New Hartford Public Schools - Board Meeting - 03/18/2025

001All right. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. We're going to uh call the meeting to order. Um, so as the chairperson of the board of education, I'm going to call our regular schedule meeting for uh March 18th at 7 p.m. Uh, for all of you that are that are able, please join us 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 the order of business. I do not have any changes to our order of business. Um, does anybody on the board have any additions that they'd like to make to the agenda for tonight? All right, seeing none, uh, order

002of business will stay as it is. Uh, next item in the on the agenda is communications to the board of education. So, I have um or we have as the board have received um as of about an hour before this meeting 25 communications to the board. Um all those communications will be part of our meeting minutes. Um I I I do not intend on reading each and every one of those tonight. Um but again, they will be part of our minutes, but I will acknowledge each of the letters we've received. And if I do not acknowledge you, please let us know. Um, I have a communication from Colleen Whipperman, the teachers of New Harford Elementary in Bakerville from Mrs. Tanky, Chris Barbarett, Shelley McCoy, Kelly Kravenzola, Julie Seir, Sarah Mororrow, Steve Baratka, Allison Milo, Shayla

003Vu, Melissa Priest, New Harford Education Association, um, Colleen Sabo, M Mary Wallace, Alexandra Plord, Elaine Baratco, Mark Richio, Charlotte Eelio, Lucas Wilzac, Kate and Jason Smith, Donna Leblanc, um two communications that we had at our last meeting from Marshia Jones as well as the first letter from the New Harford Education Association. And just before this meeting, we received additional communications from Peter and Essie Humphrey as well as Shannon Deello. Um so all of those communications have been received by all board members. They will all become part of our minutes tonight uh for uh anybody who would like to see them. Believe I got everybody right. Yes. Okay. Um so moving on to public comment and just based on the participation here tonight, I do need to make sure that we address the bylaws of the

004board and the requ the the um guidelines behind public comment. So five minutes may be allotted to each speaker and a maximum of 20 minutes to each subject matter. No boisterous conduct shall be permitted at any board of education meeting. Persistence in boisterous conduct shall be grounds for summary termination by the chairperson of that person's privilege to address. If necessary, the chairperson may clear the room so that the board can continue with the meeting. nor no oral presentation shall include charges or complaints against any employee of the board of education regardless of whether or not that employees identified in the presentation by name or by another reference which tends to identify an individual. All charges or complaints against the employees shall be submitted to the board of education under provisions of board of education policy.

005So with that, um, knowing that all of these communications will be again part of the minutes, they've all been received. Is there any public comment? Melissa, you want to start? Um, please use the microphone if you would please tell us your name and address. Being the guinea pig. Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. Good evening. Um, my name is Melissa Wilzac. I live at 15 Spencer Brook Road. I have two children, a fourth grader here at Antelini and a seventh grader at Regional. Thank you for allowing me time to enter my public comment. I do plan on also entering this information with the board of finance, but would like to first state my family moved here to New Hartford in 2017. We moved here in large part because of the school system. If you speak

006with any parent that has not grown up here in New Hartford and ask them why they moved here, I can certainly guarantee they would name schools as a top priority. I understand that budgets are always fluctuating and need to be addressed. But what I don't understand is how we can look at so many difficult cuts which would impact our students well-being. The children of our town should always be our biggest investment and deserve the support of their community. Most specifically, the thought of cutting the fifth and sixth grade band program has truly been upsetting to myself and my children, my son most of all. While my son has moved on to middle school, the joy and love of music I see in his performances now in middle school were started in the halls here at

007Antelini. It would be detrimental to so many kids who might not have the ability to learn an instrument outside of school should this program be defunded. I appreciate every minute you have given to this discussion. I do not doubt that you have poured over the numbers again and again. I carefully listen to Jeff's thoughtful defense of each of these programs or positions and the potential harm that the loss of any of these may cause. But I hope that hearing tonight from the town will help the committee think a little bit more before these final cuts. Thank you. Um this I didn't email it, but Hi, good evening. My name is Samantha Wald and I live at 45 Robins Road. I am a mother of three girls, one in sixth grade here at Antellini, one in

008second grade at Bakerville, and one in kindergarten at Bakerville, while also working full-time. In addition, I have had the privilege of serving as the president of the New Hartford Public Schools PTO for the past two years, and tonight I am here to speak to you on behalf of our school community. I've spoken with Mr. Susa in the past to share my praise for our faculty and staff, but I feel compelled to reiterate this sentiment, especially as proposed cuts in the board of education budget would have a significant impact on the quality of education and the overall value of our district. Like many, I have been following the budget meetings virtually. And while I do not envy the difficult decision that the board must make, I want to thank each of you for your dedication to

009this role. Throughout these discussions, I have heard comments about the PTO stepping in to cover shortages. While we are committed to ensuring that students have access to field trips and enrichment opportunities, the reality is that postcoid, many families in our district are still struggling. Between the 2023 and 2024 school year and this year to date, we have seen a 40.47% decrease in raised funds. To provide some insight into how the PTO operates, we hold monthly meetings, yet only seven people regularly attend. This small group is responsible for organizing, executing, and running all fundraisers and events throughout the school year. While we understand the financial challenges that the town faces, the parents whom you hope will contribute to more PTO funding are the same taxpayers affected by the budgetary increases. Our organization is not structured to

010absorb the financial responsibility of these proposed cuts. One of the equally concerning reductions in the proposed budget is the elimination of clerical and instructional aids. These individuals are vital to the daily operations of our schools. They provide essential administrative support, answer phones, service a first line of security, assist teachers, and help facilitate field trips. While I may not know the full extent of their responsibilities, I do know how often I have relied on them when calling about my children, visiting the schools, or chaperoning field trips myself. Their role in ensuring the safety of our students includes verifying volunteer credentials, an already time-consuming process that the PTO attempted to alleviate last spring by organizing a district-wide fingerprinting event due to the shortage of group two volunteers. Their absence would place an undue burden on our already

011stretched administrative team and disrupt the smooth operation of our schools. In closing, I hope my statement clarifies the PTO's roles and capabilities. We are a dynamic group of volunteers who work tire tously to enhance student experiences, but we do not have the infrastructure to replace the crucial services at risk due to these proposed budget cuts. While we recognize the need for financial efficiency, we respectfully ask that the board of education to consider the long-term impact these decisions will have on our students, families, and the community. Thank you for your time. Oh, and here. Thank you, Samantha. My name is Marcia Jones, 298 Ramstein Road. I've lived in New Hartford for 40 years. I have seven grown children who all attended New Hartford schools in Northwestern Regional 7 and I am currently raising a 9 and

012a halfyear-old child who's in fourth grade at Antelini here and part of the special education program. I am also the instructional assistant at Bakerville Consolidated School and New Hartford Elementary School. I have already written and sent you all a letter stating my feelings about the cuts being proposed for this new budget. I would like to take a moment to thank the board and the superintendent's office and your assistance for posting all of those letters on your website. I don't know if the people here or people listening or watching are aware that all of those 25 letters are on the website and I appreciate the time and the effort that it took to do that. They are enlightening and definitely worth reading. I am particularly highlighting here the proposed cut of the instructional assistant and feel

013compelled to speak directly to this position because I believe there may be a lack of information and perhaps even misconception regarding what this position actually entails. In many districts, the phrase instructional assistant and pareducator are interchanged. Not so in New Hartford. While I am a qualified para educator, I took this particular job 14 years ago as a separate entity with a separate set of guidelines and expectations because I believe the instructors in our schools need the support it offers them. Instead of working in the classroom supporting instructors as they teach, I work outside of the classroom supporting the instructors much as the administrative assistants support the administrators. I perform a myriad of tasks for our instructors, including copying, organizing, creating, prepping, sorting, filing, laminating, brainstorming, facilitating, and effectively managing all their needs in order to

014support their teaching. I also work directly with the curriculum director, producing massive quantities of manipulatives needed to support and fuel our everchanging curriculums. My strengths lie in multitasking, organization, and time management, specific requirements for the job I do. And I utilize every minute of my five hours each day to get these jobs done. But when help is needed for duties such as lunch or recess or do door duty, literally anything at all, I am always readily available for whatever is needed and more than willing to take time out of my full workday to do so. I am also one of only two substitutes trained and capable of substituting for the administrative assistance in our primary schools and have done so frequently at any time and for any length of time whether they are called away

015from their desks, needed to leave for a period of time or have to be out for days or even weeks at a time. And in fact, at one time in my tenure, I substituted the administrative assistant for months. This substitute requirement is very specific in relation to knowledge of powers school the phone system and most importantly school security and student privacy. The average sub substitute while fully capable of substituting for a classroom parah or a classroom teacher does not have the training to manage the administrative assistant position. I am capable and confident in my ability to manage that position and I'm always available to them even last minute as coincidentally just recently happened. I sincerely hope I have managed here to enlighten and clarify the duties of the instructional assistant and that I've shown how

016important and needed this position is. I ask that that you consider my statement here and reconsider the decision to eliminate this position. I speak not for myself personally, although I truly love my job, but for the position itself, as I truly feel what the position does for our teachers directly relates to their ability to stay in their classrooms, focus on their teaching and their students, and thereby maintain a calm, organized, and productive classroom. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Maria. Good evening. I'm Kathleen Tanky, 103 Beanie Road, and I'm also the kindergarten teacher at Bakerville School. Um, I'm speaking on behalf of the teachers at New Hartford Elementary and Bakerville schools to express our concerns regarding the potential elimination of Marshia Jones's position as a as the instructional assistant. We would like to ensure

017you are fully aware of the significant impact this decision would have on both our students and staff. We are firmly in support of maintaining the instructional assistant position which has been an integral part of our schools for over two decades and has been held by Marcia Jones for the past 14 years. Without her dedicated help and support, the successful implementation of our most recent curriculum would not be as effective, nor would it reach reach its full potential. The work Miss Jones has done has greatly enhanced the quality of education our students receive in New Hartford. She's been instrumental in supporting classroom teachers to create a wellorganized high functioning classroom environment, allowing students to fully engage with the instructional programs and resource uh materials available to them. Over the past four years, we've adopted several new

