New Hartford Public Schools - Board Meeting - 06/02/2026

001All right, if we're all set, uh, I will call to order the New Hartford Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting dated J June 2nd, 2026 at exactly 7 p.m. If you are able, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, the next item on our agenda is order of business. I do not have any changes to the order of business. I don't know. Jeff, do you have anything? Does anybody have any changes to the order of business? Any agenda items you'd like to add to our already full agenda? >> Sorry, just the cave newsletter. >> Cab newsletter >> part of like where

002they add advance. >> So that could be added under twothirds vote under reports if someone would like to make a motion. >> Motion by John. A second. Second by Frank to add the CA report under reports. Any discussion? All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. That is unanimous. All right, we'll add uh item C under reports for the CA report out by Kirby. Thank you. Any other changes or additions to the agenda? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to item C, communication to the board of education. Uh, I do not have any communication. Um, I'm sorry, I do I don't have Do I have it in packet? Okay. So, I do have uh a a uh communication to the board of education that came from Alicia Kenderson regarding the prek program.

003Um I did respond to that and then also received a response from Alicia um that I responded to as well. Um which I think I responded to on Friday was the last response to separate. Okay. Uh, next item is public comment. Would anybody like to address the board? >> All right, seeing none, we will move on to item D on our agenda, uh, the superintendent report. Turn it over to Jeff. >> Thank you so much, Chairman Kps. Good evening, everybody. So happy to have everyone here today. We have a litany of celebrations as we close out the school year on this wonderful June the 2nd with beautiful weather outside. Um we're going to start off by recognizing our two um 41st annual CAPS LCSA student um student representatives and nominations for uh New Harford Public

004Schools. They are Blake Bingham and Cadence Wallace. Blake is with us tonight and Cadence was not able to attend, but I'd like to read a little bit about each one of them and then have a presentation of um a small little gift uh token of our appreciation. They had already received an award at the LCA. That's okay. Um so they have that at home and we have an additional little gift that we'd like to provide them and also take a picture of the full board with our students um that were so uh well recognized uh for Lichfield County Superintendent Award. So, we'll start with Cadence. Cadence was awarded the LCSA award because of her academic prowess, her leadership service to school community. Cadence is a dancer, a gymnast, and ice skater. She is a detailed

005cake decorator who won a trophy for cake decorating at the fair. She's a strong reader and mathematician. She participates in math olympiads and talented and gifted program. Cadence hopes to be an archaeologist who gains special access to places like the Great Pyramids. Cadence lives with her dog, Bunny, sisters, mom, and dad. Cadence spends time on her grandpa's farm and loves the sheep who follow her around the barn. Congratulations to Cadence. Blake Bingham, also awarded the Lichfield County Superintendent Award for academic prowess, leadership, and service to the school community. Blake lives with his sister, mom, dad, dog, and two cats. Blake plays soccer, basketball, and skis. Blake gardens with his dad and made spicy salsa with his homegrown habaneros. Blake enjoys math challenges and is in math Olympiads in a talented, gifted program. Blake enjoys hiking

006and exploring the woods. He has traveled to Italy where he tried new foods like gelato. Blake may become an astronomer to further explore his interests in space such as the northern lights and the solar eclipse. Let's give a hand to our LCSA award winners. Blake, if you don't mind coming on up. Got a small token of appreciation for you, sir. Board members. Yep. Just watch the wires. Board members, can you join me? Everybody. All right. Thank you. You got it. Congratulations. >> Yes. such an honor recognizing our wonderful students and we'll continue that. We're going to continue to recognize our wonderful students with our student representatives in just a short moment. I'd like to um just pivot real quickly because I know that I have a very special guest in our audience today. Um Mrs.

007Elise Yost is here who has bittersweetly announced her retirement after serving for 24 years here at New Harford Public Schools. And I'd like to turn the mic over to Dr. Kelly Carroll would like to say a few words to Mrs. Yoast. >> Elise has made an incredible difference in the lives of countless students, families, and her colleagues. She always has a calm presence no matter what surprises each day may bring. She's always patient, up for a good laugh, and focused on what each child needs most. When I think about her classroom, I think about a place where students feel safe, comfortable, and understood. Elise is a really cool teacher, so of course she has a classroom pet. Pretzel, the leopard gecko, who is arguably one of the most popular members of the Antelini school community.

008Many students have found comfort and happiness simply by holding Pretzel, thanks to a teacher who understands that relationships come before anything else. She even creates personalized spaces catered to the needs and interests of her students. Ely makes every student feel like they belong. When she sees an opportunity to connect with the students, she's there. Whether that's joining the sixth graders at a hike at White Memorial or joining a student book club in her free time. What I love about Ely is that she sees students for who they are. She celebrates their differences and advocates for what they need. While we're all sad to see her leave, anyone who knows Elise knows that she has adventures waiting for her with plenty of traveling and she's already planning a trip to Africa. She'll be spending time with

009her family and friends. Elise, we're incredibly grateful for everything that you have given to our school community. Your kindness, patience, and humor have left a lasting impression on all of us, especially the kiddos that you always believed in. Enjoy your retirement. Oops. They've been doing a terrific job all year long. Thank you so much. And I want to turn it over to Daisy and to Vivian. Please come on up. I'll get your presentation ready. All right. For those in the audience that have not seen Daisy and Vivian present, just be prepared. You're about to be blown away. They are incredibly talented. No pressure. No pressure whatsoever. You're ready. Here you go. End of the year wrap-up. Congratulations to Blake and Cadence for earning the Lichfield County Superintendent Award. >> Field trip to the Ripley Waterfall

010Conservatory. First grade went on a trip to the Ripley Waterfall Conservatory in ELA. They learned all about why birds have amazing bodies and how to care for birds. This field trip brought their learning to life. Second grade tour with the fifth grade buddy. Yesterday on June 1st, fifth graders partnered up with second graders to show them around Antelini. They walked around school showing each second grader what their school would be like when they came here. Band players playing to the New Hartford New Hartford's Memorial Day cere ceremony on the green. Miss Milo took Avery Wadman, Kay Connelly, and Abby Sears, three of our sixth grade trumpet players, to the New Hartford New Hartford's Memorial Day ceremony on the green. They had fun playing for people and honoring our relatives or family members that died in

011battle. Celebration of learning. At the celebration of learning on May 28th, students were given the opportunity to do a special project such as a science project or a research project. This educational activity is a fun way to express the students love for learning. TAG students also presented their geographical projects that they have put so much time and effort into. Thank you to all the participants who shared their amazing work. >> Celebration of learning. Here are some more photos of students getting the chance to show off their mind-blowing projects that they did and some more breathtaking photos of our awesome students. Art show at Antelin's art show hosted by our art teacher, Miss Savage. Every student's art can be displaced for families to see. For example, fourth graders did ice cream Sunday sculptures. And sixth graders

012used clay to create fishes, whales, or turtles that can be presented inside a fish tank. One activity you can do while you're looking around the art is a look for the donut in a fish tank, which is where you have to find a donut that is hidden inside of our little aquarium of fish. Lastly, kindergarten made lollipops out of model magic and popsicle sticks. Fifth grade field trip to nature's classroom. Fifth graders went on a field trip to nature's classroom to learn all about nature. They had fun going on hikes, playing games, and looking at wild animals from afar. On Pi Day, On Pi Day, students at Antelini learned about what pi is and what it is used for. Here are the following activities students did to find the area of a circle. Color in

013a circle. Use yarn to find the circumference of a circle. And design a hexagon to put together. Sixth grade field trip to to White Memorial. All three sixth grade field sixth grade classes took a field trip to White Memorial where they went on hikes, played fun games, and explored the natural habitats of animals such as a beaver's dam. It was really intriguing to see how many different types of animals live out in the wild. Each student and teacher went on the hike on the boardwalk, which was so much fun until you got your shoes soaked from the flooding. Students also had to journal down about their time in the wild. My favorite part about the field trip was the museum and gift shop because there were so many interesting things to see and hear. Mr.

014G's class shown on the pictures is exploring their findings from Angly Pond. They had found all kinds of animals like turtles and crayfish, but also found a lot of algae. Overall, we had an amazing time learning about living things in the wild. In fact, Miss Stapleton's class just went today. Some animals that you can find out there are barred owls, great blue herand, snapping turtles, beavers, red tailed hawks, and f and red foxes. In this photo, one of our sixth grade students found a crawfish swimming in the water at White Memorial. More upcoming events. Fourth grade field trip to the capital. Fourth graders are about to embark on a trip to our capital. They will be using knowledge that they learned in class in social studies and connect that law knowledge with things they will

015see at the capital. Grade three field trip to the science museum. All of third grade will get to go to the science museum where they where they get to play and have fun and mostly see why things work the way they do. Field day at all three schools. Field day at all three schools is a blast. Some of the activities that we can do here are radar run with trooper fig kickball capture the flag and games that include water. One of the games that we play is duck duck duck duck goose or as we like to call it drip drip drench. Being a student representative. >> For me, being a student representative means having the opportunity to be here, showing everyone how unique our school can be. I think my favorite part of being included

016in part of this is making slideshows. This gives me the chance to be creative, and I also get the chance to work on it with Daisy. All in all, I wanted to let you all know how grateful I am to be here and for me to have the chance to be part of this wonderful community. Out of all my work I have done for being the student representative, my favorite part is being able to present the things I have learned and explored. I am also grateful to share this experience with Vivian. She is such a wonderful partner to present with and she has taught me so much this year. Lastly, I would like to thank all of you for giving your time for us to present all the amazing things students have done. It has

017been such an honor to represent such an incredible school. All right. As a quick token of appreciation as well to our student reps who have done an amazing job all year long and have independently worked on projects such as this and so many others to demonstrate and display the beautiful work that takes place each and every day here at public schools with a small certificate of appreciation as well as a gift certificate to Bon Farm. So this will be awarded to Davey. This one will be awarded to >> Thank you both so much. >> Oh, we wanted picture. And I didn't forget Mrs. for getting a picture with you now. >> Assume your positions. >> Same order would be great. So we know what we're doing. Everybody in. Watch that water bottle. >> All right.

