourselves over to Ken and to Susan u for our next walkabout. >> Walkabout. That's a good one. Uh, we're going to start tonight on page 5-92. >> Um, 5-92. Oh,
0035-92 is our operations and maintenance um, uh, function. Uh you'll notice on uh on this page we have the FTEES for uh for administration custodial maintenance uh in one clerical. These are unchanged from the prior year budget. If we go down to 5- um 5-93 these are and this is going to be on two pages because there's there's a lot of lines here. Um on the first section, salaries and wages, uh it amounts to a 2% increase uh over last year. Uh the custodial maintenance uh are driven by the uh by the uh the contract uh the union contract that we have. Uh the next section down, employee benefits is up 3.9% uh driven by the uh health insurance uh which uh is a 4.6%. 6% increase uh but it's only driving 3.9. Uh next
004section down uh is our uh professional services. Uh you'll notice a $50,000 increase in this section uh amounting to 185.8%. Uh this these this is accounted for uh due to some preventative maintenance agreements uh that we uh that we need to put in place or uh especially for the for the newer buildings and the three newer buildings um and the the new equipment that we have there. Uh next section >> could you explain that a little bit more than that? What do you mean the new buildings and what exactly are professional tech services? >> Yeah. Um, Rita, those would be uh contracts for uh working on the uh uh HVAC systems, uh the boilers, gas boilers, um the ice uh plant at the middle school, all these things that we didn't have in our uh
005schools that we closed. So these are are are uh new pieces of of equipment that will need to be um maintained and uh it what we will be doing is over the next uh year we'll make sure that our staff goes along with these contractors that need to come in these certified people that come in uh to uh learn the maintenance on these new pieces of equipment so that we'll be able to take care of them for us by ourselves in in the near future. Thank you. >> It's kind of PD for maintenance and taking care of it at the same time. >> Um the next section down is our purchase property services. These are these are services. This is not the the supply. Uh so this is services uh ranging as you can see
006from water, sewer, uh garbage removal. I I will point out snow removal. We're we're holding steady at 50,000. Uh, it was more than enough for last year and hopefully be enough for this year. Uh, changed us. >> Yeah, I know. And hope it's enough for next year as well. Um, overall for this section, it's a 1% increase um over over last year's budget. >> We're going to skip all the way down to 5-95. Um the first section is uh other purchase services. This is mainly our liability insurance. Uh this is an increased cost uh due to the the the more expensive buildings that we now have to uh insure. Uh so this uh additional $40,000 is a number that uh we we share with the with the town um in it's a it's a it's
007a combined insurance policy and and this is our portion. They've actually reallocated so that we're picking up more of it now. So that has come from the town that bill. >> That's right. >> So that's driving a 9.8% increase uh in that section. Uh the next section down is supplies. Uh the biggest items on this section are our electricity and our energy costs. uh you'll see a big increase 140,000 on electricity uh and 92,000 under heating oil. Um the this is this is being driven of course by the the increased costs that we're all aware of. Um it is offset a little bit by anticipated uh savings for when the solar panels are in place, but uh it's it it remains to be seen exactly how that's going to shake out, but um we're hoping
008that um that this will be more than sufficient to to pay for these uh expenses. Uh another big increase is under custodial supplies uh of 21,348. If you recall, last year we moved $50,000 of a custodial expense uh to the to the AR Esser fund. Uh so uh this is contemplating that part of my adjustment, >> but at this point uh this is adding back in uh some of those costs uh so we can get the all the all the supplies that we need regards to custodian. Uh so overall for supplies it's a 15.7% increase and it's driven by the energy. uh energy costs >> and yet I think there was some work done you might want to talk about this in actualizing to try to find the best deals in electricity and fuel oil
009I don't know if you want to speak to that because there has been work done >> yes >> to try to find what even though they've all increased significantly I think we really joined forces with >> that's right some >> yeah so for for heating oil and for diesel we are part of a consortium of other boards of ed and municipalities in Connecticut. Uh and so we are joined with them in regards to finding the best rates and we would um we we we take out a contract at the beginning of the year so we can u make sure that those uh rates are locked in. Uh currently the rate that we have in here this was based upon what we're looking at in November. U rates have come down for heating oil and for
010diesel. Uh so we may be able to adjust this. Uh but at the point when we when we put this together, it it was quite high. It was up over $4, uh for a gallon of fuel oil. At this point, um it is below that. Uh and we're going to meet again next week. The consortium meets again next week to determine what we might be able to lock that one in for next year. >> So there could be further savings, >> right? And then on the electricity we have we have contract rather than uh float on the Eversource rate we have contracts for uh the rate. So we we have a lower rate than what Eversource is uh is offering at this point. Um I think with constellation maybe a combination of constellation and uh
011direct energy for a lower rate. So, we're not on Eversource. We're using Constellation and >> Ever Eversource will do the delivery, but the supply comes from um a third party. >> Okay. >> But still a big jump. >> It's still a big jump even with all those mitigation factors. Uh under equipment, we have uh $10,000, which is the same amount we put in there uh last year. And this is to cover any uh any equipment that uh custo maintenance might need. Uh we need floor scrubbers, vacuums, these types of things. >> Yeah. >> Um so that's no increase over over the prior year. And then dues and fees of 675. No no change from prior year. So total amount for total for operations and maintenance is uh an increase of 478,000 or 6.9% increase >>
012questions. So the everpresent question or call or public approved school projects they did so against for various reasons but one of the reasons some people voted for the project was because of one selling point which was well for example we go from two middle school to one middle school and save money. Uh, so do we know now that we've operated the single school for a while, do we know whether we realize savings? I know there are additional costs and I know we've lost an administrator or two, but have we in consolidated the middle school actually saved any money that we don't know yet or we're afraid to say it's actually costing more money or the savings have been buried by increases. You don't see them. What what say you? >> I'll I'll take one stab
013and you can um I I think you're right. It is difficult to to to gauge because uh it the middle school for instance opened right at the pandemic. Things were not normal. Uh we have not done a comparison of what two buildings cost versus one. Um it it is a worthwhile exercise. It has not yet been done. Uh, I will say that one of the costs that we avoided by by doing this is um is there were some large maintenance items that need to happen on those older buildings that we don't have to do now, >> right? >> Um that's that's the big avoidance. >> So be sure to compare operating to operating scenario capital, >> right? >> That didn't have to be expended. it'd be part of the equation staffing right away and they
014became then um you know avoided cost avoidance in the future >> right >> I think I think it would be important to package this somehow if it's true that we've saved money because in the future beyond all of us probably I don't plan for years and years and years and years for the next school project but there will be another school project and I would like to have in a time capsu in lose sight or something. By the way, the last time we did this and we sold the public on the notion that we would save money, we actually did hear the receipts, so to speak. Okay? So, believe us again, the new us, whatever that is. >> I don't think it's inaccurate to say that some of the savings or cost avoidances were buried
015in some of the higher costs that we're experiencing now. The electricity and fuel costs are outrageous. Yeah, >> but that was inflation too. That's a sign of >> that is inflation and coupled with the fact that we now have more uh equipment uh air conditioning throughout the buildings uh even though the lighting is uh uh LED lighting more lighting uh more fresh air is uh is pumped in on a more regular basis. So a lot of that equipment is run didn't exist in the older buildings in the 50 in the 50-y old buildings that exist now. So that equipment is drawing quite a bit and of course the uh the expense of what uh what that is today. >> I I get that it's an apples to oranges kind of thing and a lot of