018programs, including EL modules, skills block, IM math, ruler, and mystery science. These programs require extensive preparation and the creation of resources to support student learning. One of the most noticeable aspects of the new ELE program has been the sheer amount of preparation needed. Things like game boards, word cards, vocabulary cards, puzzle pieces, booklets, charts, and many other curriculum items. Many of these items are not recyclable and need to be created each year. These resources cannot be purchased. Instead, there is a download button for all the materials to be printed, cut, divided, assembled, and put in bags for our use. When we first transitioned to the EL program last year, the volume of work required to implement it was overwhelming, but we had Marsha to effectively carry out the mandated curriculum with the required rigor. The

019support of the instructional assistant is essential. Below are just a few examples of the many ways Miss Jones has supported both students and teachers in New Hartford. Like Marca had talked about, she collaborates with teachers to help plan modified materials, creates modified materials for IEP students, for example, enlarging text, creating modified templates, modifying paper, creates materials for our EL block, such as making copies of books, flashcards, word sorts, sentence builders, creates math activities for our centers by sorting manipulatives, making game boards, creating pieces to the games. Prepares materials for all curriculum so teachers can spend time learning and implementing and carrying out what we need to teach. creating materials for climate committee initiatives and supports um collaboration between the two schools by transporting materials and creating shared materials for classroom use. Teachers consistently go be

020above and beyond arriving early, staying late, and working from home during the week and on weekends to meet the diverse needs of our students. We dedicate ourselves to learning the new curriculums and preparing each night for the lessons ahead. Marsha plays a vital role in allowing us to focus on what truly matters, such as reading, planning, addressing the individualized needs of our students and analyzing data. The materials she prepares are essential in helping us implement the curriculum as intended. Marsha's contributions are invaluable to our staff, and losing her would have a profound impact on our students and our school community. Thank you for considering our input and your decision regarding Marsha's position. Marsha plays a crucial role in creating the materials that enable students to engage in the hands-on experience at the heart of our

021curriculum. Her contributions are essential to the success of our educational goals. On a side note, I personally just want to add that I feel Jeff has done a great job educating us, educating our town, and talking about how the cuts would have an impact on our school community. Um Tom, you spoke last week about White Memorial and how the curriculum has changed over the years and how it has become so hands-on. That is the same as the curriculums that we have now researched and and taken on and purchased. And I need to assure you and I assure all these parents in this room that should you not put Marsha back in the budget, all these teachers are going to go above and beyond and still go out of our way to make sure that our

022kids are successful. But I will be honest in saying it's going to be a very hard thing to do to try and execute our curriculum the way it should be without those essential materials needed. So, thank you for your time. Thank you. Hi, my name is Emily Bernard. I live at 20 Gibson Lane. Dear members of the New Hartford Board of Education, I wanted to express my gratitude for the dedication and hard work for of our teachers. As a parent of four children in g grades K through six, I have a kindergartener, a second grader, a fourth grader, and a sixth grader. I have had wonderful experiences with every teacher my children have had during their time here. As an assistant principal in another district and parent here in town, I understand the challenges we

023face in education and see firsthand how budget cuts impact our children in all settings. Your efforts to advocate for our students are truly appreciated. However, I am concerned about the continual reduction of opportunities for our children due to budget constraints as requested by the board of education. I am particularly concerned about the reduction in staff as well as student programming which negatively impacts academic achievement inclusivity and the overall educational experiences of students and families in our community. It is disheartening to consider the potential cuts to programs like band and maybe chorus, which not only help students express themselves, but also promote a sense of belonging. These programs are vital for students who may not excel in traditional academic settings and should not be postponed until seventh grade. The arts play a crucial role in the

024development of our children, providing enrichment opportunities that enhance their academic learning. They foster critical thinking, creativity, global awareness, and social emotional skills which are essential in today's world. Our mission in New Hartford Public Schools emphasizes inspiring and preparing all children to become independent and enthusiastic learners. I question how can we accomplish this with minimal resources, especially when enrichment programs, mental health supports, and field experiences are being cut. My son recently expressed to me when I mentioned some of these things, there is nothing fun in school anymore. Which is a sentiment that should not be prevalent in elementary education. The impact of these cuts extends beyond our immediate community, affecting our competitiveness with surrounding towns and impacting college and career readiness of our children. We should be sustaining our budget to enhance educational experiences, not diminishing

025them. Our children deserve opportunities that inspire engagement and a love for learning while developing the whole child. I want our children to grow up and be proud of the education they received in New Hartford public schools rather than feel like they missed out on the experiences they deserved. Please remember that once cuts to staffing and programming are made, we will not get them back. Therefore, we need to keep these budget items intact for our students now and for those coming to us in the future. Thank you for considering these concerns as we strive to create an exemplary educational environment for all students. Thank you. Christine Manini, 33 Red Clover Road. First of all, I want to thank each of you for being on the board of education and serving our schools. I realize you have

026decisions to make and have the students best interest in mind. But with that being said, I would like to state the importance of rethinking the cuts to the budget. I stand here in support of our music programs. I'm extremely passionate about having a band chorus and instrumental lessons for students in our schools. My colleagues Sarah Mara and Allison Milo have written letters and I would like like to read some key points on their behalf. Listen to these exceptional music teachers please to save these programs for our schools here in New Harford. The proposal made at the board of education meeting stated that the band program would take place after school and that only 40 students would be affected. It is important to realize that this plan eliminates all small groupoup lessons and only a full

027band rehearsal would occur after school one day a week. Without instrumental lessons, students cannot learn to play an instrument. Students need to learn how to play instruments before they can play in a band. Instrumental lessons at the elementary level are essential to create a band. Important skills such as understanding new rhythms, note reading, and fingerings specific to each of the nine different instruments would be impossible to teach in a full band setting. The 40 students who represent 64% of the current fifth grade class will be in the sixth grade next year. They would be the only students participating in a single afterchool band without any second-year lessons. Without small group lessons, next year's fifth grade class will have no way of beginning a new instrument, which would mean the end of the band program. Simply

028put, without instrumental lessons, there can be no band. Band is a part important part of school community at Antelini and in the town of New Harford. The fifth and sixth grade band provides three performances per year for all the students at Antellini. Band musicians provide music during various patriotic ceremonies throughout the year. In the town of New Harford, students perform taps for Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies. These events bring immense pride to our children who are performing and are loved by the town's people and veterans in attendance. Now, I'm going to speak on behalf of um that was Allison's and this is Sarah's. Under the bud proposed budget, the chorus program would be eliminated as it is part of the 6ft FTE position slated to be cut. The chorus, like the band, gives concerts

029and performances during the year. And as the program continues to grow, I am confident that our singers would be welcomed additions to various celebrations and gatherings in New Harford, similar to our school band. It should also be noted that every other school that feeds into region 7 has an elementary coral program. Removing the opportunity for students to participate in chorus affects all students in New Harford by taking away an opportunity to grow musically and personally. It also deprivives them of the chance to excel in chorus at the middle and high school levels and to earn honors and scholarships for excellence in the arts. A strong musical culture also plays a vital role in fostering a thriving school community. Coral performances bring us all together and that strengthens the bond within our school and contributes to

030our collective pride. And now more than ever, students need techfree ways of for an outlet for social and emotional needs. Chorus is an activity that contributes to both good mental and physical health. Additionally, through our diverse repertoire, students get the chance to explore how emotions can be expressed through lyrics, striving rhythms, or with just their own un unlict voices. Excuse me. It's also worth noting that the music is sometimes the bright spot in a student's day or perhaps where they discovered they have a talent that brings them joy and raises their self-esteem. Music programs also attract all types of learners. Ensembles provide a kids a chance to really lean into a learning mode that matches their learning style. Let us not go backwards in what we already always have had and provided for our students

031here in New Harford. Thank you. I need to if you would just real quick um to address the board. We are 25 minutes in. Um, I would like to continue to hear from the community, but the board needs to make that decision. I make a motion that we continue to hear from the community. Seconded. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Thank you. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Souza, board of ed. My name is Dylan Peterson. I'm the coral director at Northwestern Region 7 Schools, but I'm also a member of this community. As of this past June, my wife and I bought a house at 40 Carlson Drive. I'm here to express my concern regarding the proposed reductions to the Antelini Elementary School Music Program, specifically the potential elimination of the band and

032choir programs. During my nine-year tenure as a teacher in this region, I've observed firsthand the significant impact a comprehensive and equitable music education provides to students. It benefits their academic, social, and emotional development. The ripple effects of cutting this program would have consequences farther reaching than one might think, not only for the youngest learners here at Antalini, but for the middle and high school music programs and by extension, the greater school community. Elementary music education is a cornerstone of high-quality schooling. It fosters critical skills such as creativity, collaboration, discipline, and cognitive development. Extensive research demonstrates that students actively engaged in music instruction perform better academically academically across all subjects. They also exhibit enhanced social emotional abilities and develop increased confidence and self-esteem. Restricting access to structured inclusive music instruction during regular school hours disproportionately affects

033students who cannot participate in extracurricular ensembles due to transportation barriers thereby undermining educational equity. instrumental and coral music at the elementary level necessitates structured homogeneous instructional groups during the school day to ensure effective learning. Transitioning these programs solely to before or after school hours would severely limit participation particularly among families facing logistical challenges. This will also lead to the weakening of the foundation of the middle and high school programs of region 7. Currently, 46% of students enrolled in our seven grade 7 through 12 music programs originate from New Hartford, indicating the critical role this elementary program plays in sustaining robust middle and high school ensembles. Reduction at this foundational level would inevitably diminish student participation over time, eroding the quality of our award-winning ensembles and negatively impacting the broader educational community. Beyond academics, music is

034a pillar of this community. Our school concerts, performances, and community events unite students, families, and residents. I look around the crowd tonight and I see so many familiar faces from Light New Hartford. I have to wonder what that event looks like down the road if this proposal goes through. See, for many students, their music ensembles are an essential source of identity, belonging, and personal achievement. For a lot of them, it's their favorite period of the school day. Curtailing these programs would not only affect student development, but also weaken the culture of our community. I respectfully urge you to reconsider the proposed cuts and prioritize the maintenance of a comprehensive, equitable, and accessible music program here at Antellini. Investing in elementary music instruction directly supports students academic and personal growth, enhances our community's culture, and ensures

035continued excellence in our broader district's music education. My colleagues and I welcome the opportunity to discuss this further and explore alternative solutions to ensure that music remains an integral part of our schools. Thank you. Hello, Kristen Casiba, 41 Windsor. I've taken the time to read over the proposed budget and I hope you'll forgive me if I'm misinterpreting any of the information. However, from what I gather, I am deeply disappointed in where the decisions are being made to cut costs and focus funding. Specifically, the decision to reduce funding for music education and cut resources for teachers to help with the new curriculum is concerning. These are essential areas that significantly contribute to the development and success of our students. It's disheartening to see that the areas that bring so much value to the growth being compromised.