018Thank you. You can have a seat. Mrs. Yos, come on up. Oh, we got another picture. Hold on. One more. >> You're welcome. Thank you so much. All right. Up next under stu um the superintendent's report but under subsection C of section 10-220 of the Connecticut General State statutes. I just wanted to make sure that the public is aware of our profile and performance reports. This is one element that the superintendent is required to demonstrate to the public. So, we'll make sure that everyone knows how to get it. It's clicked on our website. We do our performance and academic performance and presentation here at the board level each and every year. This is just the official document that exists on the Connecticut State website on Edsite for folks to visit. It provides additional information that

019we don't necessarily present because we're so focused on student achievement in academics, but it has a lot more information if you're ever interested. It is there and it's available as a public document to satisfy the requisite of section 10-220 of the Connecticut General State Statutes. Up next, I want to show the board and our public the completion of the chlorination project. Just to take everybody walk back a little bit in time at Bakerville Elementary School, we had a couple spikes in bacteria levels in the well. And over time, our um our water project manager had suggested and highly recommended including a smaller chlorination system to eliminate the chlor uh the bacteria that was found in the water system. So, this was the before and after pictures just to show everybody. I'm not a technically specific

020plumber, so I probably can't answer all of your questions. However, the water was coming straight in. It is now going through a chlorination system and it is monitored uh more frequently now just to make sure. So, this was the old system with the wa the pipes all combined and then the post work. You'll see that there's new piping, new meters to check that injection points where the um chlorine is being entered into. There's a feed pump p uh pace meter as well to make sure everything works correctly and there are different alarms established as well in case anything were to fail. So this was installed by uh Mr. Ron Black and his company and they are our water management uh company as well. They complete water tests for our school district um for any of

021our wells and they submit all of the work on behalf of the board of education to the state and to the department of public health. Okay. So, that's our chlorination project. And up next, I'm going to welcome up Mr. Mike Lynch to present on our prek program. Sorry, I don't like to have my back to people. So, um, so, uh, we wanted to present on our preschool program here in New Hartford. Um, I know there's been a lot of questions, um, And so as an educator, our goal Thanks um our goal is to provide that education and really just inform the public um and the board to understand why we have the preschool program um what the makeup is and kind of our process when we start to think about um classrooms and makeup. So

022that would be the goal. So, just um some basic information. All school districts in preschool. Um in Connecticut, we're required to provide special education to all children beginning at age three. Um and note that that is beginning at age three. So, that can be any time throughout the school year. So, if a student turns three in December, um we're required to start to provide services for them um under IDA. Uh our program here in New Hartford is a reverse mainstream program. Um what this means is that um we educate um students with IEPs along with their non-disabled peers. Um when we look at this, the maximum ratio or the most we're allowed is to have half of the classroom um regular education or non-disabled peers and half um special education students. Obviously, that's not necessarily

023the ideal or what we look for. Um, when we try to look at best practice, we try to keep that ratio a little closer to 30 to 40%. Uh, again, keeping in mind that students enter the program throughout the entire school year. Um so if we look at that assuming if we wanted to go in the higher end of best practice 40% of the program having students with IEPs um currently and this number constantly changes again um students can enter into the program at any time um right now we have about 17 students um that that have IEPs in our preschool program. If we keep to that 40% um that would require us to have about 43 students in total. Um again necessitating a need for three preschool classrooms. Um the number of preschool classrooms

024is evaluated on annual basis. Um I'll give a little bit more information about this a little bit later, but we're looking at birth rates um from the town and we also have a preschool screening day um and a preschool playgroup day. Um, another big change that necessitated us looking at the number of classrooms is the updated kindergarten law. Um, so if you're not familiar, a couple years ago, um, they put into place, um, that you needed to be five by September 1st and they allowed districts to put in a waiver. Um, so we had a waiver for a couple years and then starting next year, um, the waiver is no longer in place. So students have to be um five by September 1st to begin kindergarten. Um so what this means is for us, you

025know, again, as I mentioned, from from a lot of times the program birth to three um brings students into our program. Sometimes they're public referrals. Um what this means is that um now instead of students with IEPs being in our preschool for two years, now they're typically in there for two and a half or three years. Again, that just means we have need for more preschool slots. Um, current preschool information. So, right now we have three preschool classrooms and with those three preschool classrooms, right now we're we are about 40% of the students um have IEPs. Um if we had started the year with only two sections um typically we start around 14 or 15 depending um and then 18 is the maximum per per the board policy. Um this year alone we added six

026students throughout the year into our preschool. We did have 10 preschool students that became eligible for services, but sometimes um families choose to keep them in their current programming. Sometimes they choose um itinerant services, so they don't attend the preschool, but they still get services in the school. Um and again, this number varies year to year, anywhere from an average from four to eight new students. Um so, keeping that in mind, that's why we again felt the need to make sure we had those three preschool classrooms. If we started with only two classrooms, um at the end of this year, our ratio would have about been about 70% of the students in in those two classrooms um having IEPs. So, in looking at scheduling and planning, when we start to look at the number of

027sections, um, we look at who's currently in our preschool program. Um, who's three and who's four, who's not eligible for kindergarten, so who's going to repeat or be in the next section of preschool. Um, we do look at birth rates from the town. Um, I do have I do have access to preliminary birth to three information. So I can see um students that are enrolled and their birth dates to get somewhat of an idea um of maybe students who might qualify. Um and the big piece of it we look at is our preschool signup and our playgroup day. So around March and April um we know exactly how many families are interested in our preschool program both for three-year-olds and for four-year-olds. Um and so around this time I can we can see um the

028total number of possible preschool students um without really knowing 100% the number of students that will come in that year. Um so about a year ago around March, April um we did have a high number and that's kind of what at least for me started that conversation with um with Jeff and the other administrators about the number of sections that we had because we I we knew at that time that that we were going to estimate that we needed more. Um so what about new Hartford preschool? Um, so I just think it's very important again make sure we're all educated about what preschool is and isn't. So preschool is not daycare. Um, both are very important and both serve an a very important function for families in the town. Um, and preschools are not all

029equal. So again, nothing against any other preschool, but here in New Hartford, all of our preschool teachers are both um preschool teachers and special ed certified. Um our preschool includes a speech and language pathologist, a school psychologist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist. It takes place in a school setting, which means that there's a principal, there's a nurse, there's a school counselor. So again, um students are getting that access to a school setting. And then another piece that that I see is important is like why should we care about preschool? Why is it important? Um so just looking at some of the factors of of the importance of preschool, we look at school readiness. So children that are in preschool um have stronger literacy and math skills and language development. Um and this the impact

030of this is reduces that remediation and we have stronger K to2 instruction. Um it's important for their social emotional development. So it builds self regulation and attention um positive behavior and peer interactions and again this works to improve classroom climate and does reduce those behavioral challenges. uh long-term outcomes. You know, studies have been done that show students that are involved in our in preschool programs have a higher graduation rate, um lower crime rates, they have higher earnings, and again, we look at this as preschool as a long-term cost avoidance strategy. Um again, another piece of it is the special education reduction. So students involved in preschool have uh in general have lower special education placements and a reduced need for intervention services um and really highlights how early intervention um can reduce later costs and

031supports. Um, prechool is one or pre kindergarten is one of the most effective tools to support lower inome families um to close readiness gaps and to provide early intervention for all of our learners. Um, and this the impact of this is really leveling the playing field for students and families before kindergarten begins. Um, and you know, I I like to throw in some anecdotes to really highlight exactly what this looks like. So, in practice, um, just this past month, um, that we had two meetings for students that, um, were involved in our preschool. Um, one is in kindergarten now and one is in first grade. And just last month, both of those students were exited from special education. Um and that really highlights the hard work that the preschool team um did for those those

032years as well as the um special education team in kindergarten and first grade. Um so the cost of preschool so tuition from preschool um I think it's better to think about it as a is a cost recovery um to what we are we are legally required to provide. Um when we look at our tuition uh we are evaluating it regularly. We do look at it. We are um looking at the cost of what is being charged in other towns. Um and again we we tend to fall in line with the comparable school districts. Um another piece that is more again of a cost avoidant strategy that's hard to necessarily quantify is um keeping students in our district. So sometimes families are attending MA magnet school starting in preK um and for many reasons. Sometimes it's