016line items uh and that somebody would have to sit down and actually push aside all the real work they have to model the scenarios. I think you might have to model what what what it would have cost to have kept those other two buildings open >> and see what it would have cost and then see what the difference is there. >> Yeah, that's the kind of exercise you have to go through. But I still think it's worthwhile because I don't have to do it. I still think it's worthwhile for for future, you know, because because the public already by default thinks they're always selling us on stuff they can never deliver. I'd like to add one thing we could say and see. >> But I also think Dean I I actually really appreciate your um
017conversation um because I'm also just trying to think about February 1 and then I'm also thinking about March and I'm also thinking about when it goes to the RTM and people I mean we're we're still in a pandemic but we are we are our buildings are all operational and it is our new normal if that's what you want to call it. And people are saying, "Well, where where's the savings? Where the savings?" But it didn't make sense to me until Sam, you said, "Well, we have all new machines. We have things that are running all the time that keep the the buildings moving and not moving. I hope that's moving >> um healthy, but like but because the electricity costs has increased so much, um we're seeing an increase in that. I just think that
018those things are important and I think that there's going to be some people that are not going to be sold. It doesn't matter. But I think that for other people they are going to hear that and go well I guess that kind of makes sense. Um >> that'll address the curious won't necessarily satisfy the actual skeptic. Some skeptics are reasonably skeptic. Right. >> Right. No very loud. Yeah. >> Yeah. and and and I appreciate that because I want to I want to hear their voice because I think that their voice is just as valuable as people who understand that was really important for us to get through. Any questions um from those of us in Zoom? I thought you'd call it Zoom. >> I don't know why. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Ken. >> Right. >>
019You're doing a much better job than me. We're going to move on to uh 5-96. This is the uh transportation. Um so 5-96 you'll see that we have two FTEEs uh in the in the transportation office and 18 uh 18 point uh I think it's 25 actually uh school bus aids uh that uh that go on the go on the buses to help uh special education students. Um it is noted under uh changes that um we are we were in the process of uh bidding out the the bus contract at the time of uh this publication. Uh in addition uh diesel costs are once again this is these are these are uh um uh worked on through the u the consortium that we're a part of. uh at the time we did uh this uh
020they were quite high uh I think I think they are a little bit lower at this point uh in addition we had some leftover supplies so we we get a contract at the beginning of the year and and during the pandemic years we didn't use all those gallons and so uh we we made a plan to use up those gallons uh excess gallons in FY23 this year so you'll know when we go down to the next page you'll Notice that there was quite a decrease in in the cost. And we'll go down to 5-97. Um here are the expenses, salaries, and wages. Uh up 3.8% um that's driven uh by uh competitive wage adjustment for the school bus aids and a 4.1% increase under employee benefits. Uh and then you'll notice in the next section
021other purchase services. This is where the cost that we uh pay to um STA or to Curtain uh in the case of uh line 512 512. Uh and this is based upon the the the uh the original bid that we got from STA. Uh uh we have um gone back to STA as the lowest bidder and have uh worked on getting some uh some relief in the first uh first year uh and just kind of spread that out to the following years. Uh so uh we will be able to lower this amount but uh overall the cost for the for the buses uh would remain the same over the over the three years. Uh but >> and then we would see significant savings if we choose to use year four and five. >> Yeah. >>
022Um then under supplies, this is where the fuel for the school buses, that's where you'll notice uh the prior in this year uh for budget, we had 133520 and that was a conscious use of the leftover uh diesel gallons that we had. Um it's actually going to come in higher than that due to the um due inflation. Um but uh for next year we're anti we were anticipating a total cost of 454,000 but I believe we can bring that down because the rates have have decreased uh since we put this together. Um so at so overall that's actually a huge increase 238 uh% increase. Uh so it's it's coupled it's it's increased rates as well as not having those excess gallons to use again. Uh so uh this in this uh section increases $1.4 million
02323% and driven by the by the by the the contract as well as the the diesel. >> So we work um with other districts in regards to getting better fees for things like our electricity and for oil. What's is there any potential sort of opportunities to do that with the bus contracts in the future? >> Sure. I mean that that's that's always something that could be done that it'd be hard to uh to um to manage it across a portfolio. I think the last time we talked about it uh the contracts didn't line up in ending dates so it was pretty difficult >> like wheat Waterford just um you know went into a process with they were a year and a half and >> and we questioned you know what they're what they ended up
024with but >> where it looked like so much less of a percent they actually had been paying more over years than we have. So you really have to look at more than just a percent. You have to look at what is it actually their daily cost of running those buses. So um so it is it's intricate but anytime we can collaborate and coordinate especially through the learn rests >> um we try to do that because there can be some real benefits to it. So, do we have um where are you in the process of settling our our work with ESTA for our next contract? >> So, uh we have uh negotiated with them a um so so we we showed you those rates at a previous meeting um that that they that come through on
025the bid. Uh and uh it was a very large increase in year one of 21% and then smaller increases. uh we have worked with them to uh uh make that increase 14% in the first two years uh and then uh lower thereafter >> single digit. >> Yeah, >> we I have not signed a contract. It's a contract. >> We've just really negotiated this to really see what kind of savings we can get um in that year one because it was over a million dollars and that was really to me a lot like how can we make this more doable in the future. >> Yeah. The other thing I'm probably want I should point out is that uh in addition we we added two buses from last year's budget. Remember we had to add the two
026buses for special education. So that's that's also contributing to this 20% increase on this page. >> That so that's in the total pupil transportation that 23.3% >> is the two buses that were added. >> It also includes everything that we used to get from the 6 to 6 where we have the midday run happening and the after school run. So that's all inclusive of of what we needed. There's some field trips that we're still working out some details because we used to get those um within the city or city and town of Grton. >> Are we having an extended years for the contract to see if we can get better deals with SDA? >> Well, that is the if we go to year four and five, this is a three-year contract, so that's all we're
027obliged to do once it's signed. But if we go to years four and five, it drops down to 3.7%. which is really a win for us if that's if it's still if they're still serving us well. >> Fourth and fifth. >> So what would be you said 14% was for the first two years. Then what would be the third year? >> I think it's five >> five something 5%. >> And then if we go to years four and five >> 3.7 is the number I remember. >> Yeah. Just under four% for both. Yeah. >> Yeah. For both years. Wow. So, how would you said that this this page was based on the 21%? That's right. >> So, how was this going to change? Are you going to send us? >> We are going to get
028a adjusted superintendent's budget where all the comments that I've heard from around the room and on the Zoom, we've been taking copious notes >> and we're looking and scrutinizing every single category as we're meeting as a district. >> Right. But what I'm I'm asking is you sent us some updates that we got and I stuck in my book. So are are you going to because this one is based on old data, >> but that's because we haven't signed the contract yet, right? So we can't really update this. >> We we are putting together one of those sheets. Do you remember the mic sheet that I continued where we go through and we're saying we can, you know, we're going to be deducting this and this and this and this. So that brings us down to,
029you know, we're right now close to 5%. I'd like to see 4%. I'd like to see something in the three, you know. So, we're working our way through that. And that that whole goal was when talking to Kim, >> we had things going all the way out till almost the end of February, which would have given you limited time to really think about this. So, I want to get that back to you midFebruary. So, we can chew on that some more. >> I I just I kind of answered my own question. So, sorry about that. >> No, I'm glad that you're asking the questions. Any other questions about the transportation? Because that was going to be a large that's a large piece of our budget if we kept it at the 21%. >> Sam, how