036Music plays a crucial role in a child's development and to just suggest having one music teacher covering all three schools will significantly reduce her ability to effectively manage both choir and band programs resulting in the elimination of choir and move band as an afterchool activity which I feel is misguided and will have a significant negative impact on our students particularly in the early development. Music is a vital part of childhood education, especially for younger children, as it fosters creativity, emotional expression, and cognitive development. The experience of participating in music activities such as choir helps build their self-esteem, enhances their listening skills, and strengthens their ability to focus and follow instruction. Music education also encourages emotional expression, which can be easily important for children who are still developing their social and emotional intelligence. By taking away

037choir, we would be stripping away a core activity that helps shape their emotional and intellectual well-being during a critical period of growth. Additionally, offering band as an after-school activity may unintentionally interfere with other extracurricular activities, further limiting limiting students opportunities to explore their interests. Many families juggle multiple activities and an after-school band program would likely overlap with other important programs creating scheduling conflicts for students who are already engaged in sports, academic clubs or other enrichment activities. Also, in addition to the increased workload of traveling between schools, her time and energy will be stretched thin, leaving little room to dedicate to the afterchool rehearsals and activities that are essential for the success of these programs. By not having a music program available during school hours, we may be inadvertently limiting access to m music education for

038students who cannot commit to an after-school program due to these conflicts. My child, like many others, look forward to these musical activities as a way to express themselves and connect with others in a meaningful way. To remove this opportunity would be a loss, not just for them, but for all the children who benefit from this enrichment that music brings. As for the potential reduction of or elimination of the instructional assistant position within our district, I believe such a decision would be extremely detrimental to the teachers who rely on the support to effectively deliver the current curriculum. Our teachers are already under immense pressure. Balancing the demands of teaching, grading, and preparing for future lessons. Reducing or eliminating the instructional assistant position would only add to their workload and further hinder their ability to provide the

039highquality education our community is known for. These assistants play an essential role in helping teachers manage the classroom, provide indiv individualized support to students, and ensure that lessons run smoothly. Without this vital resource, our teachers will be overwhelmed with additional tasks that will directly affect their quality of education provided to our children. Moreover, the work that the teachers do extends far beyond the school day. They spend countless hours after school preparing lessons, grading assignments, and planning activities for the next day. The absence of the instructional assistance would only intensify this already heavy workload, leading to burnout and diminishing the time and energy teachers need to focus on their student success. New Hartford is known for their teachers, and we should be doing everything we can to support them. Instead of reducing resources, we must invest

040in the tools and personnel that help them succeed. Teachers are not only our educators, but our most valuable asset, and taking away their support is doing them a disservice. I urge you to reconsider any decision that were to reduce or eliminate the position of the instructional assistant. Supporting our teachers should be top priority and we must provide them with the resources necessary to continue providing the best education for our kids. When I moved to New Hartford, the excellent school system was one of the primary factors that drew me here. I wanted my children to experience the highquality education this district is known for. And I urge you to reconsider these cuts. They not only impact our children today, but will affect future generations as well. I appreciate your time and consideration. Thank you. Tim, I

041had a question. Should we be taking a hard copy of all the testimony? Okay. Hello, my name is Jillian Quinto. I live at 414 Bruning Road. I am a sophomore at Northwestern and I am a member of the Wind Symphony at the school and I'm going to join the choir next year as well. I have been in the new Hartford school system since kindergarten with Mrs. Tani up until I moved to Northwestern for middle and high school. Many of you know me, whether it be as a daughter of someone you know, um, a student or someone you have just seen about around town. I ask you now to please listen to me as I try to preserve something so important to me and so many other students. When I was in elementary school, my favorite

042part of the day was band. I would always be so excited to get my to get to focus on my instrument and how I would this is tiny get to learn it along like-minded people who were also interested in creating music together. An afterchool program would not provide this kind of community, but it would also make it much harder to learn the instrument. By only having a club after school, students would not receive the focused instruction with their instrument that is required to learn to play. Flute, like many other instruments, is a hard instrument, and it is hard to make us even a sound at first. For many students, they might simply give up on their instrument if they are left to figure it out themselves. Private lessons are expensive, and by making that the

043only way to effectively learn, it closes so many doors and opportunities for students. In addition, if band were only an after-school club, many students would not be able to participate or attend. Not because they don't want to, but because their parents would not be able to pick them up. If after school was the only place for learning, many students like myself at that age would not be able to go. Music is not only an auditory thing, but something that is very valuable because it brings people together and allows them to freely express themselves. Band inspired my love for music, which is why I'm now in the wind symphony and at the school musical at the high school. Had I not been given the support of teachers like Mrs. Milo in fifth and sixth grade, I

044would never be in the position I am today. My parents grew up in Bristol. We briefly lived in Terryville, but they left that and moved farther away from our family to go to New Hartford. If you ask my mother, the main reason the main reason for this was the school system. She wanted her children to have a quality education in a good environment. A school system that doesn't provide music education and many other basic things a school should have is not one they would have chosen. I love my community within not only my town, but especially in the music program within Northwestern and the people that have been it been in it with me since elementary school. Cutting band at the elementary level would be extremely detrimental to the program, destroying experiences that should that

045have been available to students for years. People should be and are willing to pay to raise the budget for their children to get these basic educational necessities at their schools. I ask you now to please reconsider the cuts you have proposed, not just for me and past students, but for all current and future students that deserve to have a quality education and a musical community within their own school. Thank you, and thank you for your time. Have a good night. Hello. Um, my name is Rebecca Benny. I'm from or I live at 184 East Cotton Hill Road. Um, I apologize. I did not prepare a formal statement. Um, but I want to support a few things um, being added back to the budget that have been removed at your last board meeting. Um, but before

046I do that, I want to just say thank you all for dedicating your time to help our students and our community. Um, I know it's a big effort and I appreciate your your energies and everything. Um, the first uh item I wanted to mention was the TAG and the math Olympiad program. Um, these are programs that enrich our students uh especially our students that uh need extra enrichment. Um, it I had a fellow parent describe it as a special education on a different end of the spectrum. Um, and I'm not sure I like that description, but I do like um describing it as a special education for our students. Um, the spectrum part I had problem with, but um to get to the point um if you remove those programs from our schools, then um

047you are going to have a negative impact on the AP class offerings at the high school level. And that was one of the reasons why I moved to your town. Uh, I have seen some of my friends who have children that have graduated from our high school that have started at an elite school at a junior level because of the number of AP and college credits they were able to get at the high school. And if you don't foster that search and love for knowledge in our young children, then that is going to negatively impact your ability to have enough students enrolled in those programs to in order for them to be able to be funded and run. Um the other um two that are on this list that I'm I'm pretty disheartened are being

048removed are of course the instructional assistant. Um Marsha um did a wonderful job describing and actually all the teachers that have presented have mentioned how wonderful of a job she does and how big of an impact um the loss of her position will be on the school. And then of course band which has been brought up a number of times and chorus and I just want to keep stressing that chorus element because that's not really clear from the list that chorus would be dropped as well. Um, I did some really quick math and I apologize for the quick math, but if you add up that $48,000 for the band chorus instruction, the $5,000 for the tag and the math um Olympiad and the $29,000 for that instructural instructional aid, you had about $82,000. We have

049about 4,000 taxpayers. So we if you add those three back, you're asking the taxpayers to pay $20 a year. Given the price of eggs and everything else, how bad is two extra dollars a month to be able to have a robust curriculum at the school? I just wanted to give that to you to think about. Thank you so much for your time and thank you for letting us to have this extended time. Have a good night, guys. Hello, my name is Rowan Ferrer. I live at four sub subhollow road. I am a junior at Northwestern Regional High School and I want to advocate for the band and choir program. Rowan Ferrer. All right. Like I said, I'm a junior at the high school and I've played in band as an obo player since fifth grade.

050I would I've always had a passion for music even with my stepfather playing it when I was little. I would not have had the opportunity to join band in Miller High School if I had not had the opportunity to play in elementary school. Including that it has opened many opportunities as I am starting to look at colleges for scholarships that I would not have had previously had I not joined band in elementary school. Including that it has helped me reach new audiences and new people that I would not have been able to meet previously in different communities and places. has helped me incredibly become a better person as well in my future and my future career and ideals. I don't really have much to say. Um I urge you to reconsider your decision to cut

051these programs including the course and to keep supporting it in our schools and our environment. Um thank you for your time. Thank you. Hi. Um, I am Kristen Machulski. I, um, live at 20 High View Terrace. And some of you may recognize me. I was actually a second grade or a kindergarten teacher last year at New Hartford Elementary. I thought a lot about speaking tonight and whether I would um, if I wanted to or not, just because I support what you do. I'm in education. I moved to New Hartford because the schools are so awesome. When I was given the opportunity to work in New Hartford, I was extremely excited um last year. Unfortunately, I was also um a position that your board had to cut and I did understand that because again, I work

052in education and I've ridden that, you know, budget cut train for many years now. Um and thinking about tonight coming in, my children have been in the talented and gifted program. They've been in the math olympiad program. Um, my third grader right now is in um, a class and she was really talking about when I was discussing this with my children at the uh, dinner table the other night. She was talking about how excited she was going to be to um, be able to participate in band and we were just discussing kind of the job that you have and I think it's a really tough job. But I also think it's really important for us to understand um, just how much all of these different programs impact our children. the joy they get, the excitement

053they get. I also want to speak on behalf of the teachers. Teaching is not what it was 20 years ago. Um, I left education for about nine years to be home with my children and I've come back in. The landscape has changed. It is not, you know, the fun that we used to have in a classroom reading books. We have a lot of pressure on us and the teachers in New Hartford are amazing educators. I was extremely sad to be let go because it is such an amazing town. Um, but they're feeling it. they they're feeling the pressure and when you cut programs like this. I just also want to point out the um mental health of educators, it is impacting us. And so I wanted to share not only the needs of our children

054because I care genuinely about all kids, but I also care about the educators and I want us just to be aware that all of these cuts are impacting everybody. Thank you. Hi, my name is Heather Tweifford and I live at 20 Lakeshore Drive. To be honest with you, I just found out about the TAG program being cut and I am very disappointed. Um, I just want to say that with that program in mind, you're going to have kids that are bored. They are not going to be engaged. they are not going to have grit because they're when you have a child that is um learning at a higher level. They need to be able to solve problems in a way that gives them an opportunity because when they come to a problem that they don't