033um because it's closer to their work or there's after school care and sometimes it's there's no preschool spots. Um what that means is as they continue their their career, if they stay at a magnet school, um the district is charged um transportation fees, tuition, and that's for regular education students. Um and then if they do become a special education student, th those fees are also um charged to the town. So again, these are all services that we can already provide in town that we already pay our staff for. But if you know we have families that are attending a magnet school and they stay there then we do have to pay the tuition to the magnet schools. So again it's it's hard to quantify exactly how much we're saving when we keep our kids in

034district. Um but it is a cost savings. So that was just kind of a brief overview um of what preschool is the cost and kind of the reasoning behind um our thoughts. So, I don't know if anybody has any questions or wants has a comment or anything, but um again, the whole goal was just to provide a little bit more background and a better understanding of why we make the decisions that we do and um what we do here in New Hartford. >> I have a question. You had a slide up earlier regarding the 50% uh legal legally. >> Yes. So if as a district we planned right the maximum ratio that's that's per per some statute. >> Yes. >> Okay. So if we if we planned 50% right and say forget the 30 or

03540 we plan right in the 50% mark. What happens during a year if you get two students that come in and throw that ratio to like you said before 70%. Yeah. Legally what is that? Where does that put the district? Is there any jeopardy, any fines, any What does that what does that look like? >> The students IEPs aren't in compliance? >> Uh, no. We would be out of compliance with the 50% >> requirement, right? That's a state requirement. Correct. What if we >> didn't allow for enough classrooms, we had a couple of students come in who required special ed that would throw that ratio above the 50% mark. What does that do to the district in the eyes of the state? Is there some sort of, you know, >> yeah, >> financial or other

036repercussion that we would bear? >> Um, I don't know because I don't want to get into that place. Um, but when we write a student's IEP, that's a legal document. We're saying that they're provided these services in a classroom um where no more than 50% of the students are um have IEPs. So, legally, all of those IEPs would be out of compliance. Um, and it puts us and the board at at, you know, Yeah. at in a bad situation, but I don't I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know of the legal ramifications um in terms of um what it would look like in terms of compliance for us. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It it could be. I'm not aware necessarily of the the consequences of that be I I don't know of any district

037that tries to ride that line um for that specific reason. Um just we don't want to put ourselves out of compliance. Um but I'm not aware of the legal ramifications of it in or financial ramifications. >> I'm going to assume that if we're out of compliance with IDEIDA, we're going to be facing lawsuits because we're not providing the education for the student that is required based on what you you mentioned earlier, their IEP. So one way or the other will be forced to pay for that no matter what in addition to legal fees and whatever placement that the family now is going to want because there's a poor relationship. They don't feel like this uh school district is taking care of their children. >> The other part of it is um you know the students

038really benefit from being with their peers, right? and and they provide like almost like peer models and we see the benefit of students really growing in in that early intervention in a classroom where um you know they have you know typically you know in this with typically uh performing students or those non-disabled peers as kind of like those peer models. So, if you start going the the other way and having a higher percentage, um I don't think you'd see as much growth in our students. Yeah, just throwing that out there. Yep. >> I'm embarrassed if you've already covered this in a previous meeting, but I have to ask because I could have spaced out. Um do we know what's the demand for next year numbers wise? Yeah, the number still requires us to have three

039preschool classrooms. >> So, how many like 43 or something for next year? >> Um, we So, we already had our playgroup day and we're just um asking we don't have all the the parents that have confirmed that they're going to be involved in our preschool. Um, but we do have a wait list. So, right now I think we are um starting probably at 45 44 And how many on the wait list? >> Right now there's two on the wait list. Um, but we always typically have families that come in over the summer. Um, and you know, if they move in and they want to be part of our preschool, if we have a spot, it, you know, definitely like to offer them a spot. >> Have we ever had to turn parents or turn students

040away? Not Not able to. Every year. >> Every year. >> Yeah. Even last year when we um opened a third section of preschool um we did take everybody on we had some families that initially said no and then we took families on the wait list and then some of the families wanted to to um sign sign their children up and at that point the the classroom was full. So I don't think there's ever been a year that I've been here that we haven't turned families away. >> Okay. So our our again just to be clear our legal obligation is any student three years old through their fifth birthday as long as it's if it follows after or if it they have to reg for for kindergarten five they have to be five by September. >>

041Yep. >> So if they turn five afterwards we have to continue to keep them in the prek program if they have an IEP. >> Correct. So, so a the most extreme example would be if a student turned three on September 2nd um and they turned on their third birthday is September 2nd they're part of our three-year-old program. The next year they they'd be part of our four-year-old program or some variation of that. And then the next year because they weren't five by September 1st they would also be part of our three-year-old program. So a student with a birthday like that that would need um those services would be in there for a full three years. Typically it's not a full three years. There's a range. So sometimes you've got in our our big we had

042a lot come in December this year. So there'll be a lot of students that are in our program for two and a half years. >> Okay. And in addition to that legal obligation for those students that have an IEP is 50% of regular ed students to join them. >> Yes. >> Right. Um, and we typically in New Hartford, you all set it up to have that 40% mark when we try to set up the classes for the >> 30 to next year. >> Yeah. 30 to 40%. >> Which also gives us where Tom's point was, gives us a little latitude should somebody come in and um need those services. Correct. Right. Because that would increase the percentage. >> Absolutely. So >> that's correct. Correct. >> So the main avenue that we get kids into our

043preschool program is through the birth of the state birth to three program. But sometimes we do have families that will contact us that are just part of the community and say I have a concern and they necessarily weren't part of the birth to three program. So those aren't students that we can necessarily plan for. Sometimes students start late into birth to three. So um the information that I get I don't get any other information other than their birth date. um so I can see students birth dates to get an idea um of the number of students and every student from birth to three doesn't necessarily qualify for an IEP. So um that makes the scheduling of it a little challenging because if it was very cut and dry, I could I could say we're going

044to start with 18, we're going to start exactly at 50%. You know, and um but there's a lot more nuance to it that makes it a little bit more challenging. Um but these are just all factors that that I try to keep in mind. question. So, um, one, I think it's a really just the way you're describing it, it's mitigating risk, and that's really important. I think riding that 50% like we were talking about is not ideal. Um, so, uh, but other than that, I wanted to ask, do you have insight into how many students in town, um, are part of one of the correct schools? >> The numbers have, um, steadily decreased. Um right now if they're part of prek, we don't necessarily know because um they are charged tuition through the correct school.

045We don't really know until they become kindergarteners. Um if they don't register, I think we only have a handful, a couple, two or three right now. >> Yeah, I've received notification that we have two currently. That's it. When I first started here, we had 16. >> Wow. Thank you. the the September 1st date that is that for identified students and regular education students they can't start September they can't start kindergarten >> on that regardless of an IEP or a regular edge >> correct >> okay >> and we are one of the last states to do that most states have moved in that direction prior to us um and we see it at the early elementary that a lot of times the students just need a little bit of extra time um that that can make

046a huge difference for them being ready for kindergarten. >> I just want to add one small thing that um for my daughter's in one of the correct schools right now and I'm going into the preschool program with her this coming year and I didn't know when I put her in the program that New Hartford would be responsible for that transportation cost. I was told, you know, if she starts kindergarten here then we'll do the transportation because of course it's a burden to drive them over there. but I happen to work over there, which is the scenario that you gave. Um, so I find it really interesting. Now that I'm here, I understand that, but prior to that, I didn't know. So, >> yeah, >> thank you for that clarification. >> Yeah, and we don't we

047don't really have any control over over the costs. So, it's hard to I think correct schools do a great job and they serve a great purpose. Um, it's just hard to pay for something that we already pay for here in district. Is there enough interest to feel to have maybe four classrooms, four preschool classrooms in this town with the numbers this year and next year? Not right now. Um because I would want to make sure that we have a solid classroom numbers. I wouldn't want to start a classroom with like 10. Um so right now, no. But if if something were to change um or we have you know a big bubble birth bubble or you know a lot of interest um we we do evaluate that every year. Um and again the benefit of

048having that screening day is that I know all the you know we we open it up online and advertise it um and parents know if they're interested in the three and the four-year-old program to sign up. So I can see exactly how many families um and by age three or by age four. Um again that's like March, Aprilish when we start to get that information to start to plan for the next year. Any further questions? >> Well, thank you very much and and I would like to thank you for sharing the success stories with the two students that just came out of the program. That's fantastic. And if there's any more of those, please continue to bring them to us. And thank you and all the staff that's part of that program. >> Yeah, I

049echo our chairman's sentiment, especially to Mike and Amy Kennedy, who is our principal there for our preschool program at New Hart Elementary School. That is the reason why it's successful. with our teachers that are there, our staff, they work collaboratively to make sure that they're meeting the needs of all of our kids and working very well with our families as well because every single one of them comes um to the preschool program with different needs. They all have different upbringings, uh different values. There's so much that is so unique about their first experience coming into school. Um and I don't take that lightly at all. um from first day when a lot of people are crying and we're all hugging each other and handing out tissues to each other to the successful graduation that we