030many buses do we run? >> I think it's 48 large buses and about 16 what they call vans or the shorter buses. together. >> Yes, >> I didn't feel like I didn't reach to raise my hand. Um, is there any way we could reduce some of these buses? 48 buses. Um, you know, I thought it just seems like an awful lot. I know we're busing people all over town. Maybe we need to rethink that a little bit so that we're busing more to neighborhoods schools as opposed to somebody from, you know, the city going over to M Mystic River and so forth. I mean, maybe, you know, just to cut these this cost down. There has to be some way we could reduce it. Or are we monitoring exactly how do we monitor how many
031students are on one bus? I mean last year or the year before we had issues because they were saying there were three to a seat. I haven't heard any of that this year. Is it because you added buses? Are fewer stu students riding buses? What is you know kind of what's going on with the how we populate the buses? >> So the only thing added Rita were two small van buses for special education and that that's something you can't avoid. But one of the things that comes with this package is a piece of software that we don't have to pay for that will actually run the buses. So we're going to partner with our with our bus with our team with the company so that we can see efficiencies in this. So my hope is
032that through using I think it's called not transfinder it's >> versat using this new software we're going to be able to really run these routes to find the best efficiency. though there could be and if there are we're going to take advantage of it. So we will keep you posted to see how that all works out. >> And has the bus company talked at all about seat belts for students at all ever? >> No. And I'm aware of >> do they have any plans to have any of their buses run on electric as opposed to diesel? >> They don't have any plans at this time, but we've talked about it. So, >> I think they see it as a project into the future. I think that they're really looking at the data to see how
033reliable they are. And because the data is so in its infant state and we're hearing, you know, of buses catching on fire and buses running out of fuel in the middle of a run, I think we really need um to see what's out there. It's kind of like when the first computer rolled out, you know, some people went out and got it and some people waited. So, they're going to be definitely keeping that in mind because it's going to be a time that they have to do that. >> If I could just add to Susan's comments regarding uh looking at bus runs and uh possibly saving a bus, etc. Uh we have coordinators are working on that on a daily basis. Uh you say that we haven't had any concerns about overcrowding bus. We actually
034had uh principal send us a note on Friday about an overcrowded bus. Well, no, it hasn't come to the board level. That's all I meant. >> Y no. Well, well, we just had a complaint from a principal the other day. Uh, so we've got the tape. We had the tape today. There were two kids to a seat and some kids weren't allowing kids to sit with them. Other kids refused to sit with other kids, three to a seat. But, uh, so those kids went home and told their parents that the bus was overcrowded. So, so some of those things we we look at, we get those kind of comments from principles quite a bit. So they're looking at them on a daily basis and uh we uh the girls in the office are constantly looking
035at uh ways of possibly um combining students on buses which we are doing for a particular run right now um and uh using a bus for something else or possibly saving one in the long run. So that that constant that's constantly going on at transportation office. >> And how many buses um are used by Sacred Heart? >> Uh I believe there's only one, but I I'm not positive about that. >> It's not that many. >> Yeah, I I think it's one bus, >> possibly two, depends upon where they are. >> Right. And and also I had a question since we're talking about the buses. Um, I don't know. So many of them I know that that I'm not talking about the high school buses, which I know we've combined, but so many of the buses
036that come through our neighborhood look pretty empty. So I, you know, I really can't stress enough how important it would be to look to make sure that our buses are being utilized. Um, >> yeah, if you, um, I I think, uh, that may be twofold. um when a bus uh goes all the way from the other end of town uh down to Mystic River for instance, we we have less kids on the bus because um because of the length of a run, some of our buses actually run the full hour and some are actually running over that we're still trying to take care of. Uh so that again is another constant that we're working on. Uh, regarding empty buses, if you went to the schools, you would probably see you don't want to go to
037the schools when they're dropping kids off or when they're picking them up because the lines of parents at all of our schools are still >> uh they're they're very very long. There are still many many parents that are driving their kids to school. >> Um, you you don't want to go up to the middle school in the afternoon because you'll be on that hill for a long period of time. And the high school is difficult, too. But the elementary schools still have long lines, >> right? Do we do we bus to the um the science and technology high school in New London? >> We bus to all of the magnet schools. We do have hubs now which saves us quite a bit, Rita, but um we do and there is um some money that comes
038back to the town for those magnet runs. So even though New London, I thought New London supplied some of the buses themselves to get the students here in the elementary schools and middle school. >> No, Ledger and New London and Learn are the three different um groups that we do get kids to. >> Do we students to the magnet schools in New London? I I'm not talking about the multicultural magnet school or marine science or I'm talking about New London's magnet schools. Yes, >> we bust to them. I thought New London was going to be taking care of that if they wanted our students to go to those schools. >> I can certainly ask that question. I'd be happy to. >> That would save us. >> It's a short list of schools that we actually
039bus our our Graten kids to. Uh uh I I can send I can get that list to you and send it I'll get it to Susan and then you can send it out in board notes or or to them later. >> I would appreciate that because you know if you have students going to Win Elementary, Jennings or um all the way down to Nathan Hale that that's a a long way to go. >> Yeah, those are schools we don't transport to. But >> Oh, you don't? So you don't do the elementary schools in New London. >> We'll get you the list, Rita. That's a good thing. we should all look at. >> Good question. >> Yep. >> Dean, >> so the buses that we Well, a couple questions. One is so whatever contract we enter
040into, we can say we're going to have 48 buses, 48 large buses, and 16 to 18 of the quote. and we discover through our own genius or through the genius of the program Versatran that we could save a couple of buses. We're allowed to say under the contract we're not going to pay for buses. >> We can adjust the number that first question. The second question is >> and this is probably this probably asked every year. I know it's asked every year which is the buses that we plan to run whether before an efficiency study or after an efficiency study. Do we plan on the assumption that all kids will be on the buses? There there is a policy that says that any student who has uh the right to >> right paraphrase it, but
041the right to ride a bus that we must give them a seat on the bus. So some of those some of those buses that have not that many kids on it have some ghost students on that bus. They are reserved seats for kids within the district. >> How many do we know how many kids? probably we must know because we allow the hangers they're they're parking spaces but kids who drive to the high school they're not on bus >> if they if they're if they qualify for riding a bus they still have a seat on a bus >> so they're in ghost >> so when their car breaks down >> or whatever can still get on the bus >> when they routinely drive to school because they we got a practical car and Johnny can
042ride it that's what we want him to do and want to run the bus anymore fine I have a good idea >> what What we're looking at, Dean, for the future, and hopefully by next year we can put it together, is an opt out form of parents that are going to drive their kids every day or for a kid who's going to drive every day, they would opt out. And then if they need to opt back in, it would we give them a certain length of time before we'd be able to do that. Provided there is a seat on the bus that's going, but it doesn't I don't know how much. And of course, there are parents who drive their kids to school. their parents are driving their kids to school every other day, but