055know how to solve, they are going to shut down. um possibly being perfectionists, they will possibly shut down and that will just not be healthy for them. So, um I just wanted to to say if you do cut the if you do cut the position the um the par educator position, um you're probably going to have teacher burnout. And um I was a teacher for 16 years before staying home with my my kids. Um and teacher burnout is not fun. And I was I saw this firsthand. These positions being cut and more and more stress added to the teacher workload directly affected all of the kids in the school. And that is not something that you want at in this in this town. It's not something you want. Um, speaking about the music, um, I

056was I am a I'm was privileged to be able to learn an instrument growing up. And I just wanted to say that when you learn an instrument, there are so many study skills that you develop when you are learning an instrument. When you approach the music and you identify a part of the music that you are not maybe you need some help with. um that part uh you then study that and you develop that and you then apply that to the whole entire piece when you are learning that new music. And I just wanted to say that maybe we should maybe be thinking about how maybe everyone should have arts and music in their lives. Thank you. All right. Uh good good evening everybody. Um I'm Trevor Mum. I live at Six Brella Road and

057I am here just to advocate for the continued existence of the coral and band programs. So, I was a student here at Antselini and at Bakerville for all of my life and I joined the coral program here at Antsini. Now, I'm a senior in high school now, so the memories are kind of fuzzy, but I have I remember having so many great times. I remember our concerts. I remember going out and performing at Veterans Day ceremonies and Memorial Day ceremonies. And last year as a member of the civil air patrol squadron in Torrrenton, we came to Antelini and we did a flag raising ceremony for the school. And then we had the choir come out and they sang for us and the band came out and they played for us. Now granted, was it, you

058know, an Oscar worthy performance? No. But was it so incredible to see the smiles and the joy that those kids had being able to play and feel like they were doing something that that something they did was meaningful to them. I'm not a particularly outgoing guy, but my involvement in the coral program in high school and my coral program here have really exposed me to so many new people and so many new opportunities. In college, I'm looking at pursuing music as a minor and I'm pursuing a major in history and secondary education. And to move on to a different topic, from what I've heard about the cutting of the um administrative assistant position just here today, I am truly disappointed in what I feel would be putting so much more work on teacher shoulders. If

059I can just pose a question to Mr. Rodenberg real quick. How many papers do you grade on in a week if for your what is it four or five classes? I'm I'm I'm remotely curious. Okay. Uh I'm sorry. My apologies. So So whatever. He has four or five classes. He does a lot. And even though that's a high school application, the same thing can be applied to these elementary teachers. These teachers, they go through so much time, so much effort to create lesson plans, to create lessons, to put the fun in school. I remember all the games I played here in Antelini that were educational, that weren't just, hey, open up the Chromebook and do a math game. I remember learning something here and the development that comes from those games and from the coral

060and band programs is just so much more than trying to teach kids the way that we're going now. So that's all I have to say. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. I'm Erikica. I'm live at Six Barella Road. Um Trevor came on his own. Um I have nothing to do with the fact that he's here. Um he actually was supposed to be somewhere else. Um, but I'm here um because I have uh lived in this town a very long time and and grew up in this town um and have also been a part of many board meetings um in the past and I know that after this step you all are going to look at each other and say well now what do we do because we have to go to the board of finance and

061um I would encourage both Mr. Souza and the board of education to go back to the drawing board and to submit um a potential budget cut that um illustrates uh a little bit more um bandwidth um for administrative cuts at the higher level instead of the cuts that are currently being proposed. And I would like to see what that looks like. Thank you. My name is Mia Doyle. I live on 625 West Hill Road. I'm a sophomore from Northwestern Regional 7, previously a student of Annini and Bakerville Elementary. I'm speaking in regards to the potential cuts in the music department. Learning a musical instrument and learning to sing at a very young age offers numerous benefits including improved cognitive skills, enhanced memory, increased self-esteem, and boosted creativity while also fostering while also fostering patience, discipline,

062and social skills, which this generation has already seen to be severely lacking in. Although this although the band the Although the band program would only be moved to after school, not everyone will have the time or ability to attend. They shouldn't have to miss out on the fun of learning an instrument. Because of that, I firsthand have learned to how to play two instruments and know that learning something that requires such diligence cannot only be done once a week in a full band setting. It requires more time with a teacher focusing you focusing on you and personally teaching you how to play the instrument. This cut of choir and having band only after school will not only affect the high school, but also the idea that the kids will be unable to experience music with

063the same ability as I did in elementary school will will hurt the will will hurt the future high school band and chorus, but also the kids who do not have the opportunity to have their minds expanded by consistent music in the same way. Thank you for your time and consideration. [Applause] Good evening. My name is John Huz and my wife and I are on Troutwood Drive. We actually submitted a letter. It was in the online packet, but it was I don't think it was read. So, if I'm supposed to submit this, I'll I'll give this to you here. In addition to what we said in the letter, I can't recall a time the past decade, probably two or three, in the divisiveness of our world where I can agree with every single comment this group

064has made. It's absolutely incredible in my mind that we're all here together. And I'm a bit shaky because when I was growing up, I started elementary school. My parents moved to that town in Ohio because of the quality of the schools. And a conversation just like this happened there. And I distinctly remember my mom telling me, "Can't be in band." And the next year, the talented and gifting program went, "Oh, what am I going to do now?" I was one of those kids. It was probably too smart for my own good. I quickly became known as the kid who could roll the best damn joint in town. That's not what you want someone to do. And even my dad, who's a police officer, didn't know that I was the one who was rolling the joints

065while the kids were doing them. For the record, I truly didn't smoke. Fortunately, a science teacher reached out to me and said, "You really like science. You know how to master the physics of air flows. We can teach you a thing or two." And the teacher is actually quite similar to Mrs. Tangi here who passionately cared. He didn't need to be teaching. He taught because he cared about the students. And slowly they cut resources and programs, you know, the support staff. The textbooks got older. He didn't have lab supplies and equipment. He literally dug in his own pockets and and made things work. I saw it happen to many of my classmates. The college college attendance rates and the you know what are the success rates of where those kids my classmates have gone right

066there as well. Went from one of the best performing school districts when I started there to one of the worst performing districts in all of Ohio. And I just can't stand here being new. Again, we moved to New Hartford. My wife and I who grew up here, I did not we moved here because of the schools. And I never I said to her tonight, I never thought I'd be coming to the Nars kindergartener and I on the PTO I pi day volunteer. I was in the wing of food cost in the classroom. I truly care and it's because I care about what we can all do together. And so I'm new to this community. I don't know what we as the parents can do with you as a board of education to bring this issue

067up to the board of finance to bring it to the selectmen bring it to the town. But there's a looking at the past 10 years worth of budgets. I actually know how to analyze data and look at that and they're on the website and you can see how the trends are and there's a lot of trends that are at play here where there's stamp made stamp made programs there's benefits costs there's real things that are bigger that are at play that weren't at play 5 10 15 20 years ago and so looking at a spreadsheet of all the increases it's not apples to apples from where it was five or 10 or 15 years ago in terms of these cost increases there's so much that you can't control and we can't control and I'm not

068sure the town is aware of that and so I don't know where to go from here but I just hope truly that this school district does not follow in the path of the one that I was part of growing up and the reason that my my parents had to stay there when I was a police officer. He was required to live in the town which employed him. And I said to myself, I'll never let my daughter go through that. And I sure as heck don't want to have to tell my my parents and I ended up here, my wife's parents that we need to move because of this. And so people will be vote with their feet if we don't actually turn this around. We have an opportunity right now with this budget cycle to

069start to turn the tide. We're not going to solve it all this year, but I truly hope that we don't end up with the smartest kids in town being the ones who are rolling joints, the ring leaders of of taking kids who don't know as much and doing bad things. We we have a chance to prevent that. So truly, I hope we all work together here and find a way through this. [Applause] Chris Farberet 19, dear run, thank you again for all you do. And I'll be very brief. I'm a retired um administrative assistant at both Bakerville and Antellini schools. When I moved from Bakerville to Antellini in that same position, I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of handling the office on my own. I've heard no mention of anything about the cut to the

070clerical aid. It's critical that more than one person be in that office. It's it's critical. The cameras to watch, the traffic that goes through, it's just way too much for one person to do. Thank [Applause] you. Would anybody else like to address the board? All right. Seeing none, thank you all. Um, I'd like to start by saying thank you to everybody who addressed the board tonight, who sent us letters. Again, the respect for the board is great to see. As you can imagine, everybody on this board would like to respond to all of you. We just don't have that opportunity. Um, for those of you who read to us today, if you'd like to submit your letters, your thoughts, please do so. Uh, so that they become part of the minutes for our more current

071students who read off their phones. If you'd like to send them to us, please send those to us so we could also have those as part of the minutes. Um, we do appreciate the feedback. We appreciate and will consider all the feedback we've heard today, the 25 communications we heard before today, as well as I counted up 18 people addressed the board today. Um, so again, I can't thank you all enough. Um, some people have brought up and asked about what else can be done. We are one board. There are other boards in town that also have to consider all this information. um as a handout and I don't know where we put them on the table. So on the table over there we have printed copies of our budget timeline. Um part of that

072budget timeline is the board of finance, the board of selectmen all have to again opine and work on this budget as a collective group um to be able to present for referendum. Um from today until we have no additional public comment um to be received is April 1st. Um so if you look at that there is a board of finance meeting coming up. There's another uh board of finance that follows that. Um the board of ed has proposed and and and presented the budget that was approved by this board um on March 4th on Saturday at the budget workshop. So this is with the board of finance. Now again we all have to work together collectively to be able to do the right thing for the town. Um so with that again I I I

073would like to again end saying thank you all. Thank you for your comments. Um, thank you for your input. It will be taken under consideration. Um, and again, if you if you if you have that passion behind this, as we all do, that's why we serve on this board. Please bring it to the other boards in town who also have a part in the final decision. Okay. So, with that, again, I do need to close communication and public comment and move on to item D on our agenda, superintendent report. Thank you, chairman. I'd also like to echo the sentiment of all of the communication that we've received. It's been beautiful, enlightening um letters to read and um to know that there are so many great advocates and supporters of education in New Hartford Public Schools.

