001I would like to at um it is 603 it is February 1 I would like to call the of the Board of Education um to order we will go until s um and then we'll uh we will party with our next um and so there you are um and just to let people know I think we are going to actually be through with the book um tonight um if we can get to all of them um and then oh wow there you are wow shoot and then the um the work of the board will be to um take a look at percentages and what we want to see continue to be in our in in the budget and to give some direction to um to superintendent Austin and um her staff so I am going
002to now um uh have Ken lead us um into our next part all right we are going to go to page 5- 76 I'm going to share it on the screen please microphone closest you they won't be able to hear you got to be in front right directly in front of right in front all right there we go uh 5- 76 um and this is uh teaching and learning and we're ready to go uh so uh 5- 76 shows the uh the FTE and teaches teaching and learning we have uh the data manager position we also have grades 6 through 12 curriculum coordinators there are three halftime teachers so uh three times 0.5 so it's 1.5 FTE uh and that's what's showing out here uh in one clerical position if we go down to the
003expenses um you'll see um for salaries we have a um uh overall 3% increase the 6 through 12 curriculum coordinators are uh per Union contract and the other positions are at a 2% increase uh employee benefits up uh 3.1% uh no change to other purchase Services which is travel uh under supplies professional materials is up $4,000 uh this is the cost for books and other professional materials used by the teaching and learning uh group and then finally uh under dues um uh 1,500 no change from the prior um from the prior year budget and just so you know dues are are CLC which I think the Library Consortium and um ascd I forget what that is um Association supervision curriculum development thank you say uh total total for this function uh is uh 3ou 392,000
004I'm going to uh recognize Liz and then Rita and then Beverly quick question for you do you hear me is this on I don't know if you're I can hear you okay if you can hear me from here but I don't can you guys hear me do this Liz yes she said she can said she can hear okay um are the curriculum cordinators are they paid um through completely 100% their salary through a the admin or is do they have like a portion in admin and a portion in teaching they're half and half so they they're basically I think it's a 40 60 split because they do some administrative work even in the summer time so they have a few summer days so they're basically a day that they teach and a day that they
005do their coordination as an administrator they're under the admin um bargaining unit so and in I'm trying to understand are these the curriculum coordinators um there's three of them Humanities Ela and stem stem stem yeah okay this in this part right here the budget which is 181 586 for FY 24 that just shows their administrative part of their job correct and then in the teach the regular teacher salary it shows the other part of their job great you'll see a point five teacher exactly okay um do you think that needs to be clarified someplace please because I think in the in the um we need to make sure that we're very clear about where they're being paid we'll put a curriculum coordinator explanation in here that would be great and just another a quick question
006for you um can you said that this was I don't remember how you started the whole conversation but I was looking for Support Services central office and teaching and learning yes is that how it's um maybe I'm just being picky but I was I was listening for support services and I didn't hear that so does this have to be renamed or do this have to be just pull those words those letters out I I don't know I was just listening for that and I didn't he it so what were you thinking of when you saw supporting services were you thinking of special education yeah I was not thinking I didn't I hadn't my eye hadn't scanned down and I went supporting services oh okay you know and I was thinking maybe central office because I
007saw the CEO and I was thinking oh the people at central office not necessarily the dis the um District C the uh curriculum coordinators and the data manager so I I'm just want to make sure we're clear we we can certainly update it so it so it's clear that that this is teaching teaching and learning um um I just I just think it needs to pop out a little bit better it's just my opinion thank you I got to recognize um Rita and then Beverly thank you um I would like to know who the data manager is and what exactly are the duties of the data manager that has an assistant also and an admin staff um well the we as you know Tom Lonsdale had been our student data manager and took another position
008through learn and so we have gone through the process and we've hired uh Lauren cini which will she will start next week um we can share with you the job description was which was was really very similar to what Tom had followed and when we first introduced the concept of having a student data manager I know we had worked closely with the board to get that position through and to look at the um job description so I'd be happy we were just actually pulling that up along with the posting because we're going to be orienting her very soon we're looking forward to having her so I I can definitely get that out to you okay for the couple of months that we didn't have a data manager um that savings um what would that be