043not every day. That sort of thing. >> And that's that's rough to get a handle on, but I think overall it's safe to say that we provide a capacity that significantly exceeds the actual use of the system which is fine or the New York MTA, but I mean, >> but this opt out program is really interesting. So, we're really gonna >> So, when will we when can we hear more about that? And does that go to finance and facilities? I mean, >> once we get once we get that put together, we'll go to finance facility. >> Okay. >> So, could we implement it in this budget year for the 23 24 months? >> I would say do it in the beginning of a year or at the halfway mark like January 1. We could have
044done it after that if we >> I still don't think it's too late for next year if we can get next year. Yeah. >> Yeah, >> that would be good. Yeah. >> Right. >> All right. >> Ready to move on. >> So, the next section actually I I gave you new um pages. I don't know if everybody has their new pages. I've got copies here. >> Thank you. >> I got limited copies here. So pass >> but I will put it up on the screen as well. So uh for for for this section this replaces uh the back of the book. It it replaces pages um 5- see 5-103 to 5-108. And this section is is mainly our uh out of district or tuition um section. And and the reason it it's more pages than
045before is uh we we broke out uh general education from special education just to make it less uh a little more easy to understand. >> Okay. So what page are we on starting? >> So we're going to start on page new page 5-104. >> Did did we already do um 5-98? Have I missed that? We don't have that one on our list to do. >> Not tonight. >> Oh, you don't want to do it tonight? Oh, okay. >> Thank you. >> So, we're moving to out of district place tuition and placement, which is 5-104 to 108. And we have new copies. We'll make sure board members have these. >> They should have them. The numbers are good, but it's just we broke it out into >> uh so uh 5-104 and 5-105 now are is
046just the general education um students that we pay tuition for. And I added a little section in here to help us um understand what we're paying for here. Uh and this is the number of students uh that we uh number of general education students that we paid for uh both uh last year and this year. Uh it's on the B it's kind of towards the bottom of 5-104 there. See that little box and this uh general education student enrollment for FOAG magnet as of October 1. Uh so you'll see that uh last year for uh Ledger we sent 13 general education students. uh this year at 18. So that that number went up. Uh but as far as the magnet uh learn and crack magnet uh schools uh 148 last year, 142 this year. So
047that went down by six. And in the London magnet uh um schools actually went down from 67 to 48. So that's a that was a reduction of um should be able to do that in my head. 19 >> 19. >> Yeah. Um so overall uh a decrease in the number of uh students regular education students >> that should probably be highlighted because that's also part of um dean the conversation around um >> intra district mag >> what we're doing with our schools and how are we saving money and we're providing better looking buildings and programming and we're down by 19. Um Susan New London magnet refresh my I know what the boag is but what are the schools for new the learn and correct magnet and what's the school for New London mag >> so
048New London high school has magnets within the high school so there's a STEM there's an arts now >> they might be even considering another so they have multi- magnets within the school >> that's so that would be New London magnet >> new London I don't know school is >> and the correct >> there's one magnet school. >> Isn't that the one that's in like East Harford? No, >> we don't know. It's a It's a school choice. It's a choice. A parent placed a child there. We don't have I think you only live one. >> Is it like Riverview or something? >> No, I it >> I think you have the name of it. I think >> it's a um Yeah, >> I think >> it's a Howard Gardner thing. >> Is it like seven? >>
049The intelligence >> public schools is a district magnet school. So it's K through 12. They accept from 36 towns. >> So New London magnet is K through 12. >> Learn and crack is >> are those prek to 12 because the friendship school is in there. >> Oh, okay. That's I was kind of wondering if if we could really identify what these, you know, learn and crack, what were the schools that are involved for learn and crack and what's the schools involved for the little London magnet? It helps um tell that story better. >> So, we can do that >> and then we get into the numbers. >> Yeah, here are the numbers. Um and uh you'll see that uh we had we had budgeted just the 13 students uh at VOAG. It actually came in
050higher at 18. So we are budgeting again for next year at 18 at the higher number. So that's what's driving an increase in uh in boag. Uh then under the magnet school uh tuition we had budgeted uh actually we came in lower than what we had budgeted. Uh so we are uh using the same number of students uh for the 24 budget uh but we've already gotten our increased rates from learn and we're estimating a 2% increase on the u on the new London commission. >> So was learn also 2%. >> Uh learn it was it wasn't um equal across the board. Oh, it's like 2.7 two to 2.75 depending upon which school. >> I think the special ed, the Ocean Avenue Learning Center was going up the most. >> That's probably true. >> But
051this is a 1.3% decrease of school. >> So, is it not a decrease or is it an increase? >> It's a it's a decrease in the number of students but an increase in the rates. >> So, that's what it is when you add and subtract. There's a reason I was so sick of teaching years. Don't go mean it in any derogatory way. >> No, you didn't. So, so it's a decrease in students but because of the pricing. Okay. Got it. >> Thank you. >> Overall a decrease under magnet but >> an increase in >> it would have even been a better decrease had they not raised the rates but everybody's raising their rates. So, so we do have quite a few students. We no, they no longer have their middle school. So, was was that
052part of the decrease in students? >> No, dual language has been closed for two years. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Right. I know. >> But I'm just cur It's two actually, but I was just curious um you know because there were we used to have quite a few students there. So maybe that's what the actual was for 2122. >> I can say from experience I've had quite a few um students from Grten who have chosen to come back to Graten Middle School instead of going to Benny Dober in one of the pathways. We've had we've had quite a few. >> I think the new middle school is >> the new middle school the programs I think have really accentuated the positivity. And I think it would be important >> um just to remind the public that
053this the we have students that are going to a different district that have chosen this because of law >> isn't it because of school law that they have choice but you know especially young parents or parents that are don't know this I think that needs to be part of the narrative >> that their you know students have >> that parents have the ability for school choice. Mhm. You're right. >> That's a good place. That would be good to put down the problem description and budget narrative. >> And we've had to market that we are one of their very viable choices. As a matter of fact, we have about 12 staff members including MUA who will hang out at the Navy um rec center at the end of February to say Graten is a very viable
054choice. Beverly >> can can you tell me what is our per pupil cost for the VOAD school? >> Um it is it's around $6,000. >> Oh yeah, you're right. $6,823 for Thank you. Beverly, do you have more? Do you have another question? >> No, thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> So, Kim, I believe Friday is the day that the uh general assembly is going to discuss about whether or not they'll pay for magnet tuition. So, that there's a possibility that some of this may go away if they reimburse districts. I think by FY25 that it actually takes effect and it does give I've shared that with the board. It would be a wonderful thing. I think I shared it like 1.8 million. >> I didn't think it was FY25. I thought it was sooner
055next year. I thought >> we read that somewhere, but I'll I'll double check. >> Yeah. Okay. I would love it for next year, but >> but we can um for those of us who are going to the legislative breakfast on Friday at Montville, this is another good thing to talk about about how it's great to have all these town magnet, you know, other town magnet schools because I never remember if it's intra or intra. So, I'm just going to say that um that it would really be helpful for all districts not to have to pay for our kids going to other school districts. >> All right. All right. If we go on to 5-106, this is um this is tuitions for special education students. >> And this was the this section right on the bottom
056of this page is what we were updating. So this this is as of uh as of uh last week. Uh and uh we we broke out um uh the number of students with IEPs versus the number of students uh that are getting um uh direct services with uh with 504s. And we also break it out between active and entire year because these students tend to uh to come and go. It's hard to pinpoint an exact number. Uh so the active is what we have as of right now. Uh so as of right now total IEP and 504 students is 109 >> and there do look like there's some efficiencies that perhaps we can even as we go through the budget and do the adjusted budget we might be able to reap some benefits from that.