074It makes my heart absolutely fill with pride as I know it does our board that's sitting before you now. I want to kick off um it's March and it's uh board appreciation month. So, thank you to all nine board of members that are here uh that spend countless hours of their days and nights outside of their normal jobs to read updates that I provide and consider all decisions that go before them relative to policy, relative to our budget. Um and working together as a collective voice to continue to maintain the great efforts of education that we have here in New Hartford public schools. Um, also in March we celebrated Pi Day. So I want to give a great thanks to Mrs. Matthysse. Matthysse Pi. Math Pi. There's something there. There's something there. Um, and to

075our New Hartford Public Schools math committee and to all the parent volunteers that came in to make the day absolutely wonderful. There were so many great activities. Check out Instagram or our social media for more pictures and um, events there. U, speaking of events, uh, our art show is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, 4:30 p.m. Town Hall, third floor. love to see as many people as we possibly can. We're celebrating student artwork. When you go, just be prepared. You might want to put bids in on some of these pieces. They're they won't even sell them to me. I've tried. Um but they're absolutely magical, beautiful. Our art department, Mrs. Rachel Savage, does a phenomenal job with our kiddos. Um, also a great thank you to our community who on Thankful Tuesday nominated New Hartford Public

076Schools um to receive a blessing and a huge gift from Pizzeria Marzano. Uh, New Hartford Public Schools received a pizza lunch for all three schools celebrating all of our teachers and staff. That was a beautiful gift. We are so so grateful. So, thank you for the recognition and thank you to Pizzeria Marzano as well. Those are all of my communications under superintendent report. Are there any questions? All right, seeing none, we'll move on to item E on our agenda, board of education chairs report. Um, tonight I I have limited report. Um, we have been meeting weekly for the last uh feels like month or so. Um, and seeing Israel quite often. I have shared um as I've received the communications with everyone over especially the last week um today we sent a full packet out

077to everybody that includes all but two um those two I believe were copied to everybody. We'll make sure those include get included into the packet. Um we'll talk about it at a later item here but Jeff and I did attend the board of finance uh budget workshop on Saturday. So we'll give you an update on that under uh our old business uh the new Harford BOE budget. Um, and I think outside of that, that closes my report. Moving on to uh item F, routine business. Uh, the first item on here are uh two sets of minutes for the February 25th, 2025 meeting and the March 4th, 2025 meeting. Um, I will entertain a motion to approve. I'll make that motion to approve the minutes of the February 25th and March 4th meetings. Motion by Penny.

078Do we have a second? I'll second. Second by Tim. Thank you. Is there any discussion on the minutes of the February 25th of the March 4th meeting? Any corrections, comments? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. That is unanimous. All right. Next item under the routine business is the expenditure report. I will entertain a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Motion by Tom. Second. Second by Frank. Any discussion on the expenditure report. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. That is also unanimous. Um and the next item on the routine business is personnel. Superintendent Sus. Thank you. Um it's with bittersweet emotion um that I announce the following that um my executive assistant Janet Tenzi has uh recently decided to retire. She

079has served at New Harper Public Schools for 20 years and it brings a great depth of institutional knowledge from every inner working of our district. Um she was absolutely instrumental in my transitioning to my position here as superintendent. I will miss her greatly and I'm not sure how we're going to fill those shoes because she really does have 20 years of knowing the history of the New Her public schools. It's going to be a tremendous um hole to fill. So, we wish her the absolute best. We will honor her. She could not be here this evening, but we will honor her at a future board of education meeting. So, thank you, Janet, for everything that you've done. Going to miss you tremendously. Yes. Thank you, Janet. Okay. Um, moving on to the next item on

080our agenda is new business. The first item is healthy food certification. Superintendent Susa, you have that? I do. Okay. So, the following is our certification that we yearly go through to ensure that our foods that are being served um through our program with Ed Advance and sponsored by such by Ed Advance meets the conditions set forth. It is a list that's consistently revised for any um nutritional value and has to meet very strict guidelines of the FDA. So, we'll go ahead and read that for vote. So, I will read this and then I'll need a motion from someone on the board in a second and I will provide this uh for the minutes. Um so vote number one is required vote for participation in healthy food option of HFC pursuant to CGS section 10-215F. The

081New Hartford Board of Education certifies that all food items offered for sale to students in the schools under its jurisdiction and not exempted from the Connecticut nutrition standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut nutrition standards during the period of July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. This certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimburseable meals at all times and from all sources, including but not limited to school stores, vending machines, school cafeterias, culinary programs, and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organization or and groups. And I get a motion to approve. I'll make that motion to approve. Have a motion by Penny. Can we get a second? Second. Second by Eric. Thank you. Is there any discussion?

082Any clarifications that the board would like to get from super superintendent sus regarding this required vote? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. All opposed. Any obstessions? That passes. One, two, three, four, five, six, one, zero. All right. Vote number vote number two required motion language for combined food and beverage exemptions. The New Harford Board of Education will allow the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards and beverages not listed in section 10-221Q of the Connecticut general statutes provided that the following conditions are met. The sale is in con in connection with an event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend. Number two, the sale is at the location of the event. And number three, the

083food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. An event, in quotes, is an occurrence that involves more than just a regular scheduled practice meeting or extracurricular activity. For example, soccer games, school plays, and intercolactic debates are events, but not soccer practices, play rehearsals, and debate team meetings are not. The regular school day, in quotes, is the period from midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of this official school day. Location, in quotes, means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food and beverage sales. Can I get a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to approve. Motion by Penny. Sorry. Can I get a second? Second. Second by Tim. Is there any questions, comments, clarifications required? I have a difficult time

084with listening comprehension. Do you mind if I read that so I can make sure I understand what I'm voting on? Thank you. It basically just says you can sell junk food at school activities. But it's after school. It's after the school day. Yeah. Yeah. It's after school activities. It's not the things that parents can send money to their with their children to school during the school day. Thank you. Are there any uh questions, clarifications needed from our superintendent? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. All those opposed. That motion passes 610. Okay. Uh moving on to the next item under new business is non-lapsing account. Right. We recently had our town um audit completed by King and King and on one of our pages relative to the board of education

085non-lapsing account there was a total of $17,838 and those monies were left over from last year's budget to be placed in the non-lapsing account. In order for those monies to be placed into the non-lapsing account, the board needs to motion to place such monies into the account for future use as um as motioned by the board of education. [Music] Okay. So, I will entertain a motion to place $17,830 surplus from the I'm sorry, 838. Let me try that again. And I will entertain a motion to place $17,838 surplus from the 2324 school year into the board of education non-lapsing account. I'll make that motion. But sorry, I'll make that motion, but I'd like to discuss it after you get your second. Yep. I'll second it. Have a second. Uh motion by Penny, second by Frank.

086Discussion. Okay. So, you have $107,838 that you're putting into non-lapsing. At a recent meeting, Jeff said that we would be we would need an additional 50,000 something to for the budget for next for this current year or am I missing something? That is correct. So, can we take money out of this 107,000 to pay for The yeah, the answer is yes, but we have to motion to put it in the non-lapsing account first and then there'll be a motion later on in a month or two whenever we're wrapping up the end of the year so that we could um take from the same same pot of money from the non-lapsing account. All right. So, this 107,000 goes into the the new non-lapsing account that we can now hold. It doesn't have to go to the

087board of finance for some state statute or something like that that recently happened. Correct. Uh that is correct. So we will now have 107,000 in our non-lapsing account. There's over a 100,000 in the non-lapsing account that is you have to go to the board of finance in order to get approval to spend any of it. Correct. That is correct. Okay. So now we have an additional 200,000 if you combine the two. Why can't we take some of that money and put back some of the programs that we're cutting out of next year's budget? There is um again and I will start and I'll ask superintendent to to also appine on this. Recurring costs are items that we typically would not take from a non-lapsing because they are costs that would continue year after year after

088year. So you don't want to to falsely adjust your current budget based on funds that are available. Um there are two accounts as you as you described. The first account is the first account we would likely go to and request um the funds to uh we would request the funds to fund our current 23 or I'm sorry current 2425 year um projected overage. Um, so that's really again from from from my perspective again and and and I should continue with that. The non-lapsing account is a statutory allowable account that's set up by the board of education that allows 2% of your surplus to be up to 2% of the budgeted amount to be placed into a non-lapsing account to cover those types of things like emergency repairs, one-time items that that come up throughout the

089year. Would you like to add to that? No, that's absolutely accurate. Think the most important thing is that it cannot be reoccurring expenses. All right, let me play devil's advocate on this. If you have the 200,000 and we need 50s something,000 for our current budget that we're in for that deficit. I realize that math olympiads, tag, white memorial, the band, the chorus are ongoing expenses year after year after year. But couldn't we use some of that money to help keep those programs in our school system for a year and then hopefully in a year's time something else gives so we have an influx of money from some place to continue these programs instead of cutting them this year. I have listened to these young people talk to the the neighbors in our town talk. Some

090of these children like Trevor, I know Trevor, I knew have known him since kindergarten because he's in the same class with my grandson. I don't understand cutting these programs. My granddaughter plays in the in the band in the wind group. If she did not have her foundation of band with Mrs. Milo and Mrs. Pios when she was here, she wouldn't be playing in that band now. I think it's a detriment to our children to cut those programs. I don't know. That's all I have to say. You walked out of the last meeting and said you wanted it down to 4.17 and now you're sitting here telling us why did we cut. I realize what which what is it? I take it I realize take it down to 4.17. There are other places I believe that

091it can be cut to bring it down. All right, I'll agree to more than 4.17. I don't really like it, but I was at that meeting on Saturday with the board of finance. Some of the board of finance members were not happy with the 4.99. They said, "You can't have it that high. It has to be lower." How many other people attended that meeting except for the boards that presented and some of the administrators? Nobody. Let's draw this back if we can to the non-lapsing account is the item on the agenda. I I have a comment on the non-lapsing that might address, you know, I'm new, so I'm still trying to figure this out, but you can't have non-recurring expenses, but as I look, there's a huge increase in technology, which often is a nonrecurring

092uh expense where you you buy I'm guessing equipment and things like that. And can you buy that stuff in advance out of the non-lapsing now instead of next year and free up that that big increase which is a 65% increase in technology spending is that in the spirit of uh sure without going you know again to start delving into line item by line item which is not I consider that an administrative right on my part and when I provided the scenarios The intent was to just provide the scenarios and monetary amounts. Anything that I provided was going to be short of my professional expectation of what we needed to fund for our educational experience for our town and for every single student and educator here. So with technology specifically, there was a position that was