009put towards Ken um so uh this position was uh paid primarily through here it is uh supported uh a little bit through uh the arbesser uh so um I would say that um the work of our central office team um has really supported that um including your superintendent and assistant superintendent that was what I did a lot of as an assistant superintendent but would say that um the savings probably um are going you know I don't know what they would be going towards but we do have a septic issue that we've had to take care of a little bit and so I'm sure there are things operationally that we've been able to take care of that would have been more difficult to take care of had we not had that there are some items where
010we're over budget such as that um that it would be put towards that okay well if there's any way that this could be reduced this Department I'm I would appreciate um seeing if you could find some savings there um I mean to have these curriculum coordinators getting paid under the admin contract as well as the teachers contract it's a little confusing where do they get their benefits do they do they do their benefits with the administrator's contract or with the teachers contract are they 5050 is it 6040 if it's every other day it's a I find this a little confusing the way it's situated here and then you don't really get a like Liz said a good picture of the salaries of these people thank you well no I mean I really wanted a reply
011Kim okay I said how are you gonna fix this so that you really see what the salaries are of these three people are they in the ad Union are they in part of the teachers what really are their salaries they are part of the bargaining unit of the agsa so they follow that contract but one day because the salary is not under the contract because it's really H it's half of a teacher's salary at their step and then it's also half of an administrative salary I think it was at the dean rate or the lower cor rate cor rate so we can absolutely put it in the narrative here and we can put it in the narrative where it shows up at Fitch high school or at the I think we actually do have it
012there too we have it under the Gren middle school and the Fitch High School yeah this was also a decision made I want to know why who made the decision to have them split and be under the admin contract as that was the Board of Education we Mike grineer had presented this concept I think about three four years ago when we began and so it was presented then but we can certainly give you more you know I just want to know which would be the most cost-saving keeping them under admin or having them under the teachers contract they do evaluate teaching staff and that was part of the responsibilities that we were really looking for so that need if you can't do that unless you're an administrator I realize that but I I mean we
013have quite a few administrators in our middle school and our high school for evaluations I mean there's an overabundance of administr as far as I'm concerned and then you have these other three people doing administrative work where our curriculum coordinators at one time when Liz was there they were under the administration but we've had other times our ccum coordinators have been part part of the teaching contract so I just would you know I just don't want to see so many administrators evaluating to me it just seems like an Overkill but that's just my thoughts and hopefully you can resolve this in some way and reduce these salaries going forward thank you that's it Beverly and then Liz thank you Kim um my thoughts are with Rita and Liz so I'm not going to I'm just
014going to say ditto to what they said um the curriculum coordinators what subject areas are they um coordinating I heard you say EA English language arts Humanities which was what carita had done and now Laura Johnson is doing so that's your social studies and World Language and then stem Caitlyn Crowley is doing really Science and Mathematics and Engineering she's really got a full load what was the second one Susan I couldn't hear you the second one was Humanities which was World Language and oh Humanities social studies right yep okay and the clerical staff they they um work not only with the data manager but with the curriculum coordinators yes it's it's a super star that we have in teaching and learning who's been there for quite a while and she really she does she she
015interfaces she works really closely with Phil Piaza with the student data manager sometimes with me so she really um wears many hats okay and then when you hire the data manager do you you try to hire them like we do I don't know if you still do the principls and the assistant principls with um 10% or whatever percent lower and then bring them up in a couple of years well they always started a starting salary they started a starting administrative salary and then like you said have an opportunity to move forward all right so you do you hire them at a lower salary and then move them up right at a starting salary and this is someone who has a 12-month job so the student data manager doesn't have a 10-month job um you know
016and then with summer days they really are around the the clock so they are really a 12-month position well I think what Beverly is getting at is that when if it's a new administrator to this position for this person we hir them 10% lower than the beginning administrative salary because they hadn't had the experience so that I think that's what Beverly was trying trying to say that it's not the it shouldn't be the starting administrative Sal should be 10% less than that and then you brought them up as time you know went on that's right ler that's what I'm saying I understand that yes I understood that that's what I understood it to be what was the answer Susan yes that's what I understood your question to be that's why I said yes that's what