057That was what I was hoping for. >> But you never know who's going to move into town. >> You don't you don't this is it's a it's an inexact science trying to figure this out. And you can see that uh we we do have many more students with a 504 plan. Um however, these are the students who receive a direct service through the 504 plan that has a tuition associated with it. So those are the students that we counted. Um and again um we are seeing um less agency placements. The focus of DCF um really is in providing services in the home. So, we're seeing less students placed out of the home. Um, and we're seeing um certainly you can see um uh um less magnet students. I was comparing it to last year actually.
058If we look at last year um I'm sorry, we had a little bit more magnet. >> Yeah, we had less vocational, a little bit more board place for IEP. Um same number of agency um and then a little bit more magnet >> a little bit less on the agency. >> Yeah. And um Three Rivers Middle College has increased their total enrollment from 60 to 80. So we have had a few more students go to Three Rivers Middle College and um we continue to see large numbers at Marine Science and the Friendship School. Mhm. So once again, part of that narrative to add all the what are the different schools out of placement would make sense. >> Y that makes sense >> because I forgot about the three rivers magnet. >> Yep. >> Yeah. And that's
059a nice option for some students because it's a very small personalized program. >> Right. We've had students who've been very successful going from a large high school to a small program like that. >> Yes. affordable. >> If we go down to the um to the cost section, um the way this one's broken out is we have we have to uh specify whether uh these are uh students are placed in public schools or non-public schools. And so that's what these two sections represent. Uh the first section function 12 4121 on page 5-107 is um is the costs for the students that are placed in public schools which are the learn um u learn >> special education program I think it's also program >> y river street school in Windsor >> uh and then the uh the
060bottom section 4122 those are the costs to send the student to a non-public school. This would be the like the Walkford Country School. The >> they're called approved private special ed programs. >> Bradley, New London Regional, um Adelbrook, Waterford Country School. And those are students that we really um struggle to to program for appropriately in district uh because of the nature and severity of their disabilities. And we're always partnering with those schools to see, you know, when the students are ready to return back to the least restrictive environment. We did, do you have a question? >> Oh, I did. I had a question about the Three Rivers Middle College um or middle high school program. Is it just still for juniors and seniors even though it increased from 60 to 80 students? >> As far
061as I know, it is. Yes. >> Thank you. um in in the cost if I may um you'll notice that we do we do are projecting or budgeting a decrease in the in the state place students uh as as for what um Denise was saying uh we have noticed a definite decrease in in those costs uh but we have um budgeted an increase in the uh in the magnet school and the boardplace um students >> the problem with the board place students is that we just don't know who's going to move in. You know, last summer, um we had two students move in from a a neighboring district who were both outplaced by their their district. So, it's it's challenging because you just you don't know who's going to register. Um, we also get students
062through the military that we don't always know they're coming and um, you know, some of them, you know, have very significant disabilities that it's hard to program for in district such as um, a student who's deaf or heart of hearing and needs to go to the American School for the Deaf. So, you know, sometimes those costs are unpredictable. But we work very hard with our approved private specialed partners to um talk about when it's time for students to come back to be in their their home school with their peers, have access to the enriching electives that we offer that many of these um approved private schools do not have. Um that's a real draw for a lot of our students to come back when they're ready. Are these um the tuitions standardized? Um everybody pays
063the same every school district or are they negotiated? >> They're they're different. It depends on what type of program they're offering. So Rita brought up earlier the learn Ocean Avenue Learning Academy in New London. It's by Mitchell College. Um they have highly specialized staff on on um in on their team. So every student that we place there gets services from a BCBA. Um every student has a one-to-one parah. Um so there's certain components to the program that learn provides for every student. They feel that's what they need to be successful and their tuition is one of the more expensive in the region. >> Let me correct. I stated that wrong. So if Ledger was sending a student there is do they pay the same? Yeah, we have a contract with every private school and we
064um they have to submit their rates and how their tuition is calculated. >> So what percentage goes to staff, professional development, taxes, benefits, things like that. >> All right. So that's standardized across standard school districts >> versus negotiated. Yes. Thank you. >> Did the private schools like uh let me pick on Waterford Country School for just a second. Um, so if we have a student that is going to one for country school and it's deemed by the IEP that he that he or she then needs like occupational therapy services, do they contract? And I mean, how do like does that then add to the tuition bill? Okay. >> Yes. >> Because they they have a contracted to our private schools. >> The tuition is itemized and it's directly related to what's in the IEP. >>
065Got it. So even the number of counseling sessions per week are charged by a a flat fee for that those sessions certain number of times a week. Um same with OT, PT, speech. And that's why Jod who works in Ken's office, she kind of goes back and forth between both offices. our tuition admin assistant is so critically important because not only does she crossch checkck those bills against the IEPs um but she communicates if there's a discrepancy so we have many eyes on them and Denise do we supply the special like occupational therapists do we supply the occupational therapists ourselves because I remember our our um maybe a teacher of the deaf or whatever would would have to leave our school and go over there. Is that still the case? >> There are some schools
066who that are a little smaller that might not have um a full complement of related services staff, but most of them have come along. Most of them, even like Bradley school, they do have an OT. She's only there one day a week. So if our PPT can't meet on the day she's there, she submits a report. But we did used to send staff out to the out of districts. It's becoming less frequent that we have to do that now. >> Okay. Um but Denise, if if a student is going to an um let's say Benny Dover or and has a 504 plan or for for PT or OT, don't we send and the multicultural magnet school, don't we send our own PT and OT? >> No, I don't believe so. Learn learn provides those staff
067at at RMMS and in New London, they contract with their own staff or hire them directly >> and then they charge us. >> Yeah. The only staff we send out to the magnet or the um approved privates is a school psychologist because oftentimes the in the therapeutic setting, they have clinicians or social workers that deliver the services. So when it's time to re-evaluate a student, it's um often we have to send a school psychologist to do the actual assessment because they don't all have school psychologists on staff. But that happens for each child once every three years. Thank you. >> Continue the march. >> All right. >> Are we done with that? >> We're done with that. >> At home. >> Thank you everybody. Appreciate >> it. Hi Denise. Thank you for your hard work.