093moved from one bargaining unit to another. So that has a large portion that is a reoccurring cost for a position there. other technology items if so if if we have that opportunity to do something creative like that I would be more than happy to it would take a motion of the board to then expend some of those non-lapsing to help but to save other positions that are in there's not enough to make that yeah I was thinking you know anything that's a material sure books computers things like that just as far as non-lapsing could that be spent on those type yeah as long as it's not reoccurring that's the biggest most critical component of the usage of those funds. Okay. Yeah. So, if I could on if we could save this conversation to the old

094business to talk about this when we get to the the BOE budget. The purpose of this particular line item under new business for the non-lapsic account is to place the surplus from the 23 24 year into the count. You know, it's let's look at it again. It's a good thing, right? It's a it's a testament to the budgeting and the financial planning that was done within the 23 24 year to come out of that with a surplus of funds. Um it's a good thing for the board. It's a good thing for the town. So, if we could just stay on the merits of this particular um line item, right, in in an agenda item to be able to place this in surplus and we can talk further under what we can do with that money

095uh when we get down to whole business under the board event budget. That be okay by everybody. So, we have a motion by Penny and a second by Frank to place $17,838 surplus from the 23 24 year into the board of ed non-lapsing account. Are there any additional questions or comments regarding specifically placing this into the account? All right, seeing no seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. All right, that is unanimous. Okay, the next item on our agenda is um again it's new business but it will be taken up under executive session uh which is the award and approval of the bus contract. So we will move on from that and now we'll go into old business which is the 2526 new Harford Board of Ed budget. So, this

096is on here really to give an update from the board of ed, I'm sorry, the board of finance workshop that uh Jeff and I had attended on Saturday morning uh where they they did present the region 7 budget. So, the superintendent of our region 7 schools as well as the board of ed chair from region 7 was at that meeting and they did present their budget. I don't have the numbers. It's in my folder. I could pull them up. Again, there is an increase um to the town of New Harford. There's an increase overall from the region 7 budget. Um New Harford share of that increase is greater because we are sending additional students. I think it was five or six additional students. Correct me if I'm wrong. Uh whereas our neighboring theater schools are

097actually reducing. So, our portion of the board of of the region 7 budget is an ultimate increase to the town of New Harford. Um, the second piece of the meeting workshop on Saturday was Jeff's presentation of our budget um and our budget proposal to the board of finance. We went through the drivers. We to discussed in detail um the special education and outplacement costs that are a major driver, our contractual increases um that are a driver, our transportation that are a driver, as well as our health benefits. Um again, just like we talked about in our meeting, Jeff presented that very eloquent eloquently to the board of finance to describe that to them. Uh we also shared with them the board of education approved eliminations from the budget. Jeff again spoke very um I I

098mean again I guess at the end of the day the the sentiment in the room was it was gloom and doom that again these are very impactful eliminations from our budget. Um Jeff did a great job being able to present that in explaining to the board of finance what these are truly what the true impact of these are to our educational system in the the the the town of New Hartford. Um they went on to talk about after that again and I wasn't there for very long but they talked about the the challenges that we have as a town um based on our budget season where we are um the revenues based on changes at the state level specifically related to car tax and valuations of cars is going to make a a large impact

099to um our revenue source for taxes for our tax base. um that paired with additional um um additions, I'm sorry, additional impacts to our incoming revenue uh because of of of changes based on um disabled veterans um and the new rules and and and legal uh requirements for that as well as first responders. Um, all those three paired are main drivers to our decreased revenue, uh, which they discussed in detail. Again, Jeff and Penny, you were there. Uh, did I capture everything on that? Yeah, very well stated. I would add as well that we prepared packets of everyone's letters that had submitted up to Saturday. So, the board of finance has your letters in their hands for their review as well as it being available on the website. Every single letter will be there. anything

100that was uh received a little bit later today, we'll absolutely post that and again send that on to the board of finance. I would say that they listened absolutely respectfully. Um they asked great questions. They asked for additional follow-up relative to mental health in um and services that we provide to our students on a Monday through Friday basis and the impact that elimination of the Connecticut Junior Republic will have on our students and also of our school counseling position. um and the impacts that that will have which services 39 students for school counseling and another 22 students through the CGR program and that will leave essentially days next year where there will not be mental health support there will not be someone to manage a crisis because our school psychologists as a team our social

101workers and our school counselors work together as a unit across three different schools Monday through Friday to provide not only their normal day-to-day operations of PPT meetings evaluation assessments. They work as a team to help one another and cover the needs outside of their daily duties, which is again crisis management or just things that come up. And the more that we could proactively support that, less of an impact later on identification for special education. It's a proactive measure to make sure that we're taking care of our kids' mental health and well-being. So, they listen carefully. They ask really good questions. The next time that they're open again is during the public hearing time. It's really critical again to continue to voice opinions for the town's people, for board of ed members. It's an open forum

102for all. So, I would only encourage you if you would be so willing to do that. That would be another piece they need to understand and hear from all of the constituents in town because their responsibility is the fiscal and I understand that and appreciate that. So does this board. Um, and asking for the different scenarios. I know that they respect and honor that and understand that. But the next piece is again for the towns people to make sure that their their voices are heard. um live and in person as well. So again, I would encourage you to all do that. Um that's it for me. So again, this is an old business item on our agenda. Um it's here. We can have discussion on this. Um we've heard a lot of feedback. We've provide

103we've been provided with a lot of input on um our current eliminations that have been proposed to the board of finance. Um, for everybody to understand, the board of finance does not have purview to give us line item reductions or eliminations to our budget. Uh, the board of finance purview uh has the ability to tell us and give us direction to get to a certain percentage or get to a certain number. Um again last year for example uh we left the board of finance meeting after they had after they had received our budget. We had presented the budget that they came back with a removal of another $100,000 another $100,000. Um so again I I bring that up because they do not have the purview to tell us line item transfers. Um I also as

104we've done in the past and we've discussed we've gone through and there were 70 plus questions in the initial round from this board of education regarding the proposed budget from the superintendent asking clarifying questions to be able to understand why each of the costs were were what they were. Um, we also have have have have made it a a practice not to um individually or or address certain line item, you know, certain line items within the budget. Um, this board had requested our superintendent to go back and look at the items that um, in their professional assessment were going to be the least impactful to our students into our educational system in New Hartford. Um, we had been provided a five and a half approximately five and a half, five, four and a half and

105four. Um, again, the board made a decision last meeting to be able to be in approximately that four or it's exactly the 4.99 range. Um, is what was presented. So, I just want to open up with that and then open it up the rest of the board for any comments, discussion, and topics we'd like to discuss tonight. I will continue to just say that right now it is with the board of finance. Um, so until we hear from them, we have to carefully look at carpet for the horse, right? We don't know what they're going to come back with, right? If we were to look at glass half full in the discussions we had in the way that I believe I left that meeting was, please really consider this and and allow us to, you

106know, give us more money, right? Not not be a 4.99, but give it five and a half, right? allow us have more money to be able to spend on education understanding the letters we had to date and again we will provide everything we've had since that time but I just want to again caution everybody that we we really don't want to be looking at too much detail to talk about specific lines within our budget and that's that's that's my opinion I'd like to speak um want to thank everybody who's come here tonight as well as everybody body who supported. I personally have an issue with public speaking and you'll notice my voice get shaky. Um, unfortunately I took a public speaking class at college and it was I failed it. Um, so I was not

107able to correct that and I'm sorry after spending several thousand dollars doing that. So apologize I worked through it. Um, I've spoken to community members. I've read all the letters that have come through. I really just want to like reiterate and thank for everybody for contributing. Overwhelmingly, the letters are showing support for not cutting as many things from next year's budget, even while acknowledging the increased burden that this would place on residents. Um, I went through I like totaled up all the letters. You saw me taking notes. I was trying to figure out like where people were really calling for stuff. And I really just want to call out, you know, as we all heard like the band and music program was signing the most frequently across all the letters and public comments while we

108received letters advocating for all staff positions to stay. The instructional assistant and clerical aid were consistently cited by the staff in particular as necessary components to maintaining a quality education for all students. We as a board made a decision to set a ceiling on year-over-year budget increases making assumptions about what type of budget increase is palatable to the town, but it's clear from the feedback from our stakeholders in the community and the schools that these cuts are too steep and not worth it. I recognize the responsibility that we have to be fiscally responsible, but given the response from our stakeholders, I would like to revisit what we submitted. Um, I don't know if this is possible, so I'm just going to put this out there. I would like to make a motion to discuss amending

109our 2526 school budget to a higher percentage that would allow us to reinstate the following items. The general band music instructor, the instructional aid, the clerical aid, tag, and math olympiads. We are seeing really strong community support for submitting a higher budget. I believe it's worth letting the larger town hear about the support we would receive for these specific programs and letting the discussion happen at a larger town level versus limiting shooting ourselves in the foot here. Thank you, Kristen. Um, you did motion, so we do need to have a second to be able to put that on the floor for discussion. Second for discussion. Um I don't want to again I'm going to try to repeat what you said. So again basically your motion is to um resubmit to the board of finance a

110revised budget that removes the elimination of can you say those three those items again? the general music band instructor, the instructional aid, the clerical aid and tag and math olympias. I don't uh I think I'm I'm going to need a little assistance on this. I've been on the board for coming up uh finishing my eighth year and I've never seen this done. Um, so I don't know if it's possible, right? I mean, Tom, you've been on eight years with me. Penny, you've been on longer than us. I don't want to age you, but you've been on longer than us. Okay. So, in the 12 years, yes, this is my 12th year that I've been on the board. We have never motioned to increase our budget like our percentage that we're asking for. I'm considering after

111sitting through the meetings because I'm also the board of finance secretary listening to five hours of three different budgets being presented and listening to the board of finance members afterwards. When Superintendent Susa presented his budget at 4.99, there were comments made that the board of finance would not support it that they would ask for something less. The board of finance is meeting on March the 25th. I have not received that agenda yet, but I'm sure it will be to discuss the budgets that were presented last Saturday. The public hearing is on April 1st up in the senior center, and that's when you can all talk and ask questions. I would encourage you all to attend that. But anyways, to answer Tim's question, I've never seen this done before. So, no one knows if it's possible,

112but it seems like it's within our purview to be able to do something like this. And for me, it seems like yes, I hope that we continue to see this level of support as we try to take this fight through the larger town discussion. Um, if people are interested in having this and really believe in these programs, I think that we can get the support here to do this. And for me as a board who wants to do right by our schools, everybody sitting at this table again understands the fiscal responsibility that we're under, but we also really care about the programs and the staff and the students that are in here. I think it is a really strong statement for us to come back and say we are listening to our community stakeholders. We

113are listening to our staff. We are listening to our students. We are listening to people who are in the community who do not even have students in schools who are still coming back and advocating for these things. and we would like to make a statement by reflecting making our budget reflect the needs of the community as stated by the larger community. The board of finance has a budget in front of them that they're considering now to put a new budget in front of them for reconsideration and represent re representation to them by Jeff is not in the timeline and would be looked up looked at very unfavorably by all the committees that are involved with this approval process. Now whether we agree or not agree with your motion to move some items back in or

114not that can be done later but at this point to do that now and to restart the process would be I think moving our your intention in the wrong direction. So I think even to consider that tonight would be a mistake and would not get us anywhere closer to where you think you want that to be. There's going to be time to reconsider where the when the when the board of finance comes back and tells us yay on your 4.99 or nay or or add 50 or cut 50 at that time. If we want to look at other ways to maybe reinstate some of those items that that we heard tonight, we can do that. But that to do that now would not get us in the moving in the right direction. That's my opinion.