050just had with their beautiful red caps and the red gowns and how absolutely adorable it is. That'll be in the uh the quarterly newsletter as well. It's just outstanding and so so heartwarming, but it's also just setting the the footing for kids to be successful at a very young age and I'm very proud of that. So thank you team and thank you board for your um great questions as well and insights um so that we have full understanding of the program. All right, may I continue sir? All right. In your packets, you'll find um it's very important. You know that I belabor the point about legislative advocacy and when things finally come to fruition, you almost feel like what happened with um the supplemental educational cost share in uh monies that came to the town

051for the board of education and educational expenses as well as to the municipality. So I do have to publicly thank again we sent out letters uh to our representative Mark Anderson who was available texting calling me the same with Senator Paul Honig and also those two contacted me. Governor Lamont did not but again thankful that um the appropriations committee the education committee everyone supported this um very important move. It's uh it's a step in the right direction. It's not the full commitment we're looking for but it's providing some relief. Um, in the same sentiment, I do want to make sure that I give um, major kudos to um, Mrs. Savage for our art show. Absolutely spectacular. Again, students coming back from region 7 to thank Mrs. Savage for the impact that they've had on their

052lives and where they are now in their artistic endeavors, whether videography, photography, whatever it may be. They were inspired and they come back to say thank you to Mrs. Savage. I sat there while student and teacher are hugging each other and everyone's crying. Um, but such a beautiful moment and so many things that our educators do that we don't know about every day because we're not there, we don't see it, we don't observe it, but in our classrooms, at our art shows, at our celebration of learning, thank you to Mrs. Matthysse and our entire team for putting that together where students are beaming with pride for the work that they are doing. It is exceptional to see that and I do not take that for granted whatsoever. Um, also I don't take for granted that

053the board of finance, board of selectmen, and the board of education work together so diligently to um propose and provide a a reasonable uh an understandable budget to the entire town. And I'm thankful to everybody that came out and voted and passed our town's budget supporting education, supporting our town together. I think that's uh fantastic. I want to pass out just a letter that um I sent over to uh the chair the chairman and the selectman's um group as well. So, if we could pass these out and uh Elizabeth, I have a copy for you as well. Three and four. You just pass those down to read at your convenience. As I wrap up superintendent report, uh I believe there's 12 more days of school, but who's counting? Uh last day of school will be

054uh June 18th for students. It's a half day and 19th for staff. June 19th is also Junth in celebration of that. And June 21st we celebrate our fathers. And July 4th marks the 250th anniversary of our wonderful country, the semiquintessential of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And last on my list, I believe we do not have a board of education meeting in the month of July. So we'll see everybody back here August I just said the date. 17th 18th. Thank you Sarah. um at 7 PM as we kick off next year, believe it or not, and wrap up this year. It's crazy how t how time just absolutely flies. Those are all of my updates under superintendent report. Thank you everybody for your time and attention. >> Does anybody have any questions for

055Jeff? >> I have a quick question. How did you select people for the art show? I'm not saying like based on the artwork itself, but what was the process to notify the students that they were chosen for the show >> for the superintendent's art show or the district-wide art show? >> There were two different ones. >> Okay. I think superintendent >> superintendent's art show. So, I leave that strictly up to Mrs. Savage and knowing where students are, where they've began, and where they've ended, how much they've progressed and discussing that with students. And then we reach out to families and invite them um after the artwork has been procured by Mrs. Savage and then uh displayed at the superintendent's office. >> Okay. >> The other art show is a full wide variety of everybody from

056prek up to sixth grade. >> Okay. Someone told me about like a communication some sort of note that students were getting and they were very excited at least in my daughter's class. >> Yeah. There was a certificate awarded after the fact. That might be what she's referring to. Yep. Yep. Just as an acknowledgement of their pieces being selected. >> Okay. That's very nice. >> Sure. Any additional questions? All right, seeing none, we will move on to item E on our agenda, which is the board of education chairs report. Uh, following up on Jeff saying we will not see each other until July. Um, is in your packet the board of education self-evaluation. We do need to have this completed and I'm going to propose that we have a special virtual meeting where we get together

057to talk about this. We need to have this done by >> be great if before July since we don't have a meeting in July. This is um to continue the work and the importance of having a board of education that is functional, operational and missiondriven. So a self-evaluation is part of our process as we apply for recognition not just with CAB but also to ensure that we are doing and being accountable to our communities as well. So, what I will do is after this meeting, I will send everybody a note just with a couple of dates and times. We'll do a virtual meeting. You have this in your packet. Uh we could probably get this electronically, right? Worked out pretty well with the uh superintendent's evaluation. >> We'll try to work something out. Yeah. >>

058Yep. >> Right. If we can get electronically, we'll get that sent out and we'll try to schedule a date before the end of June where we can uh just meet um again virtually and uh walk through >> in executive session. Yes. uh meet in executive session and walk through the super or the uh board evaluation together. So I'll send out a couple of dates. >> This has to be done by when? >> July 1st preferably before we kick off next year. >> Is there is there a legal >> No, nothing. No, no, no, no. Nothing legal about that. >> I find this is going to be completely waste of time virtually. That's my opinion. >> If we can put it off until we get together, we have a hard time. We again this is my

059opinion. We have a hard enough time doing this in a room together, but on computers, I think it would be a waste of time. That's just my opinion. I'll put it out there. >> Yeah, that's fine. I mean, if everybody's okay with getting together and we'll do a we'll do an executive session in the July meeting if we can do that. If everybody's What's that? >> An August meeting. I'm sorry. >> When you meet, >> there's no strict deadline. I was offering a July one just so we could get it done from this particular calendar year, but it doesn't need to be. >> I'm okay waiting myself. Um, you know, and I do I do I do agree. I think u being in person be more effective. Everybody's good. We'll wait to the August meeting

060for this not. Okay. So, we'll still get this out electronically so everybody has it and then we'll follow up and then we'll do an executive session in the August meeting. Okay. The next item on the uh chair's report is uh a town memo regarding records. Um just so everybody's aware, the uh board secretaries all re the each board of selectment, board of finance, board of education, the other commissions in town received a note uh via email from Christine Hayward regarding meeting minutes. Um what had been happening is meeting minutes were all going downtown to the clerk's office being filed with all the attachments that we all have in front of us today. Um there was a a um a memo sent out that said that they were no longer going to accept um all the

061attachments and the meeting minutes were all that needed to go into public record. Um we wanted to make sure that that that aligned with um what the state requires us to do because there are there is a lot of information. There's a lot of things that we go through, you know, for instance, any any of these attachments that are here today um our budgets as they're presented, you know, through our budget season. Um we did receive from um here it is the office of public record administrator. Um her name is Nicole Marino. she sent back to us referring us to uh M1 general administration records which again none of us will know that is but agendas are required to be on file and stored for one year uh for all the boards minutes for all

062government agencies and bodies including boards and commissions is permanent. So all these records go into permanent storage in binders and hard copy um and they're m maintained by the municipality permanently. Um we followed up to say okay we want to make sure that we're good without the attachments. Um the response came back from um again the office of public records administrator saying that at this time we consider all attachments as part of the minutes. So we will have to reply back and again I'm just letting the board know. We'll have to reply back to Christine and the clerk's office letting them know that we have received this um information and um letting them know that you know right now the attachments still need to be there until the state changes their requirements >> forever >>

063permanent paper. >> That's the problem. And that's and and that's why you think the clerk's office all that paper's in the clerk's office, right? So it goes in the vault and we've always again even the the task force right all the minutes from the task force all the commissions everybody's giving all these minutes with the attachments and it's a lot of paper and we're a small district right small town imagine imagine other locations so you know hopefully they change that but right now they're saying that that they consider attachments as part of the minutes is is the uh response that we received so we'll uh we'll get a note back over to Christine let you I covered everything on that one. >> All right. The uh next item under the chair's report is the educational

064cost share that uh Jeff so kindly brought up a little uh just a few minutes ago under the superintendent's report. Um it's great news that the state has made a change. I'm sure all of you or many of you have seen it in the news. Uh but as of May 2nd, the general general assembly passed an amended budget for the fiscal year 20 2027. Um in that they uh provided 100 million of supplemental municipal assistance. Uh 162.2 million in supplemental education aid grants and 10.9 million in district relief and compensatory use learning aid grants. Um this is across 169 districts. So unfortunately not all to Harford because that would have been nice to get $162 million. Um our share right which is great to see is our share of that is $173,240. Um that's for

065the educational piece of it. The municip municipal piece of it was $22,147. Um, so this came out after we passed our budget here in New Hartford as many districts um and towns throughout the state had. Um, my understanding and I wasn't there and I haven't seen the minutes uh that came out of the board of finance meeting. Um, but the board of finance did see this. They they understood that we were getting the money. They had a conversation discussion at their last meeting. Um my understanding is the they motioned to put 50% of this funds that we're receiving into into or put it against the 26 27 budget which will reduce our um increase across both municipal and education and it will also um and it'll also reduce the mill rate increase that was coming