068>> Thank you very much. Pleasure to see everybody. >> It's a pleasure to see you. >> Do you want me to put these on the screen? So, we're now moving towards the CIP folks. He has the additional one. Can you pass that out, Sam? We have an additional sewer project that you didn't have information about. It's actually come to our attention on the vintage side of pitch. And um so we will be adding that to the packet. And if you're if you're not here in person, I'll make sure that Joyce sends you a copy digitally. You're welcome. Thanks, >> Tim. >> So, go ahead. I'm just giving you >> Thank you, sir. >> You're more than welcome to pass. Just don't pass. >> Sam, does Sam have a copy? >> Yeah, I know. >> All
069right. want to start with this. >> Which one you want to start with? >> Let's start with Okay. So, William has a question. So, let me start with there. >> Just because it's my first time with us, could somebody just give me the definitions for the capital reserve fund and general obligation bonds fund is >> town. That's fun, right? So, we have money allocated for those projects. means we'd have to specifically go out and borrow money. >> Okay. >> That we don't have I might that's about right. >> And then in order to bond we would have to go to a referendum because the body the GRE body would have to vote in a referendum, right? Is that like we did with schools? >> Okay. >> You can't borrow without a referendum. >> Yeah. >>
070Does that make sense? >> Yes. And so that means we would need to get approval for them versus they're already we already have those funds. >> So be a little bit more specific. >> So like for capital reserve funds that's the source for all these on page one of the um the the one that we got which is the athletics facilities, fieldhouse, air quality. Does that mean that we already have those funds or >> so that so that's interesting that you start with that. So let's see if I can answer this and and not confuse the process. So the fieldhouse um and I believe you put a a bleachers in one for us. Is that correct? Because that's what we asked you to do. Um those are ones that would absolutely could not be covered
071by capital improvement by the the improvement funds that are given to um that that the town would look at. We put them in as a board um in December was it when we we asked you to do that because we didn't want the town council to forget that even though we have this field committee that the bleachers the fieldhouse and the athletic what's that building called or the concession stand um need need great attention but my guess is is that the moment that John Bert and his staff look at that they're going zero that out because that's really going to need to be a bonding issue. >> Okay. >> But we I I I think most I mean I think that that was our general understanding is that we knew that that wasn't going to
072go forward, but we were talking about how serious we were about those projects. >> Okay. >> Does that did that does that feel like I summarized? How did I do? You did well. >> Fairly well. >> Scary that I'm starting to understand this. 12 years in the making. Shall I shall I share >> please? >> Yep. >> All right. >> Sharing is caring. >> There we go. >> There's the first. Okay. So, the first item is the Fitch High School athletic facilities. This is the football field, the regrounding of the football field and adding irrigation to the football field. uh in the amount of $250,000 uh and I believe it was $30,000 for uh the irrigation uh which would give us uh a better efficiency in using the water. We actually have somebody going out
073there presently with a water cannon watering the fields moving the cannon down. Yes. moving to water cannon on an hourly basis or or whatever depend upon the amount of rain that we get. So, >> and the total cost is >> $280,000. >> Do you want to ask questions as we go before we >> I think that that makes sense on each item. >> And you guys, I'm going to um for those of us who on Zoom, I'm going to try to pay attention, but you might need to holler because there's only like five squares. I do know that once you raise your hand, you >> We could put this down. >> Let's put this down so that we can see them. >> Yeah, there you go. >> So, does anyone have questions about the the
074football field and the crowning and the irrigation? >> This has been at least five years or four years that I remember that this has been here. >> Dean, >> this is the part of this. We don't have to do this if we reorient. Depends on what the overall grand plan is, right? >> Assuming there's no grand plan, this is what this project would look like. >> Last year it didn't go forward and uh they they said that they were waiting to hear what the plan was from the field task force, right? >> We're still waiting. >> It's kind of a placeholder. >> Yes. So when we when we go to propose this our plan is we like we were given now the the total plan the steps will pay the timeline everything. >> no no
075>> we give we give them an estimate for the project and they determine where the funds would come from if they grant it. >> Okay. >> And then we have by rule we have five years to complete the project. So when we get to a CIP that's definitely going to be part of that capital project. How about if you walk us through that would be helpful for me too because this one is just a little bit more difficult because it's got some more political drama to it. The the the football field that makes >> I guess we restructure the whole thing. >> How does it go? So any other questions on the football field one? And that is has anybody taken into consideration what the um injury possibilities are with leaving it as it is.