115My understanding is that Jeff has put forth his best proposal and what he thinks is necessary to be cut. I don't believe that Jeff believes that there is additional budget to be cut that would help us save these programs. And for me there is the only solution is to ask for more money there unless somebody has again something specific within the budget that they want to address and cut back. But the reality is is that if we stop the discussion here, we're relying on other people to kind of come through and come back and make this decision. By the time the board of finance brings this to the town, it's going to be on a townwide budget and whatever's in our budget is probably going to be there. I don't know what our recourse is

116to change our budget line items after the town budget has been approved. So to me and if there's possibilities for that again this is only my second budget season. So really not sure about all the procedure here but I want to make sure that we are advocating for what we believe is right for the school and if that creates more work for people that's okay if that's the conversation that needs to happen here. I don't believe that waiting until it gets to the town referendum where everything is involved is going to help us do what we need to do here. So just for just for clarity, um we as the board do have another opportunity before referendum um based on the budget that goes to referendum, right? So that budget does get posted. Um as

117I had said, the board of finance can give us values. They can't tell us specific items with our budget. So I think what what Tom is saying which I agree with, we do have another another opportunity if we wanted to provide direction to our superintendent based on the feedback from the community to relook at the list of what is considered least to most impactful cuts to the budget. Um, again, I've never and and and I'm looking at the budget timeline in front of me and I'm and again, we have this one meeting, Jeff, and you might be able to help me out. We're sitting here on March 18th in our board of education. There's a finalized budget if necessary. It's TB. They haven't scheduled that meeting at this point. So, there is a meeting coming

118up from the board of finance that I would expect it's somewhere later this week or early next week, right? Because their next meeting is April 1st. No, it's March 25th. Oh, it has been scheduled. Yeah, they have a meeting for next Tuesday. Okay. Well, that's good news. What's that? No, she hasn't sent out her budget or her agenda yet. Okay. So, right. Again, that's the TBD meeting. So, March 25th is the is the meeting where the board of finance will finalize the budget if necessary. And at that meeting is typically where we are going to hear where they want us to go with our budget. So again, as you know, we've we've we've stated today, again, there's a collective group of people um board of finance, board of education, board of selectmen, all have to

119collectively with region 7 come to to um to a presentation for referendum. Um when we put it to referendum, the town has every opportunity to come out and vote that referendum down. Right. if if there's if there's that much um distaste I guess in in cutting the educational budget. Um so I guess my point with that is once they give us that direction, we come back to the table. We're all going to be here again. We're all going to be talking about the budget. We're going to be talking about, you know, the the list that we have today that's been provided and at that time talking to our superintendent to to to provide direction on what the board wants to do moving forward. I have a Thanks. It's kind of a protocol question, but I've

120never heard of a board of finance coming back and saying, "We want you to spend more realistically." And can we communicate to them without getting into specifics what we heard at this meeting? um add all the letters in from people that or the testimonies and and share that with them and just let them know about what happened without I think yeah I agree that I think it would be kind of flaky to go back with another proposal after we made one but to we can because it's you know there's a process but can we at least communicate to them? I would say that again I don't know who's online right now. Um there were board of finance members who have attended at least two or three of our budget meetings leading up to today. Um

121who did again at this Saturday morning meeting did speak up and said again she was there. She heard what we were doing. She heard the challenges that we have as a board of education. Um again not knowing who's online tonight I would suspect that there may be board of finance members online today. Um, but I am 100% behind providing the 25 communications I've received via email. Um, again, we provided the two that we received at the Saturday morning meeting. Um, I think we might have provided more than that because we received more at that time. We did. And my intention is also to once this tonight's video is uploaded to also forward that to the board of finance so they could actually hear and see as well. And again, and that's why I had said

122after we closed public comment, I would like to receive those who spoke tonight and you had your thoughts down on paper to to to please send them over because we will um we will share those with the board of finance as our partner in in would it be appropriate to write a little letter just saying, you know, I just want you to know what happened and to write a short letter explaining the community outpouring and I don't see any reason that that can't happen. Okay. I would just like to sorry guys I know it's a long night. I just want to push back. I disagree that it's flaky or irresponsible of us to go back. What we're doing is we have opportunity and we have solicited opportunity to hear from our stakeholders. Going back to

123the board of finance and submitting a new budget is us being responsible to the people that we are responsible to. We are not responsible to the board of finance. we are responsible to our educational community and for me this is the right step that we can take to show that we're listening and that we're here for them and trying to do the right thing. So again, I would like to just at least have a mo on the a vote on the motion that I proposed regarding revising the budget to a percentage that will allow us to keep those programs. I don't know what that number is right now. I'm sorry I'm not doing that the top of my head. My concern is that it backfires on us. That's my concern to where if we approach

124it with uh within the traditional process, it might be better received. I'm just trying to think about results. I think we want the same results, you and I. I think on the results side, I'm trying to think of what would get the best results and I don't want to I don't want to cause a backlash either by stepping outside of a traditional protocol. I think it's too important. Yeah. I mean, I understand again I I am I'm going to say Kristen again, this is my my opinion u based on what I'm hearing. Again, I've I don't know if it's something the town charter will allow. Um, I think based on what we've received tonight, I again I I agree with where Frank's going with again, we need to make sure we communicate the the the

125input and feedback we received of the the need for the instructional assistance, the need for music and band, the need for, you know, talented and gifted in CJR, which are, you know, I'm sorry, talented gift in a white memorial, which are smaller items on here. Um, I I in my opinion, I think it's important for us to communicate that, communicate what we've heard tonight, communicate what what we feel as a board, and that could be a separate motion to be able to send that over there. But I think it does the same thing, right? For us to send another budget in my opinion after we've sent them a budget is I don't I I don't see it being received well, right? Because they have it. We've presented it, right? Starting it over. If we spec

126specify these items that are aligned with those communications and we we send a letter that, you know, discusses just that, I think it does the same thing. Um, it communicates to them and it does it in a way that we know is appropriate or at least what's always been done here in North. I just again I just don't know if it's if we can if we could send them another budget, but we'll get that answer. We'll look into that and get that answer. Is there any further discussion on the motion uh from Kristen, seconded by Eric to send a new budget back to the board of finance to to remove the eliminations of music IIA clerical aid and tag in white in math Olympiads in was white memorial included that I didn't I didn't tag

127in in math Olympiads those four items. Any additional conversation, discussion? Yeah, I got that music band. Yeah, I'm sorry. I say music. All right, seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. All those opposed. That motion fails. Two. One, two, three, four, five, two, five, zero. Can I say something? Of course. I just want to remind you all on April 1st, please come to the town hall at 700 p.m. in the senior center. If you have letters, send them to the executive assistant to Dan Jerham, who is Christine Hayward at the town hall, so she can give them to me or she can give them to Carrie Gilfoil, who's the chair of the board of finance, to be entered into the record at that meeting. It's imperative that you all show

128up because if you don't show up and they don't hear anything, then they're not going nothing else will happen. Okay. Is there any additional discussion regarding the 2526 budget? I just want to be mindful in the future that um um we were given a proposal initial proposal of over 8%. And I really think in the future we shouldn't sell ourselves short in fear of the board of finance. um 4.99% is the most we'll get and possibly less. And I would feel and again I'm new, but I would feel next time we should we should be a little bit more liberal in our in our requests. Can I make a motion that we send a letter to the board um explaining, you know, very shortly what happened at the meeting encouraging to read the testimonies and

129letters. I'll second that motion. And that was the board of finance. All right. So, we have a motion by Frank, seconded by Tim to um compose and issue a letter to the board of finance that emphasizes the community input and feedback received. Is that fair to say? Are we I guess my question is on that is what do we want to what do we want to put in that letter? Are we looking to put in that letter the items that are are are mentioned in Kristen's motion? Are we what specifically do we want to do? Uh Kristen has some good data that she's been tracking and tell them, you know, we had this percentage of people advocate for this position. Sum summarize what's in the um testimonies and then refer them to uh see the

130testimonies. maybe try to capture the spirit a little bit of there that there was an outpouring of support for programs and positions at the school. I'd like to add that I think an important component of that letter is honoring the work that Jeff did to prioritize work prioritize items within the budget that are not included in that line item here. Right? Because ultimately what we're asking for is an increase in the budget year-over-year. So, if we just have a letter that indicates support for those programs, like we've already done the work to decide what is the priority and what's going to have the lowest to best impact on the students. We're already impacting the students and we're hearing the town say that what is being impacted is like not worth the cut. So, I think

131we need to I don't want to I want to be find a way and Tim, I'm happy to help with this. find a way to specify that we're not it's not acceptable to try to cut other line items within the budget that overall it would be looking for an increase from the budget that we submitted. That's your opinion and I'm not I'm not going to disagree with your opinion, but that's not what the whole board decided on. Now, if we're going to transfer the letters to the board of finance, it should be here are the letters we received for your information. We're we're not going to suppose, especially with two board members missing, what their opinions are on those cuts. They may be in favor of them. So, as a board, I'm not ready to