017we did you answer the you didn't you're not doing a 10% list you're doing it at the first step I I don't have the figures in front of me Lor's not here but I that's what I understood was negotiated can you give us the correct answer to that question I as soon as I get Lori back I can ask her the question okay please I just want to you know I don't is my mic on I don't know yes okay I want to clarify when I was teaching at Fitch my salary was um and I was administrator my salary was split between the administrative Union as well as the teaching units because I was doing both so I just want to clarify that's nothing new that's something that had has been past practice and was
018what I experienced way back in from from 2000 when I was hired until um 2012 when I and then I joined the teachers ranks and my salary was adjusted to the teach I I said yes I said except for when Liz was the coordinator okay I it was before I was thinking of before that time okay well I just wanted to clarify that thank thank you any other questions on this page no all right hearing none let's move on okay we're moving on to 5- 78 this is um function 2202 the diversity equity and inclusion um we have a description uh the stipend uh for this for this year uh and next year are being paid out of it should say ARP Esser a r p Esser there there a typo which we fix uh
019under the changes um on page five -79 uh this is uh we're anticipating spending this similar to how we're uh utilizing it this year with 11,600 under instructional Improvement services and $3,400 under professional materials uh for a total of $155,000 um no no increase over this year's budget V my question is um if you look at 322 in 21 22 it was 3,000 then last year went up to 11,000 this year it's going up so when you say there's no increase to me that's there really is an increase of quite a bit um each one of those lines you know diversity the last one total supplies was 10,000 $950 and now we're up to 15,000 so that's a third third more I know you're saying oh no there's no increase but there really was quite
020a large increase from two years ago so you know it just to me that I always find it a little disheartening when you say zero increase from the year before when if you look the year before that there's a huge increase yeah just to CL my comment to clarify uh 2022 uh we utilized arer to uh to fund some of the other um de initiatives uh so that's why uh 2022 was a little bit lower than um uh than what we're budgeting for this year and next year 2122 was lower because you used more funding funding yeah from from resser so you're just looking at FY 23 which is the current year to FY 24 I like to look at the budget across you know I know it's it's always good to go the year
021before but when we calculate the percent increase we're calculating it from the prior from this current year to next I know I understand that Susan all right I'm just making sure all right I'm Excuse me I understand I'm going to recognize Beverly Ken can you give me an example or a couple examples of instructional Improvement Services what are you talking about with that I can talk a little I can talk a little bit about that um General that's the work that we're doing to to you know update our curriculum do Equity audits establish our Equity teams and our schools um I think you know if you go back two years a lot of the work that we were doing in Dei was the the self-reflection and the self-study which probably didn't require a lot of
022funds and now we're actually doing the work where we're we're bringing in um different literature that our teachers are studying uh to become more culturally re relevant instructors and we're also bringing in um you know some professional development in District to to work with our teachers again a lot of it is geared on on really revamping our curriculum and doing those um audits to our curriculum uh through an equity lens um as well as trying to build the skills in our teachers to to really be more cultur relevant in their practices does that help you know what there's so much of an echo I didn't really getar what you said I I'm sorry but that's okay I that's okay just can you just send me a little note what what you're talking about I could
023definitely do that okay thank you Phil certain people there's a real Echo so it's hard to hear it would be helpful when the person who talks that you say is the echo so that we can we can locate the mic well Phils was the most I'll just bring it closer okay that would be great Bev do you have any more questions no if he just if Phil just sends me the explanation by email I'm good okay I think he said he was going to all right we're going to move on all right moving on to page [Music] 5-80 this is uh function 2210 Improvement of instruction um this is um where let's see uh uh support materials for teachers Professional Resources and new instructional materials uh staff development and training on page 5- 81 uh