076>> Well, it's too early for that. We have we haven't discussed doing an artificial field there. This would be for a grass field. This would be to continue a grass field. >> Are you saying that have already taken injuries that would have occurred because it wasn't cracked? If this doesn't get through, >> right, >> I'm I'm asking about the possibility >> of safety >> for the crowning of the field and the irrigation. >> Correct. >> So, if this doesn't go through and the field task committee recommends an artificial field, is that what you're >> No, no. She's saying, "Let's pretend that there's no field committee and if this doesn't get passed, are people taking into account sure if I got this um are are they taking into account what the possibility of injury would be
077with the lack of crowning of the field?" That's her question, right? That's not mine. >> I I don't have any such report. I guess I would have to talk to the athletic director and see if something like that. >> Nobody's considering that. Well, we don't know if people are not considering it, but but >> Well, that's my concern is that >> I'm going to recognize Oh, go ahead. >> No, no, no. I'm just my concern that it's if if some if you'll bring it up because it's a >> the crowning the actual crowning of the field is for drainage mostly. That's what the crowning in the field. So, they actually crown clear. So, let's move on. J and then Dean, >> I was just going to mention that uh that actually comes up every year
078>> and when it when it came up last year at the town council, I I feel as though we're we're just sort of in that movie Groundhog Day. We just have the same >> discussion every year. We have the same questions. We have the same answers. And last year, one of the town counselors said football is an inherently unsafe sport to begin with. So they didn't feel that safety should even be considered. So I'm just mentioning that not because I necessarily agree with it, but I'm just telling you >> welcome to our world. >> We're, you know, we're in we're in groundhog day. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Jay. That was my question. You answered. Thank you, >> Dean. >> You can raise double. You can raise the issue of safety with almost everything. It's
079kind of like saying, you know, the odds of you being killed by a SEAL machine gun are very, very, very low. but they're not zero. Um, I have no idea what the stats are on crown versus on crown, properly drained versus properly, you know, improperly drained fields. Um, I I suspect that because we're talking about our team, our games that as kids get hurt over a season or even 10 seasons, we probably don't have enough statistics to be able to determine whether they hurt because of the condition of the field or because they were slammed pretty hard or because of something else. Um, it's a followup to that one. I can't think of it, but I other than raising the issue, you know, is safety, you know, are we considering the safety? Do we have
080real evidence that perhaps this is a safety issue or are we just raising it because frankly it's a self without counsel? Maybe not I'm not, you know, don't mean to belittle, you know, the kids safety by any means. Um, I'm just thinking I don't know. I mean, maybe it is football play on the field. But >> William, >> yeah, I think the biggest safety issue is not so much about crowning and recrank. It's that it's going to be real grass versus right now the artificial turf, right? >> You know, and the trend nationally is migrating towards real turf versus the artificial turf because of, you know, not so much getting tackled and hitting it, but it's the spontaneous injuries due to the to the nature of the artificial turfs increasing the likelihood of Achilles tendon
081ruptures and ACL tears. Um, so that's kind of but on the issue of whether or not the standard 280 and does that affect safety on the field, it's to me it's pure speculation. Real turf versus astro turf, separate question. I get you there. I've heard about that. Right, let's move on. Okay. So, um >> we had the architect uh do a a study on the fieldhouse slash um concession stand area um to uh make it uh um accessible for uh female athletes as well. And uh there were two uh recommendations from them or proposals uh and they presented it to the athletic department and Mark and his team selected this uh option which would uh put uh all all of the functions in one building and it would be a new building. The buildings would
082be knocked down. brand new building would be built at the expense of $15,490,000. >> And I just want to preface that we were asked to put this in just as a kind of placeholder to realize that because we hear a lot of times from counselor that that the buildings are just in a horrible condition and I agree, but this would be something that would have to go out to bond. So, it's really not even worth the debate, but it was kind of a placeholder to show that this is something that needs to be done for the town in the future. Mind you, just because it goes out for bond referendum doesn't mean it's going to pass. >> Well, that's true. But I'm just saying we're just making sure it's >> Yeah. Well, it's out there
083now. They know we've done the planning. >> My understanding um and Jay, correct me if I'm wrong, is that we agreed to pay for the architect study from our from our funds, >> our own funds, because they wouldn't even do the plan, but now we know. >> So now now they get to see what the plan is, right? So, we have a couple of those coming up. >> All right. >> This going to be tricky and session spelled wrong. >> Oh, we'll fix it. >> Okay. Just >> you got that. >> Yeah, I know. I just wanted, you know, because it is a school situation. All right, let's move on. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. North one's next academy >> and this one is not for next year. >> This is not for next
084year. So we really don't need to subs it but it's just to keep our eye on it for the case. >> Again uh we've instituted a a process where we are taking care of the humidity uh by um active dehumidification. Uh costs us a bit more in oil because we run the heat at the same time we're running the air uh to dry it out. Um but >> it's worked. >> It it has mitigated the problem at this point. So, um, we pushed this out another year. >> Next, >> the $250,000 would do two units on the building. There are 10 units on here, so five years of $250,000 on the um, so I mean, Northeast is not a brand spanking new school, but with the exception of the school that just built, it's one
085of the newer ones with Catholic 15 years old again. Yeah. So, is this a problem that comes with the school's age or was it something with the way the school was built? Um, it has been a problem since building. Okay. >> And it's on a wet land. It's on wet. It always even the school prior to it had issues. because I know that there's some features to these buildings. Now, for example, on Northeast, the timbers, they're wonderful, except that once they're exposed, the portions that are exposed, those need to be treated, but they look great when they look new, but now we have down the line, we have the maintenance that we didn't have before, and that's decorative. That's nothing else. So, I'm just wondering whether this is one of these things where, you know,
086in that category of it was great when we got it and then, you know, I think you were on the town council when I asked to uh >> refinish the on the on the on the building. created quite a stir in town because people didn't recognize that once we had exposed wood to the elements that we would need to refurbish them >> every so many years something else should have been designed and I know there's a lot of details in the school some stuff gets away from you not not you I mean the the designers >> it's okay this is good I'm also slowing this down a little bit Next, >> Fitch and Barnum HVAC. >> Okay. So, the Fitch HVAC and Charles Barnum HVAC projects were um we had a study done by uh
087RLE which is resource electric lighting and electric. Uh, and we are finishing up the estimate on that to get that in uh before we meet with the town council and the planning commission. >> So, it's still got a TBD, >> but again, the construction would be done in the following year. >> So, this is really for FY2025. >> Yes. And the state had a grants that they have. Was it 150 million? >> Yeah, we did submit we did submit that grant. We submitted to that grant. We were just talking about that today in our central office meeting. Um, initially the state told us they would have an answer by the end of January, but I was told uh at the state level uh they have they had so many uh applications for these projects that
088they actually stopped doing all other grant applications, meaning school buildings or anything else until they solve this. And today we were told that we should hear by the end of February whether we got that grant. So again, that would take care of culinary arts at Fitch High School. Again, that's another study that uh we took on here in our in in our operating budget. And uh the estimate that we got uh before the plans were done uh was $600,000 for the construction which again would be done over the summer. So we're looking for $600,000 to do the construction. Okay. security cameras. Dr. Kennedy is here with us to talk about this piece. This has been an ongoing conversation. This $245,000 reflects the larger plan and um that we've been discussing really three tiers. Uh first
089tier is to fill in the gaps for both internal external cameras uh across all of our schools. Uh second tier is really to pull together all those cameras. Right now we have systems that are school-based. So if we want to access those systems, we need to be at that school. They are not unified. I don't have the ability to hand an account to Sam or to Susan or to whomever. >> The police. >> Or the police. Thank you. Absolutely. um to be able to access those buildings remotely uh ad hoc when they need should a emergency arise, what have you. That third tier that is not part of this but is an additional piece that we're about to get to is really that mutual link system that we've discussed. We've had ongoing conversations with the
090police departments in town and others where it leverages an install base of cameras first tier. it it leverages that second tier of bringing those comprehensive programs pull it all together so it's web- based and and accessible. That third tier is when we have a emergency we can identify the location we can bring an open channel to that that includes all the stakeholders that need to be part of that conversation and it automatically activates those cameras that are within proximity. Part of that be reason being for example we provide access to the high school and over 100 cameras to those police officers um for a call that comes in they then start the process of going through 100 cameras to identify what they need to look at to help them resolve the issue and so forth.