132say we want this back in. That's not what we voted on. We should give them the information. Here's what we got from 28, 30 people for your information. They can make their own decision about what they think. But I don't want my opinion put into a letter that I don't necessarily agree with. I think we shouldn't send a letter because if we do, maybe some of these people who did talk tonight are going to be less inclined to go to the meeting where if they go to the meeting, that's how things get done in this town. Marshia was involved when the Bakerville schools getting closed and the only reason it got reopened is because everyone went to the meetings over and over again and that's what it takes to get things done. I would encourage

133both the letter and people to go to the meeting and and I agree with you that we can only summarize what what we heard in the letter. So, just I I mean just to clarify the motion, right, and what we want to do because I haven't heard anybody say that we want to send them a letter telling them that we want them to to to pull back eliminations. Right. I think what I'm hearing is that we want a letter sent to the board of finance that summarizes the testimonies received to date and share the testimonies we've received. I think that's what I'm hearing. um based on this particular motion. Is that fair to say against your motion? That's my motion. Exactly as you put it. And Tim, that's your second. Yeah, correct. I don't think

134we should be making any demands. Just, you know, letting them know of the public out outpour in support of these positions. Does anybody have any other thoughts, discussion, or comments on the motion? I just don't really understand what that's going to do since we've already been forwarding all the communications to them. So, if we're not going to take a stand on what the purpose of sending the communications is and what a real ask is, then what are we doing? Why write the letter? We're we're asking them to look at the stuff that they may or may not be looking at at all. I mean, if I received that, I would feel compelled to look So, again, I'm just looking at a calendar here. Um, their meeting is a week from today, and I would be

135in agreement with sending a letter that summarized the testimony. Um, again, because you're you're right. if you received hundreds of p pieces of paper, um are they going to be looking at it all? Um so I again I would say I agree that we we should send a letter that summarizes again we have this many letters of testimony, this many people who've come and in in participated in public comment at our meetings. Again, if we have those pieces of information, we could share them as well. Um that again summarizes the testimony we received against these items like you know these these eliminations instructional assistant clerical aids uh talent and the gifted as well as the band program um you know to point it out and and kind of impress upon them what we've heard my

136I guess my you know do we want to put a date to this to allow for additional we want to say by Friday we want to do this that way we allow uh between today and Friday to be able to receive additional public input is the only thing that I would offer to add to your motion. I think that sounds great. If you'd be open to amending the motion, that's what I would add to that. Um I would like to amend my motion to give uh to send the letter in three days to give people additional time to send in testimony and letters. Second again. Is there any additional discussion on that prior to going to vote? All right, seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. All those opposed. That

137motion passes. Where are we? Uh 610. Okay. Okay. Do we have any more discussion on uh the new Harford Board of Ed 2526 proposed budget? Okay. Seeing none, we will close discussion and move on to item I on our agenda. Um which is again additional uh opportunity for public comment. Uh this is specific to agenda items only. Um, I won't reread the uh the policy because everybody has done so well and respectfully address the board. So, would anybody like to address the board, please? I would just like to remind everybody here that as they say, it ain't over till it's over. And this budget, however it's presented in May, will not pass unless we, as residents and taxpayers, go there and pass it. So, yes, write your letters, go to the meetings, do everything we

138can to make that budget something we want to pass because I'm sure Laura will agree, there are years past where we didn't get a budget till August because we kept voting it down and voting it down and voting it down because it wasn't what we wanted. So, please write your letters, go to the meetings, but remember to get everybody out to vote in May to vote for whatever it is we actually want in this budget. Okay. Thank you, Marsha. Can I just clarify the meeting? I I do need you No, I'd like you to come up, but I do need you to come to the microphone so that the the public at home can hear us. So, logistics question. You said April 1st is the meeting. Have our letters to you by this Friday. Correct.

139We have our extra letters, if we have letters to write for this Friday, send them to you. I heard you mention a meeting on March 25th, but that is not for us. Yes, you any town's people I'm sorry, any town's person can attend any of the meetings as long as they are not executive sessions. Okay. So, anybody can come to the meeting on Tuesday evening in the sessions conference room at the town hall. Okay. While that room is small and it only holds I don't know like 24 people. If there's all of you that come then we will go up to the senior center and meet. Okay. So the board of finance will pro I assume that's why they're having that meeting on Tuesday is to discuss the budgets that they received this past Saturday.

140Okay. So and then and then I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. And then on April 1st, it's when they have the the three components, regional, town, and this board present their budgets again to whoever attends that public hearing and wants to ask questions. Okay? If you haven't signed up for the notices that come from the town of meetings that are coming up, legal notices, sign up for them because according to the legal notice that came out for April 1, you can they can add or delete at that meeting also to the budgets. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. And again, one last item that I'll add is if you if there are additional communications coming to the board of education, I ask that you please include everybody on the board of education as

141well as Superintendent Susan on those communications, right? So they don't get they don't get missed by one individual. I have to be very careful with how many times we respond to public. So, I'll if you have a clarifying question, we'll we'll take that. But I You said that the board of finance can't make like recommendations to you guys on what you cut specifically like that's up to you guys as a board. Um, when writing letters for comment to the board of finance, is it better to make a statement in general asking like instead of saying to them I don't want you to cut the band like is this more of like should I speak to you later type of thing? Right. Again, yes, that the board of finance does not have perview to give us

142line item eliminations from our budget. So, um, I can't give you a recommendation of how to write to the board of finance. Uh, the board of finance has been provided with the budget that's online, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. In that budget that's online does have the elimination sheet in there. Okay. So, like when you're telling them, I don't want you to cut band, it's not really them that's cutting band. It's just you've given them these line items and Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any additional public comment for agenda items only? Thank you for the discussion this evening. So clarifying understanding there's not two board members who are missing. Is there an opportunity for this board of education to update its perspective on this budget and share that with the town as

143part of this process? Or how can then the board of education do that to share their updated perspective given tonight's discussion with the town? So the town's fully aware that the board of education has an updated perspective just as we teach our children to consider new information and shared perspective. We're hoping that you can do the same and and how can we help you do that as part of this process. I'm going to I have to be very careful because I can't set a precedent to allow responses to public comment, but these are questions about process. So I will I will respond to it because Everybody's been very respectful tonight and we can't again I have to be clear we can't set a precedent that we can have public conversation. [Music] Um to your question

144about what the board of education can do. The board of education can make changes to our cuts to our eliminations uh within the budget that's allowed and provided to us by the board of finance at the end of the day. Right? That's within our purview. So, we have a a an what I'll say an adopted value that we are allowed to make changes within and that budget is the budget that'll go to referendum. Right? So, prior to referendum, everybody in this room in the community has access to the budget that's going to go to referendum. J clarifying the process. Is it fixed sum of money that we can reallocate or said differently the group and a motion was to increase the amount of money being requested? Is there a part of the process where the

145board of education can update its perspective and say there should be more money allocated to the budget? So say it's a you know 5 point something or I mean I won't say six because you know it's unrealistic but a larger percentage is what the given based on given slashbased on additional information the percentage should be not 4.99 but instead should be bigger and then you can adjust items from there. That's the question that was asked from Kristen and I don't know what the ch town charter allows because we've proposed a budget and we've presented to the board of finance. I don't know that answer today. I can't give you that answer. We've proposed we proposed a 4.99% increase to the board of finance. That's what they'll be um reviewing and debating at their next meeting.

146So Tim, we could we could have proposed a 15% increase or a 20 or a four or a one. It didn't matter what we sent to them. We're going to send them a budget and they're going to come back with a number. That's where we stand. we come back, they provide input and we're stuck with that number. That's correct. That's how that's how the system works. That's correct. Understand the system still as a being new to the town. If I hear the board of education has new information and their perspective has changed in the process as a voter. Oh, Mar had left but um priorities for her life too outside of this meeting. If there's voters understand the board of education has a revised perspective. Is there a way to update the perspective and revise

147that in the process so that talents people who aren't here know that the perspective has changed during this process? So you request but just in the perspective after referendum after referendum. Yeah. Is there anything we can do saying everyone here would if they could vote please do that. Is there a way that we can help to make sure it happens? That's why Marcia spoke up. Okay. The community has the opportunity to accept or reject any budget put forward to them and it's done through our friend. my thoughts. Um, so I just wanted to make a couple comments just based on what I've heard tonight. Um, and I think it's really important to think about what Mr. Potty had said about essentially going to the board of finance with a higher budget to leave room for

148some of these cuts because I think what we've done at this point is really limited what we can do going forward. Um, so say what we're proposing, what we would like to see happen can't happen and we are asked to make further cuts, we are failing our students. We are failing the children of New Hartford schools. And as a parent of four kids in this community, in a community that I love, it's really disheartening. Um, and I think what we've done is put us into a really poor position at this point. Um I heard today least impactful to students responsibility fiscally but we also have a responsibility to our students. Um and we are the people providing as a community the education for our children and we need to make sure that students are at

149the center that children are at the center of every decision that we make. Um you know I think about band and chorus. If we have kids that need to stay after school for these programs, if we have kids that need to now seek opportunities outside of the school, we're paying that money anyway and probably a lot more than what we would be paying if we just increased it and added it to our budget. Last year it was Spanish. Our kids are now behind where they need to be at this by the time they graduate and Antinini because we've made these cuts. So, we are doing a really big disservice to our students and it's it's really hard to see this unfold. um it's not just impacting my children. Obviously, it's impacting every child in this

150town and every child that comes after the ones that are here now. So, you know, I think just going forward, it's something to keep in the back of our minds. Like, we can't limit ourselves that much. We need to have room for that little bit of negotiation. Um so, you know, I I just want to emphasize that I want to do right by our kids. I know everybody here wants to do right by our students, the board of ed, Mr. Souza, you all want to do right by our students. So, um, we need to be providing everything we possibly can to give them the best educational opportunities that they can have. Um, and I want to give a shout out to all the students that came from Northwest Region 7. Um, because they are a

151testament to the pro the programming that has been provided here that we want to continue. So, thank you. Thank you. Is there any additional public comment? Okay, seeing none, uh we will close public comment for tonight. Um the next item our on our agenda is the executive session for discussion of the bus contract. I will entertain a motion to enter executive session and invite Superintendent Susa to join us. I'll make that motion at 9:08. Motion by Penning at 9:08. Second by Frank. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Thank you everyone. That's unanous. Thank you all. Thank you very much.