066up. Um the other 50% of it, my understanding is they they they motioned to put that back into the general fund where they remove funds to be able to reduce the tax increase this year. Um we have received some um some um guidance from the secretary of I'm sorry, the office of policy and management. I have that document here which is kind of telling you which way you go. that they refer to when it goes to the municipal. They talk about that um municipalities will be required to report on the expenditures of these funds to the OPM by January 1st, 2027. Um they talk about how you have to handle this money if you already have a budget versus not having an approved budget in your town. Um they refer you to um where is

067it here? I can find it. I'm sure I have it here. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. The specific provisions are found in sections 503 and 506 of Senate amendment A to the House bill. Be honest with you, I didn't review that and and go through the detail of it. Um, at this point now, the board of finance, the board of selectmen believe that what they've done is in line with the guidance here. Um, but I just wanted to bring to this board's attention that we did receive these funds. Um, those funds were applied 50% to the budget as I understand and then 50% to the general fund, right? Is that accurate? And I believe that 50% was the total of theund call it 95,000, right? some 5050 >> that I'm not sure of but yeah sounds

068>> so I'll have to get their minutes to find out exactly I don't know if they put 50% of the 173 and then the other 50% of the general fund again that's all to be determined but our understanding is that was the motion and how they handled the funds that came in after our budget was passed any questions on that it's a little confusing but the good news is we received additional money which helped reduce our tax increase for next year >> one one and it does again there's a good point and the other part of it is it needs to be held in its own separate account right for audit reasons all right and then the next item that uh it's actually not listed here but another piece of good news that uh we

069uh through the tri board meeting that uh Jeff myself and uh chairwoman Gilfoil and our our first selectman Jarm we meet um every four weeks every five weeks just to get together as board chair shares and one of the things that our our first select Jiren brought up is that there were there's available ARPA funds that are going to expire um I believe by the end of the year is what um in December is what um our first selectment had indicated. That money was originally intended to be used towards the new Harford elementary school roof and that roof is not going forward right now. So the good news is um that money is available for us to take and use against some of the deferred maintenance the list that we received from um the task

070force right now. So, Superintendent Susa and his administration are going to go through the list of deferred maintenance here at Antellini, and we're going to come up with a priority list of those items that we could bite off now and try to get done over the summer um and before these funds expire. Um my understanding in in the estimate that uh um our first elect gave me was about $110,000 is available. All right, which uh if we don't use it, we'll lose it by December. All right, >> we will use it. >> Again, good information, right? To be able to take care of the listed deferred maintenance that uh that we currently have. >> Any questions with that? Okay. Well, that concludes the uh chair's report. Next item on our agenda is item F, routine

071business, approval of the minutes. So, we have two sets of minutes both on April 14th and May 2nd. Um, if there's no objection, um, I don't know if everybody was present. >> Okay. So, we should take We'll have to take them separately. Yep. >> Yep. So, can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the April 14th meeting? >> Motion by John. >> Oh. No, no. We'll start with the May or April 14th. So, we got a motion by John. Do we have a second? Second by Kristen. >> Okay. Um, I'm going to take this because I know there are members not here. So all those in favor please signify by raising your hand. All those opposed those that abstain. So that motion passes 502. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the

072minutes of May 5th? Motion by Frank. Second by John. Any discussion? And all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. All those opposed. All those who abstain. That motion passes. Uh 61. Did you get Thank you. >> Okay. And again, that is May 5th, right? Not May 2nd. Okay. The uh next item on the agenda is the expenditure report that was in your package uh that went home with you and came across electronically. Can I get a motion to approve the expenditure report? >> A motion by Frank, second by Kirby. Any discussion on the expenditure report? Um one question that I have, you have some line item transferences that are coming up soon. >> I do today. I have the packet in front of me, so I'll pass them out to everybody. >>

073Okay. Do we want to take those now or those separate on the uh that's in the next item? >> Separate. Yeah. Next item. >> But it's not So it's not in this. >> No, sir. >> Not until it's been approved. >> Right. Um all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. >> That is unanimous. And the next item on the agenda is the line item transfer. Do you want to walk us through these? >> Yep. I will walk everyone through them line by line. And I want to give the board again context uh background with the reminder that this year with unanticipated um leaves of absence has permitted us to have additional savings throughout our budget specifically in the medical lines and salary lines. There was also a change to an outplacement tuition

074which again was to the benefit of uh the board of education in terms of budgeting. So there are currently seven requests before the board and I'll walk through each one of them. The first one or the first two are for legal purposes and if we recall last year we did cut the budget um specifically in in legal. We always do that as an attempt to try to save some monies um before we go forward. But we did have our teachers union negotiation contracts this year as well as some other um legal things that we needed to complete from um the last school year. So those are the two transfers there. You could tell they're coming from the tuition line and from the insurance again from the unpaid leaves. The next one is um the $28,000

075from medical insurance to purchase services is directly tied to our contract with Silver Petraelli and Associates. As the board motioned at one of our previous meetings to change that motion instead of using non-lapsing, we could use up to the amount for non-lapsing. We do have the surplus funds this year. So, the recommendation is to move that uh for $74,000. These were emergency repairs at Antellini. They include electronic door installations, pneumonic thermostats, manhole covers for oil tanks, bcotta alarm system. Our alarm system burglary system was not functional, backflow preventers, remover of power poles and installation and patching. Uh also replacing the floors in the previously um known as Oakill rooms. So the floors were replaced. We had sheer shades replaced. We had water heaters replaced. Uh replacing an outdoor playground camera. We had um new chairs

076purchased for the building. And uh new signage and um also uh fencing up behind the basketball hoops to prevent the ball from going down into the woods all of the time at a total of $74,000. Again, that transfer request comes from the medical over to emergency repairs. The next one is for $62,000 at Bakerville School. Those are inclusive of spill container piping and tank pad from Hughes Mechanical. Gutter sensors and heat tape on the roof that was deteriorating and not working correctly. An alarm system at um Bakerville as well. Uh septic camera outlet um pipeline review um for clogging consistently. Um, we also needed to replace lots of window trim. We had to purchase uh cafeteria tables which were in poor condition and unsafe. And also for the chlorination system at Bakerville. So that's totaling

077the $62,000 request there for medical to emergency repairs for Bakerville. For New Hartford Elementary School, the request there is for the 18,000. We had several different areas that were leaking upon the roof. We had uh fire protection testing and repairing of eight sprinkler deficiencies. We had a wireless receiver that needed to be repaired. Um we had some snow issues obviously at the school that we needed to push and remove that were unexpected costs. Again, all of these are uh we had sprinkler repairs, uh electronic door installations, the burglar alarm system, uh repairing post and rail sections that were damaged either through the storm or through plowing uh snowstorms, uh and additional uh roof repairs that are a lot more substantial as they come through. So, that emergency repair line is um $18,000 at request there.

078And the last one there for equipment at Antellini at $12,000. This was to replace a playground security camera, intercom, and camera at the uh entrance and exit doors and to configure all of the keys for uh security and access points uh with our badges. So, that was the additional request for $12,000. Those are all of the requests um and transfers again based on the surplus. and to bring our lines back to some reality um because of all the expenses for emergency repairs that again could not have been anticipated at all um with some of the things that we've had to correct and repair at our schools. >> Okay, thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the line item transfers? >> Motion to approve. >> Have a motion by Eric. Can I get a

079second? >> Second by Frank. Any discussion, questions regarding the line item transfers? I have a couple questions. Um, one, with the legal fees, um, does that cover all of the legal fees that do these transfer cover everything? Does this transfer cover everything we've expended so far this year >> to date so far? Yes, that is correct. >> Um, and then I'm concerned about the how old were the alarm systems? Like, did they just what happened? >> Yep. They were I don't even know the age of them. The components couldn't be replaced in them. So, I don't know how old they were. They just could not be they were non-functional at all. um they stopped alarming. Um they sometimes went on, sometimes did not go off. Um it was pretty concerning. >> And were the electric

080door installations like was that part of like an electric door installation does not sound like an emergency repair to me. So I guess I don't really understand like what an emergency. If you can elaborate on that because that seems like a bigger project versus a >> Sure. So some of our doors were not electrified correctly, meaning if you swiped into the building once, it allowed you free rain and access into the building. So those need to be reconfigured so that a man trap actually functions the way that it's supposed to, which then secures that area, that vestibule. No, not allowing you into any other access point. So those all had to be rewired and reconnected back to the system. They were not originally. You mentioned the playground security camera twice that different school and one

081was under equipment and one was under emergency repairs. How do you think about classifying things in that way? >> When you were reading things off, you mentioned the playground security camera under like one of the other schools under emergency repairs and then you mentioned it again under equipment at Antalini. >> One oh one was existing already in place. The other one was not was new to this year. >> Got it. Sorry, I didn't follow. I wasn't tracking what you're asking. >> I'm just trying to understand like what constitutes an emergency versus what's >> correct >> equipment. What is that definition? >> So, an emergency repair means it was not anticipated to be corrected because of an existing camera versus a new piece of equipment which needed to be installed because it never existed in the

082first place. Yep. >> Can you explain how the account numbers work? Because it looks like everything that an amount is going to is a different account number that's not listed on this. >> Sure. Those those I'd have to take you back through the budget book um or um the expenditures because each one of them is categorized by location and it's broken down into four different locations. are three schools in central office. But then like the uh 2000s would be under um facilities and uh operations versus a um 10,000 would be under central office for example and then it ties back to our budget book directly. So if I go to legal at 1200 it would be in our budget book under the 1200 series which is under central our board of education forgive me and