024line 101 that is uh uh the cost for uh writing curriculum instruction uh we're anticipating less uh less uh need for that next year uh thus that reduction of $115,000 um we are in anticipating uh an increase a continued increase under line 224 graduate uh credit courses uh uh teachers are are certainly taking um um a chance to to do extra uh classes uh so we're finding that uh we need to increase this uh line item uh so we have an increase of $9,000 um under under uh line 224 we can't really hear Kev oh is that better yeah it fades in and out okay so that that sounds a little better under uh purchase Services uh line 322 uh instructional Improvement Services uh we have uh uh an increase of 67 uh 700 uh
025this line uh funds our in District Ken Ken that says 67,000 67700 yep okay I I bet you said 6,700 I apologize um this this line funds our IND District PD days as well as funding our district uh Dei initiatives um and and additional items I have uh uh e elll as well is that true yeah and this this also ties in with um some of the things I was talking about previously the Dei all strategic initiatives that we have in place including uh working with Dr Cherry Paul uh Cornelius Miner uh Dr Kim Parker who we you know we spoke about each of those uh in the past if we want to continue that work um you know unfortunately you know their their fees constitute an increase here Point order I'm sorry uh we're
026using a lot of acronyms you're going to need to talk we're using as yeah we're using a number of acronyms that are familiar to us but may not be familiar to people who watch online so when we use an acronym could you please define what the acronym means and if it's something like teaching and learning which has its own embedded meaning perhaps explain it so that people can really understand what we're doing thank [Music] you all right uh going uh contining to go down uh the page uh we have an increase of uh 5.5% under uh uh uh travel for workshops and conventions uh $1,450 uh under supplies and increase under uh computer software of 22908 uh this is being driven by uh un uh Universal screener uh that we need to put in place
027uh a mandated a state mandated uh um software uh and so for the total for uh improve Improvement of instruction uh an increase of 85,026 uh 30.6% uh increase I'm GNA recognize Dean Liz and then Beverly all right thank you Dr P please speak I'm usually loud enough but okay Dr Piaza the three individuals you named before were they again who were they again I should say Cornelius Paul Kim Parker Dr Cherry Paul cherry or Jerry um I'm sorry her first name is Sonia and then Cherry Paul is a hyphenated last name Cornelius Miner yep and uh Dr Kim Parker okay um and just to add to that just because uh Ken had mentioned it uh for our English language training as well for our teachers it's a Dr Ferraro she's from Marissa Ferraro she's
028from Southern Connecticut State University okay uh and you you said well you know the numbers going up but that's driven by their they we have to pay them fees I'm sure they don't work for nothing can you tell me what it is we expect to pay these people well we're I'm currently Gathering those um to extend the work um and then we're you now we hope to be able to uh we've established some really great relationships with all four of these individuals and so we're hoping to sort of work with them they've had a positive experience in our district um it's been positively received by our staff um who are anxious to continue the work uh which isn't always the case um so that that's those are coming in now so I'm trying to I
029can provide those to the board as I get them okay their work is really around literacy reading and writing across the disciplines so really taking what we've learned about the teaching of reading and writing um in the elementary middle school and the high school they go they they are at different levels so Sonia Cherry Paul works for elementary with the elementary teachers Cornelius Miner works for the Middle School um had been their staff developer when TC um when they were had TC with them and um and then the um Dr Kim Parker is with the ELA teachers right now at the high school so really with Ela social studies science really digging into the teaching of reading and writing across the disciplines things like informational reading and writing close reading vocabulary some of the fundamentals
030and I think the pandemic didn't help us with some of those things so it's been really a driver for getting um you know really getting our um instruction powerful to help support our students would you say the 862 that's been allotted for this line item is mostly going to these Consultants partial to Third I can you guess it all most most of it okay thank you the and the average that you get for a consultant like that they come into the district at least a half a dozen or more times and then they Zoom with them every month and and work with them all the way along so those fees tend to be between 14,000 and 20,000 um and that's what we've been seeing across the board even with Teachers College okay thank you l
031now I just have um it just seems to me like there's this huge huge increase which there is of $67,000 were they doing this um were they doing this business or they were doing what they were doing for us but only we had only budgeted for 185 I mean how did we get what we were how were we getting these benefits from these people were we not paying them were we being being paying them through a a grant and all of a sudden we go up 338 per it's it seems to me a lot to swallow so I'm just kind of trying to figure it out and I think it's a combination of both we were paying some through um through grants um we were also in the in the first steps of our work