091>> And then if we have the ability to locate it so that someone would have a panic button to be able to say this is where the problem is. This this includes updating and expanding both the panic buttons as well as the blue light cameras and and kind of areas that we have >> and walkie talkies that are the kind that the police are using so we can be right on the right channel. So that is reflected in the 200. >> So this is what that's the multi that's the uh >> that is the first two tiers. There's a separate just to paint the full picture. The third tier that top one the mutual link system is $150,000 which is a separate CIP ask. So this represents those two tiers. >> Okay. And this is
092what we've submitted for the ARPA funds. So we're not sure where this is going to go. Um, but we wanted to make sure we had it here too as a placeholder to say that this is still a security plan that we really feel has a sense of urgency to get accomplished and the police agree. We meet all the time and they're really partners in on this. >> So once everything is all linked up and you have a system that can be accessed more remotely than being on site, >> correct? Once it's susceptible to hacking, there's never 100% security in any situation. Um, we would test, we would be very careful with whom we provide that access to. You would review that on a regular basis. So, um, again, I would never sit up here and
093tell you there's 100% security uh, possibility, but these are systems that are used extensively throughout. And again, we've had conversations around what is the appropriateness of who outside of board of education would access that when those details we would work out in some kind of policy uh regarding that. >> And we learned today at a safety meeting that we involved the entire campus at the high school, middle school, and Grao that the state police because they were there have actually purchased this mutual link and are looking for the local police departments and fire departments to also buy into this. So is are we going to wind up in the future with it not just a connection between the schools and the police for example but with the schools the police state police and the other
094authorities. >> How far off does this how far over does this go? >> I will only comment on the technical component of that. Technically it would be feasible if I were given marching orders to connect that and make that happen. But again, I believe there could be policy in place that would protect the board of education, the local police department, the state police department, and rules of engagement. >> We could any first responder could actually give access to >> but we would give the access, >> right? But increases the possibilities of well a hack a hack that could be mischievous, a hacker that could be something >> or it could be a security feature that would save a lot of lives. could because right now depending on how the building is compromised or what we
095may or may not be able to do, I can't guarantee full access to any police officer that shows up at a school get access to that. >> Good question, too. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Liz, >> um, you were saying additional cameras. Have the consideration been to put cameras in the hall area? I mean, not hall, but the stairwells. Uh I'm assuming you're referring to Pitch High School and that would be an affirmative. Yes. >> Okay. Because >> and yes, that's >> another example is out in front of where the buses are at Middle School. The way that the camera was placed externally out there, it's at it's tucked in between the at that main exit and we can't get the full 180°ree view of all the buses. So the plan is to move
096that arm out, put a new camera on there to cover all things of that nature. There have been pain points that have been communicated through building admin that we've been this addressed. >> All right, moving on. >> This is mutual. >> So this is the mutual link. >> Yeah, correct. This is that top tier, >> right? So Dr. Kennedy stole my thunder on this one. So I will just report that uh we are asking for eloquently he did. Um uh we're asking for the $150,000 that the mutual link would cost to install in our district. >> So in total we're asking for the town for the $395 which is still cheaper than what we were 500 the 500 that we were doing for the >> Yep. >> And it's connecting multiple towns. >> Yep. Yep.
097We did find some, you know, things that we probably would have to take care of separately. >> I think in my conversation with U Mr. Bert that I think that the town has some has some want to be able to fund this. >> Yeah, I I think that I've heard that too. I I've heard that too. They're very interested in this >> and we talked about the bleachers a little bit here in the recent past. And so we have uh I I spoke to um uh the company that uh I built the bleachers at Ledger when I was back in Ledger. So, I spoke to the company that actually did the bleaches for me there and got the estimate for what it would cost in today's dollars without going out to bid. So, it's an
098estimate again. Uh, so we're looking at >> close to a $2 million project. >> $2 million. >> Yep. >> And how many bleachers is that, Sam? Is that going to be the same? >> It would be on both sides. It would be it would give us the same number of seings that we have presently. Although, it would also give us uh handicap access. you know, you have to have a have a wide row in the front for handicap, etc. So, >> now is 2 million within the threshold of a CIP or is that would that also be a bonded project? >> That would be up to the town to decide. >> I think it's past a Would you know the answer to that? >> How many? >> Two million. Two million is that about the
099capital? >> I don't remember. >> I know. >> Okay. But that is the two we wanted the fieldhouse and concession stand and the bleachers to be put into a CIP so that um and with us giving so we're it's a placeholder. Yep. >> Yeah. No, really. >> They're all competing. >> I know. Same dollar. I know. >> And while we're in between, I I should let you know that I did get a text. Uh I sent out a question a little bit ago. Somebody asked about buses to Sacred Heart. We actually have three buses going to Sacred Heart. >> But they're not only used for Sacred Heart. We use them after they've dropped off the kids. >> Yep. >> So, yeah. >> Um, are you ready for the big one? The one that's come up
100recently or >> is that what we are? >> Oh, it's not big dollar wise compared to some of the other. >> No, but it has to be done like now. >> So, um, >> this is a priority. >> So, we learned of a little problem that we had at Fitch High School in the tunnel. on the V side is down by the gym or by the wood shop in that area. So, it's all underground, under slab, etc. Uh these are original sewer lines from when the building was built >> 54. >> Uh and uh so we had uh closed circuit TV cameras going down through these pipes to determine the conditions, which I have lots of photos of. And many of the pipes have actually disintegrated. So the water is flowing through essentially a ground
101tunnel um to where it needs to go uh or will be collapsing that sort of thing. So um >> details >> this this would be uh money to make those repairs to those areas. Um >> it doesn't fix it, it just repairs it. >> It repairs it. And uh in certain areas they would actually do a ceramic lining where the pipe is gone. They do a ceramic lining to make essentially in that area. >> Yeah. >> So things like this that need to be fixed pretty much immediately. How do they get done? We uh we we called in a company that specializes in this uh and we had them there about three days I think uh and we made the repair so that we go on until we're able to make the repair when school
102was not in session. They were able to >> mitigate. >> I don't know if it's a total repair. >> Part of the problem. >> I know. >> They were able to do just enough, but we have more work to do. >> I I was just curious um who paid for the the repairs that were done. >> My budget paid for it. >> Yeah. >> Our budget. And how much did that come to? >> Not our besser. We we paid for that through operating cost. >> How much? >> Yeah. question. >> Ken, you remember? >> I don't recall that. >> I'm sure it was a substantial amount. >> Yeah, it was. I I I'm I'm trying to I could probably look it up. >> We can get that to you. >> Oh, that that's I was
103just curious. I mean, if we're asking the town for 75,000 to reconstruct it, we've already put in >> We have. You're right. >> In the neighborhood of $20,000, >> I think it would be good to, you know, state that. >> Good point. I I when we go to planning and let them know that we've done that, spent that kind of >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Any other CIPs? >> No. >> That's it. >> What about this one here that says school need summary? Do we have to go over that >> or did I miss it? >> No, that's just a um >> Did we do that? >> That that's a blurb that we put in the front to uh remind the uh town council and the RTM that there are ongoing issues in some
104of our schools, >> older schools. Okay. And I think that that was um asked on by the finance and facilities is that we don't want people to forget the fact that there's so many other projects that have not been able to be um or we have asked for and they have not >> been done. Motion to >> second. >> I have a first and a second for adjournment. All those in favor, please say I. I >> abstain. Motion is carried. Good night, guys. See everyone at six Wednesday.