083then line number 315 which would list the amount that was requested for the election. Makes sense. Thank you. >> Yeah, you're welcome. >> Jeff, are we up to over $100,000 then this year for legal fees? >> Um probably around between 60 and 70,000 in that estimate round with this request would be $40,000 and $27,000. So I thought I mean it looks like unless I'm reading this incorrectly we spent 52975 correct and we still are anticipating um May and then June. So two more bills to cover. So that's incorporated into this request >> right which is 67. >> Yes. >> We spent 52 >> correct. >> So we need 67 more. >> Yes. So we're we're over 100 in >> Yes. >> change thousands in legal fees this year. >> Correct. >> Substantial. >> Yep. >>

084We got to find a better way. We may as well put a We may as well put an attorney on tenure on on the staff >> On retainer or staff. >> Do we have any additional questions? Okay, seeing none, we have a motion by Eric and a second by Frank to approve the line item transfers as presented. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. That is unanimous. >> Thank you. Uh with equipment >> the Okay, thank you. All right. So, we have uh new business. Um we have two new first reads of policies. Penny is absent today. Do we need to take these today or can we postpone these till >> She asked me to she asked me to read them. She was comfortable with me reading them out. >> Okay. All

085right. So, the first one is um strictly in relation to the law and the change. So, you'll see that's stricken out 2024 on page one to 2026. And then we are eliminating the form for the waiver. So if you look on page number five, you'll see it's in accordance with Connecticut Public Act 216 that um is the Connecticut General Assembly's resolution to the inconsistencies created by the initial kindergarten age. So that has been revised. the form we're proposing to eliminate completely so there's no discrepancy or any confusion whatsoever in terms of when New Hartford Public Schools is is admitting kindergarteners into our programming. So those are the only changes to this uh the first read of the school safety preparation response and afteraction. Uh first read this takes let me just quickly grab my narrative.

086This takes three different policies and coaleses them together. So uh under the cape model policies these this plan or this policy replaces safe and school school safe and secure school facilities number 3516 crisis management plan 5146.6 and emergencies and disaster preparedness 6114. These policies are no longer necessary due to the updated 5142 which you have before you. This policy is a comprehensive safety and security policy that covers essential components of policies 3516, 5141.6, and 6114. CAB recommends rescending these three policies upon the adoption of the updated 5142. And that is my recommendation to the board of education as well. There will be additional changes that come out during the summertime. So, don't be surprised if this comes again. They are trying to streamline the process for our emergency responses so that it's less cumbersome and

087makes more sense to those that are administering emergencies and responses. So that might change a little bit more again, but right now we have three different policies that exist in three different places and their recommendation is to put it into the 5142 all together. Okay, these are just first three. Does anybody have any questions on policy or 5142 before we move on to old business? Okay, moving on to old business. Uh under old business, we have the revision to policy 9221 filling board member vacancies. This is a second read. So, we'll be looking for a motion to approve. >> That is correct. A >> motion by Kirby. Will we get a second? >> Second by John. >> Okay. >> Any discussion >> again like to well we have more information to look at together. >>

088So this was a very arduous and legally legally tricky policy. You'd think it's a quick simple fix, but when you start looking into Connecticut general state statutes, you realize you need counsel to help you with this. So in your packet, you had an original version of it. There's been a little bit more discussion regarding that and legal opinion. So before you you'll have the um shipment model policy and in talking to our attorney we had added on the first component sorry let me just show everybody under the shipment policy we added that first component in red and that second one as well again for clarification of what to do when there is a resignation or a position open on the board of education. When there is the the max representation of six of a political

089party, it triggers the minority representation rule which we have to follow very strictly. That is very clearly outlined in number two. Thank you to John Puzz and also again to our legal team for helping us. We looked even more deeply. Um at my daughter softball game, Kristen Young, Frank, myself, we all got together to look at and make this extremely clear with almost like a follow how-to guide with step one, two, three, and four. So, if you look at the bylaw, these will accompany the bylaw for further clarity. >> That one that I just handed out, there's a slight difference in the minority representation. It's just very small. Um, it's a couple lines. I don't have that one in front of me. You have the newer one in front of you. >> The bylaw, sorry,

090the >> regarding the minority. >> There's is am I right in seeing that the first one is 9211 and then the updated one is 9221. Is that is that supposed to be >> it's 922 9211. >> This was a typo on this. Yeah. Yeah. >> So, the intent here is clarity and what to do when a vacancy becomes uh comes to fruition, whether by resignation um or by vacancy that comes in another way um either a letter of resignation or we we become aware of a vacancy that's created by other means um such as a resignation or other than a resignation. So this is the simple down dirty version of the policy. Okay. The more explicit explicit version of the policy is behind it. I'm going to recommend that we adopt all of it together

091because of unfortunately past vacancies that have been present and then some misconstrued um understanding of the state law and then also our bylaws. So take a minute to read through it. These again have gone through multiple revisions and there's also a vacancy appointment decision framework which I spoke about to make the process a little bit more clear >> on the second page >> which one Sure. >> Again, it's just further clarification of the minority representation state statute. Yes, we went we went through multiple revisions of this policy or this bylaw actually. Are the other pages the same? Yes, the last two are the same >> from your board packet. They're not. No, the the last No, these last two that I just handed out are the revised version of those same vacancy and the FRA

092decision framework. >> Yeah, you'll notice in the decision framework, there's a note under step two. If the board has the maximum representation of one political party can have at the time the vacancy is created and the vacating member is not from the majority political party and is an unaffiliated voter, then additional analysis may be necessary under Connecticut General Statutes 9167 ag. Yeah, we met and talked about it more than more than more than one time because I mean >> and so I'm comfortable if the policy committee is comfortable with this and I'm comfortable so many times >> this thing that's in >> what you just >> take it's got slight revisions and variations to to clarify what we had discussed And what we had talked about the ambiguity of the 30-day rule, the ambiguity of

093the minority representation versus the majority representation and the ambiguity of an unaffiliated voter and what occurs if an unaffiliated vacates and then someone is endorsed by a political party. It may necessitate further investigation. So it clarifies all of that. But take the time take take time that one. Yeah, there's >> there's a little more there. There's a little bit more. That's why you take the time to read it. Now >> that's why I asked the question maybe that's why I was asking the question. So >> either going to trust or >> Well, this So, I don't want anybody to feel that they have to vote on this tonight if they're not comfortable with the new documents that just came in. So, >> can't guarantee anything. >> Um, >> what were you trying to accomplish so

094that you guys to be very clear about some of the reasons that people number one people who decided to transfer their party Thank you. somebody people who decided to transfer their party membership in advance of a vacant like when upon finding out that there was a vacant board seat to try to get a seat. Do those people count against the majority party rules? just kind of lays that out when they are when they are eligible versus when they are not based off of when they filed the paperwork relative to the time period here. Also trying to be very clear about the time period under which the board of head has the board of ed has exclusive authority to act and sort of like what procedures we're going to put in place and like clarify during

095that time period before the decision defaults to the town. Um the original policy also had language regarding like supplementing someone with an independent um which is an actual political party but not representative of all potential parties. So like just trying to get clarity on like unaffiliated versus independent versus like majority party versus like what are the other parties that exist out there and like how that applies here. Um, and like then again like what are the legal ramifications and like there's no the minority representation fees is just really about you can't have more than six members on the board that are part of one political party. That's the maximum. So how does that net out when like things start switching around and like that's it. So again just in terms of the problems we were

096trying to solve with this. We want to give you an overview of that so that what I would love from you as you're reading this is to make sure that that is clear to you if any of those circumstances come up. Sorry to Yeah, but this is just a lot. Maybe you read older than new. >> Well, I was talking to what >> the only new stuff, Frank, from that old one to the new one is under like the step to that specific note that we were struggling with with the unaffiliated component. >> There's not much more because it's again it's one pager. Our core rules are the same. >> It's the same thing. >> I think it's changed a little. >> Correct. It's not substantive because it just clarified what we as a subcommittee

097discussed and you asked me to attain council for and I did and I it's been inserted here and then provided back to the committee and now for the full board. Just going back to our last um appointment, would under these new rules, would we have been able to consider both political parties and and unaffiliated? the way that it was previously written. Yes. Because the I believe the verbiage was independent voter was the extra word that again Kristen just explained is really meant unaffiliated out of context, but it was worded independent voter. So he said that can't exist. We have to at the change that >> thinking at the at the time it was five. The majority was five, right? >> Yep. So it wouldn't have triggered the minority representation. So it could have been a

098Democrat anybody as long as you don't supersede the six. >> All right? >> Because we didn't open it up to Democrats, I don't think. >> But that was the that was under the old right >> old law. Okay. So that question I asked that you have an italics here. Nobody knows. So from some simple research it would look like that an if the an affiliated party member came forward and was truly unaffiliated then yes can go forward with it. However in research in the state of Connecticut and even here in our own example the unaffiliated voter is usually endorsed by the Republican party or the Democratic party. So then that is the extra layer that has to be under consideration under that Connecticut general state statute. That's it. But they just present themselves. >> If