032so it didn't require um you know multiple visits maybe um you know for example Dr Cherry Paul uh spent one is spending one day in each of our elementary schools so you know and plus she had one day with ad administrators so we paid for six days the next level of work um you know she's had she has ideas for the next level of work but it could include up to 10 days um or 15 days in the district so so that would obviously affect uh affect the cost so it's a combination of the work increasing and and getting a little bit deeper uh into each building um as well as maybe the uh the the funds not being able to come from those grants anymore correct y yeah I just find it um we
033have highly trained teachers and I just feel like we're having we're adding Consultants here um it just doesn't seem like we're our teachers should be able to do this so this is why they're so good is we've had this embedded coaching all along and they are wonderful teachers our teachers are spectacular but especially during covid where kids have lost some learning it was really imperative that they did have some people that they could rely on to ask questions of to really support them and to continue that embedded coaching so it's you know these Consultants are very good at that and ve have been very helpful and the teachers have given us very positive feedback about them I'm just concerned that this is maybe you know we are now out of we're not out of covid
034but we're back into school and I'm not sure about this expenditure okay Matthew I need to recognize Bev Rita and then Matthew thank you Bev thank you Kim I have the same um concerns on that line 320 322 um K is it possible that you can tell us um through board notes or whatever method you want to use how much we spend a year on Consultants how much do we spend a year on Consultants um okay uh I'll be right back I gotta go frea yes so I my thoughts were the same as has what Liz expressed because I know we have an excellent staff and I'm sure there are people on staff that could do some of the things that these Consultants are doing but um I would like to see that figure at
035least cut in half set over 385 per um maybe do more zoom meetings not have these people travel into the district just it has to be reduced I mean we have to find Savings in this budget and maybe that's one of them that's my suggestion thank you Rita mat I hope this is working yes uh I've been listening to my colleagues and I've heard a couple of different perspectives from Administration and colleagues and so my understanding of what I heard is that a large part of this is powered by the need to compensate for the effects of covid so my question is do you see this as a recurring charge year after year do you to see this is for one or two or three years till we make up the ground how do you
036envision this strategically good question well in terms of uh instructional software and the different things like that I think that's those costs are hopefully um not going to be there on an ongoing basis we we're continually looking at um what's being used and and what's be what we're having the most success with in evaluating those so we can make some some changes there and some Cuts there in terms of the Dei work you know to be honest with you I mean to me that that doesn't have as much to do with covid as to sort of where we need to get to uh as a district um you know I think we'd like to think that we're we have um all the skills we need right now and I but I think you know even
037when we pull the staff you know like I said those first that first year or two that we've been doing this work was a lot of self-evaluation and I think the staff has come to to their own conclusion our own conclusion that there's still a lot that we need um to learn learn um now whether or not it whether or not we have to get the you know the Platinum package that some of these people are offering you know absolutely we're going to have to do our due diligence and see what we can afford and what we you know balance that with what we need um but again that you know anytime we're talking Dei I don't like to say it's a it's oh it's a two-year plan you know because we as we know
038it it's something that we have to weave into our culture and that hopefully eventually we get to that point where we don't need the the training as much um and so that's when the cost will dissipate a bit so does that may I follow thank you um I concur with you completely that Dei diversity equity and inclusion are things that we need to do on a continuing basis I think the question that I heard raised had to do with the Consultants fees and uh as with any new Enterprise there tends to be a pretty sharp uh vertical curve curve in the initiation phase which then levels off to be a maintain and keep things running smoothly can you give us any sense of the your view of the Horizon on this because that's what I'm
039hearing my colleagues say is it seems pretty expensive and if it goes up another 20% next year and another 15% the year after I think that's the concerns if you could speak to that I'd be grateful well I guess I'll use our our our Dei committee's you know fiveyear plan I think it's it was a five-year plan which we're currently in year three uh so next year would be year four so I think the goal was to make ourselves as much um you know self-sufficient or you know to build our own capacity over those five years so so these uh these would you know lessen over the years so at least a couple more years um but then again I don't see you know like I said these fees you know I do question the