099it's unaffiliated, truly unaffiliated, go either, you know, go forward with it. But if they've been endorsed by another party, that's where the caution has to take place. Then you have to go back and see did are we going to supersede the majority here or not? And if we are, we cannot. But again, it's only triggered by that six. >> Well, an example is when you came on, >> the person that left was unaffiliated, >> right? >> Yes. And >> Kelly, >> yeah, when Kelly left, she was >> she was Democrat. >> She she >> she changed her party affiliation before she vacated this like a while before she vacated. >> She was officially >> elected as a Democrat then changed her party affiliation while she went in. >> But you opened it up to Democrats

100and unaffiliated. I believe that. >> Yeah. But when the law says because we were at the maximum of six Republicans at the time, right? >> And my question for Jeff was the law says that the person has to be the replacement has to be from the same political party as the person vacated. Well, we ended up in the right place. But my question was, should it have only have been an unaffiliated nominee in that case? Do you understand what I'm saying? If it had been if she had been a Democrat, it would have had to have been a Democrat, right? But she was unaffiliated. >> Yeah. >> If we did that, I think if the if the board of ed did that, I think it would have had to be right. But then again, that's

101within the board of ed's purview to do that. I don't know if that holds true that it would have needed to be a Democrat. >> Well, that's what we've written. >> If if I'm losing my mind, Frank, >> if a if you have six Republicans and a Democrat resigns, it has to be a Democrat. Does it have to be an unaffiliated? And that's what this italics is about. And >> state law is poorly written. >> Correct. If it's a true unaffiliated, you go forward with it. But if they're endorsed by the Republicans, you can't with a six triggered maximum party. You could do a Democrat or unaffiliated. That's what we did in that per in that particular instance. >> Yeah. I I just think in the spirit of the law, it had to have been

102an unaffiliated, which is what we ended up with. And so we turn ended up in the right place. >> Yep. >> I'm not sure that we >> have a great night. Thank you. I just think it's important that we get that right. >> I don't disagree. >> So, just to I don't think what we're hearing is that we're not going to get any further legal clarification. So, barring a circumstance in which this goes to court where as good of we're in as good a place as we can be right now. >> That's where I would land that given the go rounds we've had on this which have been numerous. Is there a rule on I I mean I would I guess I just don't know this, but I wouldn't have thought that you could change

103your affiliation while you're currently seated on a board. >> You sure can. You can change your affiliation whenever you want. >> But what if you are in a minority situation or a majority situation? You're teetering the >> man. I don't know. >> What if there are six Republicans and then you Democrat becomes Republic? an unaffiliated, but you can't you can't supersede the six no matter what. >> Six is the matter. >> So then would you >> basically trigger some kind of like replacement clause on the board? >> That's what I'm trying to figure out. Like if you >> you'd have to the person the individual would have to vacate because you can't have that sixth. >> Okay. So there is some sort of >> seventh, eighth, and ninth person. No, you can't just >> you

104could change to unaffiliated, but you have a three-month waiting period on the date of filing. >> Gotcha. What's important for us though is that we respect the will of voters. And so when you replace somebody, I think you should replace them with someone from the same ilk, that's what the voters voted for. >> We can strive to do that if such a person is available and willing to serve. >> Yeah. >> Are we comfortable putting this to a vote? I am >> Frank and John. >> You keep interrupting him as he's trying to read. >> That does not seem to That's the I know the old one had here and also in step four. I'm trying to follow through the different scenarios. That's this is the answer to that one. Is that why you pulled

105it? Because >> that's why legal counsel pulled it. Correct. >> And rectify. >> I feel like this is as specific as it can get >> and it might just be the best. Yeah, let's vote and move on. >> I know it was tedious with it, but >> this is important. >> No, I understand that it's important. I'm not trying to do that. I think >> my again my understanding from looking at this and reading that was that that's as good as the current law can get us. Mhm. >> So I accept the legal consultation's opinion that like that's as much we have asked the legal team to look at this multiple times to like clarify this and this is as good as they can get for us. So I'm satisfied that they did their work.

106>> Okay. So, we have a motion by actually I need you to change your motion if you would to also include bylaw 9221 >> 9211. >> So, uh Kirby and John, are you okay revising your motion to approve policy 911? Is that what you're saying? and n and bylaw 9211. >> Yes. >> Okay. Any more discussion? Right. Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. That's unanimous. Okay. Moving on to item I on the agenda, public comment. Alicia, would you like to address the board? >> Yeah, listening to your stuff 198 Gillette Road. Um, you know, going through a lot of your agenda items here. I had some questions. Um, the the slide that Mike went through, the prek slide, can I get a copy of that or a print out

107of that? >> Yeah, everything's attached. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Well, was it's not attach it wasn't attached with tonight's was it? >> No, it will be with it will be >> with the minutes. >> It'll be part of the minutes. >> Um, and I can certainly put this the some other requests in a letter back to you. So I'd like to request the past five years of just the number the quantity of special needs or you know special ed uh prek and then the total students for prek just the ratio for the last five years. I'd also like to request what is the total cost of the prek program for the last five years and what was the total tuition for the last five years. And I understand you've got some that are p uh

108that were obligated to pay for and there's going to be some you know extra services provided to those people to those kids. But I'm just looking for a total cost and a total tuition. just some basic numbers um going through that. So we've so the prek program as it stands right now we've got three teachers and and I'm assuming three paras and then you have a speech language person a psychologist an OT and a PT. Is that correct? >> Those are already people that are are hired. They're not just for the prek program. for the school >> is there. >> But I'm not I don't know if I'm going to dialogue. Am I allowed to dialogue with question and answer right now or am I going to ask for reduced to writing? >> I was

109just going to ask would you be able to provide a split and I can put that in a in a request letter. >> What's What do you mean a split? >> Like is it 50% pre preschool 50% regular >> of their um their time? >> Yeah. >> Uh I could take a look at that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But put that put it in writing, please. >> I'll put that in a letter. >> Thanks. Um, and the light item transfers that will be part of tonight's minutes. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And did I hear you correctly? You said you you thought you'd be 60 to 70,000 under budget by the end of the year. Did I hear I wasn't sure if I heard that right. >> No, I didn't state that. >> What was

110the 60 to $70,000? >> You remember that? That was the money >> probably for legal fees, >> but that that wasn't the total budget. >> I think that was something that Tom asked. >> Okay. I I I can go back and listen to the recording. >> Sure. Yeah, that was for legal fees between the 60 and 70,000. >> Okay. Um >> additional fees, right? >> Correct. That is correct. >> Okay. >> Yep. um to that to the ECS money. I was at that meeting. I was online. My recollection and I looked, they're not they're not loaded yet. The minutes are not loaded yet. The budget's not loaded yet. My recollection was that because they had they had a long conversation about it, but what they ended up with was they were going to put the

111full amount in as a revenue, but they were reducing the surplus money that was coming in. So we so it was initially 1.25 1.2 million as surplus money coming in as a revenue line item. They reduced that by 100,000 but put the whole amount in as as other lines. But in essence, yeah, we were kind of saying they were their intent was to continually reduce that surplus line item because that's not true surplus anymore. That's it. We kind of built that up over the years when we were running through COVID. So it got kind of out of control what they were thinking. So they're trying to back back that off some. So they reduced that by 100,000 but put the full amount of that ECS money in. That was my recollection. We can double check

112that when they uh get those things uploaded. I will get you a letter requesting all that. That's it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can I ask for a point of clarification? >> Sure. on that. Well, my question is just regarding um you had a you asked for the number of students um for the past five years. I just I know that the number of students can vary throughout the school year. So like are we going to recommend that you just take like the maximum number of students from at one time throughout the school year, right? Because there's a difference between where you start and where you end and yada yada yada. So like in terms of reporting on that for the sake of clarity, can we assume that that will be the maximum number of

113special ed students that were in the school at one time? >> Sure. Uh it'll be the maximum ratio uh if the numbers are too small and would be identifiable. I can't provide the specific number by um by record, but I could provide ratios of what those were. I know we've gone back and forth about how to like quantify that and like when those numbers get pulled throughout the year. So I just wanted to make that clarification public. >> I would I would recommend EOI because then you get a true sense. >> Can you tell the rest of us what EOI is? Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh moving on to item J reports. Uh Ed advance would been by Penny and she's not here. Do we have anything for advance

114to talk about? No, nothing. >> Okay. No report on ed advance. How about school facilitization task force? >> I will give a quick update. So, since the last board of ed meeting, we've held two additional meetings and one publicformational meeting. Um, the publicformational meeting content from May 19th was the same as the first meeting and we had about 10 to 12ish attendees that day. Um, some margin folks. So, um, that's where we were with those. Currently, we are reviewing possible site configurations for a variety of potential outcomes in relation to our building, including what it would take to house the indistrict programming needs and expected enrollment capacity over the next 10 years, as well as just kind of some variations in there. Um, where we're at is like really trying to understand how we can

115narrow down all of the options available to us to figure out what we can explore more deeply. Um what she's looking at right now outside of the sort of layouts that she's put together for each of the building possibilities is a deeper look at the feasibility of building on any of the sites as well as phasing of the construction work. So for example, if we wind up doing any construction work, what will that how will that impact the current student experience? We start doing renovations at one school, do we need to displace students? What does that look like and the timing and so on and so forth? So we should have more information about that um on the next couple of meetings. Um, outside of SPA's work, we've kicked off a survey to the faculty

116and staff that are currently employed in district to get their input on what's working. We're just started to see some responses for that. So, hopefully we'll have some readouts on that. Um, we will be doing a community survey. Um, that will be compiled and distributed once we are down to fewer options so we can get more concrete feedback from the town. Um, we are also looking to identify a deadline for our work within the next one to two meetings. Um, we'll be adding additional meetings in July and August. dates will be announced at the next meeting. And right now, our next meeting will be Monday, June 8th. Um, it is listed as a special meeting. That is just because we needed to move the date. Um, there's no particularly nothing particularly special about it. Um,

117just regular programming from there. That's it for right now. Lot of information online for anybody who's listening. Go check it out or ask us questions. >> Yes, sir. How how is the consultants scope of work meshing with the budget that we that we have? Are we adding to there? I know there's been a lot of >> additional considerations as you know as you start turning over rocks, little more ideas pop up. Are we still >> within their budget that we gave them? Are they looking for more money or are we good to go? Do you know that? Uh Jeff looks like he's pulling his microphone up to speak about something. They have not spoken to me about this. Um I will say that one thing that is not in their scope of work that needs

118to be determined um whether or not the town wants to spend more money on it is if we want to engage any sort of civil engineer to like get a deeper analysis of what's going on at the site because that's not in the scope of work. So for example, if we're looking at options to like do some work up here at Antalini, we would need to understand what's going on from a like a civil engineering perspective. Um, so that's like a TBD, but there have been, it sounds like the task force is interested in understanding that before we make any recommendation to the town because we can't do the work, then the recommendation kind of sucks. But we haven't quite fig we're trying to figure out if we can narrow down the options a little

119bit further with publicly available information before we ask for any money to do any site evaluations for that. Um, one component of that is I'm meeting tomorrow with Mike Lucas. I'm pulling that name out of my hat, but from the town um, and Michelle to kind of go over some of the conditions for, um, at New Harvard Elementary in particular, um, to see what information is not publicly available, but what we think the town might know about what the site conditions are. >> Jeeoff, do you have anything to add regarding the cost for SPA? No, it's the civil engineer component, but no, they have not requested nor invoiced any any other additional >> and uh within their contract, it states that they would have to request that first to be approved. So, can't be done

120without my knowledge. >> She does come up here a lot, which I appreciate. I know >> she's doing great work. >> I just seems like we're adding a lot of meetings which added this to their involvement. Just know >> that's a great question. So the work that where we are right now within the process is that her work is like the the work that she set out to do is mostly done. We are adding meetings because we as a task force need to collect more information that is not necessarily information that she would be giving us to help make sure that we can make a recommendation. So I'm right now in the process of gathering information from all the task force members about what additional information they want in order to feel good about making

121a recommendation. So some of those things regarding are like around the prek program um and what that looks like. Some of those things are around like what are some of the operational costs at the schools right now? Are there any like if we wound up closing one of the buildings like what is the cost per power and all of that electricity right then so we can understand the cost savings to that and kind of like have some of those numbers behind that. Those are just some examples of data points that we don't need SPA to help us get to but that we want to understand before anybody feels comfortable making a decision. So hopefully the extra meetings will not be a lot of extra work for her. If anything, it's giving her more time to

122kind of work through some of the feasibility site bit work that she's trying to scramble through right now. >> Thank you. >> No problem. >> So, so, uh, that was an excellent update, Kristen. Um, and then following up on one item, uh, and then a second item. So, we previously discussed preK, which and then sharing some information here and then taking back the task force. Obviously tonight's meeting had a lot of information on prek. Uh so just you know continue to be a lison on that front. And then another topic that's come up as a couple times and I decided to bring back to this group is around shared services. Uh there was a little bit of dialogue previously about shared services. I know some research was done on shared services and so similar to

123um you know just bringing to the board. There's a question there about shared services. So would like to be able to get some more information from Jeff and the team to be able to take back to the task force. So I wanted to raise that here and make sure that we're okay with that and then I'll follow up offline just as I did or Kristen as well did on the prek front. So, I think you're asking again, does anybody on the board have any objections to sharing information that Jeff might have or his administration might have on shared services, right? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Then I'll follow with you, Jeff, and keep you in the loot. You had said Kristen that there's um some surveys out with the staff. >> Is there any any thought

124to surveys to the community? >> Yes, we will do a survey to the community. Right now the thought is we wanted to be a little bit further down the path in terms of narrowing down the options we are looking at to really get feedback about the path that people want to take with like better concrete options. Right now we're still looking at like 8 to 10 realistic options and it's like too much to put into a survey. So um the goal is to you know get us to a place where we have fewer options. Get a survey out there. We've got a plan in terms of like where it will be out. It'll be available digitally. It will be available in various locations around town. Um hopefully trying to make it easy to get as

125much feedback as possible, but again not ready to deploy that survey until we have >> more. I guess and the reason I ask is you know I' I've been to most of the meetings I've gone to the the public information hearings >> and our attendance hasn't been great. Right. I think between two of them there were probably 20 community members. Right. between two of those sessions. Um, and I guess to even follow up on Tom's point, and I agree with you, that to make a recommendation without understanding any of the civil information and leading down a recommendation that isn't realistic. You don't want to do that. But I also would think that we should get some input from the town before we spend any more money, right, to even use a civil engineer or geotech

126to see if there's any appetite for the dollar values that have been put out there. >> Yeah, that's a great point. I'll take it back to the committee again. everyone's just trying to figure out how to get the most bang for our buck on any of the um community inpoint I think especially given just sort of the varying engagement levels >> to that point uh two two topics so one the which the survey itself that was part of the previous task force meeting which could be shared and so just to make sure it's clear for everyone that survey was more of an educator's perspective on some the potential kind of task force topics at a high level. So was not, you know, soliciting input related to any of the options on the table. And so

127it's a different type of survey in terms of what's going out to the educators versus what we going to the community. And the second piece um in terms of engaging the community um I would say across I I'm not I don't want to speak for the task force um but I'll say even for myself one of the pieces that that I uh reply back in terms of additional information the report that was the the facilities condition report that was mentioned and that potential 29 million and 110,000 of which will be tackled through that the ARPA funding both for me as a task force member I know for other task force members and I would think that the community understanding what kind of that status quo is and and that you know sequencing of what actually

128is needed when in terms of the amount of deferred maintenance and what needs to be addressed and so as we go to the community the the I don't want to speak for the task force but I would not want to present to the community that a do nothing option is zero dollars given the amount of deferred maintenance the aging facilities etc. So I do think that as we think about engaging the community, making sure that as a task force, there's been some discussion about what these range of options might look like and then not presenting that there's a do nothing zero dollar kind of minimal input, no financial input options available. >> Sure. >> Is there an option to provide us with what the questions were that were given to the staff? >> Yeah, certainly.

129>> Just a copy of the >> Yeah. Yeah. It's um I was just looking to see if it's posted yet. It's not posted, but I have a hard copy that I could share >> and share. >> Can you just provide kind of what the range of topics were in those questions? >> It was a 12 question survey um included both multiple choice questions as well as open-ended questions to follow up for various things. The idea getting we could get data as well as get any clarification points for that. So, it's sort of like what's working in the schools right now, what's not working in the schools right now with a variety of categories. um what do you think would be beneficial from like a go forward perspective? Like that's sort of the nature of um

130the surveys, but we can share the questions with you afterwards. >> And for an important point, if I may, we employ 55 or that's approximate probably 55 people out of the 110. About 50% of those people work and live in town. So I don't want their opinions to be dismissed as they don't live in town. They live and work here >> very proudly to say that. So >> that is one of the questions is like understanding their role in the school, what how they work in the school and whether or not they're residents in the school. And I think there might be one about whether or not they have kids in the school at the time right now. >> Um just to kind of again make sure we're slicing the data in that way. What

131was the question? >> I had to look the actual wording that was there were >> we don't have to we can get on >> there was a subcommittee that was responsible for that. So >> okay thank you Kristen Gabe report >> very exciting. >> All right so there are a couple um events coming up. So one is the 16th annual CAB summer leadership conference. That's August 6th. They have a newsletter that you can just sign up for. So if you are interested in getting it, you can just go on their website and get access to it. So um the delegate assembly is November 19th. They have the CAB and CAPS convention. That's November 20th and 21st. And then the new the new board member orientation is December 10th. Um that's the next one. I think

132they had I think it's twice a year. So, um they have an upcoming webinar that's Connecticut school funding changes that's on June 17th. There's a link on the um newsletter. And then there's a couple finance webinars that are coming up. there's various states and there's a lot of them. But if you're interested in um any of the financial related series then you can just also go on the newsletter and select those as well. So that's all >> any questions. >> Okay. Thank you Kirby. Uh can I get a motion to enter executive session at 9:01? >> Motion by Frank. Second by John. All those in favor. >> Oh, I'm sorry. And invite our superintendent Susa into executive session. That good? Thank you.