040area of Education I've gotten into when I see some of the these P public speaking fees and and Consulting fees because they're they they can be astronomical um I think it's a combination of finding somebody that's affordable and has the effects over staff that these three seem to have had over their first year um and like I said all I could do is promise you that we'll do our best to to negotiate with them um and use our good graces that we've sort of built with them to to get it down to a manageable cost well I look forward to next year's proposal and expect it to be uh moving towards those shared goals yeah thanks if I could um wrap this piece up what I hear um some of some of us on the
041board state is that we need to hear what the Strategic plan is um around this use um though we all or we all see the benefit of having our staff have professional development in this area um and um I think that we're pretty excited about the fact that the staff seem very receptive of it um but not having a strategic plan in terms of what is our what is the forward motion and I and I believe that both uh I think um both Beverly and Rita and Liz spoke to that um and I think I'm just sort of reiterating what you're saying Matthew um but also if if to hear what Rita has to say is that we are going to have to start like it's going to become the board's budget and we are
042going to have to start making um cuts on some place and so if this is something that's very that I guess we want to hear I hear what you're saying but I want to I want to know why this is really important so maybe if if we could star this and that when we start to have our deliberations about our budget that we can have we can have more information so we can kind of take a look at it um I I don't know if that's a good wrap-up about what people are saying but that's where I'm at thanks Kim um I'm going to recognize Dean so Dean if you could grab a microphone that would be great sure I'll make it short uh we don't all agree and I'm not excited okay can I
043just get a point of clarification is this item for Dei I have down in my notes inter interdistrict PD District Dei initiatives and elll so I mean is it is it all combined or is it there certain one people doing certain things so I would love to have it written out so that we know what this is about so that we can then have a better conversation so if we could um tag that and have a because I think there's too many questions so let's let's get some let's get a little bit more of a narrative behind that I think that would be helpful no problem thank you we have a we have about 15 minutes before 7 o'clock um Canen in the pacing that we're doing um how are we doing do you see
044that we I don't think we're going to get through all of it um do you think that we could do technology page 598 to 99 and then see where we are that sounds like a good uh so so you guys I'm just looking at pacing and um that's why we're only on February 3rd um so uh so I think we're going to drop down to that and that's going to be 598 Ken I'm not trying to take your thunder you're on so you're skipping the district administrators um I just don't think we're going to have enough time to talk about that in 15 minutes but this looks like a better um chunk of time thank you yep so yeah we're going to uh go to 5 98 uh this is uh function 2540 uh computer
045support services or technology um let's see uh we have FTE uh we have the director we have um three um technicians that work out of central office we have five technicians that are based uh in the schools and one uh clerical uh if we go down to 5- 99 under costs uh salaries uh the technicians are per contract uh and um overall for salaries a 2.4% increase uh employee benefits up 3.8% under Professional Services uh we have uh line 331 uh this is uh our costs for uh consultants for software implementation ations uh we have an increase of uh 5,300 over La this year's budget uh computer network Services uh an increase of 13362 uh this is these are the costs uh incurred in order to uh run our Network get internet uh and uh
046and Supply that to all the schools uh total amount for uh purchased Services uh is 192 600 an increase of 10.7% uh next line down purchase Property Services repair of equipment uh this is a repair of uh or the maintenance for the copiers and the other uh equipment that we have uh throughout the buildings uh line 441 is the uh the the lease payments for those copers uh that's an increase of 10,000 um as well uh so total for this uh for purchase Property Services is a is a 20350 uh doll in increase uh next section down purchase Services telephone uh cost uh increase of $155,000 uh this is reflective of our of our new um telephone system as well as our new um uh cell phone program uh in tandem uh that's an increase
047of 14.6% overall for purchase Services supplies um uh decrease in computer suppli of $7,500 but an increase in computer software of $ 65,0 129 uh just to um uh make everyone aware we we do supplement uh the computer software uh with uh the dod supplemental impact aid grant uh we've done that for the past uh uh few years overall for supplies up 32.3% and under equipment um we have uh increase of 17,800 uh so total for computer support services an increase 154,000 overall 10 10.1% Ken just a general question could you please talk I'm doing it now Ken this is a general information question for me uh you with regard this particular item you said we'd sub used uh some supplemental Grant funds from the items um where we use supplemental Grant funds for a
048given item I'm presuming dangerous word that some grants are specific and we have no choice as to how we can use them while other grants are more fungible meaning we can assign things from one to another so am I correct that for yes okay so when we're talking about using grant money could we indicate if that's a mandatory allocation of the grant or if there's some fungibility available for us to evaluate thank you okay Beverly thank you um Ken can you explain the increase in the computer software line yeah my second question will be too um can you tell me the the process of when you repair equipment and then when you replace it is it like in five years we don't repair it anymore we replace it is there a process on how you
049figure all that out be if you don't mind I'm going to take this one uh so the the majority of the increase in line 612 is is related to we installed two brand new firewalls which are the base the main gatekeeper if you will that connects our entire school system and all the networks associated with it with the outside world so really that was a a a long overdue upgrade for security reasons and really throughput because we're continuing to see every year more and more bandwidth needs from our staff from our students and so forth the second piece to that was again in the security category uh we are now uh required by our insurance provider for uh so that we have cyber security insurance coverage we've had to turn on two-factor authentication uh and
050a lot of that reflects the licensing as well for that uh two-factor authentication or tofa most if not all of you have probably used it uh if you connect to Amazon.com or Facebook what have you and it sends you a six-digit code to your cell phone to verify you are who you are someone else isn't masquerading as you uh and using your account elsewhere uh we've had to put in place those things one I think it's good practice but two it is now a requirement for us to be able to carry cyber security insurance for that uh regarding your second question Bev the uh we try to uh carry especially Hardware we will use it as long as we can feasibly uh that it provides value in the classroom and we need to determine that
051value based on uh one is it usable and in good shape for students and teachers to use but two can it also integrate with the software and services and the network that we have so we very much do our due diligence to keep those Moving on but if it if the cost uh is is increases that value or or is is more to repair than to replace or buy new we would go to new also taking into consideration obviously the programs that we want to in to to integrate uh and Implement with Fidelity so that we can do that so that is typically the how we do we take it a case-by case basis we have teacher laptops we have student laptops we have student tablets Promethean boards etc etc is that a additional question
052for that Bev or is that good no that's it Clint thank you very much Clint of course I'm going to recognize Rita and then Dean okay hi Clint hi Rita um I have a question do the schools feel as if they are supported with their with the five School B based technicians is that enough support uh are they spread too thin is what I'm asking you I think we have a good balance right now uh we are always in we are we we have been continuing to increase uh the Reliance on technology there's not a department there is not an activity there's nothing that we don't do that does not touch technology all of our phones are now VoIP phones which is voice over Internet Protocol so all of that runs on our networks now
053um to answer your question directly we do have adequate support uh could we always use more yes are we doing the best we can with with the resources we have now I believe so those five technicians in the buildings we have two dedicated directly to uh the two schools on the hill the high school and the middle school we have of the three remaining uh two each have two elementary schools which they split time 50/50 between uh and are work closely with me and with those building principles to address issues through a ticketing system and so forth and the third has one uh the remaining elementary school but then also spends half of their time up on the hill as well because we do have two-thirds of our staff and students at the high school
054and the middle school so I have that person float in to support those needs as well so that's really the design we have and then the three at the at the central office one is specifically for Network one is specifically for our systems and integration and then the third is for Power School administration which is our student information system which is really the bread and butter of the student data attendance grades and so forth that we have okay and my my I have another question and and that would be what percentage or what is the exact figure that we are receiving from the dod supplemented impact aid grant since we're already spending you know over well over million a half dollars on this account so how much else is it how is it implemented what
055is the figure there that was actually going to be our next our next subject on uh on this I don't know we have the if we have that have the time oh okay so then I'll have one more quick question then maybe um the travel for administrators and workshops it went you know like couple of years ago of course during Co it was $75 I guess and then it's gone up quite a bit where where do you where do the people go for do they go for training or they do go for training we always try to do online as best we can uh but there are times when we'll have someone our power school administrator will go to Power School University uh we're trying to really improve the scheduling to make sure there's more
056opportunities for students being efficient with our staffing and so forth as an example that would be an opportunity to do that um I don't think we've used this full line item in the in the past I've only been here for a year and a half that's speculation but as things open up uh more and more of the learning is turning to in-person uh activities uh and personally do feel there's real value in hybrid or online learning there's also additional value in being able to be there face to face ask questions Network and so forth okay thank you D so do do we have uh an inventory I'm sure we must um of the of the equipment I'm going to call it the data processing equipment the old term computers printers whatever um in the in
057the schools and I know it's it's more difficult to do this with that technology than it is with say motor vehicles but do we have a schedule where we can say okay we've got this equipment such and such equipment for for each category uh we can expect a usable life of so many years after which we plan to retire or we should retire the unit or units and we're not allowed to keep a fund where we can sort of toss money in year like the town can on the whole to sort of even out any bumps so it's basically if I understand it whatever we need in a given year to upgrade that's what goes in the budget so they're going to be some heavy years and some light years when we don't have to
058replace very much of anything I what I'd like to see is is the ability to somehow coordinate outside uh the school department with the with the town as a whole with the Town Council to maybe have um a fund like that to even out now that I don't know how that's going to work because a lot of times we're just an island when it comes to this I really do wish we could have a little pot where we could throw money in every year so that we can this could be funded and it would be smooth over over the long term but do we have an inventory like that we do we have an inventory system it is traditionally prior to me being here uh was a hang was an addition to our library information
059system the decision had been made whenever to use that it's cataloging books resources in a library and Technology was being used as that uh I had made the decision and we have now migrated to a new system which instead of tying to the library information system ties to our help desk system so that we can directly connect you as a teacher with what equipment has you been assigned to what's in your classroom how often has there been breakage or an IT Help Desk ticket request and whatever and we have a whole history of that now so the short answer is yes the additional answer is yes we have a brand new system that we've hung on to it as opposed to the library um and regards to your your final point I believe uh we
060are now leasing teacher laptops and that does by and and we are following a long history of many many other school districts that have really started to do that which as we got in interest rates were lower far lower uh and over time that becomes you know a way to even out those those High Roads and low roads and so forth so we're doing that only with teacher laptops that's it uh we do do that with equipment copers as well uh we do not currently do that with student equipment we do not do that with Promethean boards some of the other larger ticket items but I certainly do not disagree if there's a way that we can predict and plan and I do have those plans of what we think end of life will be
061to even that out would be a better budgetary system yeah that was my followup as you as you sit here you can say well if I refer to certain data information that I've got I can tell you that in year such and such we should be looking at absolutely a large ass you know because a lot of stuff's going to have to be retired or we'd like to retire thank you and if you saw the history on kind of that last chunk the the uh total equipment 730 through 736 those are typically you know one of the areas that we zero out because we're we're trying to make all the way back to be's question we're trying to make this equipment last as long as we can and so forth and we are we're doing
062our due diligence uh we had an injection of dollars for Chromebooks during covid that will certainly go away that will not continue uh and we've made a real commitment where every student uh 6 through 12 has a Chromebook with them 247 uh and we are one to one at the elementary level as well but those do not go home thank you R your hand was was is it still up oh uh no I'm sorry okay that's fine that's fine um if there's no more questions for this um I am going to propose that the two items that were not covered today will be discussed on Monday um and that should begin to sort of final um finalize out our budget conversations R do you have a question have a question Kim when you when you
063finish talking please it's a it's a quick one it's just um the review of the dod supplemental impa a that is not in our budget book correct that's correct so could you send that to the board before we review it on Monday certainly absolutely yes I was going to say we should do that thank you thank you Rita um so at this time I will entertain a motion for adjournment motion to adjourn second all those in favor please say I I opposed abstain that motion has carried we will in a couple of seconds be going into our next meeting